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tabs: a hacky version of tabs appeared in 1st edition Unix

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First edition Unix had an /etc/tabs file. It contained the escape
sequences to set tabs to every 8 stops on an old Teletype Model 37 and
compatible terminals. One would 'cat /etc/tabs' to reset them.  Unix at
the time effectively mandated this because the delays in the tty driver
assumed this and tabs didn't work when they were too different from '8'.
Document this historical niggle in HISTORY after it was brought to my
attention on a Hacker News thread.

Sponsored by: Netflix
This commit is contained in:
Warner Losh 2021-09-09 17:11:18 -06:00
parent f448c3ed4a
commit d780a23a99
1 changed files with 7 additions and 2 deletions
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9
usr.bin/tabs/tabs.1
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@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
.\" .\"
.\" $FreeBSD$ .\" $FreeBSD$
.\" .\"
.Dd May 20, 2002 .Dd September 9, 2021
.Dt TABS 1 .Dt TABS 1
.Os .Os
.Sh NAME .Sh NAME
@ -147,9 +147,14 @@ The
utility conforms to utility conforms to
.St -p1003.1-2001 . .St -p1003.1-2001 .
.Sh HISTORY .Sh HISTORY
.Pa /etc/tabs
appeared in
.At v1
which set tabs every 8 on Teletype model 37 and compatible printing terminals
when printed.
A A
.Nm .Nm
utility appeared in PWB UNIX. utility that worked on many terminals appeared in PWB UNIX.
This implementation was introduced in This implementation was introduced in
.Fx 5.0 . .Fx 5.0 .
.Sh BUGS .Sh BUGS