Bill Joy and Berkeley Launch Early BSD Unix Distributions

After Ken Thompson returned to Bell Labs in 1976, Bill Joy and Chuck Haley began exploring the Unix kernel. In early 1977, Joy assembled the first Berkeley Software Distribution by bundling the Pascal system with ex. This initial release was not a standalone operating system but a collection of software for existing Unix systems. About thirty copies were sent out over the following year. At the time, an AT&T Unix source license was required to obtain BSD, and Berkeley charged only for the tape and distribution. Universities and research institutions could obtain Unix source code for a modest licensing fee.

Joy improved the Pascal system based on user feedback to form the Second Berkeley Software Distribution. Nearly seventy-five tapes of 2BSD were shipped over the following year, with Joy handling every distribution request and mailing the tapes himself. In 1978, a VAX computer arrived at Berkeley for Professor Fateman's group. Graduate student Ozalp Babaoglu was asked to add virtual memory to VAX Unix, which previously did not use the hardware's virtual-memory capabilities. By January 1979, most bugs in the virtual memory code had been fixed.

Joy ported ex, vi, the C shell, and other 2BSD tools to the VAX. Peter Kessler and Marshall Kirk McKusick ported the Pascal system to the VAX. The resulting distribution, 3BSD, began shipping in December 1979. DARPA became interested in Unix's portability after noticing Berkeley's successful distribution of 3BSD to research institutions.