[TUHS] Re: Documentation for Sys-V basic interpreter

[Tom Perrine <tom.perrine+tuhs@gmail.com>]

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KSOS and related work was sponsored by several DoD activities, at least the
part that I worked on - after 1983.

We've wandered a bit afar for TUHS(?), but, the PWB and other software
wasn't pirated, it was supplied as "government furnished equipment" as part
of each contract.

PWB and other software we got via the NSA's Tycho site, etc. NRL (and then
others) funded later KSOS work, including the Advanced  Command and Control
Testbed (ACCAT) and various multi-level secure "Guard" systems, for the
Navy, Air Force, USAFE, etc.

All of which ran on PDP-11s, using the KSOS kernel and userspace, almost
all built by using PWB as the build platform.





On Sat, May 20, 2023 at 12:09 PM Clem Cole <clemc@ccc.com> wrote:

> I don't think it was pirated. I'm think it was a special license Ford Aero
> got due to the work with the USG. I sort of remember KSOS and if I'm
> correct that was a DoD funded effort for the Orange Book.  So it would make
> absolute sense that Ford Aero might have used the USG connections to
> convince AT&T to release it to them.  As I said, Al was very skittish about
> anything that might be misinterpreted by the Justice dept.  But if DoD was
> asking for it, Al could show the Jusitce -- "hey -- your people asked for
> it -- we were not selling it."
> ᐧ
>
> On Sat, May 20, 2023 at 3:03 PM Jon Forrest <nobozo@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> On 5/20/2023 11:50 AM, Clem Cole wrote:
>> > Taking this off list.
>> >
>> > I've always wondered about that.  Thank you bad word choice -- but it
>> > was not officially released outside the Bell System.   Since Ford Aero
>> > had it, it must have been a very special license.
>>
>> It was already there when I arrived so I don't know how it got there.
>> I doubt it was pirated.
>>
>> > Was Ford Aero doing something on a Gvt bid when you were using it?
>>
>> Yes. It was creating KSOS which Tom Ferrine has also mentioned on the
>> TUHS list. This was a "provably" secure version of Unix.
>>
>> You might want to ask John Nagle. His email is probably
>> nagle@sitetruth.com, and his GitHub is https://github.com/John-Nagle.
>> He was there when I arrived and he was a key developer of KSOS.
>> If he doesn't know the answer then he might be able to refer you to
>> someone who does.
>>
>> Jon
>>
>>
>>
>>

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