Abstract

UNIX United is an architecture for a distributed system based on UNIX. As it is compatible with UNIX at the system call level, any program written for a normal UNIX system can be transparently extended to exploit the richer environment of UNIX United. As it relies on having a UNIX system beneath it, the implementation of UNIX United, called the Newcastle Connection, provides an interesting example of the construction of a very powerful distributed system with only a modicum of effort. A description of the basic semantics of UNIX United is followed by that of the architecture implied by the protocol between components in a UNIX United system, and of a software structure appropriate to the architecture and the protocol.

The Architecture of UNIX United
Black, J.P., Marshall, L.F. and Randell, B.
Proceedings of the IEEE (Special Issue on Distributed Database Systems) Vol. 75, Issue 5, pp 709-718
IEEE Press, 1987 ISSN 0018-9219