Re: possible mass-filing of bugs: many shared library packages contain binaries in usr/bin

[Tollef Fog Heen <tollef@add.no>]

*  (Thomas Bushnell, BSG)

| Sean Middleditch <elanthis@awesomeplay.com> writes:
| 
| > Ah,I thought /usr was used how I originally stated, and they made
| > /usr/home - I still see /usr/home on a lot of old-timer UNIX systems.
| 
| What's old-timer?  The really old books, ones that mention version 6
| Unix, have home directories directly under /usr.

In my «A user guide to the UNIX system», (Rebecca Thomas PhD, Jean
Yates) (System III compatible), copyright 1982, it mentions
/usr/your-name, /usr/your-friend etc.  Interestingly enough, it also
mentions /usr/dict/words in another part.  Also, when looking at the
structure it has only unix.sys, bin, usr and dev under /.  Not var,
not sbin.

However, my «Unix User's Manual» (Bell Labs, release 3.0), copyright
june 1980, mentions directories like /usr/adm, /usr/src, /stand,
/usr/rje, /usr/lib, /usr/hasp, /usr/pub, etc.  In the introduction, it
remarks: Commands generally reside in the directory /bin (for *bin*ary
programs).  Some programs also reside in /usr/bin, to save space in
/bin. [...] Some UNIX systems have a directory called /usr/lbin
containing local commands.

I don't have any older books than that, but I think those two
references show that there is (and was) some disagreement on how /usr
was supposed to be used.

(As a side note: IRIX still uses /usr/people the same way we use
/home)

-- 
Tollef Fog Heen                                                        ,''`.
UNIX is user friendly, it's just picky about who its friends are      : :' :
                                                                      `. `' 
                                                                        `-  


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