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Knowledge Base›MIT CADR›Login, site data, host tables, and the later Site Data Editor

Login, site data, host tables, and the later Site Data Editor

Site administration changed substantially over the span represented by the public CADR materials. System 46 has a small login layer and Lisp source files that directly assign the Chaos host, display-name, and location tables. The maintained LM-3 System 303 tree has a formal SITE system: DEFSITE options and LMLOCS are compiled, a textual HOSTS file is translated into HSTTBL, and site initializations install the resulting data. The graphical Site Data Editor also carried by that maintained tree is later Lisp Machine, Inc. software, with patch evidence from 1986 through 1988. It must not be described as the site editor of MIT System 303.

The corresponding Symbolics design replaces these site-specific Lisp tables with a distributed object database and is documented in Namespace administration and the Namespace Editor in Genera.

Release and provenance boundary

The System 46 snapshot is public source at Git revision 8e978d7. The later source is the maintained LM-3 System Fossil checkout at 4df393c, tagged system-303, plus the separately maintained usite checkout at 8f717978b458b40adf1e238aaf177f5bc54ef46881268e03b787ba57b0d30a0e. The latter is operational restoration material, not an untouched historical site directory.

Evidence Bytes SHA-256 What it establishes
System 46 lispm2/login.42 1,921 2839d60436b00b0cefdccbd953f69d8f5b90a0a8e70545deb3bcccbdee63c1a3 login, logout, init-file loading, reversible login forms
System 46 lmio/chstbl.43 3,882 0b51ec3bae052c440fa69b100f70c8b19f0ec2cf0106283639881f7d5e4e2ef9 literal Chaos names, addresses, display names, and locations
System 46 lmio/chsaux.113 47,474 1990f30c37def0129f7f36faac310f68b303687571d46ff8057b93ac0b6e316d consumers of the Chaos tables
System 46 lmio/qfile.31 80,121 aa28d984d494f679ca3839f8e039f1a4674bf2eab81e8b075b09da601203997d file-host lookup and login plumbing
LM-3 sys/sysdcl.lisp 25,396 2999f1824666171d729dae611a09204ac0bd42373f30d7d22c733f904c27a6dd SITE system and host-table build rule
LM-3 sys/qmisc.lisp 83,123 d8c022999c40033b0073c0bec364fbe28ac20c4aa4ecb77afa4c70d1bfc9d840 DEFSITE, option precedence, and site reload machinery
LM-3 sys2/login.lisp 13,557 189f4e71eb9c6b1291ca8ff6fceaeb755863d08a5d83b48c186b20c137fe3e4f later login, LOG1, history, and initialization lists
LM-3 network/host.lisp 31,860 e0b4161041cdc0d0df319df9809e12e73c1cd1886a025829578a457029a50d20 host objects and DEFINE-HOST boundary
LM-3 network/chaos/chsaux.lisp 67,218 29fb941e5147b5f7ae51331f90dd11ffbf9ed93058c1e0835d6c6900f3803a05 HOSTS to HSTTBL generator
maintained usite/site.lisp 374 f8f3356df6de7d740d3cdc2af55bc08ac9efa3d0f0a788d462ed41cd9f3086f6 restoration-specific DEFSITE :LM-3 example
maintained usite/lmlocs.lisp 1,323 94b9ce8c44cb967abc9c05e4ae3bf01422d73020a47183b2e32e14b96f6d22b9 restoration machine-location table
maintained usite/-read-.-this- 6,575 9f2bc320fbc0b71953b2b8732b352d93e42212168b1d881cdd51f0debed268d3 current emulator/site construction procedure

All source identities were verified locally on 2026-07-18. The public trees contain real historical material, but the maintained System checkout also contains later vendor additions. File location alone is therefore not a date.

System 46: login and hand-maintained tables

Login entry points and effects

System 46 exposes Lisp functions rather than a separate account-management application:

Entry point Arguments and effect
LOGIN user-name and optional machine-or-t, defaulting to "AI". It first logs out, records the trimmed user name, informs the selected file host, performs file login, asks that host for the user's LISPM init pathname, and loads the USER init file. Supplying T selects the default file host and suppresses init-file work.
LOGOUT Evaluates the accumulated undo forms, clears user identity, personal-name, affiliation, host-name, and login-machine state, clears the undo list, and tells the file layer that login has ended.
LOGIN-EVAL Adds a caller-supplied undo form to the logout list.
LOGIN-SETQ Assigns variables while recording either their old values or an unbind operation for logout.
LOGIN-FDEFINE Replaces a function definition while recording the prior definition when one exists.

There is no login dialog, user database editor, or login-specific keymap in the inspected System 46 source. The call is made from Lisp. Its USER init file can change a live world, while the three helper operations give cooperating init code a way to undo those effects at logout.

