Different uses of the 5th field of the passwd file.

[Chris Torek]

In article <1990Nov8.060424.1828 at blackbox.lonestar.org>
cbradley at blackbox.lonestar.org (Chris Bradley) writes:
>What is the `real' acronym?  I've seen both `GCOS' (in this thread) and
>`GECOS' (in the docs for C News, I think)?

They are both correct:

>What is the correct expansion of the acronym?

GCOS stands for General Comprehensive Operating System, which was the
name of something that ran on a Honeywell series.  Then GE bought in
on the deal and renamed it the `General Electric C.O.S.'

Historical types and lazy people therefore type `gcos'; others use
`gecos'.  You get to guess whether I am being historical or lazy when
I use `gcos'. :-)
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 405 2750)
Domain:	chris at cs.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris