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From: Rob Pike <robpike@gmail.com>
To: Marc Rochkind <mrochkind@gmail.com>
Cc: The UNIX Historical Society <tuhs@tuhs.org>
Subject: [TUHS] Re: SCCS roach motel
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2024 08:22:41 +1100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <CAKzdPgxX04nvntKrbgw0WAjxr4TYk780i_pRHiKdbGcoBMCVFg@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAOkr1zWVtNgaOgkRU_i=QDnDfJg8O1aJBU4Qa2fhBgqexop1cQ@mail.gmail.com>

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According to the Unix room fortunes file, the actual quote is

SCCS: the source-code motel -- your code checks in but it never checks out.
Ken Thompson

On Sat, Dec 14, 2024 at 3:52 AM Marc Rochkind <mrochkind@gmail.com> 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 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
>
>
>
>
>

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  parent reply	other threads:[~2024-12-13 21:23 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 28+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2024-12-13 16:52 [TUHS] " Marc Rochkind
     [not found] ` <A6DE3D0A-8ED7-4E82-87CF-F2BC7AE11761@seiden.com>
2024-12-13 17:58   ` [TUHS] " Marc Rochkind
2024-12-13 21:09     ` Dan Cross
2024-12-14  1:11       ` Marc Rochkind
2024-12-14  1:27         ` Dan Cross
2024-12-14  1:39           ` Larry McVoy
2024-12-14  6:20           ` Marc Rochkind
2024-12-14  1:38         ` Larry McVoy
2024-12-13 18:06 ` Larry McVoy
2024-12-13 18:32   ` Marc Rochkind
2024-12-13 18:39     ` Marc Rochkind
2024-12-13 18:49       ` Larry McVoy
2024-12-13 18:55     ` Larry McVoy
2024-12-13 19:55       ` Henry Bent
2024-12-14 18:29         ` arnold
2024-12-14 18:59           ` Larry McVoy
2024-12-13 21:46     ` Clem Cole
2024-12-13 21:22 ` Rob Pike [this message]
2024-12-13 21:27   ` Rob Pike
2024-12-13 21:37     ` Aron Insinga
2024-12-13 21:40       ` Aron Insinga
2024-12-14  0:37 ` Luther Johnson
2024-12-13 22:33 Norman Wilson
2024-12-17  0:21 ` andrew
2024-12-13 22:57 Norman Wilson
2024-12-13 23:19 ` Larry McVoy
2024-12-13 23:38   ` Warner Losh
2024-12-14  0:53     ` Larry McVoy

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