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Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!munnari.oz.au!constellation!convex!convex!news.duke.edu!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!swrinde!sdd.hp.com!col.hp.com!csn!boulder.parcplace.com!imp From: imp@boulder.parcplace.com (Warner Losh) Subject: Re: wheel? whats the history....? Message-ID: <CuC6s5.M9H@boulder.parcplace.com> Sender: news@boulder.parcplace.com Organization: ParcPlace Boulder References: <32651r$5lc@penage.cs.laurentian.ca> <MIKE.94Aug8211049@pdx399.intel.com> Date: Wed, 10 Aug 1994 20:40:53 GMT Lines: 20 In article <MIKE.94Aug8211049@pdx399.intel.com> mike@ichips.intel.com (Mike Haertel) writes: >In article <32651r$5lc@penage.cs.laurentian.ca> eastick@penage.cs.laurentian.ca (Doug Eastick) writes: >>My 1st guess is that the wheel is analagous to driving a vehicle and >>you should only let responsible people (who can su to root) get behind >>the wheel. > >Hmm, I always thought it meant "big wheel". See also "Wheel wars" in >some version or another of the hacker's dictionary... I would guess that it came from tenex or tops-20 where WHEEL was the group of people that had system privs. Likely, there is usage that predates this, likely on TOPS-10. On a similar note, tcsh is "tenex csh." Warner -- Warner Losh imp@boulder.parcplace.COM ParcPlace Boulder "... but I can't promote you to "Prima Donna" unless you demonstrate a few more serious personality disorders"