What counted as site data

lmio/chstbl.43 says explicitly that it is not compiled because the Chaos tables change frequently. Loading the source directly assigns four tables:

Table Record shape and use
HOST-ALIST host-name string to octal Chaos address; aliases share an address and the preferred displayed name comes first
KNOWN-NAME-ALIST Chaos address to descriptive machine name
FINGER-ALIST Chaos address to human-readable console location
CONSOLE-LOCATION-ALIST Chaos address, MIT building identifier, and floor number

The file-name layer separately maps host names to host implementation closures. There is no DEFSITE, SITE system, LMLOCS, HSTTBL generator, or Site Editor in the public System 46 snapshot. Administration means editing and loading Lisp tables. Later terminology must not be projected backward: a System 46 host alias is not a Genera Namespace Host object, and its location alist is not yet the later site database.

Maintained System 303: the SITE build pipeline

The System 303 declaration introduces a coherent build unit:

  1. the SITE module compiles and loads SYS:SITE;SITE and SYS:SITE;LMLOCS;
  2. SITE normally contains a DEFSITE form whose option alist defines the installation-wide policy;
  3. LMLOCS supplies MACHINE-LOCATION-ALIST entries for individual Lisp machines;
  4. the textual SYS:SITE;HOSTS file is translated into SYS:SITE;HSTTBL LISP and compiled; and
  5. site initializations load the files, establish local-host variables, and make their host and location information active.

DEFINE-HOST is documented in source as belonging in the generated SYS:SITE;HSTTBL LISP file. The input host table is thus human-oriented text, while the generated Lisp expresses host objects. UPDATE-SITE-CONFIGURATION-INFO can reload site files and the host table and rerun site initializations.

GET-SITE-OPTION first consults the per-host override alist, then the site-wide alist. This is a source-visible precedence rule: a machine can override an installation default without changing the global DEFSITE value. DEFSITE itself is constrained to SYS:SITE;SITE LISP, and SET-SYS-HOST exists to bootstrap the logical system-file host before ordinary site translations are available.

Later login surface

The System 303 login source keeps the System 46 idea but adds initialization lists, history, and more explicit failure handling:

Entry point Complete release-bounded interface
LOGIN user-name, optional host defaulting to ASSOCIATED-MACHINE, and optional inhibit-init-file-p. It logs out first, canonicalizes the pathname host, runs login initializations, resets logout initializations, records login history, establishes the home-directory default, and normally loads the LISPM init file. host = T is retained as compatibility syntax for no init file.
LOG1 user-name, :HOST, :INIT, and arbitrary additional keywords. Extra options are dynamically available to the user's init file through USER-INIT-OPTIONS.
LOGOUT Runs reversible forms and logout initializations, resets the login initialization list, then clears user state. Its own documentation says cold boot is usually preferable.
PRINT-LOGIN-HISTORY Prints user, login host, physical Lisp Machine, and date for the accumulated in-world history.
LOGIN-FORMS, LOGIN-EVAL, LOGIN-SETQ, LOGIN-FDEFINE Arrange undo work for logout; the generalized undo machinery also knows how to reverse definitions, advice, package changes, and some command definitions.

An abort before login completes triggers logout. An abort while loading the user init file deliberately leaves the user logged in. That distinction is in the implementation, not just the high-level login description.

What the maintained usite tree proves

The pinned restoration site defines an :LM-3 site, its time zone and service hosts, a machine-location alist, and logical-pathname translations. Its operator note explains how to set a bootstrap SYS host, log in to a bridge, load the site and translations, compile the SITE system, and save the result into a chosen load band. It also describes the alternative of copying the minimum site files onto LMFILE and rebuilding from there.

These are useful instructions for the maintained emulator environment, not evidence that an MIT operator in the System 303 period used the same bridge, directory layout, addresses, credentials, or disk-save sequence. Site-specific values, including credentials, are not reproduced here.

The later LMI Site Data Editor

Provenance: not an MIT System 303 program

l/sys/network/edit/ declares package SITE-DATA-EDIT, with nicknames SITED and SITE-EDITOR, and a patchable system named “Site Data Editor.” Its core source carries Lisp Machine, Inc. 1986 notices. Patch metadata makes the later lineage unambiguous:

Evidence Release context Finding
patch-3-4.lisp LMI Cambridge, 1986-09-12; System 110.232, Site Editor 3.3 fixes belong to an LMI release years after System 303
patch-8-1.lisp Site Editor 8 keeps network and subnet values internally numeric while writing human-readable site files
patch-8-2.lisp Site Editor 8 clears the current object during database flush, deletion, and initialization
patch-8-3.lisp Site Editor 8 corrects expert-menu comment handling
patch-8-4.lisp Site Editor 8 tightens subnet-mask checking
patch-8-5.lisp Gigamos Cambridge, 1988-02-23; System 123.204, Site Editor 8.4 prevents an unknown host display from falling into cold-load/error behavior

The System 303 master declaration contains a commented-out SITE-EDITOR optional-system line, while the editor has its own active network/edit/sysdef.lisp. The maintained tree is preserving multiple layers of Lisp Machine history; it does not make all of them components of the tagged band.

