It’s Friday… so I dug up one of my all-time favorite web gems: The Unix Family Version Tree. Ever wonder when Unix started? Or the relationship between BSD and System V? Or how closely related Mac OSX is (or is not!) to Linux? Click the chart to see the full-size version.

Here are some notable shortcuts: SystemV, Linux, BSD, HPUX, Solaris, MacOSX, GNU/Hurd, Plan 9, Atari Unix, iPhone OS, Windows OS.

Even for those new to Unix (out on the leaves of the tree!), this time-line has a wealth of interesting information showing the history and relationships of most unix varietals. It will also help explain the usability challenges of switching between divergent OS’ from navigating file-systems to loading drivers to managing hardware.

While this reference isn’t exactly about AccuRev or its software development process automation per-se, it’s a great example of how divergent software can grow over time and how tracking changes between active mainline and previous releases becomes really tricky — unless you have good tools (like AccuRev!).

/happy friday/ – dave