Minor CVS documentation bug - history of CVS - first posted July 1986.

[David A. Wheeler]

Hi - I think I have a minor correction for the CVS documentation
involving the history of CVS.
Please let me know if I've confused something!

In "Version Management with CVS by Per Cederqvist"
(the "official" CVS documentation), it says:

>CVS started out as a bunch of shell scripts written by Dick Grune,
>posted to the newsgroup comp.sources.unix in the volume 6 release
>of December, 1986. While no actual code from these shell scripts
>is present in the current version of CVS much of the CVS conflict
>resolution algorithms come from them.

I think the original posting date should be "July 1986" not
"December, 1986".

Here's my justification...

By searching Google's cache, I never find the
original posting in comp.sources.unix; I don't think its history
goes back that far in comp.sources.unix.
But Google DOES record a first post
by Dick Grune in mod.sources on 1986-07-03 09:46:35 PST (July 3, 1986).

Grune himself claims it was posted on comp.sources.unix:
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=Berliner+cvs+group:comp.sources.unix&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=2489%40papaya.bbn.com&rnum=8
and Berliner's version credits comp.sources.unix:
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=Berliner+cvs+group:comp.sources.unix&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=2489%40papaya.bbn.com&rnum=8

Thus, I think it was also posted to comp.sources.unix at the
same time.  In any case, it's clear that it was available to
the public before December, 1986.

Here's the URL for the earliest post of CVS I could find:
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=Grune+cvs+group:mod.sources.*&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=122%40mirror.UUCP&rnum=2

And here's the header:

From: sources-request@mirror.UUCP (sources-request@mirror.UUCP)
Subject: v06i040: CVS, an RCS front-end (cvs), Part1/2
This is the only article in this thread
View: Original Format
Newsgroups: mod.sources
Date: 1986-07-03 09:46:35 PST

Submitted by: Dick Grune <seismo!mcvax!vu44!dick>
Mod.sources: Volume 6, Issue 40
Archive-name: cvs/Part1

This is CVS, Concurrent Versions System, a front end for RCS.  It
supports the concurrent and independent use of an RCS directory by
several people.  We have been using it for half a year now, on various
projects.  It uses the RCS programs rcs, ci, co, rcsmerge and rlog in
such a way that you can do a multi-file commit, etc.  It is all shell
scripts.
     Dick Grune
     Vrije Universiteit
     de Boelelaan 1081
     1081 HV  Amsterdam
     the Netherlands