Fork (system call) rfork and IRIX's sproc, Linux's clone was inspired by Plan 9's rfork and can be used to implement threads (though application programmers will typically use a higher-level interface such as pthreads, implemented on top of clone). The "separate stacks" feature from Plan 9 and IRIX has been omitted because (according to Linus Torvalds) it causes too much overhead. In the original design of the VMS operating system (1977), a copy operation with subsequent mutation of the content of a few specific addresses for the new process as in forking was considered risky. Errors in the current process state may be
Operating system existing hardware production. MCP is still in use today in the Unisys ClearPath/MCP line of computers. UNIVAC, the first commercial computer manufacturer, produced a series of EXEC operating systems. Like all early main-frame systems, this batch-oriented system managed magnetic drums, disks, card readers and line printers. In the 1970s, UNIVAC produced the Real-Time Basic (RTB) system to support large-scale time sharing, also patterned after the Dartmouth BC system. General Electric and MIT developed General Electric Comprehensive Operating Supervisor (GECOS), which introduced the concept of ringed security privilege levels. After acquisition by Honeywell it was renamed General Comprehensive Operating System (GCOS).