The fourth argument to semctl() is a "union semun" that you need to define yourself. That your programs works on other systems is sheer luck. The argument passing convention on SPARC/V8 cause your luck to run out. Instead of passing the contents of small structs and unions in registers, a copy of the struct/union is made on the stack and a pointer to that struct is passed.
In short, on SPARC, passing a union containing an integer and just an integer, both by value, is not the same thing. On other systems it sometimes is.
Wrong, but it may work on other systems:
semctl(sem_fd, 0, SETVAL, 1);
Right:
union semun {
int val;
struct semid_ds *buf;
ushort *array;
} arg;
arg.val = 1;
semctl(sem_fd, 0, SETVAL, arg);