The Origin of dev.null
From: guy@netapp.com (Guy Harris)
(For those not familiar with USENET folklore - a posting to "misc.test"
will, I think, cause many sites to autoreply to the posting, mailing you
back a message saying "yup, I got this posting".)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
From: mpk@eniac.demon.co.uk (Mike Knell)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Meaning or Origin of dev/null?
Date: 11 Sep 1995 11:32:03 +0100
Organization: UK Centre for Lemur Fandom
In article <42ve68INNaaj@hancock.cc.williams.edu>,
Lancelot <97sah@williams.edu> wrote:
> What does dev/null or dev.null actually mean? I get the
> impression it is a site where files, postings, etc are sent to die,
> but I'm not entirely sure about this. Also, where did its name come
> from? The "null" device, perhaps? Or does dev stand for something
> other than device?
When Usenet was young, in addition to the net.* and mod.* newsgroup
heirarchies, which you may have heard of, there was a third heirarchy
called dev.*, which was used by those who were experimenting with news
software. (dev.* meaning 'development, of course). There were various
groups in the dev.* heirarchy, including amongst others:
dev.audio --
Used for testing voice-synthesis newsreaders. Yes, such things
did exist.
dev.inet --
Used for testing newsgroup propagation over TCP/IP (as opposed
to batching and transmission via UUCP, which was then the norm)
dev.tty --
Used for testing different user interfaces, particularly
compatability with different tty's. This was a major headache
before termcap became well-established.
There were also a number of oddly-named test groups (mainly used by
individuals) which were mainly testing different revisions of software,
including such things as 'dev.sda11' and 'dev.sd1g'. The numbers on the
end denoted the software version being tested. The group you ask about,
dev.null, was an early test group, which most sites didn't bother
carrying -- articles for dev.null were generally discarded rather than
queued for onward transmission.
In the Great Renaming, most of the dev.* groups were considered
superfluous and removed, though some of them continue as various groups
under news.*. dev.null, however, became misc.test, and has now acquired
the role of a test group -- autoresponders have been implemented, which
auto-reply to postings to misc.test to help verify article propagation.
So, when someone says "Flames to dev/null", or "Followups redirected to
dev/null", they're actually asking you to crosspost any replies to
misc.test, because they're having problems with propagation and want to
make absolutely sure they see any replies. misc.test is very well
propagated, so including it in the Newsgroups: header helps things along
a bit, and also produces confirmation from the autoresponders to help
figure out any problems.
The phrase "dev/null" is a hangover from many years ago, which continues
in use by tradition, and in memory of those who made Usenet what it is
today by their hard work. The slash used to delimit the newsgroup is a
hangover from the old "D-News" news software, which rather oddly delimited
newsgroup components with a slash rather than a period, which is now the
convention.
Hope this helps!
Mike
--
- Mike Knell, mpk@eniac.demon.co.uk
- From the Internet. Original © not known.
- This version © 2000 OFC