Entry points and visible frame

SITED:SITED takes optional select-p, default true, creates a singleton SITE-EDITOR-FRAME, and selects it. A system-key registration calls (SITED:SITED NIL) using raw character code 6. The inspected source does not establish the printed name of that key on every keyboard, so this page does not invent one.

The frame has an object editor, a Site Editor Interaction Pane, and a command menu. It chooses expert automatically on an 800-pixel-wide main screen and otherwise starts in normal; Configure Window can select either. A third longmenu configuration exists in source but is not offered by that command. Expert mode removes the nonselectable section headings from the menu.

Complete command menu

All twelve selectable commands in the pinned source are below. The four section labels are nonselectable comments.

Section Command Behavior and boundary
Site Editor Database Flush Database Clears the current object and forgets all buffered editor data. The implementation does not ask for confirmation.
Site Editor Database Reload Reloads only after the database has been flushed/decached; otherwise tells the user that reload is unnecessary and explains the flush-then-reload sequence.
External Site Files Point to Site Files Selects a local or remote SYS host and site directory, confirms the change, establishes SYS, and loads SYS.TRANSLATIONS.
External Site Files Load Site Files Loads newest QFASLs for DEFSITE, LMLOCS, and HSTTBL, resets the local Chaos address, and runs site initializations. This changes the active running configuration.
External Site Files Save Site Files Confirms, then writes editor state back as the DEFSITE, LMLOCS, and textual host-table inputs.
External Site Files Compile Files Translates the textual host table to Lisp HSTTBL and compiles the three site outputs.
Editing Objects Edit Loads data if needed; if the current object has unsaved line changes, asks whether to annul them; then chooses an object class and object.
Editing Objects Copy Copies the current object. Hosts receive generated unused addresses; other deletable classes receive generated names. A Site is not a useful copy target.
Editing Objects Delete Chooses an object, rejects nondeletable objects and objects with referrers, confirms, deletes, and clears the current display when appropriate.
Editing Objects Save Object Changes Applies changed and deleted editor lines to the in-memory Site Editor database and consolidates them. It does not write external site files.
Special Commands Parameters Edits the Chaos host-table output, LMLOCS output, DEFSITE output, keyboard-choice threshold, and Choose-Any character; the derived HSTTBL pathname follows the DEFSITE host.
Special Commands Configure Window Selects normal or expert layout.

A Check Site Configuration command is present only inside a block comment and its body says it is not implemented. It is not a thirteenth command.

Complete direct keyboard and object gestures

Context Key or gesture Effect
frame Help or ? display the editor's local help in the interaction pane
frame Control-L or Clear Screen refresh the object editor and clear the interaction pane
frame any other direct character beep with no command
attribute label, repeatable field Left add another line of that attribute
attribute label Middle delete the line when deletion is allowed
attribute label Right restore the old value
ordinary value or empty value position Left edit or begin the value
choice value Left select that choice
object reference or restricted keyword Left choose from a menu, with a keyboard-input alternative where allowed
whole object list Left add an object
object-list element Left move the element to the front
object-list element single Middle delete the element
object-list element other Middle click count (M2 in who-line help) replace the element
object-list element Right move the element to the rear
network address/specification Left on a displayed subfield edit that addressing-domain, address, network-number, or subnet-mask component

The object chooser uses a mouse menu when the candidate count is at or below the configurable threshold, initially 15, and keyboard input above it. ? lists keyboard choices. The configurable Choose-Any character defaults to Control-Return and widens a restricted keyboard choice to the broader object class. These are chooser behaviors, not global frame commands.

Complete object-class and field inventory

Every object has a primary Name and zero or more Nicknames. Unknown site or host properties are retained as user-property pairs rather than discarded.

