Multics

Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service) was an extraordinarily influential early time-sharing operating system.

Further reading

The literature contains a large number of papers about Multics, and various components of it; a fairly complete list is available here. The most important and/or informative ones are listed below.

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• F. J. Corbató, V. A. Vyssotsky, Introduction and Overview of the Multics System (AFIPS 1965) is a good introduction to the system..
• F. J. Corbató, C. T. Clingen, J. H. Saltzer, Multics -- The First Seven Years (AFIPS, 1972) is an excellent review, after a considerable period of use and improvement.

Further reading - technical details

• Jerome H. Saltzer, Introduction to Multics (MIT Project MAC, 1974) is a considerably longer introduction to the system, geared towards actual users.
• Elliott I. Organick, The Multics System: An Examination of Its Structure (MIT Press, 1972) is the standard work on the system, although it documents an early version, and some features described therein never appeared in the actual system.
• V. A. Vyssotsky, F. J. Corbató, R. M. Graham, Structure of the Multics Supervisor (AFIPS 1965) describes the basic internal structure of the Multics kernel.
• Jerome H. Saltzer, Traffic Control in a Multiplexed Computer System (MIT Project MAC, June 1966) is the original description of the idea of switching kernel stacks; one of the classic papers of computer science.
• R. C. Daley, P. G. Neumann, A General Purpose File System for Secondary Storage (AFIPS, 1965) describes the file system, including the access control and backup mechanisms.
• A. Bensoussan, C. T. Clingen, R. C. Daley, The Multics Virtual Memory: Concepts and Design, (ACM SOSP, 1969) describes the Multics memory system in some detail.
• Paul Green, Multics Virtual Memory - Tutorial and Reflections is a good in-depth look at the Multics storage system.
• Roger R. Schell, Dynamic Reconfiguration in a Modular Computer System (MIT Project MAC, 1971) describes the reconfiguration mechanisms.

Further reading - security

• Paul A. Karger, Roger R. Schell, Multics Security Evaluation: Vulnerability Analysis (Air Force Electronic Systems Division, 1974) describes the classic attacks on Multics security by a "tiger team".
• Jerome H. Saltzer, Michael D. Schroeder, The Protection of Information in Computer Systems (Proceedings of the IEEE, September 1975) describes the fundamentals behind the first round of security upgrades; another classic paper.
• M. D. Schroeder, D. D. Clark, J. H. Saltzer, D. H. Wells. Final Report of the Multics Kernel Design Project (MIT LCS, 1978) describes the security upgrades added to produce an even more improved version.
• Paul A. Karger, Roger R. Schell, Thirty Years Later: Lessons from the Multics Security Evaluation (IBM, 2002) is an interesting retrospective which compares actual deployed security in today's hostile environment with what was demonstrated to be possible decades ago. It concludes that Multics offered considerably stronger security than most systems commercially available in 2002.