[comp.unix.microport] CBS UNIX

root@conexch.UUCP (Larry Dighera) (01/12/89)

In article <331@belltec.UUCP> dar@belltec.UUCP (Dimitri Rotow) writes:
>In article <4837@mtgzz.att.com>, avr@mtgzz.att.com (a.v.reed) writes:
>> 
>> I know for a fact that CBS College Publishing, and its Holt,
>> Rinehart and Winston subsidiary, also publich [sic] reprints of AT&T UNIX(R)
>> documentation; there may be others.
>
>I know that the CBS books are also out there, but they are apparently limited
>to pre -Release 3.0 editions.

Dimitri's comment is only partially true.  The five book set of
UNIX(tm) manuals, offered by CBS College Publishing, that I
purchased for under $10.00 when joining Macmillan's Library of
Computer and Information Sciences Book Club, indicates the
following:

        Commands and utilities -- v.2.
        System calls and library routines -- v.3

This is printed on the flyleaf of the volumes (ISBN 0-03-009317-1).

So, it appears that, indeed, the Commands and Utilities manuals
are pre Release 3.0, but the System Call and Library Routine
manuals are System V Release 3.

At any rate, these manuals are quite a bargain, if purchased this way. 

In case anyone is interested, here is the book club's address:

        Macmillian Book Clubs, Inc.
        P. O. Box 503
        Riverside, NJ  08370-0503


Larry Dighera
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wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) (01/14/89)

In article <19002@conexch.UUCP> root@conexch.UUCP (Larry Dighera) writes:
 >Dimitri's comment is only partially true.  The five book set of
 >UNIX(tm) manuals, offered by CBS College Publishing, that I
 >purchased for under $10.00 when joining Macmillan's Library of
 >Computer and Information Sciences Book Club, indicates the
 >following:
 >
 >        Commands and utilities -- v.2.
 >        System calls and library routines -- v.3
 >
 >This is printed on the flyleaf of the volumes (ISBN 0-03-009317-1).
 >
 >So, it appears that, indeed, the Commands and Utilities manuals
 >are pre Release 3.0, but the System Call and Library Routine
 >manuals are System V Release 3.

NOT SO! What you are referring to is in Volume 1, on the page immediately
preceding page 'i'. Here it is, slightly more complete than what you included:

       Contents: v. 1. Commands and utilities -- v. 2.
     System calls and library routines -- v. 3. System
     administration facilities.

And in Volume 5 (Languages & Support Tools) it continues:
     ...  v. 4. Document preparation. -- v. 5. Languages
     and support tools.

These are VOLUME references, not VERSION references. Anyway, in 
AT&T nomenclature, a RELEASE is not referred to as a VERSION; if you
read these as "five point two" etc, then what do you make of the 
"five point one" that precedes the part you quoted, or the "five point five"
in Volume 5? That would be quite a feat on the part of CBS/HRW to describe
System V Release 5 before AT&T has even published Release 4 :-) !
-- 
Wolf N. Paul * 3387 Sam Rayburn Run * Carrollton TX 75007 * (214) 306-9101
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root@conexch.UUCP (Larry Dighera) (01/17/89)

In article <299@dcs.UUCP> wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) writes:
>
>NOT SO! What you are referring to is in Volume 1, on the page immediately
>preceding page 'i'. Here it is, slightly more complete than what you included:
>
>       Contents: v. 1. Commands and utilities -- v. 2.
>     System calls and library routines -- v. 3. System
>     administration facilities.

This was the only reference to what appeared to be the System/Release
that I was able to locate anywhere in the manuals.  

>And in Volume 5 (Languages & Support Tools) it continues:
>     ...  v. 4. Document preparation. -- v. 5. Languages
>     and support tools.

If I had noticed this in Volume 5, I would have realized that this notation
referred to the manual volumes and not the System/Release.  Sorry for the
oversight.  Thank you for calling this to my/our attention.

So, have you found any place in the CBS manuals that states exactly which
release they document?  Or, are we going to just take Mr. Rotow's word for
it that they are pre-Release 3?

It seems to me, that CBS deliberately omitted that information in an
attempt to deceive potential purchasers of their (out dated?) product.

