CB-UNIX

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CB-UNIX was one of three parallel variants of early UNIX inside the Bell System, along with USG UNIX and PWB/UNIX. It came out of the Operations System Group (OSG) in Columbus, Ohio.

Apparently initially based on UNIX Version 6, for the PDP-11 (although at the end of its life it did run on VAXen), it had changes and extensions to the kernel to make it more suitable for use in control applications, including real-time systems (unlike the other two, which were primarily intended for computer center type usage).

Major enhancements included extensive inter-process communication (in part via semaphores, and shared memory mechanisms) and file locking, which were considered essential for database management systems; it also had contributions in the areas of power failure recovery.

Releases included:

  • Edition 1.0 - mid 1977
  • Edition 2.0 - January 1979
  • Edition 2.1 - January 1980
  • Edition 2.2 - January 1981
  • Edition 2.3 - mid 1981

The three different systems (which had by then diverged slightly), along with (by then portable) Unix Seventh Edition from the Research group, were eventually unified as Unix SYSIII, in June, 1980.

External links