From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.1 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_SIGNED,DKIM_VALID, DKIM_VALID_AU,MAILING_LIST_MULTI,T_SCC_BODY_TEXT_LINE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 8633 invoked from network); 2 Jun 2023 23:05:04 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (2600:3c01:e000:146::1) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 2 Jun 2023 23:05:04 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9DB30402CE; Sat, 3 Jun 2023 09:04:54 +1000 (AEST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=tuhs.org; s=dkim; t=1685747094; h=from:from:reply-to:reply-to:subject:subject:date:date: message-id:message-id:to:to:cc:mime-version:mime-version: content-type:content-type: content-transfer-encoding:content-transfer-encoding:list-id:list-help: list-owner:list-unsubscribe:list-subscribe:list-post; bh=fMrCNrAe/oscVkhdrws/b7u2o3ijpkK1T2cdMOTr0wo=; b=mtC599K+WDPZLYxRUwqMn3dLFoh8DDYl2zR9OwEPebmW12n3mPQTqNL4NquvyokBp0DCNs xjWDypF+OChPLCrHGeZLMBBsKe5SYVu+6ShTDEGcGPWEMwt8wciNi1WPshZh6Us7ndN8wi JcnUDAr4SDLjQfbhw2cWrD7nN6Yu0+k= Received: from mail-4324.protonmail.ch (mail-4324.protonmail.ch [185.70.43.24]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id E6C9040116 for ; Sat, 3 Jun 2023 09:04:39 +1000 (AEST) Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2023 23:04:16 +0000 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=protonmail.com; s=protonmail3; t=1685747077; x=1686006277; bh=fMrCNrAe/oscVkhdrws/b7u2o3ijpkK1T2cdMOTr0wo=; h=Date:To:From:Subject:Message-ID:Feedback-ID:From:To:Cc:Date: Subject:Reply-To:Feedback-ID:Message-ID:BIMI-Selector; b=SVx60oLaO9f95JiWikSPONex0ObYFj+Uk4NUht+rumtilkiV0vY7fC8LpFtOjTYmp MGFPuVDRs0Nu1UMA+kKYWxwAjSXOw4Aj5bBlyp4FB3cSlKk08qSZwIifjnaMNgBu1Y LA2JXmxQ+GW1mulrSZZTxXNf4/ZQuC+VAY1RNmwE/X/M+1hLULTIf8gdbKvyzkZXrT CriT0Kp91SZ+ZLRUkiuYwi+lR+tN8kQUUahuDUkwJe9FCKzfcp4b2GB8bKbk0jzE/Y 2K5j1Xxa/y3e2GqTSZC+hXdfZKQHB10vtlefU6S4u8G600DOk3MRJPlEYNF9qngISV pYjAhuxZgFUWg== To: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society Message-ID: Feedback-ID: 35591162:user:proton MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-ID-Hash: HSHZOSZ7QC5MC7Q5XDMR6LN6W3U6FXHR X-Message-ID-Hash: HSHZOSZ7QC5MC7Q5XDMR6LN6W3U6FXHR X-MailFrom: segaloco@protonmail.com X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [TUHS] CB-UNIX dsw(1l) Page from PDP-7? List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: From: segaloco via TUHS Reply-To: segaloco While performing my CB-UNIX 2.3 manual separation, among the many curious t= hings I came across was this manual page: https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Dist= ributions/USDL/CB_Unix/man/man1/dsw.1l.pdf The dsw(I) pages I've seen in the various UNIX manuals are all for the inte= ractive delete utility, but make brief mention of the history of the comman= d being amusing. I've seen some communication on the matter of the years h= ere, but had never come across a manual page for the former version of dsw. In the linked page up there is the actual "delete from switches" version of= dsw. What I find particularly interesting is that the footer indicates th= is was printed 8/11/81, but likewise indicates the command is "PDP-7 local"= . This raises a couple of questions: - Did Columbus ever touch PDP-7 UNIX? - Did dsw(I) as "delete from switches" ever make it to PDP-11 UNIX? Even t= he V1 manual lists the "delete interactively" utility, not this. - If neither are true, that begs the question of where this page came from,= if there was ever a formalized PDP-7 manual that it would've descended fro= m or not, etc. Finally, this page plainly spells out the history of the command in the bug= s section: "This command was written in 2 minutes to delete a particular file that man= aged to get an 0200 bit in its name. It should work by printing the name o= f each file in a specified directory and requestion a 'y' or 'n' answer. B= etter, it should be an option of rm(1). The name is mnemonic, but likely t= o cause trouble in the future." So the first bug is eventually mitigated by transforming this into the more= familiar dsw. I can't say what the latter means, whether it's a concern o= f "dsw" colliding with some reserved word eventually or is more poking fun = at the other folk etymology of "delete s__t work". In any case, I hadn't seen the etymology explained to this degree in the ma= iling list references I found while searching around, so figured I'd share = this analysis. - Matt G. P.S. There is mention here that Dennis Ritchie shared the original dsw manp= age at some point https://www.tuhs.org/pipermail/tuhs/1999-November/001203.= html however the link in question appears to be dead. In any case, the sou= rce for the PDP-7 version is in that email if anyone wants to look at it, a= lthough looks to be the same as what is in the archive.