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

[Brett Jacobson]

In article <3851 at dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> williams at nssdcs.UUCP (Jim Williams) writes:
>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)?
>>
>>What is the correct expansion of the acronym?
>>
>
>None of this says what GCOS stands for, of course.  I've never seen it
>spelled "GECOS" anywhere but in net messages.
>
>Jim

(Forwarded)

This is what I know about GECOS (The correct abreviation).

General Electric Comprehensive Operating System

When GE's large systems division was sold to Honeywell, Honeywell
dropped the "E" from "GECOS".  It then became known simply as 
General Comprehensive Operating System.

Unix's password file has a "pw_gecos" field.  The name is a real
holdover from the early days.  According to Dennis Ritchie:

   "Sometimes we sent printer output or batch jobs to the GCOS
    machine.  The gcos field in the password file was a place to
    stash the information for the $IDENT card.  Not elegant."

This is according to my V6 manuals.  As of V7, the OS had been 
sold, and the name changed.   This whole field stems from MULTICS
in the far past, and then the original derivation UNICS.

Chris Petrilli
petrilli at ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
(512)327-0986
Austin, TX