22 Dec
2022
22 Dec
'22
6:52 p.m.
Rather than increase subject drift on a thread I started
"UNIX on (not quite bare) System/370", here's a new thread.
Since the TUHS archive seems to now include documentation,
I decided to take a look and see if the earliest UNIX manual I have
is in the archive:
It was given to me by a friend at Stevens Tech in Hoboken NJ (c. 1980)
who had graduated, and worked for AT&T.
It's hole punched for a four ring binder
(I found an unused Bell System Project Telstar binder to put it in).
The cover page has:
Upper left corner:
Bell Telephone Laboratories Incorperated
PROGRAM APPLICATION INSTRUCTION
Upper right corner:
PA-1C300-01
Section 1
Issue 1, January 1976
AT&TCo SPCS
Center:
UNIX PROGRAMMER'S MANUAL
Program Generic PG-1C300 Issue 2
Published by the UNIX Support Group
January, 1976
The preface starts with:
This document is published as part of the UNIX Operating System Program Generic,
PG-1C300 Issue 2. The development of the Program Generic is the result of the
efforts of the members of the UNIX Support Group, supervised by J.F. Maranzano
and composed of: R. B. Brant, J. Feder, C. D. Perez. T. M. Raleigh, R. E. Swift,
G. C. Vogel and I. A. Winheim.
and ends with
For corrections and comments please contact C. D. Perez, MH 2C-423, Extension
6041.
Not knowing who else I could ask, I brought it to a Boston Usenix (in
the 90's or oughts), and asked DMR if he could identify it. He said
it was an early supported UNIX, and he signed the preface page for me.
The manual has sections I through VIII; all manual pages start with page -1-
I found
https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Distributions/USDL/unix_program_description_ja…
with cover page:
UNIX PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Program Generic PG-1C300 Issue 2
Published by the UNIX Support Group
January 1976
contents:
NUMBER ISSUE TITLE
PD-1C301-01 1 Operating System
PD-1C302-01 1 Device Drivers Section 1
PD-1C303-01 1 Device Drivers Section 2
And consists of descriptions of kernel functions.
So it seems likely that my manual is a companion to that.
I have a Brother printer/scanner, but the paper is fragile, so unless
it's of immediate and burning value to someone, it's unlikely to rise
to the top of my ever-static list of documents to scan....
But if someone has specific questions I can look up, let me know....
22 Dec
22 Dec
7:51 p.m.
That is exciting news and I wish you all the best with scanning efforts!
One area of immediate curiosity for me is the init system, whether the pages suggest it is
more in line with research (rc and ttys files) or TS (inittab, runlevels).
- Matt G.
------- Original Message -------
On Thursday, December 22nd, 2022 at 10:52 AM, Phil Budne <phil(a)ultimate.com> wrote:
Rather than increase subject drift on a thread I
started
"UNIX on (not quite bare) System/370", here's a new thread.
Since the TUHS archive seems to now include documentation,
I decided to take a look and see if the earliest UNIX manual I have
is in the archive:
It was given to me by a friend at Stevens Tech in Hoboken NJ (c. 1980)
who had graduated, and worked for AT&T.
It's hole punched for a four ring binder
(I found an unused Bell System Project Telstar binder to put it in).
The cover page has:
Upper left corner:
Bell Telephone Laboratories Incorperated
PROGRAM APPLICATION INSTRUCTION
Upper right corner:
PA-1C300-01
Section 1
Issue 1, January 1976
AT&TCo SPCS
Center:
UNIX PROGRAMMER'S MANUAL
Program Generic PG-1C300 Issue 2
Published by the UNIX Support Group
January, 1976
The preface starts with:
This document is published as part of the UNIX Operating System Program Generic,
PG-1C300 Issue 2. The development of the Program Generic is the result of the
efforts of the members of the UNIX Support Group, supervised by J.F. Maranzano
and composed of: R. B. Brant, J. Feder, C. D. Perez. T. M. Raleigh, R. E. Swift,
G. C. Vogel and I. A. Winheim.
and ends with
For corrections and comments please contact C. D. Perez, MH 2C-423, Extension
6041.
Not knowing who else I could ask, I brought it to a Boston Usenix (in
the 90's or oughts), and asked DMR if he could identify it. He said
it was an early supported UNIX, and he signed the preface page for me.
The manual has sections I through VIII; all manual pages start with page -1-
I found
https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Distributions/USDL/unix_program_description_ja…
with cover page:
UNIX PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Program Generic PG-1C300 Issue 2
Published by the UNIX Support Group
January 1976
contents:
NUMBER ISSUE TITLE
PD-1C301-01 1 Operating System
PD-1C302-01 1 Device Drivers Section 1
PD-1C303-01 1 Device Drivers Section 2
And consists of descriptions of kernel functions.
