[TUHS] Historic Linux versions not on kernel.org

Michael Kjörling michael at kjorling.se
Sat Dec 31 21:13:39 AEST 2016


On 30 Dec 2016 16:33 -0700, from imp at bsdimp.com (Warner Losh):
> I have a ImageMagic CD that I got back in 1994 that I found in my
> garage. It has a bunch of versions of linux that aren't on kernel.org.
> The 0.99 series, the 0.98 series and what looks like 1.0 alpha pl14
> and pl15.
> 
> Is anybody here interested in them?

I might be colored by the fact that I'm running Linux myself, but I'd
say that those are almost certainly worth preserving somehow,
somewhere. Linux and OS X are the Unix-like systems people are most
likely to come in contact with these days, and preserving their
history seems worthwhile. Linux' is probably easier than that of OS X
at least outside of Apple.

That said, at least the 0.99 series _does_ seem to be available on
kernel.org: https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/Historic/v0.99/
has what looks like every version from 0.99 proper to 0.99.15. I'm not
finding 0.98 anywhere, though, nor anything like 1.0pl14 (but I do
notice a patchset to 1.0pl15 in the kernel/v1.0 directory). There are
also 0.0x and 0.1x versions there under kernel/Historic{,/old-versions}.
So it's definitely a mixed bag.

I would suggest contacting the kernel.org folks and ask if they are
interested in receiving the versions you have. You just might have
found a little historical treasure trove of early Linux development.

-- 
Michael Kjörling • https://michael.kjorling.semichael at kjorling.se
                 “People who think they know everything really annoy
                 those of us who know we don’t.” (Bjarne Stroustrup)



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