Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!ames!eos!shelby!neon!Kermit.Stanford.EDU!philip
From: philip@Kermit.Stanford.EDU (Philip Machanick)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: MPW Files command
Message-ID: <1990Jun8.224404.22098@Neon.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 8 Jun 90 22:44:04 GMT
References: <7257@gollum.twg.com> 1990May24.143823.961@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> <QaKzt2K00WB_4_U0RR@andrew.cmu.edu> <1990May24.160353.13292@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Sender: news@Neon.Stanford.EDU (USENET News System)
Reply-To: philip@pescadero.stanford.edu
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
Lines: 20

In article <7257@gollum.twg.com>, lefty@twg.com (David N. Schlesinger) writes:
> In article <1990May24.160353.13292@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> 
> dorner@pequod.cso.uiuc.edu (Steve Dorner) writes:
> > --------------------  ---- ---- ------ ---------- ---------------...
> > foo                   TEXT MPS      2K lvbspoimad  5/24/90 10:58 ...
> >                                            ^^
> >                                            ||
> >                                            What are these?
> 
> The "o" is the Open bit, lit if the file is currently open.  The "p" is 
> the Protected bit, also known (does anyone know WHY?) as the "Bozo" bit, 
> which, I believe, is not used these days for anything at all...

The story I heard was this was meant to implement copy protection, and
the "Bozo" name derived from someone's view of the effectiveness/usefulness
of the scheme (having a bit anyone with a low-level file editor could unset
to indicate copy protection).

Philip Machanick
philip@pescadero.stanford.edu