diff --git a/checkin_notes b/checkin_notes
index 129f91682a..1b8d18ecf4 100644
--- a/checkin_notes
+++ b/checkin_notes
@@ -5580,3 +5580,11 @@ David  8 July 2008
     html/inc/
         boinc_db.inc
 		util.inc
+
+Eric K  8 July 2008
+    - sparc-solaris: detect_platforms() 
+      test if it is possible to run 64-bit apps.
+
+    client/
+        cs_platforms.C
+
diff --git a/client/cs_platforms.C b/client/cs_platforms.C
index a90dece364..abf710279e 100644
--- a/client/cs_platforms.C
+++ b/client/cs_platforms.C
@@ -29,6 +29,18 @@
 #ifndef _WIN32
 #include "config.h"
 #include <stdio.h>
+#ifdef HAVE_SIGNAL_H
+#include <signal.h>
+#endif
+#ifdef HAVE_UNISTD_H
+#include <unistd.h>
+#endif
+#ifdef HAVE_SYS_TYPES_H
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#endif
+#ifdef HAVE_SYS_WAIT_H
+#include <sys/wait.h>
+#endif
 #endif
 
 #include "client_types.h"
@@ -88,6 +100,56 @@ void CLIENT_STATE::detect_platforms() {
     // Supported on all 3 Mac architectures
     add_platform("powerpc-apple-darwin");
 
+#elif defined(sun)
+    // Check if we can run 64 bit binaries...
+
+#if defined(__sparc) || defined(sparc)
+    FILE *f=fopen("/usr/bin/sparcv9/ls","r");
+    char *argv[3];
+    pid_t pid;
+    int rv=0;
+    argv[0]="/usr/bin/sparcv9/ls";
+    argv[1]=argv[0];
+    argv[2]=NULL;
+    if (f) {
+      fclose(f);
+      if (0==(pid=fork())) {
+	// we are in child process
+	freopen("/dev/null","a",stderr);
+	freopen("/dev/null","a",stdout);
+	rv=execv(argv[0],argv);
+	exit(rv);
+      } else {
+	// we are in the parent process.
+	time_t start=time(0);
+	int done;
+	// wait 5 seconds or until the process exits.
+	do {
+	  done=waitpid(pid,&rv,WNOHANG);
+          sleep(1);
+	} while (!done && ((time(0)-start)<5));
+        // if we timed out, kill the process	
+	if ((time(0)-start)>=5) {
+          kill(pid,SIGKILL); 
+          done=-1;
+	}
+	// if we exited with success add the 64 bit platform
+        if ((done == pid) && (rv == 0)) {
+           add_platform("sparc64-sun-solaris");
+	}
+      }
+    }
+    add_platform("sparc-sun-solaris");
+    // the following platform is obsolete, but we'll add it anyway.
+    add_platform("sparc-sun-solaris2.7");
+#else // defined sparc
+    add_platform(HOSTTYPE);
+#ifdef HOSTTYPEALT
+    add_platform(HOSTTYPEALT);
+#endif
+#endif // else defined sparc      
+
+
 #else
 
     // Any other platform, fall back to the previous method