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The History of the First Computer Shell
BASH? PowerShell? It all traces back to 1963. And the work of an amazing Frenchman, CTTS, and Multics.
October 07, 2022
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Powerful, “Command Line” computer interfaces have been around for — what seems like — forever. Interfaces where you can run multiple commands, one after another (in a batch)… where you can have simple “scripts” to tie those commands together.

That sort of “Shell” comes in so many forms… from SH and BASH on UNIX-like (and Linux) systems… to COMMAND.COM and PowerShell on Windows.

The text “Shell” is everywhere. And has been for longer than most can even remember.

But it had to start somewhere. Someone had to make the first “Shell”.

This is that story.

And that story starts… with a man. His name is Louis Pouzin.

The Man

Louis Pouzin was born, in 1931, in a small town in almost the smack-dab-middle of France: Chantenay-Saint-Imbert.

Louis Pouzin. With a sweet mustache. Photo credit: Jérémie Bernard

In the 1960’s Pouzin would move from France — and his job managing programmers at Bull (a French computer company) — to Massachusetts. His new job would put him working on an ambitious computing project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology…

The Compatible Time-Sharing System

In 1961, the world’s first, general purpose, time sharing operating system was demonstrated at MIT.

That system — the “Compatible Time-Sharing System”… or “CTTS” — was originally developed on an IBM 709. And oh, what a beautiful machine it was.

The IBM 709

The IBM 709 was an absolute beast. Capable of adding 42,000 numbers per second, and multiplying two 36-bit integers together at a (then) blinding speed: 5,000 per second.

All contained in a svelte 2,000 pounds.

And this IBM 709, running CTTS, certainly had a text interface… but it wasn’t exactly a “Shell”. At least not in any way we would recognize together. Certainly, no scripting together of commands.

Over the next two years, CTTS continued to improve and evolve. Getting ported, by 1963, to a modified IBM 7094. Which, like the 709 before it, was a gorgeous machine. With enough physical switches to make any Sci-Fi nerd happy.

The IBM 7094 - “The Blue Machine”. Photo credit: IBM

It is around this time, that Pouzin arrives at MIT, where he is (at least partially) responsible for a little program called “MAIL”.

Wait. What? Pouzin invented E-Mail?

 

Well. Not quite. This was several years before what we now call “E-Mail” was created. This original “MAIL”, on CTTS, was a system for sending mail messages to other users… on the same CTTS system. It lacked a mechanism for forwarding messages to users on other systems.

 

Just the same, this work heavily influenced what would later become “E-Mail”.

But we’re not here to talk about MAIL or the many contributions Pouzin made to computer networking (leading to what we call “The Internet”) — that’s a fascinating topic for another day. Let’s focus on a little program that Pouzin wrote… which would change computing forever.

RUNCOM

You see, in those days, there was no “command interpreter” program. No “shell”. You simply instructed the kernel to run a single program.

Nothing like “COMMAND.COM” on DOS. Or BASH, SH, or other shells on UNIX and Linux systems. Nothing at a all like that existed.

That all changed in 1963, when Pouzin came up with “RUNCOM” — short for “RUN COMmand”.

In Pouzin’s words:

“After having written dozens of commands for CTSS, I reached the stage where I felt that commands should be usable as building blocks for writing more commands, just like subroutine libraries. Hence, I wrote "RUNCOM", a sort of shell driving the execution of command scripts, with argument substitution. The tool became instantly most popular, as it became possible to go home in the evening while leaving behind long runcoms executing overnight. It was quite neat for boring and repetitive tasks such as renaming, moving, updating, compiling, etc. whole directories of files for system and application maintenance and monitoring.”

RUNCOM was, truly, the first “Shell” system.

In fact, Pouzin, was the first person to call such a program a “Shell”.

His RUNCOM program would continue to be a critical component of the CTTS system until it ceased operations in 1973.

RUNCOM section from the CTTS Programmers Guide. Courtesy: Internet Archive

But we still didn’t quite have what we would call a “Shell”. Not yet.

The “Shell” had a name, and some of the features, but it wasn’t a truly interactive experience.

Meanwhile, in England…

During 1964, a computer scientist named Christopher Strachey was working at the University of Cambridge… on, what he called, the “General Purpose Macrogenerator”. Or “GPM”, for short.

Christopher Strachey, sporting a most excellent mustache. Photo courtesy: University of Oxford

This language had a heavy influence on much of 1960s and 1970s computing — including on “m4”.

M4 is a macro language, developed by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie, that was part of the original version of UNIX… and was later adopted as a part of the POSIX standard.

Strachey’s GPM design document. Published in a 1965 issue of The Computer Journal.