So it seems likely that my manual is a companion to that.
I have a Brother printer/scanner, but the paper is fragile, so unless
it's of immediate and burning value to someone, it's unlikely to rise
to the top of my ever-static list of documents to scan....
But if someone has specific questions I can look up, let me know....
9:44 p.m.
Matt G wrote:
One area of immediate curiosity for me is the init
system, whether the pages suggest it is more in line with research (rc and ttys files) or
TS (inittab, runlevels).
The init (VII) page mentions /etc/rc and refers to ttys (V) which says the file
consists of lines with three characters (enable, tty name, getty arg)
getty (VII) describes behaviors for 0, -, 1, 2
The one interesting bit in section (II) is lock (system call 62.) that
implements semaphores with subfunctions lock/unlock/tlock, all of
which take a non-negative semaphore ID called a flag.
9:55 p.m.
Drat, the origin of SysIII init remains obscure...it's not in PWB 1, now not in USG
Issue 2...so either PWB2, USG Issue 3 (or later) or UNIX/TS.....or maybe it's an
older CB variant...anywho thank you for the quick response!
- Matt G.
------- Original Message -------
On Thursday, December 22nd, 2022 at 1:44 PM, Phil Budne <phil(a)ultimate.com> wrote:
Matt G wrote:
One area of immediate curiosity for me is the
init system, whether the pages suggest it is more in line with research (rc and ttys
files) or TS (inittab, runlevels).
The init (VII) page mentions /etc/rc and refers to ttys (V) which says the file
consists of lines with three characters (enable, tty name, getty arg)
getty (VII) describes behaviors for 0, -, 1, 2
The one interesting bit in section (II) is lock (system call 62.) that
implements semaphores with subfunctions lock/unlock/tlock, all of
which take a non-negative semaphore ID called a flag. 
24 Dec
24 Dec
3:30 a.m.
On Thu, Dec 22, 2022 at 04:44:32PM -0500, Phil Budne wrote:
Matt G wrote:
used by MERT:
https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Documentation/Manuals/MERT_Release_0/Unix%20Pr…
"The semaphores provided in the MERT/UNIX supervisor are identical to
those provided by the USG-UNIX Generic 3 system [8].
[8] Brandt, R. B., Implementation of Semaphores and Messages in UNIX,
MF-76-8234-076."
https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Documentation/TechReports/Heinz_Tech_Memos/TM-…
"Make (a program for maintaining other programs) was launched at the
CSRC towards the end of the year and was immediately adopted by USG for
the next generic release (PG-1C300 issue 2). This was a snapshot of the
USG system at mod level 3.33 (January 1976) indicating at least three
distinct levels of evolution: the generic releases, major and minor USG
mod levels."
"Generic 3.0 was released in spring 1977 (delayed from January)."
Pirzada, A Statistical Examination of The Evolution of the UNIX System
"I do remember a conversation with Dennis about semaphores, though.
He mentioned that no less than five groups inside of Bell Labs had
hacked semaphores into the kernel. Each group did it differently."
Steve Johnson
https://minnie.tuhs.org/pipermail/tuhs/2017-February/009748.html
In CB-UNIX there was sema(2):
https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Distributions/USDL/CB_Unix/cbunix_man2_04.pdf
In System V Release 1, semctl(2), semget(2), semop(2)
http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/att/unix/System_V_Release_1/301-905_UNIX_Syste…
xenix creatsem(2), opensem(2), sigsem(2), waitsem(2)
http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/intel/system3xx/xenix-286/174385-001_Overview_…
One area of immediate curiosity for me is the
init system, whether the pages suggest it is more in line with research (rc and ttys
files) or TS (inittab, runlevels).
The init (VII) page mentions /etc/rc and refers to ttys (V) which says the file
consists of lines with three characters (enable, tty name, getty arg)
getty (VII) describes behaviors for 0, -, 1, 2
The one interesting bit in section (II) is lock (system call 62.) that
implements semaphores with subfunctions lock/unlock/tlock, all of
which take a non-negative semaphore ID called a flag.
8:58 a.m.
Your reference to sema(2) in CB-UNIX prompted me to go check the source and curiously,
that isn't in sysent.c:
https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Distributions/USDL/CB_Unix/SourceCode/cbunix6.… (p. 50).
However, there is a sys5.c with some semaphore stuff in it. Not how the code gets from
the sigcall entry to that file, maybe there's a CB-specific syscall aggregator like
the sys3b systemcall for 3B20-specific stuff. It had never actually occurred to me that
the semaphores in SVR1 weren't the ones from CB-UNIX, I thought they just forklifted
all the IPC into 4.0 from CB. That then means the semaphores that carried through in
System V originated at least in UNIX/TS 4.0, but not by way of CB. Minor trivia, but
that's news to me. Maybe the sysV modification request logs can shed some light, I
remember seeing several IPC mentions in there.
