14 Dec
2024
14 Dec
'24
3:22 a.m.
According to the Unix room fortunes file, the actual quote is
SCCS: the source-code motel -- your code checks in but it never checks out.
Ken Thompson
On Sat, Dec 14, 2024 at 3:52 AM Marc Rochkind <mrochkind(a)gmail.com> wrote:
IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering has asked me
to write a
retrospective on the influence of SCCS over the last 50 years, as my SCCS
paper was published in 1975. They consider it one of the most influential
papers from TSE's first decade.
There's a funny quote from Ken Thompson that circulates from time-to-time:
"SCCS, the source motel! Programs check in and never check out!"
But nobody seems to know what it means exactly. As part of my research, I
asked Ken what the quote meant, sunce I wanted to include it. He explained
that it refers to SCCS storing binary data in its repository file,
preventing UNIX text tools from operating on the file.
Of course, this is only one of SCCS's many weaknesses. If you have
anything funny about any of the others, post it here. I already have all
the boring usual stuff (e.g., long-term locks, file-oriented, no merging).
Marc Rochkind
mrochkind.com