Class Source-defined fields exposed by the editor
Site Name, Nickname; SYS Host Login Name, optional SYS Host Login Password, Standalone, Default Associated Machine, Timezone, Host for Bug Reports, Local Mail Hosts, Long Pretty Name, Short Pretty Name, Site Specific System, Default Mail Mode, Default Printer, Default Bit Array Printer, Verify Dumps Made on LMI Lambdas, Backup Host, Time Server Hosts, Chaos Time Server Hosts, Chaos Mail Server Hosts, Spell Server Hosts, Ispell Server Hosts, ARPA Gateways, SMTP Mail Server Hosts, Chaos Host Table Server Hosts, Front End TCP Chaos Server, and user properties
Host Name, Nickname, optional Short Name, System Type, Machine Type, File System Type, one or more Addresses, Services, Pretty Name, Finger Location, Location, Server Machine, Associated Machine, Printer, Default Bit Array Printer, Backup Host, Verify LM Dumps, and user properties
Printer Name, Nickname, Type, and Parameters
Network Name, Nickname, optional Short Name, and one or more Network Specs containing addressing domain, network number, and optional subnet mask

Legacy site inputs SYS-HOST, ARPA-CONTACT-NAME, DOVER, PRINTER-NAMES, HOST-DEFAULT-DEVICE-ALIST, and SPECIAL-FILE-HOSTS are ignored as direct Site attributes during import. Some are reconstructed through the later object model when files are emitted; “ignored as an editor line” does not mean “deleted from the generated configuration.”

Object workflow and persistence

The editor has two save layers:

  1. Edit, Copy, and line gestures change a displayed working copy.
  2. Save Object Changes validates and merges those lines into the editor's in-memory database.
  3. Save Site Files serializes that database to the three external site inputs.
  4. Compile Files produces the loadable artifacts.
  5. Load Site Files mutates the currently running site and network state.

That separation explains why “Save Object Changes” is not durable site publication. Flush Database can destroy step 2 changes before step 3, while Load Site Files can alter a running machine without writing the source files. Point to Site Files can redirect the entire workflow to another SYS host.

Source findings beyond the user-facing model

  • The editor's longmenu geometry is implemented but absent from Configure Window's two choices.
  • Flush Database has no confirmation in the inspected implementation, despite being the command whose documentation says it forgets changes.
  • Check Site Configuration is commented out and explicitly unimplemented.
  • Deletion performs a full interobject-reference scan before removal.
  • Host copy allocates new addresses by incrementing until no current object owns the candidate; this is collision avoidance inside the editor's loaded model, not a network-wide probe.
  • The bootstrap module can build site files and invoke a disk save. That is an installation path, not an ordinary editor gesture, and it is not safe to run against preservation media without a disposable clone.
  • The patch series preserves compatibility work for old site-option names and host-table representations; it also shows that the code continued changing after the core 1986 files.

Runtime and screenshot status

No runtime screenshot is published for this page. That is an evidence boundary, not an assumption that the program was text-only:

  • System 46 has no Site Editor in the inspected source, so its site-data state has no corresponding application frame to capture.
  • The available CADR harness boots the exact maintained System 303 band. The Site Data Editor source carried in the tree is later LMI/Gigamos software, is commented out of the optional-system declaration, and has not been shown to be present in that band.
  • Running later editor code in the System 303 world would manufacture a mixed configuration and would not verify historical LMI System 110/123 behavior.

TODO: acquire a rights-cleared LMI release/load band that actually includes the matching Site Editor version, run it through an isolated clone, verify the raw system-key name, layouts, chooser threshold, object gestures, and safety prompts, then conduct an image-specific screenshot review. Until then, all visible-frame claims above are source claims and the lack of a screenshot is explicit.

Safety notes for preservation work

  • Read and hash site inputs before loading them. Loading is executable Lisp in both releases.
  • Treat HOSTS as the maintained input and HSTTBL as generated output only within the exact build procedure that produced it.
  • Do not publish restoration site credentials, private host inventories, or local network addresses merely because their containing source tree is public.
  • Never test Point, Save, Compile, Load, bootstrap, or disk-save operations on the only copy of a load band or site directory.
  • Keep System 46, maintained System 303, and later LMI Site Editor findings labeled separately in any derivative catalog.

Open questions

  • TODO: identify the first historical release in which DEFSITE, LMLOCS, and the generated HSTTBL pipeline shipped together.
  • TODO: locate the matching Site Data Editor manuals for LMI System 110 and Gigamos System 123, then compare their documented menu to this exact source.
  • TODO: establish the keyboard name represented by raw character code 6 on each supported LMI keyboard rather than extrapolating from another Lisp Machine.
  • TODO: determine whether any shipped configuration exposed the defined longmenu layout.
  • TODO: audit the suspicious n-tuple :void-p implementation against a matching runtime before calling it a defect; its name and predicate disagree, but the live consequence is not yet established.

Sources

  • MIT CADR System 46, login.42, chstbl.43, chsaux.113, and qfile.31, revision 8e978d7; verified 2026-07-18.
  • Maintained LM-3 System tree, sysdcl.lisp, qmisc.lisp, login.lisp, and network/edit, check-in 4df393c; verified 2026-07-18.
  • Maintained LM-3 usite checkout, check-in 8f717978b458b40adf1e238aaf177f5bc54ef46881268e03b787ba57b0d30a0e; local site.lisp, lmlocs.lisp, sys.translations, and operator note inspected 2026-07-18.
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