65 lines
1.7 KiB
Plaintext
65 lines
1.7 KiB
Plaintext
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.TL
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Preface to the Fourth (2002) Edition
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.LP
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Plan 9 continues to grow and adapt.
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The fourth major release of the system
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incorporates a number of changes, but the most central
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is the conversion to a new version of the 9P file system
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protocol.
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This new version was motivated by a desire to support
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files with name elements longer than 27 bytes (the old
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.CW NAMELEN ),
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but the opportunity was taken to change a number of other things
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about the protocol,
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making it more efficient, more flexible, and easier to encapsulate.
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One simple but indispensable new feature made possible by the protocol
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change is that the system now records the user who last modified a file;
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try
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.CW ls
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.CW -m
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to identify the culprit.
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.LP
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Many aspects of system security have been improved.
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The new security agent
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.I factotum (4)
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maintains user passwords, while
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.I secstore (4)
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keeps them safe and enables single sign-on to multiple domains and machines
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using a variety of secure protocols and services.
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.LP
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Throughout the system, components have been rewritten and interfaces
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modified to eliminate restrictions, improve performance, and clarify design.
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The full list is too long to include here, but significant changes have occurred
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in a number of system calls
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.I wait (2), (
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.I stat (2),
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.I mount (2),
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and
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.I errstr (2)),
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the thread library
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.I thread (2)), (
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formatted printing
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.I print (2) (
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and
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.I fmtinstall (2)),
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security
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(many pages in section 2, including
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.I auth (2),
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.I authsrv (2)),
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and many others.
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.LP
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The changes are sweeping and are accompanied by many new programs, tools,
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services,
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and libraries.
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See the manual pages and the accompanying documents for more information.
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.LP
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.sp
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.in 3i
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Bell Labs
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.br
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Computing Science Research Center
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.br
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Murray Hill NJ
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.br
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April, 2002
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