[ih] Fwd: Some Berkeley Unix history - too many PHDs per packet

[Jack Haverty]

Some Internet-related Unix history...

In 1977 I joined BBN and my first job was to write the first TCP for 
Unix, using Jim Mathis' TCP implementation for MOS as a resource. The 
implementation was done on a PDP-11/40 owned by ARPA, and IIRC ARPA took 
care of the Unix licensing issues.

However, to implement TCP required some kernel changes, so a bigger 
issue was access to the OS source code.  Again IIRC, getting the source 
code was considered "dangerous" to programmers, who feared that viewing 
the Unix source code might "taint" them for some future employer who 
might fear action by ATT to defend their property rights in Unix design 
and coding.   If you had worked with Unix source code, a company might 
not be willing to hire you.

The source code was somewhat opaque.  With the government's help, we 
even did a road trip to Bell Labs and met with the Unix gurus (can't 
remember if it was Kernighan or Ritchie).  We also somehow got a copy of 
the paper describing the Unix architecture from Woolongong (who were not 
network accessible at the time).

I never heard how that source code issue was resolved but I suspect it 
was addressed when ARPA managed the BSD projects.  When I worked on Unix 
TCP, there had already been an NCP implemented to attach Unix machines 
to Arpanet.  Perhaps that's where the programmer fears had emerged.

Jack Haverty

On 3/8/24 19:05, Clem Cole via Internet-history wrote:
> This is really a discussion for COFF not IH list but I’ll reply since it
> came up.  By the time if Sys v vendors could sell you a binary use license
> - DEC, IBM, Masscomp, Sun, HP, etc.  If you had purchased a 3B2 or 3B20
> from ATT it came with a binary license. But ATT only sold source licenses
> and second to N cpu licenses.
>
> Coming back to the post.  FWIW I (via Tektronix) was 3Com’s first
> customer.  Somewhere in my archives is the shipping bag with the address
> label and the postal marking of the 32nd of December.  Bob had some sort
> requirement with his VCs that they ship before the end of the year. I got
> the tape a few days later so we could start to debug our VMS TCP stack we
> were writing.
>
>
>
> Sent from a handheld expect more typos than usual
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 8, 2024 at 9:44 PM Barbara Denny via Internet-history <
> internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:
>
>>   I should clarify buy a system V license from AT&T first.
>> barbara
>>      On Friday, March 8, 2024 at 05:31:33 PM PST, Greg Skinner via
>> Internet-history<internet-history at elists.isoc.org>  wrote:
>>
>>   Forwarded for Barbara
>>
>>> On Friday, March 8, 2024 at 01:34:11 PM PST, Barbara Denny <
>> b_a_denny at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hope the list doesn't get too many copies of this message as I try
>> various ways.  I am having trouble again with my posts.  It is interesting
>> I don't seem to have a problem with a different mailing list on Google
>> groups.  I am trimming the original message too.
>>>
>>> ******************
>>>
>>> Didn't you only need a license if you wanted source code?  I  remember
>> having to wait quite some time for all that to happen when I was at SRI. I
>> was able to figure a bug once we got the code.  We made a guess about
>> header processing that wasn't right since we didn't know about the
>> internals. I will admit my memory feels foggy on this.
>>> barbara
>>>
>>> On Friday, March 8, 2024 at 02:55:56 AM PST, Dave Taht via
>> Internet-history<internet-history at elists.isoc.org>  wrote:
>>>
>>>  From john nagle here, a good article, and a long and enjoyable thread:
>>> https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39630457
>>>
>>> ...
>>>
>>> Ford Aerospace was one of the first commercial sites of BSD Unix. The
>>> licensing was complicated. We had to buy Unix 32V from AT&T first.
>>> That transaction got on the path for major corporate documents. AT&T
>>> and Ford Motor had a cross-licensing agreement. Eventually, I got a
>>> no-cost license agreement embossed with the corporate seals of both
>>> the Ford Motor Company and the American Telephone and Telegraph
>>> Corporation. Made a copy and taped it onto a VAX. Then I drove up to
>>> Berkeley from Palo Alto and Bill Joy gave me a BSD tape.
>>>
>>> **********Message cut- barbara********
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