[TUHS] SCCS roach motel

[Marc Rochkind <mrochkind@gmail.com>]

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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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