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Originally Posted by DMcCunney
More than just filesystem: it was IBM's top of the line mainframe OS. MVS and UNIX were polar opposites in the way the file system was implemented. UNIX just saw files in a hierarchal file system, and didn't especially care what they were - that was the job of whatever program used the file. MVS did care what a file was, and knew a good deal about the files and their contents and uses. So you got things like ISAM files (Indexed Sequential Access and Maintenance) files suitable for database use, and PDS (Partitioned Data Set) files whose members were what we might think of as individual files.
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Yup, everything in *nix is a file. I thought (think?) that was the preferred method of keeping things simple/more efficient, but that will likely depend on specific usage.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcCunney
Despite mainframe origins, things like ISAM are still widely used. Until recent versions, for example, the ISAM file type (as MyISAM) was the default database file type used by MySQL. (The current default appears to be InnoDB, which looks a lot closer to a true relational database than ISAM is.)
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...So I read up on this because, being a slacker, I use phpMyAdmin for MySQL and can choose which backend I use (also, I never paid attention). The choice was always MyISAM since it was always for small non-mission-critical stuff like a class project, my DC++ hub, etc. Oracle had always been my choice when it came to full-blown, monster-resources and damn the torpedoes RDBMS but they're quickly becoming Big Bad as a result of 1) letting OpenSolaris die without so much as a memo, and 2) suing Google over some maybe-or-not Java APIs in Android. I will be studying InnoDB on my own time in the future; thanks for pointing out the difference.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcCunney
Years back, AT&T was still in the computer business, and entered into a joint venture with Sun Microsystems to create a converged version of UNIX that would marry the best parts of the AT&T System V and BSD flavors, under the direction of Sun R&D VP Bill Joy, who had been chief architect of BSD back when he was a grad student at UC Berkeley.
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...who also invented the C shell (csh), the vi editor, the chroot jail, the Network File System (NFS), and probably Skittles just to prove he had a sense of humor. The guy's bio should be required reading for any system designer or programmer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcCunney
USL was later purchased by Novell when Ray Noorda was running the shop, but Novell never seemed to have a clear idea of what to do with it. When Noorda was removed as CEO, Novell sold USL to the Santa Cruz Operation. But they transferred the UNIX trademark to the X-Open Group. X-Open published a set of specifications called "Spec 1170" that defined what a UNIX system was, and any OS that could pass those tests was entitled to call itself UNIX, regardless of its origin. (I recall a no longer extant Linux distro actually spent the time and money to pass Spec 1170 and get that right.)
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The Open Group now maintains it and sets the standard for the Single UNIX Specification, while SCO vanished into bankrupt obscurity as a lesson learned when you mess with the big boys, and Novell got in bed with Microsoft.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcCunney
It was theoretically possible for IBM to modify MVS so that it would pass Spec 1170, and could be called UNIX. I was deeply amused when IBM did (though their goal was POSIX compatibility to make the Federal Government which was requiring POSIX in systems it purchased happy.)
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As a famous rock band once said, you gotta give the people what they want.