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From: torek@elf.ee.lbl.gov (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: AT&T "nth Edition" vs. "Release n"
Message-ID: <10556@dog.ee.lbl.gov>
Date: 4 Mar 91 11:21:55 GMT
References: <6798@idunno.Princeton.EDU> <1991Mar3.233814.14234@frey.newcastle.edu.au>
Reply-To: torek@elf.ee.lbl.gov (Chris Torek)
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley
Lines: 71
X-Local-Date: Mon, 4 Mar 91 03:21:55 PST

In article <1991Mar3.233814.14234@frey.newcastle.edu.au>
alan@frey.newcastle.edu.au (Alan Hargreaves) writes:
>ok, easy really. nth Edition refers to the revision of the UNIX manuals
>inside AT&T. ie each time the manuals have changed substantially from the last
>set, n gets incremented.

Correct so far, but only if you choose the proper meaning of `inside AT&T'.

>eg the version that the original system V was based on was 8th edition,
>i believe that the current manual set is 10th edition.

Nay, not so.  (Were I one of the authors of 8th edition Unix, I would
find the implication `System V reflects V8' insulting and/or revolting.
Fortunately, I am firmly in the `BSD is the one true Unix' camp. :-) )

V8 was to a large extent a simplified, fixed-up, and rewritten version
of 4.1BSD, and its relationship to System V (any release) could best
be described as `distant cousin' (usually as distant as possible :-) ).
A full description of the history of Unix is beyond the scope of this
netnews article, but a *very* simplified family tree might look something
like this:

				V5 (`5th edition')
					|
					v
				V6 (`6th edition')
					|
				       / \
				      /   \
				     /	   \
				    /	    \
				   v	     v
				 PWB	     V7
				  |	     |
				  v	     v
				SysIII	    32/V
				  |	     |
				  v	     v
				SysV	    3BSD
					     |
					     v
					  4.0BSD
					     |
					     v
					  4.1BSD
					     |
					    / \
					   /   \
					  /	\
					 /	 \
					/	  \
				       v	   v
				     4.2BSD	V8 (`8th edition')
				       |	   |
				       v	   v
				     4.3BSD	  V9 --> V10

Until recently, for instance, the `base' technology in System V (by
which I mean `the algorithms that had not been rewritten or otherwise
fixed to handle modern systems') dated back to the mid 1970s, rather
than the mid-1980s (which is when many of the `base' algorithms in the
4.2BSD kernel were redone [FS & IPC; the VM was left rotting and is
only now being fixed---but at least expansion swaps were just a last
resort, rather than an everyday occurrence as in SysV]).

Incidentally, the `AT&T' which can correctly be used to name `V10 Unix'
is `AT&T Bell Laboratories' (or have they changed its name again, already?
:-) ).
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Lawrence Berkeley Lab EE div (+1 415 486 5427)
Berkeley, CA		Domain:	torek@ee.lbl.gov