lions book

Lions Book
 n.

   Source Code and Commentary on Unix level 6, by John Lions. The two
   parts of this book contained (1) the entire source listing of the Unix
   Version 6 kernel, and (2) a commentary on the source discussing the
   algorithms. These were circulated internally at the University of New
   South Wales beginning 1976--77, and were, for years after, the only
   detailed kernel documentation available to anyone outside Bell Labs.
   Because Western Electric wished to maintain trade secret status on the
   kernel, the Lions Book was only supposed to be distributed to
   affiliates of source licensees. In spite of this, it soon spread by
   {samizdat} to a good many of the early Unix hackers.

   [1996 update: The Lions book lives again! It was put back in print as
   ISBN 1-57398-013-7 from Peer-To-Peer Communications, with forewords by
   Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson. In a neat bit of reflexivity, the
   page before the contents quotes this entry.]

   [1998 update: John Lions's death was an occasion of general mourning
   in the hacker community.]
    

Lions Book

   <publication> "Source Code and Commentary on Unix level 6", by
   John Lions.

   The two parts of this book contained the entire source listing
   of the {Unix} Version 6 {kernel}, and a commentary on the
   source discussing the {algorithms}.  These were circulated
   internally at the {University of New South Wales} beginning
   1976-77, and were, for years after, the *only* detailed kernel
   documentation available to anyone outside {Bell Labs}.
   Because {Western Electric} wished to maintain trade secret
   status on the kernel, the Lions book was never formally
   published and was only supposed to be distributed to
   affiliates of source licensees (it is still possible to get a
   Bell Labs reprint of the book by sending a copy of a V6 {source
   licence} to the right person at {Bellcore}, but *real* insiders
   have the UNSW edition).  In spite of this, it soon spread by
   {samizdat} to a good many of the early Unix hackers.

   (http://peer-to-peer.com/catalog/history/lions.html).

   In 1996 it was reprinted as a "classic":

   [John Lions, "Lions' Comentary on UNIX 6th Edition with Source
   Code", Computer Classics Revisited Series, Peer-to-Peer
   Communications, 1996, ISBN 1-57398-013-7].

   [{Jargon File}]

   (1997-06-25)