The answers are up: https://commandcenter.blogspot.com/2020/01/unix-quiz-answers.html -rob

On Wed, Jan 22, 2020 at 7:59 AM Dan Cross <crossd(a)gmail.com> wrote: I think this is wrong: 16. Q: Sort the following into chronological order: a) PWB 1.2, b) V7, c) Whirlwind, d) System V, e) 4.2BSD, f) MERT. A: cagbef Whirlwind is a ringer. So the MERT ACM paper is 1975. The BSTJ is July/Aug 1978 (received Feb 1978). Somewhere I read (don't have a handy reference for it) that MERT ported V4 as a supervisor process which puts it in 1974 or so. In any event, this predates everything except Whirlwind which I can't find a paper for. PWB 1.2 is based on V6 + stuff. PWB 1.0 was released 1977, but we don't have an extant 1.2 tape to verify dates with, but 1978 wouldn't be unreasonable. We know 7th Edition was released Jan 1979 (PWB 2.0 was released, 1980 sometime) System V was released January 1983 4.2BSD was released September 1983 (4.1c was released in 1982 though :) So that would make the right answer c f a b d e Even DMERT for the 3B20 was released in January 1983 (or the IEEE paper for it was released then), so it can't be last. I also have questions about this: 81. Q: What was the first Unix network? A: spider You thought it was Datakit, didn't you? But Sandy Fraser had an earlier project. When did Alexander G Fraser's spider cell network happen? For that matter, when did Datakit happen? I can't find references to either start date on line (nor anything on spider except for references to it in Dr Fraser's bio). I can find references to Datakit in 1978 or so. I thought the answer was "ARPANET" since we had a NCP on 4th edition Unix in late 1974 or early 1975 from the University of Illinois dating from that time (the code in TUHS appears to be based on V6 + a number of patches). Warner

On Wed, Jan 22, 2020 at 12:55 PM Warner Losh <imp(a)bsdimp.com> wrote: Because we can't ask Greg sadly, I think the Holmgren is the last around that would know definitively and I've personally lost track of him. That said, I don't think UofI had anything earlier than 5th edition (I fairly sure that there were very few copies of 4th edition distributed outside of the Bell: i.e. Columbia, NYU and I thought Harvard; but I don't think too many more than that). Lou Katz would be a better source than I, but I was always under the impression that the number 5th editions, the count was also a smaller 2 digit integer. 6th was where Unix began to 'spread' and by 7th, 'go viral.' And to be honest, I personally thought that Steve and Greg did the ArpaNet NCP work on V6, but it might have been v5th I suppose. I did not know about it until the 6th edition work. But, they were fairly early. BTW: I thought the Rand PIPE code was also developed on 6th, but those also might have been 5th. Clem

On Wed, Jan 22, 2020 at 11:21 AM Clem Cole <clemc(a)ccc.com> wrote: The publication date for the ACM paper is November 1975. I think I misspoke and you are right. The 4th edition was Nov 73, and 5th Edition was June 74 (6th was June 75). In order to meet deadlines for ACM publication, it most likely was 5th Edition, but there's also earlier references to it. That said, I don't think UofI had anything earlier than 5th edition (I Berkeley's license was executed in January 74, so it might be on the list, unless there was a big delay. And to be honest, I personally thought that Steve and Greg did the ArpaNet The code we have is from the 6th edition (judging by diffs, though there's some weird quirks between it and Dennis_v6, as well as a number of local patches). In addition to the Nov 1975 CACM paper, there's CAC 155, published by the University of Illinois on 3/15/75 which pre-dates the 6th edition by a few months. You can read it here https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/32547/networkunixsyst… if you'd like. There's also CAC 177, which covers the period of Jan 1, 1974 to Dec 31, 1974 which references that Unix had been enhanced to add this after the contract periopd. This this report may have been issued after CAC 155 and may not be proof of an earlier date (though the issue date in its metadata in https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/34150 is 31 DEC 1974, it also reports activity through the end of the year so likely was written later). There's also CAC 162 dated May 15, 1975 ( https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/32293) that references UNIX talking to the mulix machine via the ARPANET protocols. RFC 681, dated March 18th, 1975, is another instance of an edited CAC 155 report (it seems, I've not looked at them exactly, just a quick glance) that talks about this work. It's the earliest mention of Unix in an RFC (the next one isn't until 2 years later for an email address for Dave Crocker DCrocker@Rand-Unix in RFC 724 in May 1977 after which it explodes in references). Warner

I think the 'd' slipped in during some editing. I've removed it. cagbef it is. Don't confuse quiz answers with absolute truth. All history is fiction to some extent. -rob On Thu, Jan 23, 2020 at 7:43 AM Clem Cole <clemc(a)ccc.com> wrote:

👍 On Wed, Jan 22, 2020 at 6:35 PM Warner Losh <imp(a)bsdimp.com> wrote: -- Sent from a handheld expect more typos than usual