xxxii Preface
The UNIX-HATERS Disclaimer
In these days of large immoral corporations that compete on the basis of
superior software patents rather than superior software, and that have no
compunctions against suing innocent universities, we had better set a few
things straight, lest they sic an idle lawyer on us:- It might be the case that every once in a while these companies allow
a programmer to fix a bug rather than apply for a patent, so some of
the more superficial problems we document in this book might not
appear in a particular version of Unix from a particular supplier.
That doesn’t really matter, since that same supplier probably intro-
duced a dozen other bugs making the fix. If you can prove that no
version of Unix currently in use by some innocent victim isn’t rid-
dled with any of the problems that we mention in this volume, we’ll
issue a prompt apology. - Inaccuracies may have crept into our narrative, despite our best
intentions to keep them out. Don’t take our word for gospel for a
particular flaw without checking your local Unix implementation. - Unix haters are everywhere. We are in the universities and the
corporations. Our spies have been at work collecting embarrassing
electronic memoranda. We don’t need the discovery phase of
litigation to find the memo calculating that keeping the gas tank
where it is will save $35 million annually at the cost of just eight
lives. We’ve already got that memo. And others.