Hello, I'd like to share some analysis from my recent Sixth Edition pass of my
mandiff repository. For the V5-V6 diff, I opted for a branching approach, starting with a
last universal common ancestor (which isn't quite right [1]). I compared each set of
changes with the MERT0, PWB 1.0, CB-UNIX 2.3, 32V, and to a lesser extent V7 and System
III manuals attempting to suss out the spiderweb of changes between them all. I created a
series of branches representing last common changes between groups of branches as well.
This has resulted in a littering of merge commits in the repository, but a banana's
gonna have a peel.
A few important points about document genealogy here:
- The MERT0 manual, in the introduction, denotes descent from the USG Program Generic
3 manual. Furthermore, there is a listing of which pages would be replaced, which also
serves as a key to which pages should be PG3 original text. However, the hs(IV) and
ht(IV) pages make reference to specific MERT pages, so I question the veracity of this
list. In any case, for the purposes of this analysis, much may extrapolate to USG PG3 as
well. More study is needed.
- The CB-UNIX manual currently available is Edition 2.3. In studying the numbering
system for CB, I've found that this represents Release 2, Issue 3, as in the kernel
there are references to releases, not editions. The clue is in one of the manpages
somewhere, I don't recollect as of this typing where, but that'll come back
around soon enough. The manual itself appears to be from a binder that was once a CB-UNIX
2.1 binder and had select pages replaced. There are some bits and pieces of 2.1 pages
that were otherwise slated to be replaced, alluding to things like the /etc/lines file in
common with PG3. In any case I've prioritized 2.1 changes over 2.3 changes where
they can be determined, but like PG3, no complete picture can be determined of 2.1 from
available documentation.
For each of the branches, the following number of files in total reflect V5-V6 changes
which aren't incorporated:
- 32V: 7
- PWB: 15
- MERT0: 46
Of these MERT0 has the greatest number of items lacking research's upstream changes
from late '74-early '75. Among them:
- Has a V5-ish bas(I), no rc(I) (ratfor) at all
- The group system is not present, newgrp(I), group(V), chgrp(VIII), etc. are nowhere
to be found
- nice(I) has no priority argument, simply sets a "low priority"
- TTYs are still referred to as "teletypes" instead of
"typewriters" in many places
- there are 10 TTYs max so many commands don't reflect adjustments for two-digit
IDs (ps(I) in particular is quite different, very V5)
- retains the lpr print command (which shows up again in 32V and System III)
- additionally, according to the replacement page list, PG3 retained the fed and form
editing programs
- Program Generic may not have had a man(I) page, as the one here is a MERT0 addition,
hard to say
CB tragically needs to be remerged, found as I was typing this up the system call section
got an errant merge with V6 changes that shouldn't be there. Needless to say there
is much in section II of the CB manual that leans more V5-ish than V6-ish. PWB differs in
minor ways.
The differences can be found in this list
https://gitlab.com/segaloco/mandiff/-/merge_requests?scope=all&state=cl…
Each of the obviously labeled, closed merges represents a snapshot diff of the particular
branch in question. As stated, the CB branch currently is in dire straits, I'm going
to work that up again sometime in the future, but I should be able to use this to produce
diff-able reproductions of the MERT0 and CB-UNIX 2.3 manual sources for this repository,
as well as any other materials that may pop up.
- Matt G.
[1] - This pass I did not take good notes on such matters, but there are a few pages
I'll anecdotally say reflect contents predating V5 sprinkled amongst the various
manuals. I will consult with previous diffs when questions arise on in-depth analysis of
the non-research changes in the branches. In any case the historical record already
confirms CB-UNIX at the very least branched off quite early.