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  3. preface4
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  6. <H1>Preface to the Fourth (2002) Edition
  7. </H1>
  8. <br>&#32;<br>
  9. Plan 9 continues to grow and adapt.
  10. The fourth major release of the system
  11. incorporates a number of changes, but the most central
  12. is the conversion to a new version of the 9P file system
  13. protocol.
  14. This new version was motivated by a desire to support
  15. files with name elements longer than 27 bytes (the old
  16. <TT>NAMELEN</TT>),
  17. but the opportunity was taken to change a number of other things
  18. about the protocol,
  19. making it more efficient, more flexible, and easier to encapsulate.
  20. One simple but indispensable new feature made possible by the protocol
  21. change is that the system now records the user who last modified a file;
  22. try
  23. <TT>ls</TT>
  24. <TT>-m</TT>
  25. to identify the culprit.
  26. <br>&#32;<br>
  27. Many aspects of system security have been improved.
  28. The new security agent
  29. <A href="/magic/man2html/4/factotum"><I>factotum</I>(4)
  30. </A>maintains user passwords, while
  31. <A href="/magic/man2html/8/secstore"><I>secstore</I>(8)
  32. </A>keeps them safe and enables single sign-on to multiple domains and machines
  33. using a variety of secure protocols and services.
  34. <br>&#32;<br>
  35. Throughout the system, components have been rewritten and interfaces
  36. modified to eliminate restrictions, improve performance, and clarify design.
  37. The full list is too long to include here, but significant changes have occurred
  38. in a number of system calls
  39. <A href="/magic/man2html/2/wait">(<I>wait</I>(2),
  40. </A><A href="/magic/man2html/2/stat"><I>stat</I>(2),
  41. </A><A href="/magic/man2html/2/mount"><I>mount</I>(2),
  42. </A>and
  43. <A href="/magic/man2html/2/errstr"><I>errstr</I>(2)),
  44. </A>the thread library
  45. <A href="/magic/man2html/2/thread">(<I>thread</I>(2)),
  46. </A>formatted printing
  47. <A href="/magic/man2html/2/print">(<I>print</I>(2)
  48. </A>and
  49. <A href="/magic/man2html/2/fmtinstall"><I>fmtinstall</I>(2)),
  50. </A>security
  51. (many pages in section 2, including
  52. <A href="/magic/man2html/2/auth"><I>auth</I>(2),
  53. </A><A href="/magic/man2html/2/authsrv"><I>authsrv</I>(2)),
  54. </A>and many others.
  55. <br>&#32;<br>
  56. The changes are sweeping and are accompanied by many new programs, tools,
  57. services,
  58. and libraries.
  59. See the manual pages and the accompanying documents for more information.
  60. <br>&#32;<br>
  61. <br>&#32;<br>
  62. <DL><DT><DD>
  63. <DL><DT><DD>
  64. <DL><DT><DD>
  65. <DL><DT><DD>
  66. <DL><DT><DD>
  67. <DL><DT><DD>
  68. Bell Labs
  69. <br>
  70. Computing Science Research Center
  71. <br>
  72. Murray Hill NJ
  73. <br>
  74. April, 2002
  75. <br>&#32;<br>
  76. <A href=http://www.lucent.com/copyright.html>
  77. Copyright</A> &#169; 2002 Lucent Technologies Inc. All rights reserved.
  78. </body></html>