Ancient UNIX

Ancient UNIX is any early release of the Unix code base prior to Unix System III, particularly the Research Unix releases prior to and including Version 7 (the base for UNIX/32V as well as later developments of AT&T Unix).

Version 5 Unix for the PDP-11, running on SIMH
Version 6 Unix for the PDP-11, running in SIMH
Version 7 Unix for the PDP-11, running in SIMH

After the publication of the Lions' book, work was undertaken to release earlier versions of the codebase. SCO first released the code under a limited educational license.

Later, in January 2002, Caldera International (now SCO Group) relicensed (but has not made available) several versions under the four-clause BSD license, namely:[1][2]

As of 2022, there has been no widespread use of the code, but it can be used on emulator systems, and Version 5 Unix runs on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance using the SIMH PDP-11 emulator.[3] Version 6 Unix provides the basis for the MIT xv6 teaching system, which is an update of that version to ANSI C and the x86 or RISC-V platform.

The BSD vi text editor is based on code from the ed line editor in those early Unixes. Therefore, "traditional" vi could not be distributed freely, and various work-alikes (such as nvi) were created. Now that the original code is no longer encumbered, the "traditional" vi has been adapted for modern Unix-like operating systems.[4]

SCO Group, Inc. was previously called Caldera International. As a result of the SCO Group, Inc. v. Novell, Inc. case, Novell, Inc. was found to not have transferred the copyrights of UNIX to SCO Group, Inc.[5] Concerns have been raised regarding the validity of the Caldera license.[6][7]

The Unix Heritage Society

The Unix Heritage Society was founded by Warren Toomey.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14] First edition Unix was restored to a usable state by a restoration team from the Unix Heritage Society in 2008. The restoration process started with paper listings of the source code which were in Unix PDP-11 assembly language.[15][16]

References
  1. Johnson II, Dion L. (2002-01-24). "Liberal license for ancient UNIX sources".
  2. Broderick, Bill (January 23, 2002). "Dear Unix enthusiasts" (PDF). Caldera International. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 19, 2009.
  3. Singh, Amit (August 2004). "UNIX® on the Game Boy Advance". Archived from the original on 2006-08-31. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  4. "The Traditional Vi".
  5. "10th Circuit Court of Appeals Decision" (PDF).
  6. Warren Toomey. "The Push to Get Free Unix Licenses".
  7. "Why BSD/OS is the best candidate for being the only tested legally open UNIX".
  8. "Interview with Warren Toomey, Founder of the Unix Heritage Society". USENIX. 13 January 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  9. Davis, A. Jesse Jiryu (June 14, 2017). "Assembling the history of Unix". LWN.net. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  10. Jude, Allan (October 13, 2022). "Warren Toomey interview". BSD Now. Retrieved 15 June 2023. MP3 44:34
  11. Chirgwin, Richard. "Samizdat no more: Old Unix source code opened for study". theregister.com. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  12. "Warren Toomey : contributions". researchgate.net. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  13. "SCO may not know origin of code, says Australian UNIX historian". The Sydney Morning Herald. 9 September 2003. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  14. Toomey, Warren (2010). "First Edition Unix: Its Creation and Restoration". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 32 (3): 74–82. ISSN 1934-1547. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  15. Toomey, Warren (July 2010). "First Edition Unix: Its Creation and Restoration". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 32 (3): 74–82. doi:10.1109/MAHC.2009.55. S2CID 18586380.
  16. The Restoration of Early UNIX Artifacts
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