stone@yale-comix.UUCP (Larry Stone) (04/21/84)
There was a DSW command on the TOPS-20 system here. It did
perform an "rm -i" function and even had Unix-like switches,
but the popular legend was that DSW stood for Delete Shit Work.
-- larry [yale-comix!]stoneparnass@ihuxf.UUCP (Bob Parnass, AJ9S) (04/27/84)
For some time now, Russian ham radio operators have sent the acronym "dsw" when ending their on-the-air conversations. It's used as a freindly goodbye. -- ========================================================================== Bob Parnass, AT&T Bell Laboratories - ihnp4!ihuxf!parnass - (312)979-5414
rib@edsel.UUCP (RI Block) (05/01/84)
For some time now, Russian ham radio operators have sent the acronym "dsw" when ending their on-the-air conversations. It's used as a freindly goodbye. Commercial ops too; Dsw in this context is Dos Wydanya which is the normal way that slavs end conversations. In Unix (and I've been using Unix since 1975 or so, DSW means "delete s work" as previously mentioned.
mpl@hlwpg.UUCP (Michael) (05/01/84)
The way I heard it, "dsw" stood for "delete with switch", which is an old DEC utility to delete files before logging off (so I've heard). The program would display each file, after which the user would hit a carriage return after setting a switch (on the console, of course) either up or down (to save or delete files by default). This allowed the user to clean up his directory in a (reasonably) friendly (?) manner. Mike Lindner hlwpg!mpl
agb@ucbvax.UUCP (Alexander G. Burchell) (05/03/84)
The final answer to dsw (seen on the net a while ago):
>From research!dmr Wed Aug 12 00:02:17 1981
Subject: dsw manual page (honest)
DSW(1) UNIX Programmer's Manual DSW(1)
NAME
dsw - delete from switches
SYNOPSIS
(put number in console switches)
dsw
core
DESCRIPTION
_d_s_w reads the console switches to obtain a number _n, prints
the name of the _n-th file in the current directory, and
exits, leaving a core image file named _c_o_r_e. If this core
file is executed, the file whose name was last printed is
unlinked (see _u_n_l_i_n_k(2)).
The command is useful for deleting files whose names are
difficult to type.
SEE ALSO
rm(1), unlink(2)
BUGS
This command was written in 2 minutes to delete a particular
file that managed to get an 0200 bit in its name. It should
work by printing the name of each file in a specified direc-
tory and requesting a `y' or `n' answer. Better, it should
be an option of _r_m(1).
The name is mnemonic, but likely to cause trouble in the
future.
Printed 8/11/81 PDP-7 local 1
--
Alexander Burchell
[agb@ucbarpa]
[ucbvax!agb]