Larry Dighera

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wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) (01/18/89)

In article <19558@conexch.UUCP> root@conexch.UUCP (Larry Dighera) writes:
>So, have you found any place in the CBS manuals that states exactly which
>release they document?  Or, are we going to just take Mr. Rotow's word for
>it that they are pre-Release 3?
>
>It seems to me, that CBS deliberately omitted that information in an
>attempt to deceive potential purchasers of their (out dated?) product.

I shouldn't think so. The Manuals were edited and produced (up to typesetting)
by AT&T employees, and are copyrighted by AT&T.

I have a two-volume set of AT&T in-house System V manuals which also omit
any reference to a Release.

I think that this dates back to a time when "System V" was considered the
"version number" of an OS called "UNIX"; release-specific stuff belonged
in the Release Notes, not in the main manual.

Since then, AT&T has decided to make "UNIX System V" the official name, and
use the "Release" number as a version number (witness the proliferation of
sub-release numbers, i.e. V.3, V.3.1, V.3.2, etc. Thus the merged UNIX/XENIX
product, which should really be considered a new Version, becomes Release 3.2,
and the merged USG/BSD/SUNOS product will be Release 4, rather than a new
version.

So, I think this was just an oversight at a time when the release number was
not nearly as important as it has become now.
-- 
Wolf N. Paul * 3387 Sam Rayburn Run * Carrollton TX 75007 * (214) 306-9101
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gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn ) (01/19/89)

In article <304@dcs.UUCP> wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) writes:
>>It seems to me, that CBS deliberately omitted that information in an
>>attempt to deceive potential purchasers of their (out dated?) product.

My copy of the CBS manuals is SVR2 VAX version 2 vintage, roughly.
Machine-dependent stuff is omitted so it could equally be SVR2 3B2
version 4.  I suspect the intention was to publish new editions as
warranted.

>So, I think this was just an oversight at a time when the release number was
>not nearly as important as it has become now.

The release is not all that important.  Very little if anything in
the CBS manuals is incorrect for newer releases of UNIX System V;
it's merely incomplete.

wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) (01/20/89)

In article <9427@smoke.BRL.MIL> gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn) writes:
>>So, I think this was just an oversight at a time when the release number was
>>not nearly as important as it has become now.
>
>The release is not all that important.  Very little if anything in
>the CBS manuals is incorrect for newer releases of UNIX System V;
>it's merely incomplete.

My point was though, if there is concern now about SysV release numbers, it is
because SOME of the release numbers indicate major compatibility changes:

Release 3.2 is the merged UNIX/XENIX release, and Release 4 is supposed to
be the merged USG/BSD/SUN release.

When the CBS manuals were produced, release numbers were even less important
than they are now, which is why they are not mentioned.


-- 
Wolf N. Paul * 3387 Sam Rayburn Run * Carrollton TX 75007 * (214) 306-9101
UUCP:     killer!dcs!wnp                 ESL: 62832882
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rick@pcrat.UUCP (Rick Richardson) (01/21/89)

In article <305@dcs.UUCP> wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) writes:
>In article <9427@smoke.BRL.MIL> gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn) writes:
>>
>>The release is not all that important.  Very little if anything in
>>the CBS manuals is incorrect for newer releases of UNIX System V;
>>it's merely incomplete.
>
>Release 3.2 is the merged UNIX/XENIX release, and Release 4 is supposed to
>be the merged USG/BSD/SUN release.
>
>When the CBS manuals were produced, release numbers were even less important
>than they are now, which is why they are not mentioned.

And then there's the Prentice Hall UNIX System V/386 series.  Only a couple
of months ago I made my final 'payment' to own the complete set.  I
can remember wondering if they expected these manuals to last through
all those releases.  I guessed that they would come out with addenda
volumes to describe the changes in 3.2 and maybe again in 4.0.  

Boy, was I wrong!  There's a whole new set of manuals for System V/386,
*release 3.2*.  Same high prices, and I didn't see anything like an
upgrade for the original set.  I haven't even cracked open some of
the manuals and they're now obsolete!

Grrrr!

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