Below, you can see the preview of the Unix History (click on the white zone to get a bigger image):

1969		1980		1985		1990		1995		1999		2001		2003		2004		2005		2006	index

This is a simplified diagram of unix history. There are numerous derivative systems not listed in this chart, maybe 10 times more! In the recent past, many electronic companies had their own unix releases. This diagram is only the tip of an iceberg, with a penguin on it ;-).

If you want to print this timeline, you can download one of the following files:

Printer using A4 paper
Printer using Letter paper
Plotter			If you have some problem with the EPS file, look here.

Here is the index of the Unix History :

Printer using A4 paper
Printer using Letter paper

Here is the ChangeLog of this history.

If you have put this diagram on the wall of your office and have taken a photo of it, please send me a copy and I'll put it on this page. ;-)

Note 1 : an arrow indicates an inheritance like a compatibility, it is not only a matter of source code.
Note 2 : this diagram shows complete systems and [micro]kernels like Mach, Linux, the Hurd... This is because sometimes kernel versions are more appropriate to see the evolution of the system.
Note 3 : I have now a page where I explain how I build this chart.

Some Home Pages :

Brian Kernighan	Dennis Ritchie	Ken Thompson	Bill Joy	Steve Jobs*	Linus Torvalds	Richard Stallman

You can also find here some unix people.

* You may be wondering "Why does Steve Jobs appear in this unix history?". Simply because he has made the best unix computer ever : a NeXTcube powered with the NeXTSTEP operating system. And now : Mac OS X.

Some Unixes :

Here is a listing of the unixes that are present in my chart :

1BSD 2BSD 3BSD 4BSD 4.4BSD Lite 1 4.4BSD Lite 2 386 BSD Acorn RISC iX Acorn RISC Unix AIX AIX PS/2 AIX/370 AIX/6000 AIX/ESA AIX/RT AMiX AOS Lite AOS Reno ArchBSD ASV Atari Unix A/UX BOS BRL Unix BSD Net/1 BSD Net/2 BSD/386 BSD/OS CB Unix Chorus Chorus/MiX Coherent CTIX CXOS Darwin Debian GNU/Hurd DEC OSF/1 ACP

Digital Unix DragonFly BSD Dynix Dynix/ptx ekkoBSD Eunice FireFly BSD FreeBSD GNU GNU-Darwin Gnuppix GNU/Hurd-L4 HPBSD HP-UX HP-UX BLS IBM AOS IBM IX/370 Interactive 386/ix Interactive IS IRIX Linux Lites LSX Mac OS X Mac OS X Server Mach MERT MicroBSD Mini Unix Minix Minix-VMD MIPS OS RISC/os MirBSD Mk Linux Monterey more/BSD mt Xinu MVS/ESA OpenEdition

NetBSD NeXTSTEP NonStop-UX Open Desktop Open UNIX OpenBSD OpenServer OpenSolaris OPENSTEP OS/390 OpenEdition OS/390 Unix OSF/1 PC-BSD PC/IX Plan 9 Plurix PWB PWB/UNIX QNX QNX RTOS QNX/Neutrino QUNIX ReliantUnix Rhapsody RISC iX RT SCO UNIX SCO UnixWare SCO Xenix SCO Xenix System V/386 Security-Enhanced Linux Silver OS Sinix Sinix ReliantUnix Solaris SPIX SunOS

Triance OS Tru64 Unix Trusted IRIX/B Trusted Solaris Trusted Xenix TS Tunis UCLA Locus UCLA Secure Unix Ultrix Ultrix 32M Ultrix-11 Unicos Unicos/mk Unicos/mp Unicox-max UNICS UNIX 32V UNIX Interactive UNIX System III UNIX System IV UNIX System V UNIX System V Release 2 UNIX System V Release 3 UNIX System V Release 4 UNIX System V/286 UNIX System V/386 UNIX Time-Sharing System UnixWare UNSW USG Venix Xenix OS Xinu xMach z/OS Unix System Services

Here is now some unixes that are not [yet] in my chart. Some web sites have listed them, like this site or this site. If you want to find more unixes, try Google :-)

ABCenix ACIX AD Altos System V ARIX AurOS BOS/X C Executive CLIX Consensys Unix Concentrix ConvexOS CPIX Cromix CX/UX DC/OSx Dell Unix

