[TUHS] BSD/OS

[Kevin Bowling]

On Sat, Aug 31, 2024 at 11:49 AM Chet Ramey <chet.ramey at case.edu> wrote:
>
> On 8/31/24 12:40 AM, Kevin Bowling wrote:
>
> > BSD/386 seems to be a first order derivative of net/2.  Source:
> > https://ia902809.us.archive.org/25/items/BSD3861.1CD/bsd1.1-manual.pdf.
> > To what degree that it incorporated anything from 386bsd would
> > probably rely on first hand accounts.
>
> We ran all of these at CWRU for many years. The mail system, DNS, and
> other services all ran on BSD/OS machines. Nice, clean distribution
> will full source code and excellent support.
>
> > I don't have much to go on for BSD/OS 2.x but it seems like it was
> > about rebasing on 4.4-lite if we look at the family tree
> > http://www.netbsd.org/about/history.html
>
> This is about where we got seriously into the game. I probably still have
> the source for it somewhere.
>
> I did a bunch of development on that version.
>
> > Not much sourcing to go on for BSD/OS 3.x.
>
> Probably have the source for this, too.

By sourcing I was meaning finding primary documentation for my
summary.  I am only pointing this out to make a related point that is
worth recording:  BSD/OS always seemed to ship with the source code,
and it was "easy" to build unlike some commercial UNIX where the
source was provided ceremonially and had complicated build processes.

In that respect, BSD/OS is a "source provided" commercial program and
this seems to be making a reappearance lately as some companies are
deciding whether or not they still like open source licenses or
struggling to meet inflated expectations of their fundraising.

Many of the BSD/OS versions have disc images on archive.org or
osarchive.org where the 7.4GB rar file was helpful for getting a 5.1
contrib disc since the archive.org one is corrupt.  So the binaries
and source seem fairly well preserved for future explorers.

> >
> > Luckily for BSD/OS 4.x we get some release notes:
> > * https://ia600908.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/22/items/bsdos-4.01/bsdos-4.01-binary.iso&file=RELEASENOTES.pdf
> > * https://ia800900.us.archive.org/view_archive.php?archive=/21/items/bsdos-4.1/bsdos-4.1-binary.iso&file=RELEASENOTES.pdf
>
> We definitely used these versions heavily, up through the mid-aughts.
>
> > For 5.x I again don't have much to go on
>
> I think I have a box with this distribution in my office. That was
> after I got out of the server game.
>
> >
> > And what I was initially after, a comparative report on how BSD/OS
> > related to others:
> > https://www.usenix.org/legacy/events/usenix99/full_papers/metz/metz.pdf
> > (page 6)
> >
> > I would be pretty confident in saying BSD/OS is _not_ a FreeBSD
> > derivative but a first order derivative of net/2 that eventually wound
> > up looking a little bit like FreeBSD in its later years.
>
> Yep.
>
> BSDI employed a bunch of BSD heavy hitters.
>
> Mike Karels
> Keith Bostic
> Donn Seeley
> Chris Torek
> Rob Kolstad (President)
> Jeff Honig
> Bill Jolitz
> Kirk McKusick (one of the founders)
>
> They were a pleasure to work with.
>
> Chet
>
> --
> ``The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.'' - Chaucer
>                  ``Ars longa, vita brevis'' - Hippocrates
> Chet Ramey, UTech, CWRU    chet at case.edu    http://tiswww.cwru.edu/~chet/