[net.unix] What does BSS stand for???

barry@sytek.UUCP (11/18/83)

Can anyone one tell me what the letters in 'BSS' stand for??? I know that
it refers to the unitialized data area of any exectuable program, but
in several years I have yet to meet someone who can tell me what the
characters actually represent!

					Thanks --
					    Barry Holroyd
					    (213) 417-8859
					    decvax!sytek!barry

gwyn%brl-vld@sri-unix.UUCP (11/19/83)

From:      Doug Gwyn (VLD/VMB) <gwyn@brl-vld>

BSS stands for "Block Starting with Symbol" and is a common assembler
pseudo-op.  (There are also "Blocks Ending with Symbol" etc.)

jhv@houxu.UUCP (11/20/83)

When I was learning assembly language programming,
BSS stood for "Block Starting with Symbol", where the label, if any, on the BSS
line is assigned to the first location reserved for the block.
There was also a BES "Block Ending with Symbol", where the optional label
was assigned to the last location reserved for the block.

dbj.rice%rand-relay@sri-unix.UUCP (11/20/83)

From:  Dave Johnson <dbj.rice@rand-relay>

I don't really know where Unix got the letters "bss" from, but COMPASS,
the assembler for the CDC 6600 (and 7600 and Cyber 70 and Cyber 170 etc.),
has a pseudo-op named "bss" which allocates some amount of uninitialized
storage.  CDC claims that it means "Block Starting Symbol".

                                        Dave Johnson
                                        Dept. of Math Science
                                        Rice University
                                        dbj.rice@CSNet-Relay

goldfarb@ucf-cs.UUCP (11/20/83)

Pardon me, but isn't it Block Storage Segmennt?
			Ben Goldfarb
			uucp: decvax!ucf-cs!goldfarb
			ARPA: goldfarb.ucf-cs@Rand-Relay

mark@umcp-cs.UUCP (11/21/83)

Pick one from column A, one from column B, one from column C.
   A	   B   	   C
blank	storage	segment
basic	segmented storage
block	silly	size
begin	sassy	staff
big	starting symbol
bad	stretch store
baz	sensing	service
bogus	symbolic strangeness
-- 
spoken:	mark weiser
UUCP:	{seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!mark
CSNet:	mark@umcp-cs
ARPA:	mark.umcp-cs@CSNet-Relay

guidi@pegasus.UUCP (11/21/83)

BSS: Be Sure to Save (at least that's what we told each other in the 60's)

johnc@orca.UUCP (John Crown) (11/24/83)

"The BSS directive [Block Starting with Symbol] reserves a block of storage
with a label attached to the first address of the block ..."


John Crown, Tektronix
...[decvax|ucbvax]!teklabs!tekecs!johnc

rbc@houxu.UUCP (R.CONNAGHAN) (11/25/83)

Funny, I've asked what "BSS" stands for too.
I came across an answer in an "IBM" manual of some sort.
Best I can recall:

	BSS == "Backword Storage Space"

		(could have been "Backword Secondary Storage")

As always with with IBM, an answer that's no answer.


Robert Connaghan
AT&T Bell Labs
houxw!rbc