[TUHS] Some 1980 Bell System UNIX Descriptions

[Jonathan Gray via TUHS]

On Sat, Oct 11, 2025 at 12:57:25AM +0000, segaloco via TUHS wrote:
> I've just today received Bell System Information and Operations
> Systems, March 1980, Issue 4, and several UNIX variants are listed
> therein.  Here I'll compile a few excerpts until such time as I can
> scan this.
> 
> ------------
> 
> First, simply "UNIX" in this manual refers to the USG Program Generic
> version.  From the description:
> 
> "Issue 3 was released as a standard product in 1977.  UNIX has been
> superseded by UNIX/TS in 4Q78."
> 
> The status is given as becoming supported Bell Labs project 4Q73
> (so referring to Program Generic starting in 1973?) and first
> supported as an "OTC" project 1Q76.  The only document reference
> is given as "Western Electric Generic Program PG1C300", and the
> points of contact are D.N. Weldon and B.A. Tague.
> 
> ------------
> 
> Unfortunately there is no "UNIX/TS" page, but there is a "UNIX/RT"
> page which as of this issue was renamed from MERT.  The description
> claims:
> 
> "UNIX/RT was released 1Q79."
> 
> References are given to some of the papers in the 1978 BSTJ issue
> and to the PWB/UNIX User's Manual.  The contacts are again given
> as Weldon and Tague.
> 
> ------------
> 
> The only other UNIX version directly documented is PWB/UNIX.  The
> description given is quite interesting, here's a couple excerpts:
> 
> "The Programmer's Workbench is a computing facility that provides
> a convenient working environment and a uniform set of tools for
> computer program development and text processing.  It is based on
> Bell Laboratories UNIX Time-Sharing System (UNIX/TS), so it is more
> properly known as PWB/UNIX.  PWB/UNIX has several component systems,
> each of which augments thr capabilities of UNIX/TS to provide the
> desired software development and text processing environment."
> 
> ...
> 
> "PWB/UNIX is a time sharing system released and supported by Bell
> Laboratories Area 90."
> 
> The status goes on to indicate the first installation was in October
> 1973.  The "software" field, which on many other pages indicates
> the OS environment something runs in, for this one lists simply
> UNIX/TS.  Finally the contacts include D.N. Weldon again as well
> as H.T. Gibson.
> 
> Again unfortunately no corresponding UNIX/TS entry is to he found
> in this manual, but between the USG PGIII page and PWB/UNIX
> description, it all makes UNIX/TS sound like the next Program
> Generic, on which more complex systems like PWB/UNIX and UNIX/RT
> are then rebased sometime in late '78.  That is just a hunch though,
> UNIX/TS remains an elusive figure, but there may be other systems
> in here built on top of UNIX/TS that shed a bit more light.  One
> possible assumption from this too is that UNIX/TS might have looked
> a bit like PWB/UNIX, just without RJE, SCCS, MRCS (Modification
> Request Control System), and troff and the rest of DWB, as these
> are all listed as component systems layered on top of UNIX/TS.

John Mashey described the relationship between PWB and TS in a May 1985
post to net.unix-wizards.

https://www.tuhs.org/Usenet/comp.unix.wizards/1985-May/008079.html
https://groups.google.com/g/net.unix-wizards/c/SLkG4v3wnuA/m/pgRSP-zc5AIJ

"PWB/UNIX 1.0  was a Version 6-based system, as was 1.1 & 1.2; only 1.0
was released outside, as I recall [which was too bad: 1.2 was a really
clean, well-tuned V6].

UNIX/TS 1.0 [my manual says Nov 78] was basically V7 + few kernel changes
derived from PWB + some USG Generic 3 stuff. It's goal was to get at least the
time-sharing kernel interface standard. It didn't have SCCS & other PWB
major user-level subsystems, although little things crept in.

PWB/UNIX 2.0 [June 1979] was UNIX/TS 1.0 + the rest of the PWB stuff.

UNIX 3.0 [June 1980] was System III.  Note there was no UNIX 2.0, whose
number was taken by the last PWB release.  Most of PWB/UNIX 2.0 was included."

Pirzada's thesis (pp 38-39, 42-43) gives some more background:

"In June, a task force (called the MOPS committee) set up to standardise
the use of minicomputer operating systems in the Bell System recommended
that PWB and USG UNIX should be combined into UNIX/TS (for Time Shared),
which would be based on v7"

p 65

"release descriptions for 1.0, 1.2, 2.0 and 2.1 and manuals for
1.0, 1.1, 1.2 and 2.0 were discovered with ex-PWB staff."