'\" te
.\" Copyright (c) 2002, Sun Microsystems, Inc.
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.TH ARCH 1 "Oct 21, 2002"
.SH NAME
arch \- display the architecture of the current host
.SH SYNOPSIS
.LP
.nf
\fBarch\fR [\fB-k\fR | \fIarchname\fR]
.fi

.SH DESCRIPTION
.sp
.LP
The \fBarch\fR utility displays the application architecture of the current
host system. Due to extensive historical use of this command without any
options, all SunOS 5.\fIx\fR SPARC based systems will return "sun4" as their
application architecture. Use of this command is discouraged. See NOTES section
below.
.sp
.LP
Systems can be broadly classified by their \fBarchitectures\fR, which define
what executables will run on which machines. A distinction can be made between
\fBkernel\fR architecture and \fBapplication\fR architecture (or, commonly,
just "architecture"). Machines that run different kernels due to underlying
hardware differences may be able to run the same application programs.
.SH OPTIONS
.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fB-k\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 6n
Displays the kernel architecture, such as \fBsun4u\fR.  This defines which
specific SunOS kernel will run on the machine, and has implications only for
programs that depend on the kernel explicitly (for example, \fBps\fR(1)).
.RE

.SH OPERANDS
.sp
.LP
The following operand is supported:
.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fIarchname\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 12n
Use \fIarchname\fR to determine whether the application binaries for this
application architecture can run on the current host system. The
\fIarchname\fR must be a valid application architecture, such as
\fBsun4\fR,\fB i86pc\fR, and so forth.
.sp
If \fBapplication\fR binaries for \fIarchname\fR can run on the current host
system, \fBTRUE\fR (\fB0\fR) is returned. Otherwise,  \fBFALSE\fR (\fB1\fR) is
returned.
.RE

.SH EXIT STATUS
.sp
.LP
The following exit values are returned:
.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fB0\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 6n
Successful completion.
.RE

.sp
.ne 2
.na
\fB\fB>0\fR\fR
.ad
.RS 6n
An error occurred.
.RE

.SH SEE ALSO
.sp
.LP
.BR mach (1),
.BR ps (1),
.BR uname (1),
.BR attributes (7)
.SH NOTES
.sp
.LP
This command is provided for compatibility with previous releases and its use
is discouraged. Instead, the \fBuname\fR command is recommended. See
\fBuname\fR(1) for usage information.