Back in Massachusetts…

During 1964, work on Multics (the “Multiplexed Information and Computing Service”) was getting underway at MIT (as a joint project between MIT, General Electric, and Bell Labs).

While Pouzin wasn’t going to be part of the Multics project… boy howdy… he had some ideas.

In his own words:

“Then in 64 came the Multics design time, in which I was not much involved, because I had made it clear I wanted to return to France in mid 65. However, this idea of using commands somehow like a programming language was still in the back of my mind. Christopher Strachey, a British scientist, had visited MIT about that time, and his macro-generator design appeared to me a very solid base for a command language, in particular the techniques for quoting and passing arguments. Without being invited on the subject, I wrote a paper explaining how the Multics command language could be designed with this objective. And I coined the word "shell" to name it. It must have been at the end of 64 or beginning of 65.”

Pouzin made sure his ideas were documented, by publishing a document entitled: “The SHELL: A global tool for calling and chaining procedures in the system”.

The full document is archived by MIT.
 

According to Pouzin:

“The small gang of Multics wizards found it a sleek idea, but they wanted something more refined in terms of language syntax. As time left to me was short, and I was not an expert in language design, I let the issue for them to debate, and instead I made a program flowchart of the shell. It was used after I left for writing the first Multics shell. Glenda Schroeder (MIT) and a GE man did it.”

From Tom Van Vleck, who worked on Multics for 16 years (starting in 1965):

“The first time I remember the name "shell" for the function of finding and running a command was in a Multics Design Notebook document by Louis Pouzin.

 

These memos con[t]ained the idea of having the command processing shell be an unprivileged user program that parsed a command line, located a program to run, and executed it with arguments.”

So. Who created the first “Shell”?

The concept, and first implementation of a “Shell” (RUNCOM for the CTTS), was made by Louis Pouzin.

But the first truly interactive example of a Shell — the one that was part of Multics, and which would most closely resemble the interactive shells of today — was initially designed by Pouzin… and programmed by Glenda Schroeder and a “Mystery Man from General Electric”.

The impact of RUNCOM and the Multics Shell

The impact of these early Shells cannot be understated.

Because of RUNCOM — and the designs of Pouzin — we have the Multics Shell.

Because of Multics… we have UNIX (originally named UNICS… before someone in marketing decided an “X” looked cooler) and SH.

You can trace every single computer Shell in existence — including BASH, PowerShell, and so many others — back to that first work. Back to the ideas of Louis Pouzin.

In fact, that influence expands far beyond just the design ideas of a scriptable, interactive Shell.

According to Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie:

"There was a facility that would execute a bunch of commands stored in a file; it was called RUNCOM for "run commands", and the file began to be called "a runcom". rc in Unix is a fossil from that usage."

That’s right. Have you seen “rc” on your UNIX or Posix systems — such as .cshrc or /etc/rc? Those are named that way, according the the men behind UNIX itself, because of RUNCOM and Louis Pouzin.

To put it simply, modern computing is the way it is, in large part… thanks to Pouzin. A computer scientist that should be a household name.

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The Unpublished Anti-Lunduke Hit-Piece
A Tech Journalist interviewed me for a hit-piece article. But the questions made them look bad, and they shelved the story. So I'm publishing their hit-piece for them.

Back in September, shortly after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, I was contacted by a Tech Journalist writing for FossForce.com (a smaller, Open Source focused publication) who was working on an article around Open Source, Antifa, and the Lunduke Journal’s coverage of those topics.

This particular outlet had, several months prior, run an “anti-Lunduke” hit piece without first reaching out for comment — which resulted in their most popular article (at least on social media) in quite some time.

With that in mind, it seemed reasonable that they’d want to repeat that success with another “anti-Lunduke” story.

This time they were doing the responsible thing. They reached out to the subject of the hit-piece article with questions. I like encouraging Tech Journalists when they do actual journalism, so I answered each and every query with easy-to-quote responses.

But, it would appear that the answers they received were not conducive to creating the hit-piece they were hoping for — my guess is they realized their questions made them look like the villain in the story. The villain they, clearly, hoped to portray me as.

They opted to not publish the piece.

So I’m publishing their hit-piece for them.

Below is every question — and every answer (with no edits) — which I was asked, on September 19th, by a Tech Journalist by the name of Christine Hall, writing for FossForce.

Fair warning: This is very, very politically charged.

Enjoy.


September 19th

Hall:

The last time I mentioned you in an article, you castigated me for not reaching out to you beforehand. Well, I’m reaching out now. We’ll see what comes of this.

You do recognize that the vast majority of organizations using the term antifa as a descriptor are not in the least bit terrorist and pose no threat to society -- and indeed, the only threats they might pose to fascist groups are not physical or life-harming?

