Platforms and packaging
Every platform Xi-Batch and Xi-Text are built for, how they are packaged, and where each build stands.
Xi-Batch and Xi-Text run on many Unix platforms and most Linux distributions.
New development and certification work is focused on Linux, where most of our customers now are. Unix support continues for the customers who remain there, and we are not withdrawing it.
The products make no kernel modification, which is why the range is as wide as it is and why they coexist cleanly with everything else on the system.
Building for a platform and supporting it are not the same thing. A platform we no longer build for every release is still a platform we support, and an installation that has run for years does not stop being supported because its build moved to request. If what you run is not in the table, or is marked retired, ask us - the answer is usually yes.
Every platform we build for
Both products are built for every platform listed. Filter by distribution, processor, package format or availability.
| Platform | Operating system | Processor | Packages | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 12 x86_64 | Debian 12 (bookworm) on x86_64 x86_64-linux-debian12 |
x86_64 | deb, tar | Every release |
| Debian 13 x86_64 | Debian 13 (trixie) on x86_64 x86_64-linux-debian13 |
x86_64 | deb, tar | Every release |
| EL10 x86_64 | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 family (AlmaLinux 10, Rocky Linux 10) on x86_64 x86_64-linux-almalinux10 |
x86_64 | rpm, tar | Every release |
| EL7 x86_64 | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 / CentOS 7 on x86_64 x86_64-linux-centos7 |
x86_64 | rpm, tar | Every release |
| EL8 x86_64 | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 family (Rocky Linux 8, AlmaLinux 8) on x86_64 x86_64-linux-rockylinux8 |
x86_64 | rpm, tar | Every release |
| EL9 x86_64 | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 family (Rocky Linux 9, AlmaLinux 9) on x86_64 x86_64-linux-rockylinux9 |
x86_64 | rpm, tar | Every release |
| SLES 15 x86_64 | SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 / openSUSE Leap 15.6 on x86_64 x86_64-linux-leap156 NoteBuilt on openSUSE Leap 15.6 and ABI-compatible with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15, so one build serves both. |
x86_64 | rpm, tar | Every release |
| Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit | Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit, Debian 12 bookworm) and Debian 12 on ARM64 aarch64-linux-debian12 NoteSuits a Raspberry Pi 3 or later running the 64-bit operating system, and any other Debian 12 ARM64 system. |
aarch64 | deb, tar | New |
| Debian 12 POWER | Debian 12 (bookworm) on POWER (little-endian) ppc64le-linux-debian12 |
ppc64le | deb, tar | Early access |
| Debian 13 IBM Z | Debian 13 (trixie) on IBM Z (s390x) s390x-linux-debian13 |
s390x | deb, tar | Early access |
| Debian 13 POWER | Debian 13 (trixie) on POWER (little-endian) ppc64le-linux-debian13 |
ppc64le | deb, tar | Early access |
| EL10 IBM Z | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 family (AlmaLinux 10) on IBM Z (s390x) s390x-linux-almalinux10 |
s390x | rpm, tar | Early access |
| EL10 POWER | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 family (AlmaLinux 10) on POWER (little-endian) ppc64le-linux-almalinux10 |
ppc64le | rpm, tar | Early access |
| EL9 IBM Z | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 family on IBM Z (s390x) s390x-linux-rockylinux9 |
s390x | rpm, tar | Early access |
| EL9 POWER | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 family on POWER (little-endian) ppc64le-linux-rockylinux9 |
ppc64le | rpm, tar | Early access |
| AIX 5.1 | IBM AIX 5.1 on POWER ppc64-aix-aix5.1 |
ppc64 | tar | On request |
| AIX 5.2 | IBM AIX 5.2 on POWER ppc64-aix-aix5.2 |
ppc64 | tar | On request |
| AIX 6.1 | IBM AIX 6.1 on POWER ppc64-aix-aix6.1 |
ppc64 | tar | On request |
| AIX 7.1 | IBM AIX 7.1 on POWER ppc64-aix-aix7.1 |
ppc64 | tar | On request |
| HP-UX 11 PA-RISC | HP-UX 11 on PA-RISC hppa-hpux-hpux11 |
hppa | tar | On request |
| HP-UX 11.31 Itanium | HP-UX 11i v3 (11.31) on Itanium ia64-hpux-hpux11.31 |
ia64 | tar | On request |
| Solaris 10 SPARC | Oracle Solaris 10 on SPARC sparcv9-solaris-solaris2.10 |
sparcv9 | tar | On request |
