https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SunOS#History The SunOS 3.x => 4.x transition was also the BSD 4.2 => 4.3 transition. Sun operating system version numbers seemed to parallel the version of Unix it was based on for a while there, until it started spinning out of control and got sucked up into the System V death star. Sun UNIX 0.7: UniSoftUNIX v7 SunOS 1.x: 4.1 BSD SunOS 2.x: 4.2 BSD SunOS 3.x: 4.2 BSD + some 4.3 BSD and some System V SunOS 4.x: 4.3 BSD + even more System V SunOS 5.0: SVR4 -Don > On 12 Oct 2017, at 17:09, Don Hopkins wrote: > > >> On 12 Oct 2017, at 16:59, Larry McVoy > wrote: >> >> That must have been really early on because by the time I got to Sun (4.0? >> Maybe 4.1?) shared libraries worked properly. > > Yeah, I remember that being a SunOS 3.x limitation. 4.x was a whole lot nicer! > > Wikipedia says: > > SunOS 4.0: Dec 1988: New virtual memory system, dynamic linking, automounter, System V STREAMS I/O. Sun386i support. > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SunOS#History > > Then it all went downhill from there… ;( > > -Don > > http://www.art.net/~hopkins/Don/unix-haters/slowlaris/sunos-died.html > > The Day SunOS Died > > Lyrics by N. R. "Norm" Lunde. > Apologies to Don McLean. > > Remember when those guys out West > With their longish hair and paisley vests > Were starting up, straight out of UCB? > They used those Motorola chips > Which at the time were really hip > And looked upon the world through VME. > Their first attempt ran like a pig > But it was the start of something big; > They called the next one the Sun-2 > And though they only sold a few > It soon gave birth unto the new > Sun-3 which was their pride > And now they're singing > > [chorus] > > "Bye, bye, SunOS 4.1.3! > ATT System V has replaced BSD. > You can cling to the standards of the industry > But only if you pay the right fee -- > Only if you pay the right fee . . ." > > The hardware wasn't all they sold. > Their Berkeley port was solid gold > And interfaced with System V, no less! > They implemented all the stuff > That Berkeley thought would be enough > Then added RPC and NFS. > It was a lot of code to cram > Into just four megs of RAM. > The later revs were really cool > With added values like SunTools > But then they took us all for fools > By peddling Solaris . . . > And they were singing, > > [chorus] > > They took a RISC and kindled SPARC. > The difference was like light and dark. > The Sun-4s were the fastest and the best. > The user base was having fun > Installing SunOS 4.1 > But what was coming no one could have guessed. > The installed base was sound > And software did abound. > While all the hackers laughed and played > Already plans were being made > To make the dubious "upgrade" > To Sun's new Solaris . . . > And Sun was singing, > > [chorus] > > The cartridge tapes were first to go -- > The CD-ROM's a must, you know > And floppy drives will soon go out the door. > I tried to call and ask them why > But they took away my TTY > And left my modem lying on the floor. > While they were on a roll > They moved the damned Control. > The Ethernet's now twisted pair > Which no one uses anywhere. > ISDN is still more rare -- > The bandwidth's even less! > But still they're singing > > [chorus] > > But worst of all is what they've done > To software that we used to run > Like dbx and even /bin/cc. > Compilers now have license locks > Wrapped up in OpenWindows crocks -- > We even have to pay for GCC! > The applications broke; > /usr/local went up in smoke. > The features we've depended on > Before too long will all be gone > But Sun, I'm sure, will carry on > By peddling Solaris, > Forever singing, > > [chorus] > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: