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

[John Day]

At 3:11 PM -0500 4/14/13, Larry Sheldon wrote:
>On 4/13/2013 6:28 AM, John Day wrote:
>>I think you are getting close to what we are discovering:  There was a
>>root, and there was an account built-in that gave one access to the
>>root, and it was natural to refer to it as the "root account," but the
>>documentation didn't call it that.  ;-)
>
>That is where I started, pretty much.

;-)  Funny how that works!

>
>>Common usage created the concept (phrase) in the community and it
>>becomes so used it seems it should be there.  This is not uncommon.
>
>Indeed--I believe that a lot of things get an explanation for their 
>name (and for their very existence) long after the existence and 
>usage is long part of the innate lore of what ever environment we 
>are looking at.
>
>I think there is a (semi?) formal name for the process in some 
>circles--"back formation".

Indeed.

>--
>Requiescas in pace o email           Two identifying characteristics
>                                         of System Administrators:
>Ex turpi causa non oritur actio      Infallibility, and the ability to
>                                         learn from their mistakes.
>                                           (Adapted from Stephen Pinker)