Lyndon Nerenberg: A well designed system without library bloat can pump out some pretty skinny static binaries. ======= V6, for example. Or even V7 if carefully pruned. Once upon a time, I made an RK05 disk (5MB) with a stripped-down post-V7 for an 11/45. It had just enough programs to allow basic file manipulation and text-processing. We used this compact system to allow our secretaries (in a small university department in the early 1980s) to continue typing up papers and letters on the day the machine-room air conditioning was being replaced. With the doors standing open and a big fan, we were willing to leave the 11/45 running, but not the VAX-11/780. Due to contractor screwups (when the chilled water was turned on, it rained up and down the hall--many poorly-soldered joints in the copper pipes), we actually needed this for a couple of days, so for safety I shut the system down every evening, removed the RK05 cartridge, and took it downstairs to the 11/34 that had a tape drive, where I booted RT11 and took an image backup with ROLLOUT. Norman Wilson Toronto ON