| Solaris 10 x86 | Oracle Solaris 10 on x86 x86_64-solaris-solaris2.10 |
x86_64 | tar | On request |
| Solaris 11 SPARC | Oracle Solaris 11 on SPARC sparcv9-solaris-solaris2.11 |
sparcv9 | tar | On request |
| Solaris 8 SPARC | Sun Solaris 8 on SPARC sparcv9-solaris-solaris2.8 |
sparcv9 | tar | On request |
| Solaris 9 SPARC | Sun Solaris 9 on SPARC sparcv9-solaris-solaris2.9 |
sparcv9 | tar | On request |
| Debian 11 x86_64 | Debian 11 (bullseye) on x86_64 x86_64-linux-debian11 NoteDebian 11 left long-term support on 31 August 2026. Existing installations are unaffected and a build can be revived on request. |
x86_64 | deb, tar | Retired |
No platform matches that. Ask us about it - the list is what we build, not the limit of what we support.
What the availability column means:
- Every release
- Built and verified as part of every release.
- New
- Recently added and available now.
- Early access
- Built on request, and not yet part of a routine release.
- On request
- Built for you when you need it. Most of these have long-standing builds already.
- Retired
- No longer built for every release, because the distribution itself has left support. Existing installations are unaffected and a build can be revived.
Leaving a commercial Unix
HP-UX support from HPE ended on 31 December 2025, and Solaris and AIX estates are being consolidated onto Linux across the same customer base. The position is the same in every case: Xi-Batch and Xi-Text run on the platform you are leaving and on the distributions you are moving to.
Same interfaces, same job and printer definitions, same command syntax and exit codes. A job that ran on HP-UX or Solaris runs on Red Hat or SUSE without being rewritten, so the scheduler and the print estate are the parts of the migration you do not have to plan around. Moving between platforms within a processor class carries no additional licence fee, so the two can run in parallel while you move.
Packaging
| Format | Notes |
|---|---|
| RPM | For RHEL, SUSE and derivatives. |
| DEB | For Debian, Ubuntu and derivatives. |
| Tarball | For platforms without native packaging, and for controlled installs. |
Native packages are the primary way the products are distributed. Each product owns its own packaging manifest and service unit, and a drift guard proves the committed manifest reproduces exactly from the package specification, so the packaging cannot drift from the paths the build was configured with. Package dependencies are derived from the built binaries rather than maintained by hand. Packages ship a systemd unit, create the service account at install time, and install to standard filesystem locations.
The GTK3 and Motif interfaces install as separate GUI sub-packages alongside the core package, for both products, so a server does not have to carry the graphical interfaces to run the product.
Packaging itself is tested: the full chain - staging, packaging, validation - runs in a throwaway container as part of the build.
Interfaces
Each product has a graphical interface, a full-screen character interface and a command line, and all of them show the same data and the same operations. The screens are on each product's own page.
Where Windows fits
Neither Xi-Batch nor Xi-Text runs on Windows.
Xi-Text does sit on a Windows network, in both directions. Windows clients print to it through Samba, and it prints out to a Windows print server over LPD, which requires the LPD Print Service feature to be enabled on the Windows host. Print data arriving from Windows is already formatted by the Windows printer driver, so a form type is defined for those printers that leaves it alone.
Requirements
No relational database. No kernel modification. No external package registries required at install or at runtime.
Both products are event-driven and scale from a single desktop to large multi-processor systems, providing the same functionality and the same interfaces throughout.
Which release you get
Current versions and their dates are stated on the release notes, which is the one place they are maintained. Every entry names the releases it applies to.
Release notes · Downloads and licensing
Not sure about your platform?
Tell us the operating system, the release and the processor and we will confirm. If we do not support it, we will tell you that too.