GCOS field

[Norman S. Soley]

In article <4400001 at mrevox.UUCP>, pim at mrevox.UUCP writes:
> Someone just the other day saw the GCOS(GECOS) field
> being prompted for and remarked that he hadn't seen
> that name for a while. He said that it stood for:
> 
> General Electric Computer Operating System
> or
> General Electric Comprehensive Operating System
> 
> It seems far fetched, but interesting.

Considering that Thompson had been working on Multics (at the time a
joint project between MIT, Bell Labs and G.E.) the roots of which was 
the GCOS O/S (which by the way is still used on Honeywell DPS type
boxes) before UNIX was even a glimmer in his eye, it's not so far fetched
at all. Now the question still remains, what is the connection between
the GCOS O/S and the GCOS field in the UNIX passwd file (if any).



-- 
Norman Soley - Data Communications Analyst - Ontario Ministry of the Environment
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  " Stay smart, go cool, be happy, it's the only way to get what you want"