- Matt G.
------- Original Message -------
On Friday, December 23rd, 2022 at 7:30 PM, Jonathan Gray <jsg(a)jsg.id.au> wrote:
On Thu, Dec 22, 2022 at 04:44:32PM -0500, Phil Budne
wrote:
Matt G wrote:
used by MERT:
https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Documentation/Manuals/MERT_Release_0/Unix Programmer Manual
- UPM - White Tabs/System Calls - man2/lock.2.pdf
"The semaphores provided in the MERT/UNIX supervisor are identical to
those provided by the USG-UNIX Generic 3 system [8].
[8] Brandt, R. B., Implementation of Semaphores and Messages in UNIX,
MF-76-8234-076."
https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Documentation/TechReports/Heinz_Tech_Memos/TM-…
"Make (a program for maintaining other programs) was launched at the
CSRC towards the end of the year and was immediately adopted by USG for
the next generic release (PG-1C300 issue 2). This was a snapshot of the
USG system at mod level 3.33 (January 1976) indicating at least three
distinct levels of evolution: the generic releases, major and minor USG
mod levels."
"Generic 3.0 was released in spring 1977 (delayed from January)."
Pirzada, A Statistical Examination of The Evolution of the UNIX System
"I do remember a conversation with Dennis about semaphores, though.
He mentioned that no less than five groups inside of Bell Labs had
hacked semaphores into the kernel. Each group did it differently."
Steve Johnson
https://minnie.tuhs.org/pipermail/tuhs/2017-February/009748.html
In CB-UNIX there was sema(2):
https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Distributions/USDL/CB_Unix/cbunix_man2_04.pdf
In System V Release 1, semctl(2), semget(2), semop(2)
http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/att/unix/System_V_Release_1/301-905_UNIX_Syste…
xenix creatsem(2), opensem(2), sigsem(2), waitsem(2)
http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/intel/system3xx/xenix-286/174385-001_Overview_…
One area of immediate curiosity for me is the
init system, whether the pages suggest it is more in line with research (rc and ttys
files) or TS (inittab, runlevels).
The init (VII) page mentions /etc/rc and refers to ttys (V) which says the file
consists of lines with three characters (enable, tty name, getty arg)
getty (VII) describes behaviors for 0, -, 1, 2
The one interesting bit in section (II) is lock (system call 62.) that
implements semaphores with subfunctions lock/unlock/tlock, all of
which take a non-negative semaphore ID called a flag.
10:30 a.m.
On Sat, Dec 24, 2022 at 08:58:06AM +0000, segaloco via TUHS wrote:
Your reference to sema(2) in CB-UNIX prompted me to go
check the source and curiously, that isn't in sysent.c:
https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Distributions/USDL/CB_Unix/SourceCode/cbunix6.… (p. 50).
However, there is a sys5.c with some semaphore stuff in it. Not how the code gets from
the sigcall entry to that file, maybe there's a CB-specific syscall aggregator like
the sys3b systemcall for 3B20-specific stuff. It had never actually occurred to me that
the semaphores in SVR1 weren't the ones from CB-UNIX, I thought they just forklifted
all the IPC into 4.0 from CB. That then means the semaphores that carried through in
System V originated at least in UNIX/TS 4.0, but not by way of CB. Minor trivia, but
that's news to me. Maybe the sysV modification request logs can shed some light, I
remember seeing several IPC mentions in there.
- Matt G.
https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Distributions/USDL/CB_Unix/cbunix_man2L_01.pdf
describes 'EVENT:O(2L), event - semaphore operations',
event() is system call 63 in cbunix6.pdf sysent
USG UNIX 4.0 and 4.1 IPC were not the same:
https://groups.google.com/g/net.unix/c/-H9x36DMOBQ/m/4mcL76lKbmMJ
23 Dec
23 Dec
8:47 a.m.
New subject: Book Scanning. (Was: Early supported UNIX manual)
Hi Phil,
I have a Brother printer/scanner, but the paper is
fragile
There are book scanners which take photographs of the pages at a
distance, typically with the manual turning of pages. Or cradles which
hold the book and the mobile phone that does the snapping. Or just
mobile-phone apps leaving the lighting and physical positioning up to
you. Removing page curvature is done in software.
https://diybookscanner.org may be useful, especially its forum.
Or perhaps there's experience with ‘photo scanning’ on this list.
--
Cheers, Ralph.
7 Jan
7 Jan
7:03 a.m.
On Thu, Dec 22, 2022 at 01:52:22PM -0500, Phil Budne wrote:
Rather than increase subject drift on a thread I
started
"UNIX on (not quite bare) System/370", here's a new thread.
