Information Research Weblog

This looks like a story that will run and run

An outfit called the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, which is funded by, among others, Microsoft, has published a report suggesting that Linus Torvalds built Linux on top of the MINIX code developed by Andy Tannebaum.

Unfortunately for Ken Brown, President of the AdTI, Tannebaum has taken to the Web to pour scorn on his work. Brown's key point appears to be that it is unlikely that anyone can sit down and write an operating system in a few months without stealing code from somewhere - his suggestion appears to be that Torvalds stole MINIX code. Tannebaum comments:

To start with, Ken Thompson wrote UNICS for the PDP-7 all by himself. When it was later moved to the PDP-11 and rewritten in C, Dennis Ritchie joined the team, but primarily focused on designing the C language, writing the C compiler, and writing the I/O system and device drivers. Ken wrote nearly all of the kernel himself.

In 1983, a now-defunct company named the Mark Williams company produced and sold a very good UNIX clone called Coherent. Most of the work was done by Bob Swartz. I used this system for a while and it was very solid.

In 1983, Rick Holt published a book, now out of print, on the TUNIS system, a UNIX-like system. This was certainly a rewrite since TUNIS was written in a completely new language, concurrent Euclid.

Then Doug Comer wrote XINU. While also not a UNIX clone, it was a comparable system.

He also describes Brown as 'not the sharpest knife in the drawer' who 'didn't know a thing about the history of UNIX', finishing up with:

My conclusion is that Ken Brown doesn't have a clue what he is talking about. I also have grave questions about his methodology. After he talked to me, he prowled the university halls buttonholing random students and asking them questions. Not exactly primary sources.

More on the story at:

• "Is Torvalds really the father of Linux?"
• Accusatory Study: Many Open-Sourcers Steal Code
• Linus Discloses *Real* Fathers of Linux

Perhaps no one will be surprised to find that, on the evidence of its Web site, the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution is not exactly politically neutral.