Lunduke:

Hello Christine! Nice to hear from you!

Many, if not most, of those proclaiming support for Antifa (within Open Source) have also made statements encouraging or supporting violence and discrimination.

Regardless of that fact -- which I have documented extensively in Lunduke Journal coverage -- when violent acts are committed (such as murder, riots, and lynchings) in the name of “Antifa”, to turn around and immediately declare yourself to be “Antifa” is a clear declaration of support of that violence.

Hall:

And why did you feel it necessary to call out Danielle Foré’s [the founder of the elementary OS Linux Distribution] trans status in such an ugly manner?

Lunduke:

There is a noteworthy overlap between “Trans activism” and support for political violence -- including in the recent murder of Charlie Kirk (the murderer’s boyfriend was “Trans”).

In the case of Daniel Fore, he, a leader of an Open Source project, regularly calls for discrimination (and violence) against people he disagrees with -- often in conjunction with his self-declaration as “Trans”.

Thus, his declaration of being “Trans” becomes a part of the overall story.

It is worth noting here that The Lunduke Journal has never -- and would never -- call for discrimination or violence against someone because of how they identify or who they may (or may not) vote for.

This is in stark contrast those, such as Mr. Fore, who consider themselves “Trans” or “Antifa” -- who actively advocate for both discrimination and violence.

Hall:

Mentioning a person’s trans status in ways that are pertinent to your argument necessates rudeness such as calling her a “dude who likes to wear dresses”?

Lunduke:

Dan Fore is, in fact, a dude who likes to wear dresses.

The only reason to view that as a negative is if you view dudes wearing dresses as a negative.

Hall:

I’ll quote you on that, which I’m pretty sure won’t bother you in the least.

Lunduke:

Absolutely! Quote anything I say here. In fact, I suggest quoting absolutely everything I’ve written to you here, today.

Hall:

You also understand, don’t you, that voicing disagreement with an assessment made by POTUS is not only legal but a healthy part of the national dialog.

Lunduke:

Absolutely! Did I say somewhere that it was illegal to disagree with a politician? It seems unlikely that I have ever said that.

Hall:

Also, how would you reply to this:

There have been very few murders linked to individuals associated with Antifa, some incidents of rioting attributed to Antifa supporters, and no credible evidence of lynchings conducted in the name of Antifa. Compared to far-right groups, violence attributed to Antifa is much less frequent and lethal, with only one suspected kill—Aaron Danielson in Portland, by an anti-fascist activist—officially confirmed in recent U.S. history.

Lunduke:

Murder is bad. I am opposed to all murder.

In the context of these discussions, bearing in mind the Kirk murder is important (as many statements were made in response to it). The murderer of Kirk appears to have been pro-Trans and pro-Antifa (based on all available information).

Hall:

Is there any evidence that the suspect was part of an antifa group? I haven’t seen any.

Lunduke:

I have seen some reporting to this effect (including statements from family and messages he wrote).

But, far more important to this story, is the response to the murder among Antifa supporters (including those within Open Source). A large portion of Antifa supporters have celebrated the murder as justified because it killed someone they considered to be a “fascist”.

Hall:

Also, no group should be held responsible for what some deranged person who identifies with the group has done.

Lunduke:

I agree that a broader group should not be held responsible for the actions of a small number of individuals.

However, and this is critically important, it is entirely appropriate to hold people responsible for their own statements and actions.

With that in mind: The overall messaging of Antifa (and Antifa supporters) tends heavily towards violence. Punching, killing, molotov cocktails, etc. are all common messaging used by Antifa (including by those I quote within the Open Source world -- many of whom have advocated violence against myself).

Advocating for violence, then celebrating when violence is committed, are not good things.

Yet we see a great deal of that among Open Source supporters of Antifa.

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October 13, 2025
Sale ends in a few hours, Lifetime Subs set up.

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That “50% off” sale ends tonight at midnight. So you have a few hours to snag a discounted subscription, if you haven’t already.

A huge thank you to everyone who supports this work. Couldn’t do it without you.

-Lunduke

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50% Off Lunduke Journal Extended Through Monday (Oct 13th)

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The “50% off every kind of Subscription to The Lunduke Journal” sale has been extended through Monday (October 13th).

So. You know. Grab one at 50% off between now and end of the day on Monday.

To all of you amazing nerds who have picked up a Lifetime Subscription already this weekend: You are awesome. You’ll be receiving a confirmation email, with all of the Lifetime Subscription details, by tomorrow (if you haven’t already).

Oh, and remember how we hit 11 Million views last month? Yeah. We’re well on our way to blowing past those numbers in October.

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See you all on Monday!

-Lunduke

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