TUHS

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6418 discussions

by Norman Wilson

Robert T Morris (the son who committed the famous worm) was an intern at Bell Labs for a couple of summers while I was there. He certainly wasn't an idiot; he was a smart guy. Like many smart guys (and not-so-smart guys for that matter), however, he was a sloppy coder, and tended not to test enough. One of the jokes in the UNIX Room was that, had it been Bob Morris (the father) who did it, a. He wouldn't have done it, because he would have seen that it wasn't worth the potential big mess; but b. Had he done it, no one would ever have caught him, and probably no one would even have noticed the worm as it crept around. Norman Wilson Toronto ON

7 years, 2 months

Re: [TUHS] Happy birthday, Morris Worm!

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Doug McIlroy > A little known fact is that the judge leaned on the prosecutor to reduce > the charge to a misdemeanor and accepted the felony only when the > prosecuter secured specific backing from higher echelons at DOJ. I had a tangential role in the legal aftermath, and am interested to hear this. I hadn't had much to do with the actual outbreak, so I was not particularly watching the whole saga. However, on the evening news one day, I happened to catch video of him coming out of the court-house after his conviction: from the look on his face (he looked like his dog had died, and then someone had kicked him in the stomach) it was pretty clear that incareration (which is what the sentencing guidelines called for, for that offense) was totally inappropriate. So I decided to weigh in. I got advice from the Washington branch of then-Hale&Dorr (my legal people at the time), who were well connected inside the DoJ (they had people who'd been there, and also ex-H+D people were serving, etc). IIRC, they agreed with me that this was over-charging, given the specifics of the offender, etc. (I forget exactly what they told me of what they made of the prosecutor and his actions, but it was highly not positive.) So we organized the IESG to submit a filing in the case on the sentencing, and got everyone to sign on; apparently in the legal system when there is an professional organization in a field, its opinions weigh heavily, and the IESG, representing as it did the IETF, was the closest thing to it here. I don't know how big an effect our filing had, but the judge did depart very considerably from the sentencing guidelines (which called, IIRC, for several years of jail-time) and gave him probation/community-service. Not everyone was happy about our actions (particularly some who'd had to work on the cleanup), but I think in retrospect it was the right call - yeah, he effed up, but several years in jail was not the right punsishment, for him, and for this particular case (no data damaged/deleted/stolen/etc). YMMV. Noel

7 years, 2 months

Re: [TUHS] Happy birthday, Morris Worm!

by Doug McIlroy

> the idiot hadn't tested it on an isolated network first That would have "proved" that the worm worked safely, for once every host was infected, all would go quiet. Only half in jest, I have always held that Cornell was right to expel Morris, but their reason should have been his lack of appreciation of exponentials. (Full disclosure: I was a character witnesss at his trial. A little known fact is that the judge leaned on the prosecutor to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor and accepted the felony only when the prosecuter secured specific backing from higher echelons at DOJ.) Doug McIlroy

7 years, 2 months

Re: [TUHS] basic tools / Universal Unix

by Norman Wilson

I too remember TECO. In my TOPS-10 days I was quite a whiz at it. Then I encountered UNIX and ed, and never looked back. Cryptic programmability is fun, but a simple but well-chosen set of commands including the g/v pair made me more efficient in the end. it could just be that ed is a better fit for the shape of my brain. C struck me similarly. Norman Wilson Toronto ON (Actually in the Bay Area for a few days for LISA, in case any UNIXtorians want to meet up.)

7 years, 2 months

Re: [TUHS] basic tools / Universal Unix

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Dave Horsfall > I'm glad that I'm not the only one who remembers TECO Urp. I wish I _didn't_ remember TECO! "TECO Madness: A moment of convenience, a lifetime of regret." - Dave Moon (For those who didn't catch the reference, here: https://www.gammalyte.com/tag/reefer-madness/ you go.) Noel

7 years, 2 months

Re: [TUHS] basic tools / Universal Unix

by Clem Cole

On Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 12:39 PM, Jon Steinhart <jon(a)fourwinds.com> wrote: > > I have a similar and maybe even more extreme position. When I was a > manager > I placed restrictions on the tools and customizations for members of my > team. > My goal was to make sure that any team member could go over to any other > team > member's desk and get stuff done. And I think this loops back to what started some of this threat. The idea of a programmer with 'good taste.' Rob (and Brian) railed on BSD in cat -v considered harmful <http://harmful.cat-v.org/cat-v/> and ‘*Program Design in the UNIX Environment*’ (pdf version <http://harmful.cat-v.org/cat-v/unix_prog_design.pdf>, ps version <http://harmful.cat-v.org/cat-v/unix_prog_design.ps>) but the points in it was then and are still now, fresh: What is it that you need to get the job done - to me, that is Doug's "Universal Unix" concept. When I answer questions on quora about learning Linux and other UNIX derivative, I still point them at their book: *The Unix Programming Environment <http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/013937681X?ie=UTF8&tag=catv-20&linkCode=as…>* I would say, if the can login into the system and complete the exercises in UPE without having to make changes, you are pretty close to Doug's "Universal UNIX" environment. And if you can use the tools, without having to think about them and they pretty much are what you rely upon everyday, you are getting close to my ideal of 'good taste.' Clem

7 years, 2 months

First ARPAnet transmission

by Dave Horsfall

Of interest to the old farts here... At 22:30 (but which timezone?) on this day in 1969 the first packet got as far as "LO" ("LOGIN"?) then crashed. More details, anyone? -- Dave Horsfall DTM (VK2KFU) "Those who don't understand security will suffer."

7 years, 2 months

Re: [TUHS] Charles Forsyth on putting Unix on a diet.

by Norman Wilson

Chris Torek: You're not perpendicular to your own surface? :-) === I'm not as limber as I used to be. Besides, I'm left-handed, so what use would I have for right angles? Norman Wilson Toronto ON (I don't wish to know that)

7 years, 2 months

Re: [TUHS] Charles Forsyth on putting Unix on a diet.

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Steve Nickolas > I personally believe a lot of code in modern operating systems is larger > than the task requires. The "operating" is superfluous. Noel

7 years, 2 months

Re: [TUHS] Charles Forsyth on putting Unix on a diet.

by Norman Wilson

George Michaelson: wish I hadn't read "Norman Wilson" as "Norman Wisdom" (british prat-fall comedian in the style of Jerry Lewis) === It's much better than the more-common typo in which people call me normal. Neither accurate nor an aspiration. Norman Wilson Toronto ON

7 years, 2 months

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TUHS