[TUHS] Origin of Charlie Root

[TUHS] Origin of Charlie Root

[Jan Schaumann]

Hello,

Perhaps this has been discussed here before, but I
couldn't find a definitive answer as to the origin of
"Charlie Root".

https://www.geeklan.co.uk/?p=2457 includes links to
some of the /etc/passwd files from 4.1cBSD, 4.2BSD,
and 2.9BSD, where we see root changing from being "The
Man" to "Charlie &".

Speculations on the internet about Charlie Root the
baseball player are easy enough to find, but no
confirmation or official origin story.

So I thought I'd ask here: who can (authoritatively)
shed light on how we ended up with Charlie Root?

-Jan

Re: [TUHS] Origin of Charlie Root

[John Cowan]

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On Wed, Sep 23, 2020 at 7:13 PM Jan Schaumann <jschauma@netmeister.org>
wrote:

So I thought I'd ask here: who can (authoritatively)
> shed light on how we ended up with Charlie Root?
>

I have no idea, but I remembered this, part of the message sent by an
archive server when you send it an email saying "help":


The archive server does not respond to requests from users named "root",
"system", "daemon", or "mailer". This is to prevent mail loops. If your name
is "Bruce Root" or "Joe Daemon", and you can document this, I will happily
rewrite the server to remove this restriction. Yes, I know about Norman
Mailer and Waverley Root. Norman doesn't use netmail and Waverley is dead.




John Cowan          http://vrici.lojban.org/~cowan        cowan@ccil.org
The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we stand
on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability.
Our business in every generation is to reclaim a little more land,
to add something to the extent and the solidity of our possessions.
        --Thomas Henry Huxley

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