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From: Allen Kirby <akirby@att.com>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.shell,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.x,alt.os.linux,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,gnu.misc.discuss,comp.unix.solaris
Subject: Re: unix acronyms -collecting a list?
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 08:53:48 -0400
Organization: AT&T - ITS Production Services
Lines: 40
Distribution: inet
Message-ID: <3382F05C.42AF@att.com>
References: <5kd2ng$c8b$1@rzsun02.rrz.uni-hamburg.de> <33802E2A.79546DDB@actrix.gen.nz> <slrn5o0uic.iog.hdm@stress.noc.demon.net> <3381A814.5FFF@ford.com> <5lttcl$ht9@dukat.mark.nfr.com>
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To: Mark Sienkiewicz <mark@dukat.mark.nfr.com>
Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.shell:45252 comp.os.linux.misc:176322 comp.os.linux.x:62142 alt.os.linux:21442 comp.unix.bsd.misc:3355 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:41353 gnu.misc.discuss:31405 comp.unix.solaris:107085
Mark Sienkiewicz wrote:
>
> Many people seem to have an opinion on the meaning of "su". Going
<snip>
> This, by the way, is called a "reference". It is how you tell someone
> where the information comes from. The nice thing about a reference
> is that anybody can check it. If you can find a copy of the same
> book, you can see that what I quoted above is accurate and not
> just "gee, I seem to remember that..." or even "I heard from
> somebody who heard from somebody who talked to Dennis Ritchie that..."
>
> Anyone out there have a sixth edition or earlier manual to
> look things up in?
>
> --
> Mark Sienkiewicz
> Network Flight Recorder, Inc.
I don't have a manual, but how about an email from Ken Thompson from
two days ago? Apparently in the very beginning, root was the only
user you could su to. substitute came later.
> bss is "block storage start". it is an
> ibm and gecos assembler directive that
> creates a block of space and defines
> a symbol at the beginning of the space.
>
> dd is a joke based on the ugly syntax
> of the ibm dd ("define data") command.
> the unix dd command has a million options
> and a unique syntax.
>
> su is "super user" or "set super user".
>
> ken
--
---
Allen Kirby AT&T ITS Production Services
akirby@att.com Alpharetta, GA.