MCC Interim Linux

infobox OS
developer = Owen Le Blanc
family = Linux
source_model = Free and open source software
released = February 1992
latest_release_version = 1.2+
latest_release_date = 23 April 1996
language = Various
kernel_type = Monolithic (Linux)
ui = Command line interface
license = Various
working_state = Historic
supported_platforms = Intel 386
updatemodel = None (manual)
package_manager = None

MCC Interim Linux was a Linux distribution first released by Owen Le Blanc of the Manchester Computing Centre (MCC), part of the University of Manchester, England) in February 1992. MCC Interim Linux has the distinction of being the first Linux distribution capable of being independently installed on a computer. [ [http://www.linux.org/info/linux_timeline.html Linux Online - Linux Timeline ] ]

The MCC first made Linux available by anonymous FTP in November 1991. [http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/historic-linux/distributions/MCC/1.0+/documentation/ Index of /pub/historic-linux/distributions/MCC/1.0+/documentation ] ] Owen Le Blanc's irritations with his early experiments with Linux, such as the lack of a working fdisk (he would later write one), the need to use multiple FTP repositories to acquire all the essential software, and library version problems, inspired the creation of this distribution. cite web | title = MCC Interim Release | url = http://www.manlug.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=170&Itemid=65 | first = Robin | last = Joinson | accessdate = 2007-07-19 ]

Le Blanc claimed he referred to the distributions as "interim" because "...they are not intended to be final or official. They are small, harmonious, and moderately tested. They do not conform to everyone's taste -- what release does? -- but they should provide a stable base to which other software can be added."

History

Prior to its first release, the closest approximation to a Linux distribution had been H J Lu's "Boot-root" floppies. These were two 5¼" diskettes consisting of the kernel and the minimum tools required to get started. So minimal were these tools that to be able to boot from a hard drive required editing its master boot record with a hex editor. [ [http://lwn.net/Articles/91371/ A Short History of Linux Distributions [LWN.net ] ]

The first release of MCC Interim Linux was based on version 0.12 of the Linux kernel and made use of Theodore Ts'o's ramdisk code to copy a small root image to memory from the previously wasted space of the boot floppy, freeing the floppy drive for additional utilities disks, although the inefficient kernel ramdisk code of the time in practice led to problems on systems with only 2 MB of RAM.

He also stated his distributions were "unofficial experiments", describing the goals of his releases as being:

* To provide a simple installation procedure.
* To provide a more complete installation procedure.
* To provide a backup/recovery service.
* To back up his (then) current system.
* To compile, link, and test every binary file under the current versions of the kernel, gcc, and libraries.
* To provide a stable base system, which can be installed in a short time, and to which other software can be added with relatively little effort.

Indeed, no attempt was ever made to distribute it with a wide range of software or even the X386 windowing system.

Successors

Soon after the first release came other distributions such as TAMU, created by individuals at Texas A&M University, Martin Junius's MJ, Softlanding Linux System and H J Lu's small base system.

These too being quickly superseded by the oldest surviving distributions - Debian GNU/Linux and Slackware.

The 1.0 distribution of MCC Interim advised that Debian was "five times the size of MCC, and quite comprehensive", and less ambiguously encouraged its use in his final version, providing transitional support for existing users. [ftp://ftp.mcc.ac.uk/pub/linux/mcc-interim/2.0+/debian/Debian.README]

Included software

Version 0.95c+

As discussed in an email dated 23 April 1992, the boot and utilities disk pair included:

* bash
* compress
* elvis
* gawk
* The GNU shell/file/text utilities
* grep/egrep/fgrep
* joe
* less
* make
* more
* mtools
* sed
* tar
* uuencode/uudecode

Notably not included was 'man'. An optional pair of disks contained gcc and g++ 2.1, kermit and shoelace.

Version 0.99.p8

Released on the 14th April 1993. [ftp://ftp.mcc.ac.uk/pub/linux/mcc-interim/old/0.99p8/Changelog] Added to version 0.95c+ were bison, flex, gdb, gprof, groff, gzip [ftp://ftp.mcc.ac.uk/pub/linux/mcc-interim/old/0.99p8/Acknowledgements] and man. [ftp://ftp.mcc.ac.uk/pub/linux/mcc-interim/old/0.99p8/README.package]

Version 0.99.p8+

Released on the 26th April 1993. [ftp://ftp.mcc.ac.uk/pub/linux/mcc-interim/old/0.99.p8+/Changelog] Added to version 0.99.p8 were emacs and info. [ftp://ftp.mcc.ac.uk/pub/linux/mcc-interim/old/0.99.p8+/README.ftp]

Version 1.0+

Added to version 0.99.p8+ were elm, [ftp://ftp.mcc.ac.uk/pub/linux/mcc-interim/old/1.0+/documentation/Origins] lp, mail, progman, timezone and words [ftp://ftp.mcc.ac.uk/pub/linux/mcc-interim/old/1.0+/documentation/README.ftp]

References

External links

* [ftp://ftp.mcc.ac.uk/pub/linux/mcc-interim/ MCC's anonymous FTP site] featuring versions 0.97-p2-12 to 2.0+
* [http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/historic-linux/distributions/MCC/ MCC Interim Linux] at ibiblio
* [http://www.manlug.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=5&Itemid=65 Manchester Linux User Group's] feature on the 15th anniversary of MCC Interim Linux, including image files for use with the QEMU emulator.