> On May 31, 2021, at 1:55 PM, Antonio Carlini <a.carl...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>
> On 31/05/2021 15:04, Paul Koning wrote:
>>
>> The earlier rule was that the first number is the major version, the letter
>> is the minor version. As of V7 it changed to major number dot minor number.
>> In either case, the dash number suffix is the baselevel number (development
>> build cycle number). Those typically restart at 0 or 1 for each release, so
>> V5C-01 indicates only one baselevel was done for that minor release. That
>> may not be true in all cases; I doubt that V4B had 17 baselevels so that
>> number probably wasn't reset between V4A and V4B.
> Looking at them I guess RT-11 does something similar: V2, V02B, V02C. I can
> (just about :-)) cope with the seemingly optional leading 0, but would there
> have been a V2A? There was for IAS. Actually IAS had V3, V3.1, V3.2, V3.2A,
> V3.2B and V3.2C. So IAS went major.minor in a sort of half-hearted way :-)
>
>> Sometimes version numbers seem to be missing. I don't know if anyone ever
>> saw V1, and I also never saw V3B though I have seen V3A and V3C.
>>
> The "80th Birthday Memo" (http://www.silverware.co.uk/rsts_80th_birthday.htm)
> says that V1 never made it out of the door. V2A-19 was the first to ship.
>
> The "DEC 1957 to he Present" book
> (http://gordonbell.azurewebsites.net/digital/dec%201957%20to%20present%201978.pdf)
> confirms the FY in which RSTS-11 shipped but not the version number.
>
> The earliest manuals online seem to be the V4.x ones available on bitsavers.
Yes, which makes experiments with older versions a bit tricky because the
startup dialog is different (and cryptic). I have the basic info somewhere, I
should write it up.
paul
