Re: filesystem or file system?

Subject: Re: filesystem or file system?
From: John McDermott <jjm -at- jkintl -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2004 09:49:39 -0600


I like to go back to early usage on these things, and for this case it seemed that the Version 6 Unix docs and source code seemed appropriate. I also checked the _Lions' Commentary on UNIX 6th Edition_ (as it has the source code) and "The UNIX Time-Sharing System" by Ritchie and Thompson (authors of UNIX) from The Bell System Technical Journal Vol 57 No. 6 part 2, July-August 1978.

The Version 6 source code shows 'file system' as two words. The BSTJ article uses 'file system'.

The documentation for file systems in Version 6 (and through to Linux and BSD) is "filesystem".

MULTICS, on which UNIX was based, used the term 'file system' -- at least in the paper on its file system by Daley and Neumann at the 1965 Fall Jount Computer Conference.

QDOS (on which MS-DOS was based) was not written until 1980 so any use by MS of the terms would be subseqent to those by UNIX an MUTICS.

I don't know if the OED has an entry or not.

So, it appears that despite very common use, 'filesystem' is probably less appropriate than 'file system', but usage seems to be moving that way. Maybe the use is influenced by common words like 'subsystem' and 'ecosystem'. After 20 years of using filesystem in documentation and in training materials, I may have to change..

--john
--
John McDermott
Writer, Educator, Consultant
jjm -at- jkintl -dot- com http://www.jkintl.com
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