Source Code and Commentary on Unix level 6, by John Lions. The two
parts of this book contained (1) the entire source listing of the
Unix Version 6 kernel, and (2) a commentary on the source discussing
the algorithms. These were circulated internally at the University of
New South Wales beginning 1976--77, and were, for years after, the
only detailed kernel documentation available to anyone outside Bell
Labs. Because Western Electric wished to maintain trade secret status
on the kernel, the Lions Book was only supposed to be distributed to
affiliates of source licensees. In spite of this, it soon spread by
{samizdat} to a good many of the early Unix hackers.
[1996 update: The Lions book lives again! It was put back in print as
ISBN 1-57398-013-7 from Peer-To-Peer Communications, with forewords
by Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson. In a neat bit of reflexivity, the
page before the contents quotes this entry.]
[1998 update: John Lions's death was an occasion of general mourning
in the hacker community.]
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {samizdat}]