2014-04-26 10:52:28 -04:00
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Lions Book
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2014-04-26 11:54:15 -04:00
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n. Source Code and Commentary on Unix level 6 , by John Lions. The two parts
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of this book contained (1) the entire source listing of the Unix Version 6
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kernel, and (2) a commentary on the source discussing the algorithms. These
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were circulated internally at the University of New South Wales beginning
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1976--77, and were, for years after, the only detailed kernel documentation
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available to anyone outside Bell Labs. Because Western Electric wished to
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maintain trade secret status on the kernel, the Lions Book was only supposed
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to be distributed to affiliates of source licensees. In spite of this, it
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soon spread by samizdat to a good many of the early Unix hackers. [1996
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update: The Lions book lives again! It was put back in print as ISBN
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1-57398-013-7 from Peer-To-Peer Communications, with forewords by Dennis
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Ritchie and Ken Thompson. In a neat bit of reflexivity, the page before the
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contents quotes this entry.] [1998 update: John Lions's death was an
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occasion of general mourning in the hacker community.
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