| Developer | Bell Labs |
|---|---|
| Written in | C |
| OS family | Unix |
| Working state | Discontinued |
| Available in | English |
| Default user interface | Command-line interface |
Columbus UNIX, or CB UNIX, is a discontinued variant of the UNIX operating system used internally at Bell Labs[1] for administrative databases and transaction processing.[2] It was developed at the Columbus, Ohio branch, based on V6, V7 and PWB Unix.[3] It was little-known outside the company.
CB UNIX was developed to address deficiencies inherent in Research Unix, notably the lack of interprocess communication (IPC) and file locking, considered essential for a database management system. Several Bell System operation support system products were based on CB UNIX such as Switching Control Center System. The primary innovations were power-fail restart, line disciplines, terminal types, and IPC features.[4]
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The interprocess communication features developed for CB UNIX were message queues, semaphores and shared memory support. These eventually appeared in mainstream Unix systems starting with System V in 1983, and are now collectively known as System V IPC.[2]
References
- ^ Rochkind, Marc (1985). Advanced UNIX Programming. Prentice Hall. pp. 156–157. ISBN 0-13-011800-1.
- ^ a b Kerrisk, Michael (2010). The Linux Programming Interface. No Starch Press. p. 921.
- ^ J. D. Doan, ed. (May 1981). CB-UNIX Programmer's Manual, Edition 2.3 (PDF). Columbus, OH: Bell Telephone Laboratories. p. iii.
- ^ Dale Dejager (1984-01-16). "UNIX history". Newsgroup: net.unix.