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From: torek@horse.ee.lbl.gov (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: alt.suit.att-bsdi,comp.unix.bsd
Subject: Re: UNIGRAM's article on the USL-BSDI suit
Message-ID: <25238@dog.ee.lbl.gov>
Date: 5 Aug 92 10:43:37 GMT
References: <KANDALL.92Aug4161214@globalize.nsg.sgi.com> <5042.Aug412.31.0892@virtualnews.nyu.edu> <KANDALL.92Aug5175428@globalize.nsg.sgi.com> <15o75lINNfi9@agate.berkeley.edu>
Reply-To: torek@horse.ee.lbl.gov (Chris Torek)
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley
Lines: 54
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.112.15
In article <15o75lINNfi9@agate.berkeley.edu> gwh@soda.berkeley.edu
(George William Herbert) writes:
>BSD UNIX started out based on early (mostly Version 7) UNIX code.
>It's incorporated some elements of later AT&T code (V32, if I recall
>right), but hasn't had any simmilarity with SV until AT&T made SVR4 which
>is mostly BSD compatable, in an attempt to attract people who like some
>BSD features in UNIX. Note that in that case, it was AT&T moving closer
>to BSD's standard, NOT the other way around 8-).
This history is wrong in detail, although I happen to feel it is close
in spirit.
There have been some attempts to draw a `UNIX family tree', as it were,
indicating which versions of UNIX spawned which others. The result is
usually a piece of paper with unreadable scribbles---the number of
cross-influences and variants is surprising.
"Berkeley UNIX" as it stands today, however (4.xBSD) has as its major
ancestor UNIX/32V, which split off the research development path at
about the same time as Version 7 (actually a tiny bit before, modulo
any crossover and leapfrogging). System V, at least in its original
releases, traces its major line back through System III and thence to,
not V7, not 32V, but PWB (`Programmer's Work Bench'), which split off
the research line around the time of V6.
In any case, many of the things that make UNIX `commercial-grade' software
(this phrase is actually something of a put-down :-) ) today owe their
existence to CSRG. Examples include:
The vi editor (due largely to Bill Joy and Mark Horton).
The C shell (due largely to Bill Joy).
BSD-style VM (which was never used in System V, except in certain
hybrids; the original SysV VM uses working set algorithms, much like
VMS; anyway: due largely to Joy and Babaoglu, I believe).
Sockets (not sure; Joy certainly had a hand here.)
The Fast File System (McKusick).
Reliable signals (various; the IIASA job control came with -ljobs,
but I have no idea who originated it, nor who generalized it for
4.2BSD).
High-resolution timers (Karels? others?).
Mmap (various; modelled somewhat after Multics).
What does this mean in terms of the suit? Not much, actually; further
speculation is pointless until we see more details.
--
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Lawrence Berkeley Lab CSE/EE (+1 510 486 5427)
Berkeley, CA Domain: torek@ee.lbl.gov