From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_SIGNED,DKIM_VALID, HTML_MESSAGE,MAILING_LIST_MULTI,NICE_REPLY_A,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 13305 invoked from network); 19 Nov 2020 17:23:05 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 19 Nov 2020 17:23:05 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id DA8B293D69; Fri, 20 Nov 2020 03:23:02 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5CFED93D65; Fri, 20 Nov 2020 03:22:25 +1000 (AEST) Authentication-Results: minnie.tuhs.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key; unprotected) header.d=mhorton-net.20150623.gappssmtp.com header.i=@mhorton-net.20150623.gappssmtp.com header.b="p1TKhkzp"; dkim-atps=neutral Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id B96A593D65; Fri, 20 Nov 2020 03:22:22 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail-pf1-f182.google.com (mail-pf1-f182.google.com [209.85.210.182]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 644B293D42 for ; Fri, 20 Nov 2020 03:22:21 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mail-pf1-f182.google.com with SMTP id t8so5112386pfg.8 for ; Thu, 19 Nov 2020 09:22:21 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=mhorton-net.20150623.gappssmtp.com; s=20150623; h=subject:to:references:from:message-id:date:user-agent:mime-version :in-reply-to:content-language; bh=9LYcLF85K19JSWTHti0RRfIPJbz/daq5GOGViTAOH6E=; b=p1TKhkzpi9F8ZEAfTBYbgM6YCTBElFw96Q215uf0cmK9GtN1KmfnlLndj1Cwseyd8b 5fqYzjqR3W6409jJGxNt6InBxsolgUXN1ejPwdbUZdadWDewoR3VDt3SxbEG94EiBrDZ YbyEAze6SGBcTddxz12JgMhPybzJY+sw92XIUmGmGQ+s2g1A+PmHnKVQY7q0sob75NUK EUYHFezCcJH9St/0rBZGlxks1FvS50RvsSWB0GyRZPS4YHmulRSKF6v6SUhEOj9/E9Ak PqSl1Ganu7M+7R9zvoNXOgJWL8lCAU3ow1XBKq9+ril28nhT29a7Ra8zULzJcdLsG/nE wLdw== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20161025; h=x-gm-message-state:subject:to:references:from:message-id:date :user-agent:mime-version:in-reply-to:content-language; bh=9LYcLF85K19JSWTHti0RRfIPJbz/daq5GOGViTAOH6E=; b=df0r1YtwsosCEFy+qEXHPzTUoPYnTCWWnvcMjZSWhO0gTxXMGpDmpyrxosck2JuoHp +NMTv1/q87Fz+meqGDfNhv/oX9JWHemrIzFehgiRKf1d0aPk07ytZjvaDw1zXAPtWQaJ SWGpySqNn6e3/IlItjM2LB5urhKvSv/RmRpV2X9tAMT/nC5SMM5OYbRw5GQLYbY9LHUn 3LjO5w8CopFpWHP9Cn6lNUA2BYqRcuNgDTsqM8MgQ/1hr4bWsOD60fp3SDxISFyKFfFE AGwJkjzQZb5BfgSp6kXL6sDA+WYiKj7Nu2QrRR7pDZXOd956WlUA2xW9um3uWB28dUl2 0sDw== X-Gm-Message-State: AOAM5316vvXiEJglQ/0qXXwGXOlN07ugMGBZQ4FUlG9xTwt12t/ySr7T gJOZz5pV9dsfZaqqyULRygMp8BGsqr1Hyw== X-Google-Smtp-Source: ABdhPJzPqeYhNsbb3cuyvY/9EtkDYBpuoAJJMxxNXP5q0Bd38Y4ZDwBgZc3ernveW1xsDFx02/Kixg== X-Received: by 2002:a17:90a:3ee5:: with SMTP id k92mr5569354pjc.48.1605806540414; Thu, 19 Nov 2020 09:22:20 -0800 (PST) Received: from [192.168.1.12] (ip72-197-247-231.sd.sd.cox.net. [72.197.247.231]) by smtp.gmail.com with ESMTPSA id e8sm334560pfn.175.2020.11.19.09.22.19 for (version=TLS1_3 cipher=TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 bits=128/128); Thu, 19 Nov 2020 09:22:19 -0800 (PST) To: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org References: From: Mary Ann Horton Message-ID: <4f9b86c5-57e6-180f-6f07-6995763b07ff@mhorton.net> Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2020 09:22:18 -0800 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:68.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/68.10.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="------------79623EF703F4483A9D4CA900" Content-Language: en-US Subject: Re: [TUHS] Where did the "~" come from X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------79623EF703F4483A9D4CA900 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit I first saw ~ as part of csh. Bill had an adm3a at home (which is why HJKL in vi) but there was a variety of terminals at Berkeley. I assumed ~ was Bill's idea.     Mary Ann On 11/18/20 2:25 PM, Clem Cole wrote: > A couple of my friends from UC Berkeley were musing on another email > thread.   The question from one of them came up: /"I'm teaching the > undergrad OS course this semester  ... Mention where ~ comes."/ > > This comment begets a discussion among the 4 of us at where it showed > up in the UNIX heritage and it if was taken from somewhere else. > > Using the tilde character as a short cut for $HOME was purely a > userspace convention and not part of the nami() kernel routine when it > came into being.  We know that it was supported by Mike Lesk in UUCP > and by Bill Joy in cshell.  The former was first widely released as > part of Seventh Edition but was working on V6 before that inside of > BTL.  Joy's cshell came out as part of 2BSD (which was V7 based), but > he had released "ashell" before that and included it in the original > BSD (/a.k.a./ 1BSD) which was for V6 [what I don't remember is if it > supported the convention and I can not easily un-ar(1) the > cont.a files in the 1BSD tar image in Warren's archives. > > In our exchange, someone observed suggested that Joy might have picked > it up because the HOME key was part of the tilde key on the ADM3A, > which were popular at UCB [/i.e./ the reason hjkl are the movement > keys on vi is the were embossed on the top of those keys on the > ADM3A].  It also was noted that the ASR-33 lacks a ~ key on its > keyboard.  But Lesk definitely needed something to represent a remote > user's home directory because each system was different, so he was > forced to use something. > > It was also noted that there was plenty of cross-pollination going on > as students and researchers moved from site to site, so it could have > been BTL to UCB, vice-versa, or some other path altogether. > > So two questions for this august body are: > > 1. Where did the ~ as $HOME convention come to UNIX? > 2. Did UNIX create the idiom, or was there an earlier system such as > CTSS, TENEX, ITS, MTS, TSS, or the like supported it? > --------------79623EF703F4483A9D4CA900 Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

