[TUHS] Ken visits Cray Research Inc and finds old bug

[TUHS] Ken visits Cray Research Inc and finds old bug

[ron minnich]

There's a story I heard once in supercomputing circles from the 80s, that
Ken visited CRI in Minneapolis, sat down at the console of a machine
running the then-new port of Unix to one of the Crays, typed a command, and
said something like "ah, that bug is still there."

Anybody know what the bug was?
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[TUHS] Ken visits Cray Research Inc and finds old bug

[Dave Horsfall]

On Sun, 12 Nov 2017, ron minnich wrote:

> There's a story I heard once in supercomputing circles from the 80s, 
> that Ken visited CRI in Minneapolis, sat down at the console of a 
> machine running the then-new port of Unix to one of the Crays, typed a 
> command, and said something like "ah, that bug is still there." Anybody 
> know what the bug was?

I remember the story too; I think it was one of the text tools (grep, sed, 
I dunno), but yeah, a reference would be nice (at least for the archives).

-- 
Dave Horsfall DTM (VK2KFU)  "Those who don't understand security will suffer."

[TUHS] Ken visits Cray Research Inc and finds old bug

[Ken Thompson]

this is bogus.

there are 2 real stories that might be
early cousins to this:

1. i visited eta (they were trying to make
a supercomputer - eta10 - that was supposed to
escape all the problems of software by porting
unix. i tested it and found a dozen bugs.

2. dmr and i visited nsa for some unrelated business
(see dmr, reed, morris paper on the enigma). mumahgh
was bragging about the super secure unix that ran
on a lot og their machines. he invited us to play and
gave us a console. dennis distracted him and i went
to the console and quickly became su. i never told
him how it was done, and now i dont really remember.


On Sun, Nov 12, 2017 at 2:57 PM, Dave Horsfall <dave at horsfall.org> wrote:
> On Sun, 12 Nov 2017, ron minnich wrote:
>
>> There's a story I heard once in supercomputing circles from the 80s, that
>> Ken visited CRI in Minneapolis, sat down at the console of a machine running
>> the then-new port of Unix to one of the Crays, typed a command, and said
>> something like "ah, that bug is still there." Anybody know what the bug was?
>
>
> I remember the story too; I think it was one of the text tools (grep, sed, I
> dunno), but yeah, a reference would be nice (at least for the archives).
>
> --
> Dave Horsfall DTM (VK2KFU)  "Those who don't understand security will
> suffer."

[TUHS] Ken visits Cray Research Inc and finds old bug

[Larry McVoy]

On Sun, Nov 12, 2017 at 09:10:43PM -0800, Ken Thompson via TUHS wrote:
> 1. i visited eta (they were trying to make
> a supercomputer - eta10 - that was supposed to
> escape all the problems of software by porting
> unix. i tested it and found a dozen bugs.

Well that sucks, it would have been good to meet you.  I was there,
unless it was fairly late in the cycle and it was when I was in Japan
at TIT.  Do you remember when this was?

If anyone cares, this is a pic of the people that did the Unix port
(and SO's, it was some party).

http://www.mcvoy.com/lm/photos/ancient/26.html

[TUHS] Ken visits Cray Research Inc and finds old bug

[Don Hopkins]

I knew a guy who worked at one of the national labs that had its own Cray supercomputer, in a computer room with a big observation window that visitors could admire it through.

Just before a tour group came by, he hid inside the Cray, and waited for them to arrive. Then he casually strolled out from the Cray, pulling up the zipper of his jeans, with a relieved expression on his face.

-Don

> On 13 Nov 2017, at 15:14, Larry McVoy <lm at mcvoy.com> wrote:
> 
> On Sun, Nov 12, 2017 at 09:10:43PM -0800, Ken Thompson via TUHS wrote:
>> 1. i visited eta (they were trying to make
>> a supercomputer - eta10 - that was supposed to
>> escape all the problems of software by porting
>> unix. i tested it and found a dozen bugs.
> 
> Well that sucks, it would have been good to meet you.  I was there,
> unless it was fairly late in the cycle and it was when I was in Japan
> at TIT.  Do you remember when this was?
> 
> If anyone cares, this is a pic of the people that did the Unix port
> (and SO's, it was some party).
> 
> http://www.mcvoy.com/lm/photos/ancient/26.html