On May 31, 2021, at 1:55 PM, Antonio Carlini
<a.carlini at ntlworld.com> wrote:
On 31/05/2021 15:04, Paul Koning wrote:
The earlier rule was that the first number is the major version, the letter is the minor
version. As of V7 it changed to major number dot minor number. In either case, the dash
number suffix is the baselevel number (development build cycle number). Those typically
restart at 0 or 1 for each release, so V5C-01 indicates only one baselevel was done for
that minor release. That may not be true in all cases; I doubt that V4B had 17 baselevels
so that number probably wasn't reset between V4A and V4B.
Looking at them I
guess RT-11 does something similar: V2, V02B, V02C. I can (just about :-)) cope with the
seemingly optional leading 0, but would there have been a V2A? There was for IAS. Actually
IAS had V3, V3.1, V3.2, V3.2A, V3.2B and V3.2C. So IAS went major.minor in a sort of
half-hearted way :-)
Sometimes version numbers seem to be missing. I
don't know if anyone ever saw V1, and I also never saw V3B though I have seen V3A and
V3C.
The "80th Birthday Memo"
(
http://www.silverware.co.uk/rsts_80th_birthday.htm) says that V1 never made it out of the
door. V2A-19 was the first to ship.
The "DEC 1957 to he Present" book
(
http://gordonbell.azurewebsites.net/digital/dec%201957%20to%20present%20197…)
confirms the FY in which RSTS-11 shipped but not the version number.
The earliest manuals online seem to be the V4.x ones available on bitsavers.
Yes, which makes experiments with older versions a bit tricky because the startup dialog
is different (and cryptic). I have the basic info somewhere, I should write it up.
paul