From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: ** X-Spam-Status: No, score=2.8 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_INVALID,DKIM_SIGNED, HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS,HTML_MESSAGE,MAILING_LIST_MULTI, RCVD_IN_SBL_CSS autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [50.116.15.146]) by inbox.vuxu.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E7325306C2 for ; Sat, 14 Dec 2024 01:37:14 +0100 (CET) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5B54142786; Sat, 14 Dec 2024 10:37:09 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mout.perfora.net (mout.perfora.net [74.208.4.197]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 9B9B042781 for ; Sat, 14 Dec 2024 10:37:04 +1000 (AEST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=makerlisp.com; s=s1-ionos; t=1734136623; x=1734741423; i=luther.johnson@makerlisp.com; bh=FofSQYkajPOsN+FtU8aIlqjBzZRIg2gW0uOK7Ziiwhs=; h=X-UI-Sender-Class:Subject:To:References:From:Message-ID:Date: MIME-Version:In-Reply-To:Content-Type:cc: content-transfer-encoding:content-type:date:from:message-id: mime-version:reply-to:subject:to; b=WhRZ1+wWeZrr4HvSVwfc9zMsRcjJPFR2t+qjhHBrQwYLrDNMJS+E6kD3b8QNImX+ DBOToiMN0VtVW4Jq3Cy3vvrKL31k1j8GzJk/kQhGVngK01SuIHbPvohE0rd8Sg9L3 eDbYCWN41qzFbGKR3xumOliuAYyd8xpe2+v+pbazCI4kge4nb8heEOaZjQGt5vYF3 OkNbN35znTQu6ayQZcAzM7pspK/cq7RfFCZVIsk2uRjAx+WHVNjJwIjBckkrAmx1O ZV1s0SM1vFyCZ5vYuYqctuPl7pmKsxS8k2Mf8nqKDK7Xzv9Q61WYly+QY/P+rjDzh 81Xj0rQS8u91bfgEAA== X-UI-Sender-Class: 55c96926-9e95-11ee-ae09-1f7a4046a0f6 Received: from mlhivps ([74.50.126.128]) by mrelay.perfora.net (mreueus003 [74.208.5.2]) with ESMTPSA (Nemesis) id 0MaHgk-1t2Out25gO-00JA8b for ; Sat, 14 Dec 2024 01:37:03 +0100 Received: from [192.168.234.136] (unknown [172.56.42.56]) by mlhivps (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id A8282480169 for ; Sat, 14 Dec 2024 00:37:02 +0000 (UTC) To: tuhs@tuhs.org References: From: Luther Johnson Message-ID: <3f27aaff-37e3-598c-62fa-3bf0997bf057@makerlisp.com> Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2024 17:37:01 -0700 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:45.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/45.8.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="------------40F7E98BF64F11B6D52F4AAE" X-Provags-ID: V03:K1:TLZOagDbcaFOlOTwEAB407KIf69Bvxzex+KJ02c1oRg/1E4cuJf 47G/beAakP4ylZj+lzN72bZHX4X+q/ujwPVDOJEzxekPoE0IyeLwcwkNbF+gtmbRP6ZnTGB XpRL3s0SgzYshzVL9x1HbRynJpICUoelzCt1g0x1h/i/ruLbsfhWRe3zBsM9sDDmKgd5iZF PNGmfQ4XkSKmFuXXI0m3Q== UI-OutboundReport: notjunk:1;M01:P0:p6gJocbwP1Q=;N0cSN4eUen35iYnISFs+L0jfY7p KWRW4TNrigGPll78ytxW7YIrOwm30EFjtjJHRjHQ9QMGXPIr6KHfokGX6YSexFUXFkF9FOXsI tXEWOtu5/yufd3kAeR04pGQBL1+zWcxhfTPEM4pWur35hWvDfSASc5opIVdTBDT7uw6RiYLm/ r8XDTUHNF7OIr4iTw3/LgUDpdomSLrwzfUz3gMgujIK+pu42eNjjJ2JZPZ1njf3ByfIwYeZ2Z 9sDBr52zkU0VWmoqMZpMaK2IOyQKmwAPrmjxI/xmoWUEt/KUXrmRNp+ZNoi+un7YWdQ/OF+kC V52MhDsId4bupY/A8Q3MJJsI/aTmsP5TkmoB7e+BXyOjGxG26jD+/4Z9gV0w2zMq58DJrMTKc 9Q8GQDzBI5GJY9rcM/49+HX70zrqZ0G32oE9+XYc0qm9qEyy3D27M+4njx6dg3X+ViKKTXiWY MZRw7TYOev4IuDhUBdOtT+uj+CfNG0QncnTserqkKAIvSe9nfA6MruTwjskhKj/f5HzOyaGpB mXJC0+dq4PdKSnBbX8o2JWF00phpvAL7Rvg/FBgNieZtgGEZCBXe2LN3gKU+YJj18vE0Qaw4g jVeBX2rIf3jpJWkNBE0WGwi3hwJ+Kh+F4aNG9VwOUAHDmTz9HNYwJ8CRULM1cPliTUXPgtBYC tciowJOFbEYtzxOWs5QJAMHzwTDhOqAP7s2Ef3V/4452w+d7FmUOCq4haN+26lpmamcBQVHld TrebxNiLoOz8CjH5uM/taj+F8SXAeLtkwDszXWUe6K9FeT72WfQOp0pRIUqwBhwi2y3qAllbe rWCCbOyscQ5palhe6giNZETUSsnDimYCr28gUkVi+j8zdbeABXHyLQeT6Cai8ebRnUCs3H3+i IADm0EKZ1loTCRMsDjyL9P5/8isi8RVxgp7ehMIKFFVlUvWV9yVTph2Jt5h7tNIqZrohi8R1o Bcsg0zDyK4FEiXF17V1ZjrHY2X0fVrnoLVf5zurQ5CiU697RQwCfSgGc3Xu5axgqXcaP6geFQ 0YuI8IueiB58Ui7Dm4= Message-ID-Hash: 73LS7OV7X5C5HKFMEPTMQ5EJ33FZF6P5 X-Message-ID-Hash: 73LS7OV7X5C5HKFMEPTMQ5EJ33FZF6P5 X-MailFrom: luther.johnson@makerlisp.com X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; header-match-tuhs.tuhs.org-0; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [TUHS] Re: SCCS roach motel List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------40F7E98BF64F11B6D52F4AAE Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable When I just read your quote, this joke came to mind: What's the difference between a public library and a software library ? At the public library, everyone wants to check things out, but no-one ever wants to return anything. In a source code library, everyone wants to put something in the library, but programmers rarely want to take anything in it out, and use it. Maybe it doesn't seem as funny as the first time I heard it, but I think it's still true. Maybe a similar thought is behind the 'source motel' quot= e. On 12/13/2024 09:52 AM, Marc Rochkind 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-tim= e: > > "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 > > > > --------------40F7E98BF64F11B6D52F4AAE Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

When I just read your quote, this joke came to mind:

What's the difference between a public library and a software library ?

At the public library, everyone wants to check things out, but no-one ever wants to return anything. In a source code library, everyone wants to put something in the library, but programmers rarely want to take anything in it out, and use it.

Maybe it doesn't seem as funny as the first time I heard it, but I think it's still true. Maybe a similar thought is behind the 'source motel' quote.

On 12/13/2024 09:52 AM, Marc Rochkind 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=C2=A0many=C2=A0weakness= es. 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





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