info-vax@ucbvax.ARPA (09/27/84)
From: Dave Johnson <dbj@rice.ARPA> The Computer Science Department of Rice University is proud to announce the availability of "Phoenix", a Unix 4.1 BSD kernel emulator for VMS, and "Tucson", a nearly complete set of the standard Unix software distributed by Berkeley with 4.1 plus many locally written programs. Phoenix and Tucson have been developed at Rice University over the past few years, and have been in beta-test at various sites outside of Rice for nearly a year. Phoenix and Tucson currently run under VMS versions 3.0 to 3.6 and will probably track future versions of VMS as they become available. All distributions of both Phoenix and Tucson include full source code. Phoenix is a nearly complete emulation of 4.1 BSD Unix for VMS. The philosophy of the project is that every Unix program should run under Phoenix unmodified, even if it takes advantage of very obscure Unix function and behavior. As examples, we have ported with little or no modification such programs as: o C shell with full job control o Gosling's EMACS o Franz Lisp o Macsyma o UUCP o Yale T o Pascal, Fortran 77 The system is completely compatible with 4.1 BSD at the Unix object code level, so source isn't needed to port most programs. Major omissions in this first release of Phoenix include: o full file sharing for multiple writers o remapping of some keyboard control characters (^C, ^U, DEL) o ptrace and the debuggers o pseudo-teletypes o multiplexed files We are considering expanding the system to emulate important 4.2 features, particularly networking, as a long-term goal. Also, when VMS 4.0 is available from DEC, we plan to release a new version to take advantage of new VMS features provided by 4.0. The Tucson package contains almost everything distributed by Berkeley in their standard 4.1 distribution, except the Unix kernel itself. Tucson includes most standard Unix programs from 4.1 BSD, together with all of the standard Unix libraries, the on-line "Unix Programmer's Manual" pages, etc. Also included are several locally developed Unix programs, and versions of standard software with significant improvements or bug fixes. The distribution of Phoenix was delayed by a legal dispute which has now been resolved. As a result of the settlement, the Phoenix kernel itself is now the property of SRI International, but Rice may sublicense and distribute the system for $600 per CPU. Universities and government labs must have a Bell Unix source license to receive the system. Commercial sites must also have a binary or source license for "Eunice" from SRI or The Wollongong Group in addition to a Unix source license. Tucson licenses are available only from Rice University for a distribution fee of $100 per site (for an unlimited number of CPUs). A Bell Unix source license is also required to receive Tucson. Both Phoenix and Tucson are licensed "as is", and no maintenance will be provided. However, full source code is included with both, and bug fixes and new releases will be available at an additional charge. To get more information on the distribution of Phoenix and Tucson or to receive licensing materials, send a request to our Software Distribution Coordinator: Wendy Wong Department of Computer Science Rice University P.O. Box 1892 Houston, TX 77251 or send network mail to: phoenix-request@rice.ARPA (Arpanet,CSNet) {lbl-csam,convex}!rice!phoenix-request (UUCP) Please include your U.S. Mail address in all correspondence. ------------------------------ Unix is a trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories. VMS is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation.