Glossary

Glossary of Multics acronyms and terms.

Your contributions are important! Please post additions or corrections to alt.os.multics, or mail them to Tom Van Vleck.

The glossary is divided into 26 files, one for each letter. (Non-letter entries are in the "A" file.)

Click on a letter to select a glossary file.
Index| A| B| C| D| E| F| G| H| I| J| K| L| M| N| O| P| Q| R| S| T| U| V| W| X| Y| Z

Alphabetical list of 784 entries

• 103A The classic low-speed Bell asynchronous modem....
• 1050 First IBM terminal that used the Selectric...
• 1ISG Name of a group in the Air...
• 202C6 A high-speed Bell asynchronous modem....
• 2741 IBM terminal with Selectric mechanism, came after...
• 6090 The number on the first 6180 as...
• 6180 The second-generation Multics machine, with major architectural...
• 635 General Electric's competitor to the IBM 7094...
• 6.36 A simulation environment, that simulated the 645...
• 645 The computer system that Multics first ran...
• 645F (645 Follow-on) the name for the 6180...
• 7094 IBM's most powerful scientific computer in 1963,...
• 7punch Binary card format used by the I/O...
• abbrev Per-user command line abbreviation facility....
• ABR Address Base Register....
• absentee The Multics absentee facility is like traditional...
• ABSI Asynchronous Bit Serial Interface (ABSI)....
• absolute (1) An absolute pathname descends from the...
• absolute mode The hardware startup mode of the 6180...
• abs_seg An SDW used by supervisor routines to...
• abs-usable A main memory frame, part of the...
• abs-wired (1) Of a page....
• accept Of a physical volume....
• access control The Multics feature that checks if a...
• accounting Multics comes with an elaborate accounting system,...
• ACL Access Control List....
• ACS Access Control Segment....
• ACTC A software engineering solutions company in Calgary...
• activate To make a segment active....
• activation attributes Those attributes of a segment that are...
• active (1) Said of a segment: an active...
• active device In the 635/645/6180 architecture, active devices are...
• active function A command, enclosed in brackets, inserted in...
• AcuRay Later name for Industrial Nucleonics...
• Ada Language specified by the US Department of...
• additional names Segments and directories can have any number...
• ADP Advanced Development Program....
• AED Algol Extended for Design....
• AEP Advanced Engineering Program....
• AFDSC Air Force Data Services Center....
• AI Tools Bull had a very good team, called...
• AIM Access Isolation Mechanism....
• ALGOL 68 Done by HIS UK in the 1980s....
• ALM Assembly Language for Multics, which was supposed...
• Amber Amber was an operating system produced by...
• AML Author Maintained Library, stored in >aml...
• AN61 The Multics Storage System Program Logic Manual,...
• anonymous user User Control allows a project administrator to...
• answering service The facility in Multics that listens to...
• AOS Add one to storage, opcode on 600...
• APL A language, defined by Ken Iverson of...
• appending mode The hardware mode of the 6180 and...
• Appending Unit Or APU....
• APT Active Process Table....
• APU See Appending Unit...
• archive The archive command manages segments that consist...
• ARCS Academic & Research Computing Services, the application...
• ARDS Advanced Remote Display Station, an early graphics...
• area PL/I data type that acts like a...
• ARPA Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US...
• ARPANet The network first constructed by ARPA, which...
• ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange....
• ASEA Multics customer....
• associative memory Each 645 and 6180 CPU had a...
• AST Active Segment Table....
• AST hash table A table, kept in active_sup_linkage, that holds...
• AST pool There are four sizes of AST entries,...
• AST trickle A supervisor mechanism that periodically and slowly...
• ASTE Active Segment Table Entry....
• ASU Multics site....
• audit (1) The process of peer code review...
• Avon Multics site....
• B2 Orange Book (US government TCSEC) rating achieved...
• backup Dumping files from disk to tape so...
• BASED PL/I storage class, meaning "found by following...
• BASIC Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, a language...
• Bath University of Bath, England...
• BCD Binary-coded decimal....
• BCE Bootload Command Environment....
• BCO Billerica Computer Operations....
• BCPL Bootstrap Combined Programming Language....
• Bell Canada Multics customer, Bell Canada....
• benchmark One part of most RFPs was a...
• binder A utility that combines program binaries, the...
• Birmingham Multics site: University of Birmingham....
• bisync Binary Synchronous Communication....
• bit count The file system stores a bit count...
• block "Block and wakeup" is one of two...
• boot tape A Multics Standard Tape (MST) from which...
• bootload To load software into a system and...
• bootstrap1 The first program on a Multics boot...
• BOS Bootload Operating System....
• branch The structure in a directory allocated for...
• Bristol University of Bristol...
• Brunel Multics site: Brunel University (Uxbridge, Middlesex, England)....
• BSA Bootstrap Assembler...
• BTL Bell Telephone Laboratories....
• Bulk Store Replacement for the firehose drum, this was...
• Bull Compagnie des Machines Bull (CMB), a French...
• C In MR12....
• cache (1) In 1974, the 6180 acquired an...
• CACL Common ACL....
• calendar Multics provides a program to print wall...
• Calgary University of Calgary...
• call bracket The range for rings which can call...
• call/save/return The machine language sequences for inter-subroutine call...
• Cambridge Project An MIT-Harvard social science data management project....
• canonicalization Multics converts terminal input lines to a...
• card The 645 came with a card reader...
• Cardiff Multics site: Cardiff Joint Computing Centre [CJCC]...
• carry Originally a sneakernet between the Project MAC...
• CCVR Multics site: Centre de Calcul Vectoriel pour...
• CEDIAG Bull AI group led by Jean Rohmer....
• CERAM Multics site: Centre d'Etude et de Recherche...
• CICB Multics site: Centre Interuniversitaire de Calcul de...
• CICG Multics site: Centre Interuniversitaire de Calcul de...
• CICL Multics site: Centre Interuniversitaire de Traitement de...
• CICRP Multics site: Centre Interuniversitaire de Calcul de...
• CICT Multics site: Centre Interuniversitaire de Calcul de...
• CiiHB See Bull...
• cipher The multics commands encode and decode implement...
• CIRCE Multics site: Centre InterRegional de Calcul Electronique,...
• CIRIL See Nancy...
• CISL Cambridge Information Systems Laboratory....
• clock The original 645 shipped with a separate...
• clock algorithm A page-replacement algorithm (PRA) due to Corbató,...
• CNET Multics site: Centre National d'Etudes sur les...
• CNO Corporate Network Operations....
• COBOL The Multics COBOL compiler was done at...
• collection A Multics boot tape contains three logical...
• combined linkage segment A per-ring segment that contains the LOT,...
• command A program designed to be invoked by...
• command language The Multics command language derives from the...
• command processor See shell...
• compare_ascii Multics command: compares two ASCII files and...
• compose Multics text formatting command, successor to runoff....
• computer utility A computer, its software, and staff set...
• config deck An array of card images read by...
• connect A communication signal sent from one active...
• connect time The accounting system metered and charged for...
• Consistent System Social science data manipulation subsystem built by...
• continuum Bulletin board program that ran on Multics...
• control argument An argument that controls how a command...
• Control Unit That portion of the 6180 processor (the...
• core Computer memory technology invented by Jay Forrester...
• core metering Memory usage metering was described by Bob...
• cow's stomach The "Coreadd queue" of Release 6....
• CP-6 Honeywell bought rights to the CP-V operating...
• CP/CMS IBM operating system for the 360/67, begun...
• CPU Central Processing Unit, or processor....
• crawlout When a signal is raised in an...
• Cray Station Usually titled Multics Cray Station (although the...
• Credit Lyonnais Multics site: Credit Lyonnais (Paris, France)....
• CRF Camelback Road Facility....
• CS see Consistent System...
• CSC Computer Sciences Corporation, Moorestown NJ....
• csort Cygnus Sort, a more performant reimplementation of...
• CTSS Compatible Time Sharing System....
• CU See Control Unit...
• CUESTA Simulated user driver for benchmarks....
• cu_ For "command utility"....
• daemon A beneficent spirit....
• damaged switch This segment attribute is set during crash...
• Data Management A large-scale project undertaken in the 1980s...
• Datatran Cambridge Project feature?
• DBR Descriptor Base Register, sometimes Descriptor Segment Base...
• DCC Data Communications Corporation, Memphis, TN....
• DCW Device Control Word....
• DDDS/ORAE Canadian DND Multics site...
• debug Multics source-level and process-level debugger, initially written...
• deciduous A neologism of Bernie Greenberg's for branches...
• Decimal Unit Or "DU"....
• definitions Section of an object segment that defines...
• Descartes Executable specification language based on data structuring...
• descriptor (1) contents of an SDW...
• descriptor segment The array of SDWs (segment descriptors) that...
• development machine Any of several Multics machines at or...
• development run Testing of new software on the development...
• DFAST FAST subsystem with Dartmouth conventions...
• dial The answering service connects a TTY channel...
• dialup_ The main event-driven dispatcher of the answering...
• DIM Device Interface Module....
• DIPPER Code name for new hardware I/O system...
• Dir. Prevision Multics site: Ministère des Finances, Direction de...
• directory A file system entity that contains segments,...
• directory control The supervisor subsystem that provides the directory...
• Discourse A programming and simulation language based on...
• Disk Not "disc," those are Frisbees....
• disk quota Multics enforces disk usage quotas at page...
• DL Assembler flag for "Direct lower", 18-bit immediate...
• DN30 Datanet-30 communications front-end processor, used by GECOS...
• DN355 Datanet-355 communications front-end processor, added to 6180...
• DN6661 Datanet 6661 communications front-end processor....
• DN6670 Datanet-6670 communications front-end processor...
• DND Canadian Department of National Defence....
• DOCKMASTER Unclassified Multics system operated by the US...
• dollar limits See resource limits...
• dope Address-independent descriptive material for argument data....
• dprint Delayed print....
• DPS Distributed Processing System....
• DPS6 Another name for a Level 6...
• DPS6plus Version of the Level 6 that ran...
• DPS8 Honeywell early 80s name for its mainframe...
• DPS88 Later name for the Honeywell ADP and...
• DPS90 Even later Honeywell processor line....
• Drum See Librafile...
• DS 10 Early disk unit....
• DSA Honeywell Distributed Systems Architecture....
• DSEG Jargon for descriptor segment...
• DSS191 Disk unit, used on Multics in the...
• DSU170 Disk unit, used on Multics in the...
• DSU270 Disk unit, used on Multics in the...
• DTSS Dartmouth Time Sharing System....
• DU (1) Assembler flag for "Direct upper", 18-bit...
• DUMP BOS command that prints an octal dump...
• DVCP Deer Valley Computer Park....
• dynamic linking Actually two related concepts: the runtime location...
• dynamic reconfiguration Multics facility that allows the system to...
• EBCDIC Extended BCD Interchange Code....
• echo A command that prints its arguments on...
• echo negotiation A scheme (1979) for conditional character echoing...
• EDA (1) CTSS editor written by Jerry Saltzer....
• edm Multics command for editing ASCII character stream...
• EIS Extended Instruction Set....
• Elf Aquitaine Multics site: Centre de Recherche Elf Aquitaine...
• eligible Eligible for multiprogramming....
• Emacs From, "Editing MACroS", a video editor derived...
• EMCRB Executive Multics Change Review Board....
• enter Answering service command to log in an...
• EOP Executive Office of the President....
• EPL Early PL/I....
• EPLBSA EPL BootStrap Assembler....
• eppbp 6180 opcode 352, "effective pointer to pair...
• EPSHOM Multics site: Etablissement Principal du Service Hydro-Océanique...
• equal convention The equal convention governs the interpretation of...
• erase The # character in terminal input erases...
• ERF Error Report Form Number - report of...
• error_table_ A deciduous segment containing a table of...
• escape Multics terminal input supports several conventions to...
• ESD Emergency ShutDown....
• ESL Electronics Systems Laboratory....
• event channel See IPC....
• eviction The opposite of paging-in, to remove a...
• Excalibur Proposed I/O controller to work with Merlin...
• EXECUTE A button on the 645 and 6180...
• execute bracket The range of rings that can execute...
• exec_com Multics command that executed a script of...
• extended access The file system supports additional access control...
• F&T Restaurant in Kendall Square, Cambridge, where Project...
• FAMIS Feature of MR11....
• FAST A DTSS simulator, with command conventions made...
• fatal error A Multics process can terminate for a...
• fault A processor generated exception causing a diversion...
• fault vector A set of 32 instruction pairs in...
• FDUMP BOS command that takes a core dump...
• Field Engineers The FEs were Honeywell employees who installed...
• file See segment...
• File manager See vfile_...
• file map The data structure that lists disk record...
• file system Multics was the first operating system to...
• FIM Fault Interceptor Module....
• finish A PL/I condition signalled in a process...
• finjan See ZARF...
• Firehose drum See Librafile...
• FJCC Fall Joint Computer Conference....
• FL Function Language....
• Flag Day Any software change that is neither forward...
• Flexowriter Typewriter device made by Friden, which could...
• Flower Honeywell machine, planned as a Multics platform...
• flush This command attempts to cause lots of...
• FNP Front-end Network Processor....
• Ford Ford Motor Company....
• format_document (Short name, fdoc....
• format_pl1 PL/I indenting program with many features, options,...
• FORTRAN Multics had three fortran compilers....
• forum (1) Bulletin board system....
• frame As in core frame, or page frame....
• FRED ARPANet interface board...
• FSDCT File System Device Configuration Table....
• FSIM File System Interface Module...
• FSO Federal Systems Operation....
• FT2 Fault Tag 2, a hardware indirection indicator...
• FTP File Transfer Protocol....
• gate A segment that allows transfer of control...
• Gateway Hardware project to build an ARPANet gateway,...
• GCOS Formerly GECOS, General Electric Comprehensive Operating System....
• GCOS 6 The operating system for the Honeywell Level...
• GCOS simulator Also called the GCOS Environment Simulator, GES....
• GE General Electric Co....
• GEBUG Debugging facility for 6....
• GEMSOS Gemini Computer's secure OS, influenced by Multics....
• Genstat Genstat, "A General Statistical Program," was developed...
• GESHUA GE Six Hundred series Users' Association....
• GIM GIOC Interface Module....
• Gimpelize To arrange the items in a PL/I...
• GIMPSPIF GIOC to IMP Special Interface....
• GIOC Generalized I/O Controller....
• Glim Statistical stuff done by Douglas Clark at...
• GM General Motors Corporate/EDS....
• GMCRB Greater Multics Change Review Board....
• graphics Multics graphics were heavily influenced by the...
• GRTS GCOS remote job entry supervisor used in...
• GTSS GCOS Time Sharing System....
• Guardian The CISL/MITRE/USAF project that added AIM, the...
• hardcore (1) That portion of the Multics that...
• hardcore partition A partition, on the RPV, used for...
• hardware monitor See yellow submarine...
• HASP Houston Automatic Spooling Program....
• hcs_ Gate into the hardcore supervisor....
• HEALS Honeywell Error Analysis and Logging System....
• help The first Multics help facility simply printed...
• hierarchy The Multics file system names files (segments)...
• HISCAN Honeywell Information Systems, Canada....
• HISLTD Honeywell Information Systems, Limited....
• HISUK Another name for HISLTD...
• HLR Multics site....
• HLSUA Honeywell Large Systems Users Association....
• home directory Each user on a project has a...
• Honeywell USA conglomerate....
• HOPL History of Programming Languages...
• hphcs_ Highly Privileged HardCore Supervisor, pronounced "h'putschkiss", after...
• HRX Internal Honeywell codename for the DPS6plus...
• I/O daemon The I/O daemon process runs all the...
• IACL Initial ACL....
• idiotic The EPL compiler produced spectacularly bad code...
• idle process Multics creates a dedicated process for every...
• IFAD Integrated Firmware and Diagnostics....
• ifd Interpret FDUMP....
• illegal For a while, official Honeywell Multics documentation...
• IMFT Inter Multics File Transfer...
• IMP Interface Message Processor....
• IMU Information Multiplexer Unit....
• IN Industrial Nucleonics....
• info seg The help command prints out information from...
• inhibit Bit 28 (big-endian) of every 645 and...
• initialization The software mechanisms by which the Multics...
• initializer This process is manufactured at system startup...
• initiate Map into an address space and optionally...
• INNPPP Multics site: Institut National Nuclèaire et Physique...
• INRA Multics site: Institut National de la Recherche...
• INRIA Multics site: Institut National de la Recherche...
• INSEE The French Minestère of Finances had three...
• Intellect Natural language database query product from Artificial...
• interactive message A facility for sending one-line messages between...
• interlace A technique of placing alternate word-pairs or...
• interrupt The 645 /6180 CPU has a separate...
• ioa_ Standard Multics output formatter, ancestor to C...
• IOCT I/O Command Translator....
• IOI (ioi_) I/O Interfacer....
• IOM Input/Output Multiplexer....
• IOSIM I/O Switch Interface Module...
• ios_ I/O Switch....
• IOTC I/O Table Compiler....
• iox_ I/O Exchange....
• IPC (1) Information Processing Center....
• IPR (1) Independent Project Review....
• IPS (1) Information Processing Services....
• IPTO ARPA Information Processing Techniques Office....
• IRIA Initial name of INRIA...
• IRT Multics site: Institut de Recherche des Transports,...
• ISOT Internal Static Offset Table....
• iteration The Multics shell supports iteration over command...
• ITS (1) Indirect To Segment....
• Janus A relational data base management system developed...
• jladdae (for "just logout and don't do anything...
• KERMIT Protocol for transferring files to and from...
• kernel We didn't speak of the "kernel" of...
• kill The @ character in terminal input "kills"...
• Kludge The ESL display, a feature of CTSS....
• known A segment is "known" in a process...
• KOOL Artificial Intelligence language created by CEDIAG, the...
• KST Known Segment Table....
• LALR Compiler-compiler system, used for parser generation....
• LAPB A flavor of X....
• LCPD Honeywell Large Computer Products Division....
• LCS MIT Laboratory for Computer Science....
• LDBR Load descriptor base register....
• Level 6 A Honeywell minicomputer, built by Honeywell at...
• Level 61 A Honeywell minicomputer, designed and built by...
• Level 62 A Honeywell minicomputer, designed and built by...
• Level 64 A Honeywell mid-range computer, designed in France...
• Level 66 Honeywell's designation for the large-scale computers that...
• Level 68 Honeywell's designation for the large-scale computers that...
• Librafile The "Firehose drum....
• Library tools A set of programs used by system...
• LILA Query language accepted by LINUS...
• link (1) (As opposed to branch)....
• linkage section The output of a compilation is program...
• linker The supervisor facility that implements dynamic linking....
• LINUS Logical Inquiry and Update System....
• LISD Large Information Systems Division....
• LISP List processing language invented at MIT in...
• listener The user-ring program that loops reading a...
• load control Multics has elaborate features to handle more...
• lock A 36-bit word used as a semaphore...
• logical volume (LV) NSS term meaning "a group of disk...
• login The command interpreted by the answering service...
• LOT Linkage Offset Table....
• LP Cambridge Project software done by R K...
• LRK Compiler-compiler system, used for parser generation....
• LS TAC ?
• LSS Limited Service Subsystem....
• LUT Multics site: Loughborough University of Technology 1983-1991....
• LVT Logical Volume Table....
• MAC See Project MAC...
• MacLisp The Multics version of LISP....
• MACSYMA Symbolic mathematics subsystem written in LISP at...
• MAD Michigan Algorithm Decoder....
• mail Quick and dirty unsecure mail was written...
• mailbox (1) The per-user file that mail is...
• Mainz Multics site: University Mainz (Mainz, Germany)....
• man Multics had modules such as "ioam" (I/O...
• mandatory access control Access controls that prevent a user from...
• master directory Master directories are quota directories that have...
• master mode The 645 version of privileged mode...
• MATPAC ?
• MCB Multics Checkout Bulletin....
• MCC Multics Computer Center....
• MCHQ Canadian DND Multics site....
• MCOIN Maritime Command Operations Information Network....
• MCR Multics Change Request....
• MCR Board The group of developers who met weekly...
• MCS Multics Communication System....
• MDA Multics site....
• MDBM Multics Data Base Manager....
• MDBM Data Dictionary ?
• MDN Multics Design Note....
• MECR Multics Emergency Change Request....
• MED Honeywell Marketing Education....
• MegaCalc Third party spreadsheet package for Multics produced...
• merge-editor See MRGEDT...
• merger Honeywell bought GE's computer business in December...
• merge_ascii Multics command: combines changes to files descended...
• Merlin Codename for the Flower CPU design....
• message coordinator A facility by Tom Van Vleck (1972)...
• message segment A ring-1 segment that contains individual messages,...
• metering Multics has many metering commands, such as...
• MGS (1) Multics Graphics System
• MGT Master Group Table....
• MHAT Multics Hardware Acceptance Tests....
• MIDS Multics Integrated Data Store....
• mini-GIM Small, simple, fast version of the GIM,...
• Ministere de la Culture Multics site: Ministere de la Culture....
• Ministerie van Sociale Zaken Multics site: Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en...
• Minitab Third party stat package for Multics by...
• MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology....
• MJDT MRDS to Janus Database Transfer: A windowed...
• mmtu The graffiti file at MIT....
• Monsanto A sale Multics didn't make?
• Mosteller's Law A rule about meetings, attributed to Prof....
• motd Message of the Day....
• MOWSE Multics Online Workstation Support Environment....
• MPC Microprogrammed Peripheral Controller....
• MPM Multics Programmers' Manual....
• MPN Multics Planning Notebook....
• MPO Multics Project Office....
• MR Multics Release....
• MRDS Multics Relational Data Store....
• MRDSM Multics Relational Data Store Multibase....
• MRGEDT CTSS command that wrote a GECOS IMCV...
• MRPG Multics Report Program Generator....
• MRX Internal Honeywell codename for the DPS6plus processor....
• MSB Multics Staff Bulletin....
• MSCR Multics System Change Request....
• MSP (1) Multics Special Projects; Minneapolis group responsible...
• MSP Disk unit...
• MSPM Multics System Programmer's Manual....
• MSS Multics Standard System....
• MST Either "Multics standard tape" or "Multics system...
• MST checker A stand-alone facility invented by Peter Schicker...
• MSU0400 Disk unit....
• MSU0451 Disk unit....
• MSU0500 Disk unit....
• MSU0501 Disk unit....
• MSU3381 Disk unit....
• MTB Multics Technical Bulletin....
• MTR Multics Task Report....
• mult I used "mult" to mean either "actively...
• multer In general, anyone who multed, i....
• Multician Anyone who contributed to the development and...
• Multicious Stylistically consistent with the standards of Multics...
• Multics Multiplexed Information and Computing Service....
• Multics Company Olin Sibert's proposed company, intended to purchase...
• multilevel (1) Multilevel secure: certified for use by...
• multilevel daemon ?
• multiplexer The ring-zero multiplexers provide a framework within...
• multiprocessing Running more than one CPU in the...
• multiprogramming Having more than one program ready to...
• multisegment file (MSF) One of the weaknesses of Multics is...
• name See additional names...
• Nancy Multics site: Centre Informatique Regional Interuniversitaire de...
• NCP Network Control Program....
• NCSC National Computer Security Center....
• NEC Nippon Electric Company....
• new_proc This command reveals a deep weakness in...
• nothing This command does nothing, as its name...
• notify "Wait/notify" is one of two interprocess synchronization...
• NPS Standard GCOS DN355 software....
• NPT New Product Test....
• NSA (1) US National Security Agency....
• NSS New Storage System....
• NTT Nippon Telephone....
• NWGS Naval War Games System....
• object segment A segment containing executable machine instructions....
• octal Counting in base 8....
• ONERA Multics site: Office National d'Etudes et de...
• Online T&D Online Test and Diagnostics....
• Operations Unit Or OU....
• operator Unsung heroes....
• Opus System proposed by CISL in 1986 to...
• Orange Book Standards document produced by the NCSC, titled...
• ORAS Operations Reporting and Accounting System....
• Orion 1970s Honeywell codename for a processor in...
• OU (1) Multics site: Oakland University [OU]....
• Overlap Project MIT social-science project, a continuation of the...
• packed pointer A hardware feature on the 6180, and...
• page A fixed size piece of memory....
• page control The ring 0, wired software responsible for...
• page fault Still called that, or "missing page exception....
• page multilevel A scheme implemented in MSS 16....
• page table The array of hardware control words (Page...
• page trace A ring-buffer in the first page of...
• paging (1) The division (by the 645 /6180...
• paging device A device used as the intermediate level...
• PAL (forget what this stood for) Programming linguistics...
• Palyn Report Report prepared in 1978 by Palyn Associates...
• partition A contiguous region of a disk volume....
• Pascal Grenoble wrote a Pascal compiler for Multics...
• password A secret character string used to authenticate...
• path name Multics segments are named by a sequence...
• PC support A feature in MR11...
• pdd (or PDD, process_dir_dir)....
• PDS Process Data Segment....
• PDT Project Definition Table....
• Perigon Multics site: A software engineering solutions company...
• person Multics registers individual people in the Person...
• Phase One Integration milestone during Multics development....
• phcs_ Privileged HardCore Supervisor gate....
• PHM Page Has been Modified....
• Phoenix City in Arizona, where LISD built computers....
• photocomposition A feature of compose...
• PHU Page Has been Used....
• PHU1 "Page used in quantum (time since made...
• physical volume (PV) NSS term meaning "a disk pack"....
• PIT Process Initialization Table....
• PL/I Programming Language #1, invented by George Radin...
• pl1_operators_ A segment referred to by every compiled...
• pln Print with Line Numbers....
• PMDC Phoenix Multics Development Center....
• PMF Project Master File....
• PML MSS 16....
• PNT Person Name Table....
• pointer register A register on the 6180 (or "pointer...
• Port Logic That portion of the 6180 processor that...
• post-purging To hasten the eviction of "a process's...
• PPR Procedure Pointer Register - a tripartite processor...
• PRDS Processor Data segment....
• pre-paging A feature of the page control/ traffic...
• prelinker (1) The Multics supervisor is pre-linked statically...
• PRHA Multics site: Puerto Rican Highway Authority....
• Primos Prime Computer's operating system....
• printer Multics supported the standard-issue GE and Honeywell...
• privileged mode The GCOS versions of the Multics processors...
• probe Multics high-level PL/I source language debugger....
• process An address space and a locus of...
• process directory A directory created when a process is...
• process overseer Procedure called at process initialization time....
• process preservation Multics can save a process across a...
• profile (1) Facility to count the number of...
• program_interrupt After a QUIT signal or fault in...
• project A group of Multics users working together,...
• project administrator The person who administers a Multics project....
• project directory A directory for a given project, always...
• Project MAC MIT Project MAC, suggested by J....
• PRR Procedure Ring Register....
• PTL Page Table Lock....
• PTW Page Table Word....
• pure procedure Multics compilers all generate code that does...
• PVT Physical Volume Table....
• pxss Process exchange, switch stack, the ALM-coded module...
• QED CTSS editor written by Ken Thompson....
• queue (1) Scheduler queue....
• quit A method used to interrupt a running...
• quota Usually referred to disk quota....
• RACE The initial 645 configuration shipped to MIT...
• RADC Rome Air Development Center, Griffiss Air Force...
• RAE Multics site: Royal Aircraft Establishment (Farnborough, Hants,...
• RAID GECOS machine-level debugger, like DDT....
• RALR "Ring alarm register"....
• RAR (1) Read-alter-rewrite, an SCU operation needed by...
• RCCL Read Calendar Clock....
• RCI Renaissance Computing Incorporated....
• RCP Resource Control Package....
• read bracket The range of rings which can read...
• Read-Write Sequence (RWS) An internal operation of page multilevel...
• ready message The standard listener called cu_$ready_proc before reading...
• reduction compiler A tool similar to YACC that generated...
• reference name A name supplied to hcs_$initiate when a...
• referencing_dir A special search rule that looks for...
• relative A relative pathname is interpreted relative to...
• Renault Multics site: Regie National des Usines Renault,...
• REPL Restricted EPL....
• reservation There is a way to reserve tape...
• resource limits Multics supported spending limits per user and...
• RESTOR BOS command....
• retrieve Obtain a copy of a lost file...
• REWPUG Read, Execute, Write, Privileged, Unpaged, (not) Gate,...
• RFP Request for Proposal....
• ring Concentric level of privilege of user/supervisor distinction....
• ring 0 The most privileged ring of the Multics...
• ring brackets Three numbers associated with every segment defining...
• RJE Remote Job Entry...
• RLV Root Logical Volume....
• RNT Reference Name Table....
• root The top directory in the naming hierarchy...
• RPV Root Physical Volume....
• RPVS Root Physical Volume Salvage....
• run unit Introduced to support COBOL....
• RUNCOM The BOS facility that allowed the execution...
• RUNOFF CTSS command for text formatting written by...
• RWS Jargon for Read-Write Sequence...
• safety switch A segment attribute which controlled whether a...
• salvager A set of programs for reconstructing directory...
• SCAS (for "System Controller Addressing Segment") A supervisor...
• scavenger A program for finding records on a...
• scheduler Used ambiguously, as in today's operating systems,...
• SCICONIC Mathematical programming facility produced by SCICON, Ltd....
• SCOMP Secure COMPuter....
• SCS (for "System Configuration Segment") A wired ring...
• SCSI Multics site: SCSI....
• SCU (1) System Control Unit, or Memory Controller....
• SDW Segment Descriptor Word....
• search rules The dynamic linking mechanism looks for segments...
• second system effect As described in The Mythical Man-Month by...
• security Security was one of the basic design...
• security-out-of-service switch The "soos" switch is set if the...
• SEDACS Support Equipment Data Acquisition and Control System,...
• segfault Jargon for "(missing) segment fault"....
• segment A user-visible subdivision of a process's address...
• segment control The ring 0 software responsible for the...
• Segment Loading Table (SLT)....
• segmentation The division of a process's virtual memory...
• Selectric IBM mechanism for typewriters and computer terminals....
• SEP Multics site: Société Européenne de Propulsion, Vernon,...
• Series 60, Level 68 Marketing name for a repackaged 6180....
• SET System Environment Test...
• SFEP Secure Front End Processor; original name of...
• shell The Multics command processor used to be...
• shift The accounting system defines up to 8...
• shriek name Multics has a convention of converting unique...
• SIB Software Installation Bulletin....
• signal PL/I name for an exception....
• SIMPL Simulation language, descendant of OPS-4, compiled into...
• SIPB MIT's Student Information Processing Board....
• Site Analysts Heroes of Multics....
• Site N US US National Security Agency site....
• Site Security Administrator The Site Security Administrator is a designated...
• SJU Multics site: St John's University (Jamaica NY)....
• slave mode The unprivileged execution mode of the CPU....
• SLT See Segment Loading Table...
• SMM Segment Management Module....
• SNECMA Multics site: Société Nationale d'Etude et de...
• sort/merge Multics has a sort/merge facility that was...
• SOZAWE Multics customer...
• SRB Software Release Bulletin....
• SSA Multics customer...
• SSS See Standard Service System...
• SST System Segment Table....
• STAC Store A (accumulator) Conditional (on memory operand...
• stack Multics has a stack segment for the...
• STACQ Store A (accumulator) Conditional on Q (quotient...
• standard service system The commands and subroutines provided with Multics,...
• standard_output A Multics process's process overseer attaches several...
• star convention A convention of representing the names of...
• Staran Attached associative processor, built by Goodyear Aerospace,...
• STATIC PL/I storage class....
• static section Region of the combined linkage segment where...
• STC Multics site: Standard Telephones and Cables (New...
• Stratus VOS See VOS...
• subsystem utilities ?
• subverter Program written by the Project ZARF team...
• suffix The last period-delimited component of an entryname....
• supervisor That portion of the operating system which...
• swapping A performance enhancement scheme implemented about 1977...
• SysAdmin Project name for system administrators, the people...
• SysDaemon The Multics project name that daemon processes...
• SysMaint Project name for system maintainers, the people...
• System M Multics system in Phoenix at CRF used...
• Systeme X Multics system in France used by Bull...
• T&D Test and Diagnostic....
• Tague Project Another attempt to start a company to...
• tape Multics uses tape for file backup, for...
• tbl Table Building Language....
• TCB Trusted Computing Base...
• TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol....
• Tech Square Technology Square....
• TECO Tape Editor and Corrector....
• ted For "text editor", a powerfully enhanced qedx...
• Telefunken TR440 Telefunken Computer, for reasons known only to...
• TENEX PDP-10 operating system developed at BBN in...
• terminal Interactive processes usually have a typewriter terminal...
• terminal operators These were the CISL staff who typed...
• terminal type A character string that identifies the kind...
• terminate Said of a segment....
• TeX Text formatting language invented by Donald K....
• Texto ? (DV74)
• thrashing A condition in which the combined working...
• time-sharing Time-sharing computer systems provide multiple simultaneous users...
• TMG TransMoGrifier....
• TN1200 TermiNet 1200....
• TN300 TermiNet 300....
• Toshiba Multics customer...
• TP Transaction Processing....
• TPR Temporary Pointer Register - a tripartite processor...
• TR Trouble Report....
• traffic control The supervisor subsystem that performed the functions...
• Trap Trap attribute....
• Trinity The 1960s management group consisting of the...
• Triumvirate The next-level 1960s management group, reporting to...
• TRR Temporary Ring Register - the ring component...
• TSP Cambridge Project feature?
• TSS IBM's time-sharing system for the System/360 model...
• TSS-645 A time-sharing system related to GCOS timesharing,...
• TTY Teletype....
• TTY DIM Device Interface Module for terminals....
• TTY35 Teletype Model 35....
• TTY37 Teletype Model 37....
• TYPSET Editing program for CTSS written by Jerry...
• UBCC Multics site: University of Birmingham Computer Centre...
• UC Multics site: University of Calgary [UC] (Calgary,...
• udd (or UDD, user_dir_dir) Alternate names of the...
• UID Unique identifier....
• UIM Universal Interface Module....
• UK file transfer & RJE ?
• UK mail & network addressing ?
• UK Transport Service ?
• unbundled Costs extra....
• unclaimed signal If a signal is raised, and the...
• UNCP Universal Network Control Program....
• underscore The character _, ASCII 137 (octal)....
• unique name See shriek name...
• university customers See Arizona State, Avon Universities (Bristol &...
• Unix Unix is a trademark of AT&T Bell...
• UNSPEC A PL/I language construct....
• upgraded directory A directory with a higher AIM classification...
• user (1) A user is a person registered...
• User Control Subsystem that handled login, user registration, projects,...
• USGS US Geological Survey....
• USL University of Southwestern Louisiana [USL] (Lafayette, LA)....
• validation level When inner ring procedures are called to...
• vfile_ The Multics DIM that allowed users to...
• Video System Supported a character based window system and...
• VIP7760 Honeywell video terminal....
• VIP7801 Honeywell video terminal....
• virtual cpu The system keeps track of "virtual" CPU...
• virtual memory As in "The Multics Virtual Memory", a...
• VisiCalc Microcomputer spreadsheet developed by Multicians Bob Frankston...
• VLSI Design software ?
• VMM Virtual Machine Monitor....
• volume backup The volume dumper dumped by physical volumes,...
• volume map A data structure with one bit for...
• volume pool RCP concept....
• volume salvager This program is invoked automatically when volumes...
• VOS Stratus operating system, influenced by Multics, developed...
• VPI Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, VA....
• VTOC Volume Table of Contents....
• VTOCE VTOC Entry....
• VW Multics site: Volkswagen of America (Troy MI)....
• wakeup See IPC...
• wired Today called "page-locked"....
• WORDPRO Marketing package for compose plus Emacs, plus...
• working directory The directory used as the implicit prefix...
• working set The set of pages, at any time,...
• write bracket The range of rings which can write...
• X.25 Communications protocol supported by Multics in MR...
• xforum, xmail These were "Executive" versions of the forum...
• XR Index Register....
• XRAY Jerry Grochow's tool for debugging 645 Multics....
• XTS200 Honeywell product name for a "second generation...
• XTS300 Wang Government Services inherited the XTS200 from...
• yellow form The workflow form that was used to...
• yellow submarine Hardware Engineering had a device that hooked...
• ZARF Code name for the Air Force/MITRE tiger...
• Zero Six Dog Field Engineers' jargon for "PRG06D", the 6080/6180...