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 20759 invoked from network); 4 May 2023 03:51:50 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (2600:3c01:e000:146::1) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 4 May 2023 03:51:50 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 84A37424C6; Thu, 4 May 2023 13:51:46 +1000 (AEST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=tuhs.org; s=dkim; t=1683172306; 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=Tae7//Trrf+vtklb1H7kBDaOCkkXVUBU5p2BKg35s0c=; b=nB9+Qg/GkrtTsYYyN0hZrZUh2NfzXGUnU+81VLMOi80q043FTaCEaNOxOLwl+DVMOBn34m DfeS43sNdt5y51lABc+kV0Up0h25n9oBpcjs18lovLc3dTD+epHbG7GfU7xvFH5FTRhICK mX+e777FaHZQQl0mydqu68ZpaQFwhHc= Received: from mail-4318.protonmail.ch (mail-4318.protonmail.ch [185.70.43.18]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 44EF8424C4 for ; Thu, 4 May 2023 13:51:37 +1000 (AEST) Date: Thu, 04 May 2023 03:51:26 +0000 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=protonmail.com; s=protonmail3; t=1683172294; x=1683431494; bh=Tae7//Trrf+vtklb1H7kBDaOCkkXVUBU5p2BKg35s0c=; h=Date:To:From:Subject:Message-ID:Feedback-ID:From:To:Cc:Date: Subject:Reply-To:Feedback-ID:Message-ID:BIMI-Selector; b=F3MxJ5LuYCFY4IQ7HJwdtwa8m92SORbdFvVuYnzqhikdSssQV1hTMT8b/LDYpV4MJ ySPkrm/nMCyEnzyY4RMGko7pwUZaWBcSIJchdH/4axcs0x3egIHQ6088vWO2m7lXm7 X9ISvPze39yoZdIHrDVGNcpYoVkgFps87udg+daRuyL/p42bCPkuAKVu8pbtvun8jh B7FjREMy8HGdNbhP63J9NZKmeenJUohHzZMxr/sUY546ww9qCT4NmRcpLe9DGhRgXs tmFmqqEtCZIUlA55ZYuip8Ij5WcrNaO/N1mmnj/qGWRa1iXJnKy4XXT7msgqG7rajl /Nii9sA11mfpA== 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: UUSGZODIM6JR6JUBTF5OG3M7RNOJGM6B X-Message-ID-Hash: UUSGZODIM6JR6JUBTF5OG3M7RNOJGM6B 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] The Gnome and Its "Secret Place" 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 In the midst of my documentation research, I've done a little analysis on t= he life and times of this whimsical little phrase which first appeared in t= he "HOW TO GET STARTED" or basinf section of the Third Edition manual (a de= rivative of the original login(VII) page): "When you type to UNIX, a gnome deep in the system is gathering your ch= aracters and saving them in a secret place." Aside from the wonderful imagery of the terminal interrupt driver as a litt= le gnome, I've found that this line has some implications regarding UNIX do= cumentation lineages. This exact verbiage survives in the research line th= rough the Sixth Edition, and is slightly edited prior to the Seventh: "When you type characters, a gnome deep in the system gathers your char= acters and saves them in a secret place." The latter of the two changes holds with a trend over time of using progres= sive rather than continuous language. That aside, simple change of "to UNI= X" to "characters". Seems simple enough, reduce redundancy and make it mor= e clear what is happening. In this same breath, basinf was merged into int= ro. Checking the Tenth Edition manpage sources on the source tree, this ve= rsion then seems to persist for the rest of the research lifetime. Peering= across into BSD-land, I had to pull a paper copy for this one because I ca= n't find the intro document in the tree, but it likewise has the same exact= text, so this version also persisted through the remainder of the UCB deve= lopment period. When you start to look into other Bell lineages, things get a little more i= nteresting. Let's start with MERT Release 0. This manual was produced in = October, 1977, and has a "gnome" message identical to that in the Sixth Edi= tion manual, so presumably by this time, the old text could very well have = still been up in research. Unfortunately we only have scans of this manual= , so I can't say whether the merge from intro and basinf to just intro has = happened yet. Additionally, this may not reflect the case with USG Program= Generic 3 (or any of those) as the intro is one of the sections marked as = modified from the USG manual. Next let's check the situation with PWB 1.0. To start, the intro and basin= f documents have been merged into a document titled "introduction", which m= ay very well indicate that this manual page at least was produced after the= merge in the research line, and given this was July 1977, that's a case fo= r the MERT 0 page likewise probably being a merged page. However, the text= reads: "When you type to UNIX, a gnome deep in the system is gathering your ch= aracters and saving