16 May
2025
16 May
'25
6:16 p.m.
As the Chair of the /usr/group Standards Committee
from its start in 1981 to 1984, I can say that we got all
of the major manufacturers of computer hardware
running the UNIX operating system involved in this
standards effort. This included AT&T, IBM, DEC, HP,
Sun, Intel, and many smaller mini-computer and
micro-computer hardware vendors. The /usr/group
Standard was the starting point for the POSIX 1003.1
standard developed by the IEEE standards organization
and first published in 1988. AT&T was very involved in
the development of both standards and would have
made every effort to make their operating system to be
compatible with the UNIX standards as they were developed
over the following years. Details would have to come
from AT&T.
Heinz
On 5/16/2025 9:01 AM, segaloco via TUHS wrote:
I'm curious if anyone has the scoop on this. To
my knowledge the 1984
/usr/group standard constitutes the earliest attempt at a vendor-neutral UNIX
standard. AT&T then comes along in 1985 with the first issue of the SVID, based
largely on SVR2 from what I know.
What I'm not getting a good read on or not is if the SVID was literally a direct
response from AT&T to the creation of the /usr/group standard or if there was
already an impetus in AT&T's sphere of influence to produce such a definitive
document. In either case, AT&T does list the /usr/group standard as an
influence, but doesn't go into the detail of "we made this because
/usr/group's
standard exists" or "we made this ourselves and oh /usr/group also happens to
have a standard."
Even outside of this, did AT&T maintain anything comparable to the SVID in prior
years or was the manual essentially the interface definition?
Thanks for any recollections!
- Matt G.