Since the TUHS archive seems to now include documentation,
I decided to take a look and see if the earliest UNIX manual I have
is in the archive:
It was given to me by a friend at Stevens Tech in Hoboken NJ (c. 1980)
who had graduated, and worked for AT&T.
It's hole punched for a four ring binder
(I found an unused Bell System Project Telstar binder to put it in).
The cover page has:
Upper left corner:
Bell Telephone Laboratories Incorperated
PROGRAM APPLICATION INSTRUCTION
Upper right corner:
PA-1C300-01
Section 1
Issue 1, January 1976
AT&TCo SPCS
Center:
UNIX PROGRAMMER'S MANUAL
Program Generic PG-1C300 Issue 2
Published by the UNIX Support Group
January, 1976
now available on bitsavers thanks to Al Kossow:
https://bitsavers.org/pdf/att/unix/6th_Edition/
The preface starts with:
This document is published as part of the UNIX Operating System Program Generic,
PG-1C300 Issue 2. The development of the Program Generic is the result of the
efforts of the members of the UNIX Support Group, supervised by J.F. Maranzano
and composed of: R. B. Brant, J. Feder, C. D. Perez. T. M. Raleigh, R. E. Swift,
G. C. Vogel and I. A. Winheim.
and ends with
For corrections and comments please contact C. D. Perez, MH 2C-423, Extension
6041.
Not knowing who else I could ask, I brought it to a Boston Usenix (in
the 90's or oughts), and asked DMR if he could identify it. He said
it was an early supported UNIX, and he signed the preface page for me.
The manual has sections I through VIII; all manual pages start with page -1-
I found
https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Distributions/USDL/unix_program_description_ja…
with cover page:
UNIX PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Program Generic PG-1C300 Issue 2
Published by the UNIX Support Group
January 1976
contents:
NUMBER ISSUE TITLE
PD-1C301-01 1 Operating System
PD-1C302-01 1 Device Drivers Section 1
PD-1C303-01 1 Device Drivers Section 2
And consists of descriptions of kernel functions.
So it seems likely that my manual is a companion to that.
I have a Brother printer/scanner, but the paper is fragile, so unless
it's of immediate and burning value to someone, it's unlikely to rise
to the top of my ever-static list of documents to scan....
But if someone has specific questions I can look up, let me know....
10:38 a.m.
On 1/6/24 11:03 PM, Jonathan Gray wrote:
I left my name on the scan because this is the oldest
Unix manual I've collected. It was given to me in the
70s by someone at Indian Hill when we were bringing
up his 11/40 at home to run V6. It was the first
Unix system I was able to use.
Center:
UNIX PROGRAMMER'S MANUAL
Program Generic PG-1C300 Issue 2
Published by the UNIX Support Group
January, 1976
now available on bitsavers thanks to Al Kossow:
https://bitsavers.org/pdf/att/unix/6th_Edition/
3:27 p.m.
When I showed my copy of the manual to Dennis Ritchie at a Usenix, and
asked him to identify it (and autograph it), he described it as "very
early supported UNIX".
I think of "Nth Edition" or "Version N" as releases (of the manual)
from the "research" group, and this manual is for something _close_ to
6th Edition, but it's not, in the strict sense, v6.
Not that I can tell you an easy name for what to call it!
5:21 p.m.
On Sunday, January 7th, 2024 at 7:27 AM, Phil Budne <phil(a)ultimate.com> wrote:
Not that I can tell you an easy name for what to call
it!
I've just been referring to these as "PGs" for short, so USG PGII. The
MERT manual on the archive is visually similar to this one, as one would expect since it
is based on PGIII. Very very cool to see this finally, thanks Al! One more down, I
believe someone on list has confirmed ownership of a PGIII manual as well, but I'm
not sure if the very first issue even had print manuals distributed. Program Generic is a
bit obscure given the earliness of it but my understanding is that it served both as the
standard supported UNIX for computer users in the Bell System *and* as the standard base
for UNIX-based projects that weren't butted right up against research (e.g. MERT.)
I've seen this "Generic" nomenclature used for other such things in Bell
System literature, representing a "stock" version of some technology prior to
differentiation into separate products. It's actually used later in UNIX releases
too, a 3B20S document refers to the UNIX Release as the time as "the latest
Generic(sic)". I believe this capitalization points to similar naming influences.
First thing I looked for but couldn't find is a reference to what macro package was
used for these documents. You can see the same style in both the PGII program description
document and the MERT 0 manual. I suspect there's some connection between this and
the OSDD package but that's currently just an assumption based on this also looking
somewhat BSP-ish in select code, date, etc presentation in the header. The existence of
the program description document leads me to believe there were other such secondary
documents distinct from the Volume 2 documents, but this is just a hunch. Either way,
this'll certainly help my manual diffing efforts!
- Matt G.
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segaloco