them." So a different modification of the Sixth Edition text, we still have "to UN= IX" and the continuous "is gathering...and saving". What does change is we= no longer know where the gnome is saving those characters. We've now lost= the secret place, research and BSD carry on knowing the real story, and ME= RT 0 kept this intact as well. Taking a look further afield, in the System= III manuals, originally produced in 1980, we see the same as PWB, a merged= intro document (now just named intro again), and the same text, the Sixth = Edition text minus the secret place commentary. So whatever merges of docu= mentation took place between PWB 1.0 and 3.0, it seems the updated text fro= m the Seventh Edition was never picked up, and the modified line persisted = through to this point. Checking forward, this text persists into the relea= se of PWB 5.0. The first release of System V only changes "UNIX" to "the U= NIX System", consistent with nomenclature changes throughout documentation = in the PWB 5.0->System V transition. Taking a little peek aside into yet another lineage, the CB-UNIX 2.3 manual= s circa 1981 likewise carry this same text, with the "secret place" removed= . Unfortunately we don't have any other versions of CB-UNIX manuals to com= pare with, but the specific page in question actually lists CB-UNIX 2.1 in = the footer with a date of November 1979, so the PWB-ish text in that lineag= e dates to at least that point. There are a few different variations circa SVR2, with the 1983 BTL version = and 1984 DEC processors versions of the manual changing the first bit to "W= hen you type to UNIX system", whereas the 1986 HRW tradebook manuals state = "When you type to the UNIX system." So the "the" is dropped, "system" is l= ower-cased, but then the "the" is added back between 1984 and 1986. Finally, there is one more variation on this line, the saddest one of all, = that appears circa System V Release 3 material in 1987: "When you type to the UNIX system, your individual characters are being= gathered and temporarily saved." "Pay no attention to the gnome behind the curtain," says AT&T, removing all= whimsy from the equation. This persists into SVR4. Can't say what happen= s in SVR4.2, I don't have one of those user's manuals, but in any case, it'= s probably save to assume Novell didn't resurrect the gnome. So just to re= view the strange and wonderful journey our little gnome has been on: - Introduced in Third Edition - intro and basinf documents merged between Sixth and Seventh Edition - MERT 0 takes the old text - PWB line takes the old text and drops the reference to a "secret plac= e" - Seventh Edition adjusts the text to drop UNIX redundancy and use prog= ressive language - PWB line keeps rolling with their modified text, CB-UNIX takes it up = (or vice versa? can't conclude anything there) - PWB to System V process converts most references of "UNIX" to "the UN= IX System" - Along the way, the "System" is ultimately lowercased, the "the" gets = lost for a while and comes back - AT&T finally removes the gnome reference in SVR3/1987 - Research and BSD keep the Seventh Edition text to the end Granted, this is a very trivial detail, but one that does demonstrate some = flow of documentation revisions and what sorts of changes different groups = were making to their documents, what with research making changes to the gr= ammatical style while the PWB-then-commercial line grew more sterile in thi= s presentation over time. This then shows at least one instance of a lack = of merging of aspects of the Seventh Edition documentation back into the PW= B line after the split of 1.0. Eventually I hope to illuminate many more s= uch areas through the diffing and historical analysis I'm performing. By the way, I believe a few list members had indicated at some point or ano= ther being in possession of some USG Program Generic manuals. If you happe= n to catch this, and have the time, I'd be ever so curious which of the abo= ve, if any, variations on the text they contain. This particular line is i= mmediately following the "How to communicate through your terminal" heading= the "HOW TO GET STARTED" section. Anywho, I hope this was an entertaining diversion. While most of the analy= sis I'm performing concerns software details and version differences, it's = also nice to take a closer look at some of the other sorts of changes that = have happened in the lifetime of the system's growth and diversification. - Matt G.