All,
I'm not 100% sure how best to ask this, but here goes...
I own a copy of the CSRG Archives CD Set that Kirk McKusick maintained.
I bought them ages and ages ago (BTW, they are now all available on
Archive.org) I dusted them off today because I had the brilliant idea
that with my significant growth in understanding related to all things
unix and ancient unix, that I might find them interesting and useful.
They are interesting, jury's out on useful beyond being a broweasable
historical archive of individual files. One of the CD's contains a 4.4
and 4.4BSD-Lite2 folder and is labeled releases (disk 3). I opened the
4.4 folder and it appears to be a set of folders and files I would
expect to find on a release tape, but unlike a tape, which one could
mount and boot from, I have no idea if this would be usable as install
media (if you do, please let me know how).
I googled about the two releases and although the same text appears all
over the place about how Berkeley released one version, then removed
some components, then re-released, and eventually wound up at
4.4BSD-Lite2, I could not figure out whether the word release meant
sourcecode, installable media, or what. I gather a lot of this made
sense back in the early 1990's but it's all a bit muddy to me in 2017.
In trying to figure it all out, I came across a webpage talking about
2.11BSD (maintained into this decade) and another about 4.3BSD
Quasijarus (also maintained in this decade?). Both descriptions
contained the text, "It is the release of 4.4BSD-Lite, and requires the
original UNIX license" (see
http://damnsmallbsd.org/pub/BSD-UNIX) My
sense of things after reading and browsing and such is that with regards
to 4.4, 4.4BSD-Lite, and 4.4BSD-Lite2, they are either not released
(4.4), encumbered and retracted (4.4BSD-Lite), or not installable
(4.4BSD-Lite2)...
Dang, so confusing...
My interest is pretty much based on a strong desire to boot up a 4.4
system that as closely as possible maps to the one described in "The
Design and Implementation of the 4.4 BSD Operating System" that I can
experiment with as I'm going through the text. I think I understand the
version history as it is described in various places, but I just can't
figure how the last handful of versions relate to real media that is
available to enthusiasts.
Questions begging answers:
What is the last bootable and installable media, officially distributed
by Berkeley?
Is that image currently publicly accessible?
What is the closest version, that is currently available, that would
match the os described in "The Design and Implementation of the 4.4 BSD
Operating System"?
Many thanks,
Will
--
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