Version 7: alt. V7 /vee' se'vn/ n. The first widely distributed
version of Unix, released unsupported by Bell Labs in 1978. The
term is used adjectivally to describe Unix features and programs
that date from that release, and are thus guaranteed to be present
and portable in all Unix versions (this was the standard gauge of
portability before the POSIX and IEEE 1003 standards). Note that
this usage does _not_ derive from the release being the "seventh
version of Unix"; research Unix at Bell Labs has traditionally
been numbered according to the edition of the associated
documentation. Indeed, only the widely-distributed Sixth and
Seventh Editions are widely known as V[67]; the OS that might today
be known as `V10' is instead known in full as "Tenth Edition
Research Unix" or just "Tenth Edition" for short. For this reason,
"V7" is often read by cognoscenti as "Seventh Edition". See BSD,
USG Unix, Unix. Some old-timers impatient with
commercialization and kernel bloat still maintain that V7 was the
Last True Unix.
![[prev]](../gif/left.gif){kind=small}
![[up]](../gif/up.gif){kind=small}
![[next]](../gif/right.gif){kind=small}