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Title: Lost Unix v4 Possibly Recovered on a Forgotten Bell Labs Tape From
1973

Link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/11/09/0528...

"A tape-based piece of unique Unix history may have been lying quietly in
storage at the University of Utah for 50+ years," reports The Register. And
the software librarian at Silicon Valley's Computer History Museum, Al Kossow
of Bitsavers, believes the tape "has a pretty good chance of being
recoverable." Long-time Slashdot reader bobdevine says the tape will be
analyzed at the Computer History Museum. More from The Register: The news was
posted to Mastodon by Professor Robert Ricci of the University of Utah's
Kahlert School of Computing [along with a picture. "While cleaning a storage
room, our staff found this tape containing #UNIX v4 from Bell Labs, circa
1973..." Ricci posted on Mastodon. "We have arranged to deliver it to the
Computer History Museum."] The nine-track tape reel bears a handwritten label
reading: UNIX Original From Bell Labs V4 (See Manual for format)... If it's
what it says on the label, this is a notable discovery because little of UNIX
V4 remains. That's unfortunate as this specific version is especially
interesting: it's the first version of UNIX in which the kernel and some of
the core utilities were rewritten in the new C programming language. Until
now, the only surviving parts known were the source code to a slightly older
version of the kernel and a few man pages - plus the Programmer's Manual
[PDF], from November 1973. The Unix Heritage Society hosts those surviving
parts - and apparently some other items of interest, according to a comment
posted on Mastodon. "While going through the tapes from Dennis Ritchie
earlier this year, I found some UNIX V4 distribution documents," posted
Mastodon user "Broken Pipe," linking to
tuhs.org/Archive/Applications/Dennis_Tapes/Gao_Analysis/v4_dist/. There's a
file called license ("The program and information transmitted herewith is and
shall remain the property of Bell Lab%oratories..." and coldboot ("Mount
good tape on drive 0...", plus a six-page "Setup" document that ends with
these words... We expect to have a UNIX seminar early in 1974. Good luck. Ken
Thompson Dennis Ritchie Bell Telephone Labs Murray Hill, NJ 07974

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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