Re: [TUHS] Illumos )

My memories are somewhat fuzzy on this issue, but I vividly remember the file corruptions. The earliest Unix systems had a file format that limited the size of a file to a size that proved to be too small. So Ken put in a "large file" format as well. All files started out as small, but as they grew they had to be rejiggered to become large files. If the system crashed while this rejiggering was going on, the file was toast. The saving grace was that most of us were using model 33 or 37 teletypes, so we had our edit history on paper. When the system crashed, I picked up a highlighter I kept next to the terminal, reeled in the paper that had piled up behind the terminal, and highlighted the lines that would need to be entered again. One memorable day, I was working at home and the system crashed right before lunch. It was several hours before I could get back to the terminal, and I discovered to my horror that our cat had mistaken the pile of paper behind the terminal for her litter box. Yes, I really did pick up a highlighter and followed the usual plan, but I had to get another color since the yellow didn't show up very well... A later revision of the file system eliminated the small/large file distinction, and disc corruptions became a rare event...