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Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2000 00:47:37 +0100
From: Mark Ovens <marko@freebsd.org>
To: freebsd-gnats-submit@FreeBSD.ORG
Cc: doc@freebsd.org, Salvo Bartolotta <bartequi@inwind.it>
Subject: Re: docs/21057: Little correction of hier(8)
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On Fri, 08 Sep 2000 08:56:17 GMT, Salvo Bartolotta wrote:

> Dear FreeBSD doc'ers,
>        
> In my quest for the Holy Grail, ahem, for the origin of the /usr
> "acronym", I received the following letter from Chris Coleman:
>        
> --------------------- Forwarded Message -------------------------
>        
> At the moment, I cannot recall where I got that tid bit of
> information. Regardless of whether it originally stood for "user" or
> not, calling it "User" would confuse new users..  Currently, the Unix
> System Resources live there and that is what it should be called.
> (IMHO)
>        
> I may be alone in this definition, but that definition is at least 4
> years old. I never questioned it.  (Although, I may not be alone,
> because I have been propigating that definition for the last 3-4
> years.)
>        
> I found this definition in my searching, which may be more correct.
>        
> Mount point for sharable user commands, libraries, and documentation.
> http://www.kelley.iu.edu/shyu/hpguide.html#files
>        
> Still, I'd prefer to keep using the Unix System Resources as a good
> acronym to help people remember and distinguish between "user" files
> and "system" files.
>        
> Feel Free to forward this to -doc if it helps any.
       
I prefer Unix System Resources as well, however, in The Unix
Programming Environment by Kernighan & Pike (1984) I find:

p22:	    "On many systems, /usr is a directory that contains the
	     directories of all the users of the system."

p48:	    "/usr is often the top directory of the user filesystem
	     (user is abbreviated to usr in the same spirit as cmp,
	     ls, etc.)."

p64 (Table 2.1):

	     /usr	user file system

p65:	     "/usr is called the `user file system', although it may
	      have little to do with the actual users of the system."

So, what is the correct answer? Should I commit this PR, or just close
it. It shouldn't be left lying around.

> Chris Coleman
> Daemon News
> http://www.daemonnews.org
> Bringing BSD together
       
> ------------------- End of Forwarded Message -------------------------
       
> Best regards,
> Salvo
       
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