Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site decwrl.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!mhuxn!houxm!ihnp4!zehntel!dual!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-jaws!kaiser From: kaiser@jaws.DEC (Pete Kaiser 225-5441 HLO2-1/N10) Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards Subject: Re: Hacking OS sources Message-ID: <129@decwrl.UUCP> Date: Mon, 3-Dec-84 18:47:12 EST Article-I.D.: decwrl.129 Posted: Mon Dec 3 18:47:12 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 5-Dec-84 00:12:34 EST Sender: daemon@decwrl.UUCP Organization: DEC Engineering Network Lines: 38 >Henry Spencer: > >> You can buy UNIX sources and hack them. You can buy VMS sources and hack >> them. Much cheaper, you can buy VMS microfiche. > >Hacking microfiche is difficult and joyless. True. To put more clearly what I meant to say in the first place: If you want to hack source code for your operating system, that option is available under VMS as well as UNIX. Most places simply choose not to hack VMS. I deal with some that do. If most don't, it may have to do with several things: (1) VMS sources are a significant expense. (2) There is an established mechanism for reporting problems to Digital. (3) Problems visibly get fixed, and there's an established open mechanism for setting priorities on many kinds of problems. Perhaps VMS installations, more than UNIX installations, regard it as more cost-effective to have DEC support what they sell; it will be interesting to see -- if it's possible -- what proportion of DEC's ULTRIX-32 customers buy and modify the sources. If UNIX installations find it cost-effective to hack sources, that may have to do with what they pay for the sources. Does anyone have figures at hand for the prices to both academic and commercial users of UNIX and VMS source code in machine-readable form? Naturally it's ideal to have the full source code for your OS (and, for that matter, for everything running on your system ... dream on ...), but if for some reason you don't buy the VMS source (I'm assuming it's real money), you can still get a lot of mileage out of the microfiche in terms of understanding what the system does, and learning from existing code. The microfiche is pretty cheap. I'm under the impression that there's no such thing as "soft sources" for sale for UNIX at a lower price than "hard sources". Am I mistaken? ---Pete kaiser%jaws.dec@decwrl.arpa, kaiser%belker.dec@decwrl.arpa {allegra|decvax|ihnp4|ucbvax}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-jaws!kaiser