DG/UX DISTRIX DNIX DomainOS DRM System DTIX DVIX ENIX EP/IX Esix SVR4 Eurix FOR:PRO FreeMiNT FTX Genix HCR Helios

HEP-UPX HI-UX IDRIS INOS LSX LynxOS MachTen MacMach MAXION/OS MCS Micronix Microport SVR4 MicroPort Unix MMOS MP-RAS UNIX MST UNIX Mulplix

Munix NachOS NCR Unix NDIX News-OS NUXI Oasis ONIX OPUS OS 9 OS/MP OSx PCUNIX PNX QNIX Regulus RT/EMT

RTUX SORIX SOX Sphinx SPP-UX Stellix SUNIX Super-UX System B Thix TI System V TNIX Topix TOS Tropix UHC Unix Umax

UniPlus Uniq Unisis Unity UNOS UTEK UTS UTX/32S UX UXP/DS UZIX VM/IX VOLVIX Xoftnix Zeus

Some useful UNIX links :

• The Creation of the UNIX Operating System from Lucent.
• The Unix Oral History Project from Bell Laboratories.
• An Oral History of Unix from Princeton.
• UNIX Past from The Open Group.
• The Unix Heritage Society by Warren Toomey.
• FreeBSD Release Information from FreeBSD.
• BSD History Chart from FreeBSD.
• Formal NetBSD Releases from NetBSD.
• AIX History from Release to Release from IBM.
• Darwin/Mac OS X: The Fifth BSD from Applelust.
• Sun History from SUN.
• The History of Solaris (PDF) from UnixEd.
• The Story Behind the Solaris Operating Environment from SUN.
• HP-UX History from HP.
• Unix and Multics by Tom Van Vleck.
• Unix Start from the University of Georgia.
• Linux Kernel Archives and Linux HeadQuarters.
• 20 Years of Berkeley Unix by Marshall Kirk McKusick.
• Operating System Technical Comparison from Milo.
• Chronology of Events in the History of Microcomputers by Ken Polsson.
• The BSD Family Tree from TriBUG.
• Grokline's UNIX Ownership History Project.
• ZwahlenDesign Unix History by Christian Zwahlen.
• IRIX Versions and History by Ryan Thoryk.
• Mind Map of Linux distributions by Ravi Kumar.

Some links about some UNIX lawsuits :

• USL vs. BSDI documents from Dennis Ritchie.
• Liberal license for ancient UNIX sources from Caldera.
• SCO Files Lawsuit Against IBM from SCO.
• SCO Suspends Distribution of Linux Pending Intellectual Property Clarification from SCO.
• OSI Position Paper on the SCO-vs.-IBM Complaint from Open Source Initiative.
• A History of UNIX and UNIX Licences by Peter Salus.
• Novell Challenges SCO Position, Reiterates Support for Linux from Novell.
• Apple in court dispute over Unix from CNet.
• SCO Announces Immediate Termination of IBM's Right to Use and Distribute AIX Software and Files for Permanent Injunction from SCO.
• SCO Registers UNIX Copyrights and Offers UNIX License from SCO.
• Red Hat Takes Aim at Infringement Claims from Red Hat.
• SCO Announces Intellectual Property License for Linux from SCO.
• IBM's counterclaims from IBM.
• The SCO Group Announces Final Termination of IBM / Sequent's Contract to Use or License Dynix Software from SCO.
• SCO Turns It's Attention to SGI from Computer Business.
• To the Linux Community from SGI.
• OSDL releases position paper disputing SCO Linux claims from OSDL.
• Letter from SCO to IBM
• Open Letter on Copyrights from SCO.
• SCO Announces New Initiatives to Enforce Intellectual Property Rights from SCO.
• Novell's Unique Legal Rights from Novell.
• Groklaw's New Group Project -- The Timeline Project.
• SCO v. IBM from SCO.

Some links :

• Non-Unix OS timeline by Patrick Mulvany.

My other links :

• Computer Languages History.
• Unix Hierarchy (an old paper).
• NeXT History (in french).
• Windows History.
• Another Chart In The Wall.

Last update : june 26, 2006
Please send comment to Éric Lévénez
The address of this page is http://www.levenez.com/unix/.

You can freely use this diagram for non-commercial purpose.