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From: Allen Kirby <akirby@att.com>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.shell,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.x,alt.os.linux,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,gnu.misc.discuss,comp.unix.solaris
Subject: Re: unix acronyms (3 ANSWERS)
Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 07:53:55 -0400
Organization: AT&T - ITS Production Services
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Message-ID: <338190D3.44AC@att.com>
References: <5kd2ng$c8b$1@rzsun02.rrz.uni-hamburg.de> <5l37jg$87j$1@wuff.mayn.de> <5l7jvt$q8b$10@halon.vggas.com> <33776BE4.6883@ford.com>
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OK, here are the answers to three acronyms that we can't seem to agree
on. I decided to go straight to the source: Ken Thompson at Bell
Laboratories - Lucent Technologies. He was kind enough to answer these
three for me. So can we stop arguing about these?
> bss is "block storage start". it is an
> ibm and gecos assembler directive that
> creates a block of space and defines
> a symbol at the beginning of the space.
>
> dd is a joke based on the ugly syntax
> of the ibm dd ("define data") command.
> the unix dd command has a million options
> and a unique syntax.
>
> su is "super user" or "set super user".
>
> ken
Vince Scarafino wrote:
>
<snip>
> ...and I thought dd came from the OS/MFT JCL DD card, that was used
> for Data Definition...
--
---
Allen Kirby AT&T ITS Production Services
akirby@att.com Alpharetta, GA.