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UNIX Time-Sharing System: RBCS/RCMAS - Converting to the MERT Operating System

01 July 1978

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RBCS/RCMAS--Converting to the MERT Operating System By E. R. NAGELBERG and M. A. PILLA (Manuscript received February 3, 1978) The paper presents a case history in applying the MERT executive to a large software project based on the UNIX* system. The work illustrates some of the basic architectural differences between the MERT and UNIX systems as well as the problems of portability. Emphasis is on matters pertaining to software engineering and administration as they affect development and support of a manufactured product. I. INTRODUCTION The Record Base Coordination System (RBCS) and Recent Change Memory Administration System (RCMAS) are two minicomputerbased products designed to carry out a record coordination function; i.e., they accumulate segments of information received from various sources on different media, filter, translate, and associate related data, and later transmit complete records to downstream user systems, also on an assortment of media and according to various triggering algorithms. The overall objective of record coordination is to assure that information stored and interchanged among a variety of related systems is consistent and accurately reflects changes that must continually occur in the configuration of a large, complex telecommunications network. To perform this function, R B C S and * UNIX is a t r a d e m a r k of Bell L a b o r a t o r i e s . 2275 RCMAS both provide various modes of I/O, data base management, etc., and each utilizes a rich assortment of operating system features for both software development and program execution.