[ih] What is the origin of the root account?

[Miles Fidelman]

Miles Fidelman wrote:
> Larry Sheldon wrote:
>> On 4/11/2013 1:58 PM, Eduardo A. Suárez wrote:
>>
>>> this is off-topic, but perhaps anyone can help. What is the origin of
>>> the root account in unix?
>>
>> It certainly is "history" although the "internet" part is a little 
>> weak since unix existed before the Internet did, I don't think unix 
>> had much to do with the development of the Internet except as the 
>> operating system on some hosts that were reachable in the early days.
>
> Do I recall correctly that at least one of the early "reference 
> implementations" was written for Unix, with portions of it remaining 
> in BSD Unix to this day?

Well, I did have to go and do a little research, found a great source:
http://rfc-ref.org/RFC-TEXTS/801/chapter13.html

Among the early TCP/IP implementations listed:
BBN C70 and VAX Unix (by Rob Gurwitz) - the VAX version was for 4.1BSD
BBN PDP-11 Unix (by Jack Haverty)

There were other implementations (Multics, TOPS20, TENEX, ....) but yes, 
TCP/IP on Unix had a lot to do with growth of the Internet.

Miles Fidelman




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In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is.   .... Yogi Berra