was there ever a telnet or other remote access program that predated ptys on Unix? Was telnet the driving force for ptys? Did the folks implementing Unix networking bring in ptys before, or as part of, or after networking, i.e. did folks building networking for Unix realize they needed ptys once they started working on telnet, or did they plan for ptys from the get go? I was an observer for some of this stuff, but as a 20-year-old at UDEL I was also quite out of the loop.

I also realize there were multiple Unix networking efforts, so this question is somewhat simplistic.

I'm assuming rsh came a bit later.

On Fri, Aug 15, 2025 at 4:19 PM Tom Lyon <pugs78@gmail.com> wrote:

Yeah, I was thinking that 4.1c BSD must've had them for rlogin and telnet.

Which got me looking for Fabry and Bill Joy's design/planning documents for 4.2, which are not in the TUHS archives.
Anyone got them??

On Fri, Aug 15, 2025 at 4:15 PM Warner Losh <imp@bsdimp.com> wrote:
At the very least, 4.2BSD had them for telnet and rlogin. They were static, though. You had to MAKEDEV enough units.

Warner

On Fri, Aug 15, 2025, 5:00 PM ron minnich <rminnich@gmail.com> wrote:
That was my guess. I figured the people who did the work are on this list, and primary sources rule.

On Fri, Aug 15, 2025 at 3:56 PM Ron Natalie <ron@ronnatalie.com> wrote:
I think that wikipedia history is somewhat garbled when it comes to the UNIX implementations.