I first saw ~ as part of csh. Bill had an adm3a at home (which is why HJKL in vi) but there was a variety of terminals at Berkeley. I assumed ~ was Bill's idea.

    Mary Ann

On 11/18/20 2:25 PM, Clem Cole wrote:
A couple of my friends from UC Berkeley were musing on another email thread.    The question from one of them came up: "I'm teaching the undergrad OS course this semester  ... Mention where ~ comes."

This comment begets a discussion among the 4 of us at where it showed up in the UNIX heritage and it if was taken from somewhere else.

Using the tilde character as a short cut for $HOME was purely a userspace convention and not part of the nami() kernel routine when it came into being.  We know that it was supported by Mike Lesk in UUCP and by Bill Joy in cshell.  The former was first widely released as part of Seventh Edition but was working on V6 before that inside of BTL.  Joy's cshell came out as part of 2BSD (which was V7 based), but he had released "ashell" before that and included it in the original BSD (a.k.a. 1BSD) which was for V6 [what I don't remember is if it supported the convention and I can not easily un-ar(1) the cont.a files in the 1BSD tar image in Warren's archives.

In our exchange, someone observed suggested that Joy might have picked it up because the HOME key was part of the tilde key on the ADM3A, which were popular at UCB [i.e. the reason hjkl are the movement keys on vi is the were embossed on the top of those keys on the ADM3A].  It also was noted that the ASR-33 lacks a ~ key on its keyboard.  But Lesk definitely needed something to represent a remote user's home directory because each system was different, so he was forced to use something.

It was also noted that there was plenty of cross-pollination going on as students and researchers moved from site to site, so it could have been BTL to UCB, vice-versa, or some other path altogether.

So two questions for this august body are:
  1. Where did the ~ as $HOME convention come to UNIX?
  2. Did UNIX create the idiom, or was there an earlier system such as CTSS, TENEX, ITS, MTS, TSS, or the like supported it?
--------------79623EF703F4483A9D4CA900--