4 ms·

Does anyone happen to know why the shell got named a "shell"?

• Alupis 12y ago
  Just speculation, but perhaps it's because it "wraps" the kernel. ie. the kernel's shell...
  • rootbear 12y ago
    That was always my understanding. In older mainframe operating systems, the command interpreter was more integral to the OS. In Unix, it's just a process. Its function is to run programs for the user, so it is in some sense a shell around the OS seen by the user.
    • smhenderson 12y ago
      That's the way I see it and to extend the analogy a bit further Unix, et el. are like a hermit crab that can trade one shell for another if there is a good reason to do so.
  • sporkenfang 12y ago
    Yup, I've always thought it provides sort of an "airlock" generic land between userspace and kernel-land, where people can do things like send signals to processes and also do stuff like dump the contents of a file for easy viewing.
• mwcremer 12y ago
  From Multics: http://www.multicians.org/shell.html http://www.multicians.org/shell.html