Below, you can see the preview of the Unix History (move on the white zone to get a bigger image):

This is a simplified diagram of unix history. There are numerous derivative systems not listed in this chart, maybe 10 times more! In the recent past, many electronic companies had their own unix releases. This diagram is only the tip of an iceberg, with a penguin on it ;-).

If you want to print this timeline, you can freely download one of the following PDF files:

A4	Letter	Plotter		A4	Letter
History				Index

Warning: it seems that Adobe Reader has some problems reading the large plotter version of the Unix History chart, but happily you can use another PDF viewer for this task. By the way, if you are on macOS, just use Safari :-)

Here is the ChangeLog of this history.

Note 1 : an arrow indicates an inheritance like a compatibility, it is not only a matter of source code.

Note 2 : this diagram shows complete systems and [micro]kernels like Mach, Linux, the Hurd... This is because sometimes kernel versions are more appropriate to see the evolution of the system.

Note 3 : I have now a page where I explain how I build this chart.

Brian Kernighan	Dennis Ritchie	Ken Thompson	Bill Joy	Steve Jobs	Linus Torvalds	Richard Stallman

You can also find here some unix people.

You may be wondering "Why does Steve Jobs appear in this unix history?". Simply because he has made the best unix computer ever : a NeXTcube powered with the NeXTSTEP operating system. And now : Mac OS X.

Unix History on Google

Here is a listing of the unixes that are present in my chart :

Here is now some unixes that are not [yet] in my chart. If you want to find more unixes, try Google :-)

Unix on Wikipedia

• The Creation of the UNIX Operating System from Lucent.
• An Oral History of Unix from Princeton.
• UNIX Past from The Open Group.
• The Unix Heritage Society by Warren Toomey.
• FreeBSD Release Information from FreeBSD.
• Formal NetBSD Releases from NetBSD.
• AIX release and service delivery strategy from IBM.
• Darwin/Mac OS X: The Fifth BSD from Applelust.
• Sun History from SUN.
• The History of Solaris (PDF) from Witty's Place.
• HP-UX History from HP.
• Unix and Multics by Tom Van Vleck.
• Linux Kernel Archives.
• 20 Years of Berkeley Unix by Marshall Kirk McKusick.
• Operating System Technical Comparison from Milo.
• Chronology of Events in the History of Microcomputers by Ken Polsson.
• Grokline's UNIX Ownership History Project.
• IRIX Versions and History by Ryan Thoryk.
• Mind Map of Linux distributions by Ravi Kumar.
• GNU/Linux distro timeline by Andreas Lundqvist.
• BSD timeline by Donjan Rodic
• Linux timeline and BSD timeline by Andreas Lundqvist and Donjan Rodic, continued by Fabio Loli.
• Linux Kernel 2.6.8.1 map by OSU.
• Yet Another Linux Distro Timeline by greengrass44.
• Restoration of 1st Edition UNIX kernel sources from pdf document.
• História dos UNIXes Brasileiros by Newton Faller
• The UNIX system family tree: Research and BSD by Wolfram Schneider
• HPBSD: Utah's 4.3bsd port for HP9000 series machines by Mike Hubler
• PA-RISC Operating Systems from OpenPA.net
• AIX support lifecycle information.

Unix Lawsuits on Google

• USL vs. BSDI documents from Dennis Ritchie.
• Liberal license for ancient UNIX sources from Caldera.
• SCO Files Lawsuit Against IBM from SCO.
• SCO Suspends Distribution of Linux Pending Intellectual Property Clarification from SCO.
• OSI Position Paper on the SCO-vs.-IBM Complaint from Open Source Initiative.
• A History of UNIX and UNIX Licences by Peter Salus.
• Novell Challenges SCO Position, Reiterates Support for Linux from Novell.
• Apple in court dispute over Unix from CNet.
• SCO Announces Immediate Termination of IBM's Right to Use and Distribute AIX Software and Files for Permanent Injunction from SCO.
• SCO Registers UNIX Copyrights and Offers UNIX License from SCO.
• Red Hat Takes Aim at Infringement Claims from Red Hat.
• SCO Announces Intellectual Property License for Linux from SCO.
• IBM's counterclaims from IBM.
• The SCO Group Announces Final Termination of IBM / Sequent's Contract to Use or License Dynix Software from SCO.
• To the Linux Community from SGI.
• OSDL releases position paper disputing SCO Linux claims from OSDL.
• Letter from SCO to IBM
• Open Letter on Copyrights from SCO.
• SCO Announces New Initiatives to Enforce Intellectual Property Rights from SCO.
• Novell's Unique Legal Rights from Novell.
• Groklaw's New Group Project -- The Timeline Project.
• SCO v. IBM from SCO.

• Non-Unix OS History by Patrick Mulvany.

• Computer Languages History.
• Unix Hierarchy (an old paper).
• NeXT History (in french).
• Windows History.
• Another Chart On The Wall.
• statistics of this site.
• other unix products.