18 Oct
2023
18 Oct
'23
2:11 a.m.
Matt -- a couple of things to consider.
There is a huge demarcation up to and including 4.1BSD vs. anything
afterward. DARPA created CSRG after 4.1BSD was released. And 4.1 was
primarily the "FASTVAX" work vs. 4.0. Remember, it was wnj's work to
demonstrate that UNIX was just as fast as VMS, which had been used to
convince DARPA to let the contract for "UNIX support" (creating CSRG) vs.
using an "officially supported" system from DEC directly which a number of
the contractors wanted. Once CSRG started, two things changed at Berkeley
that had huge external ramifications:
- The manner distributions [master tapes] were created.
- How released SW was named.
While there are common people and some of the tech is the same, trying to
compare anything post 4.1BSD with the earlier system will be confusing if
not just lead to flawed conclusions -- not so much because of technical
differences [which start to get larger] but because of the processes and
procedures associated with the releases themselves and how they were
distributed.
BTW: Research somewhat went through some of the same changes. Basically,
V0-> V1 -> V2 -> V3 -> V4 is the state of Ken's system at the time, and
the
"release" number is not (yet) very formal [Lou Katz talks about the RK05
that Ken copied for him for the first official released outside - V4 at
Columbia]. The key is that someone in research writes tapes [imaging your
RK05]. - but the early 'research releases' are ephemeral. Starting with V6,
Ken/Dennis masters a tape in research, and the IBM shop is imaging that for
people licensing the IP -- *i.e.,* everyone is getting the same bits on
their tape. Although with V6, the famous "patch tape" leaks independently,
and with V7, the master tape that I believe srb originally created was
updated to add the "agenda" directory - so if you got one of the first
tapes [like I did], that directory is missing.
So remember that UCB uses a similar scheme for BSD, 2BSD, 3BSD, 4BSD, and
4.1BSD. In fact, the standard scheme was you sent the ILO a blank tape,
and it was returned to you with the bits on it. For the first two, we
have the contents of the development area on the Cory Hall machine. With
the 3/4/4.1 release, it is the contents from Ernie [as I recall, Bob
Kriddle or one of his minions was responsible for copying tapes for the
ILO]. But contents (i.e. the bits) change anytime the tapes are spun (they
were written in batches for the ILO -- who handled the
licensing/distribution). BTW the other ILO distributions worked the same
way. I would write any requested CAD tape every couple of weeks when they
asked me too.
But starting with CSRG, Sam set up a distribution area. And the copies
sent out were just that. Also, by then, if you asked for a copy, you were
paying UCB $1000 or so for the costs, but it included the tape (the
original BSD tape was either free with the self-stamped tape or very
nominal). Also, remember 4.1A, 4.1B, and 4.1C were beta's or release
candidates -- they were not widely distributed like 4.1BSD had been. 4.2
was the first official release from CSRG. [Don't forget BBN had the
official DARPA network stack - and that was for 4.1].
Basically. the primary DARPA folks like BBN, MIT, Stanford, UCLA, CMU,
Utah, *etc*.. might have gotten a copy of 4.1A/B/C to give feedback.
That's why you see the socket interface change so dramatically between 4.1A
and 4.1C. Simple 4.1A was Kirk's new file system and the first shot at
BSD's network stack [again remember UNIX has a TCP/IP stack already that
any DARPA contractor could get from BBN - but you had to have a BBN license
for it -- but that's a different story]. With 4.2 we see the wider world
get everything, and of course, the network stack and sockets interface
would start their spread from the UCB code base.
I hope this helps,
Clem
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