UNIX history made easy

[John R. Levine]

In article <17090 at rpp386.cactus.org> jfh at rpp386.cactus.org (John F. Haugh II) writes:
>What the tacky bit did was cause /unix to scan each subdirectory
>of a directory on file name lookups.  So it would be possible to
>have ten or twenty subdirectories each with a different mounted
>file system all look like a single system image.  ...

It worked very nicely, except that when you had the arms on your five RK05
disks seeking in unison, the cabinet in which they were mounted tended to
shake and fall over.  

So what's the real reason early versions printed a semicolon before login: ?
-- 
John R. Levine, Segue Software, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 492 3869
johnl at esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl, Levine at YALE.edu
Massachusetts has 64 licensed drivers who are over 100 years old.  -The Globe