[TUHS] 1bsd compatible ar utility

[segaloco via TUHS]

On Wednesday, July 22nd, 2026 at 12:20, Will Senn via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:

> Hi All,
> 
> I am working through a 1BSD installation on Research Unix V6.
> The||cont.a archives use magic |0177545|, which stock V6 ar does not
> understand. V7 appears to be able to, but on V6 it immediately dies with
> |Bad system call|. Inspection shows references to later calls including
> |access|and |ioctl|, so it appears to have been linked against a post-V6
> libc. I came across some old emails talking about this and an nar
> utility... Does anyone know where the source for this |nar|utility
> lives, or of a V6-native |ar|that supports |0177545|archives?
> 
> newoldar on the host works fine, too, but I'd rather not extract on the
> host. I'm hoping to do this native. I'm working with a pristine v6
> installed from tape on pdp 11/70 with split I/D and FPP (opensimh).
> 
> 1BSD doesn't include an ar utility in the tarball on TUHS. Did folks not
> do this from pure v6? or what?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Will
> 

Both USG PG3 and PWB1 have copies of ar(I) featuring the NARMAG value of 0177545, they may prove useful.

https://www.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=USG_PG3/usr/source/cmd1/ar.c
https://www.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=PWB1/sys/source/s1/ar.c

- Matt G.