Yes, RT11 (when it introduced Sysgen, which was later than V2) did so by
supplying sources that had been stripped of their comments. So they were
useful for sysgen but not (easily) useable for custom OS changes.
DEC did offer source licenses for many of its operating systems, at extremely
high prices. They also offered listings, typically on microfiche, still
substantially more expensive than the binary licenses but not nearly as crazy
as source.
And sometimes you could get source or listings as a special deal. In college
we started out with RSTS-11 V4, which had a major reliability problem (as in:
roughly daily crash). As part of trying to keep the customer placated, DEC
supplied full OS sources, 5 dectapes. We printed them (on our 30 cps Silent
733 terminals). I used them to learn about RSTS as a student, which got me
hired by the computer center. ("I make it my habit to hire students before
they become dangerous" -- Michael A. Hall, director of computer services.) I
still have copies of those files.
paul
> On Dec 28, 2017, at 10:57 PM, David C. Jenner via cctalk
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> The sources to each release were usually included with the distribution so
> that custom system settings could be sysgened. The sources are uncommented,
> however.
>
> You could implement this by finding the commented out source in the sources
> and regenerating the system, with the code in the appropriate place.
>
> Dave
