Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1a 12/4/83; site rlgvax.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!houxm!houxz!vax135!floyd!cmcl2!seismo!rlgvax!guy
From: guy@rlgvax.UUCP (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: net.followup,net.micro
Subject: Re: AT&T and the 3B*2
Message-ID: <2011@rlgvax.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 9-Jun-84 20:39:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: rlgvax.2011
Posted: Sat Jun  9 20:39:02 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 10-Jun-84 07:04:11 EDT
References: <692@cp1.UUCP> <483@spuxll.UUCP> <143@pertec.UUCP> <2002@rlgvax.UUCP> <7433@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Organization: CCI Office Systems Group, Reston, VA
Lines: 43

> From the UNIXtm System Administrator (sic) Guide [for the] 3B5 Processor,
> page A-7:

> 	DUP TABLE OVERFLOW (CONTINUE)

> 	An internal table in fsck containing duplicate block numbers has no
> 	more room.  Reompile fsck with a larger value of DUPTBLSIZE.

> I hope the C compiler isn't an ``option''...

> 
> Customer: I'm having this problem with the software.  (description)
> 	What should I do?

> AT&T:	Oh, that!  Just recompile the system with option blat.

AT&T is slowly learning that "recompile program xxx with option blat" isn't
a very useful instruction in administrator's manuals; after all, all the sites
that run UNIX, at least the ones we care about, have UNIX source, right? :-)
A less severe, but probably more annoying, version was the USG UNIX accounting
package.  It sliced up CPU and connect time into "prime time" and "non-prime
time"; "prime time" was 9am-5pm, Monday through Friday, except holidays.
Unfortunately, business hours and the holiday list were *compiled into the
accounting programs*, and when it came near the end of the year the
accounting software would instruct you to "RECOMPILE pnpsplit WITH NEW
HOLIDAYS".  Well, if you didn't have source, and it wasn't 1980, or your
holiday schedule didn't coincide with the Bell Labs 1980 schedule, guess what
creek you were up?  This was fixed in System V - the holiday schedule comes
from a file (although in a masterful stroke of human engineering you specify
the days by their day-of-year value.  Of *course* everybody has a calendar
with the day-of-year marked on each day, right?).

I think a good discipline for producing software which doesn't use "cc" as
an essential customizing tool is to distribute the software to a machine with
no compilers, no libraries, no include files, no *nothing* - and let it run
for a while.  Any problems that can't be fixed, or any necessary customization
that can't be done, becaus the compilers are missing is reported as a bug and
has to be fixed before the software is released.  Slows down the release,
possibly quite a bit, but at least you don't get burned when you send out
binary copies...

	Guy Harris
	{seismo,ihnp4,allegra}!rlgvax!guy