one answer

[Bob Johnson]

On 9/11/05, legalois <legalois at acm.org> wrote:
> legalois wrote:
> > I've been using FreeBSD for quite a few years, and I've sometimes 
> > wondered but never asked before:
> > In the FreeBSD standard distribution, why is the user root always named 
> > Charlie?
> > There must be some bit of Unix lore or anecdote that explains it.
> 
> I found one answer, but not really an explanation.
> According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Root)
> The name of a famous American baseball player (1899-1970) "...gives rise 
> to the name used for many "root" system accounts under the UNIX 
> operating system."
> But that does not explain when, how or why?

When you find out, please update the Wikipedia entry!  You ought to be
able to track down who made that edit in Wikipedia, and ask them for
more details.

- Bob