[TUHS] Macs and future unix derivatives

[M Douglas McIlroy]

> Do they *really* want something which is just V7 Unix, with nothing else?
> No TCP/IP, no hot-plug USB support?  No web browsing?

> Oh, you wanted more than that?  Feature bloat!  Feature bloat!
> Feature bloat!   Shame!  Shame!   Shame!

% ls /usr/share/man/man2|wc
    495     495    7230
% ls /bin|wc
   2809    2809   30468

How many of roughly 500 system calls (to say nothing of uncounted
ioctl's) do you think are necessary for writing those few crucial
capabilities that distinguish Linux from v7? There is
undeniably bloat, but only a sliver of it contributes to the
distinctive utility of today's systems.

Or consider this. Unix grew by about 39 system calls in its first
decade, but an average of 40
per decade ever since. Is this accelerated growth more symptomatic of
maturity or of cancer?

Doug