Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!brl-adm!brl-smoke!gwyn
From: gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn )
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: AT&T/Sun merged UNIX
Message-ID: <7192@brl-smoke.ARPA>
Date: 29 Jan 88 18:39:40 GMT
References: <398@grand.UUCP> <7766@sunybcs.UUCP> <1387@winchester.mips.COM> <7184@brl-smoke.ARPA> <40109@sun.uucp>
Reply-To: gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn (VLD/VMB) <gwyn>)
Organization: Ballistic Research Lab (BRL), APG, MD.
Lines: 24

In article <40109@sun.uucp> guy@gorodish.Sun.COM (Guy Harris) writes:
>> >... Bill Joy ... stated that all the design
>> >specification work had already been done.
>> I sure hope that whatever is done will track the POSIX FIPS (and ANSI C) specs.
>I don't know why people fear that the merged UNIX would *not* do either of
>those.
>(Disclaimer: I do not speak officially here for AT&T nor for Sun.)

Ok, here's why people might worry.  How can the design specification
work be "done" and the design still track an evolving standard that
has NOT yet been "done"?  We also haven't heard the intention of
complying with the standards from the particular crop of people
involved with this project, and I don't think they've been reported
as stating that as one of the project goals.  The ones who reassured
us about this previously do not seem to be involved this time.  (For
example, the related question, "Does this mean that the merged
Xenix/System V is also going to have the SunOS stuff in it, or will
the result be two separate, different System V products?", hasn't
been answered publicly by an official spokesman, to the best of my
knowledge.)

Of course it would be pretty stupid for the AT&T/Sun merged OS
project to not track the standards, but they haven't been immune
from stupidity in the past.