The Art of UNIX Programming

D. Rootless Root: The Unix Koans of Master Foo

Editor’s Introduction

The discovery of the collection of koans known as the Rootless Root, apparently preserved for decades in the dry upper air of the Western Mountains, has ignited great controversy in scholarly circles. Are these authentic documents shedding new light on the teaching of the early Unix patriarchs? Or are they clever pastiches from a later age, commanding the authority of semi-mythical figures such as the Patriarchs Thompson, Ritchie and McIlroy for doctrines which evolved closer to our own era?

It is impossible to say for certain. All sides in the dispute have made much of an ...