16

Is there any long-form, if at all? Or is it just a tradition from the 80's?

theTuxRacer
  • 16,185

3 Answers3

15

I've heard

  • run commands
  • resource control
  • run control
  • runtime configuration

Personally, I'd go with run control, because ESR says so.

http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/ch10s03.html

His footnote says:

 The ‘rc’ suffix goes back to Unix's grandparent, CTSS.
 It had a command-script feature called "runcom". Early
 Unixes used ‘rc’ for the name of the operating system's
 boot script, as a tribute to CTSS runcom.

Wikipedia chooses "run commands" as the default long-form, but admits that context should determine word choice.

 While not historically precise, rc may also be pronou-
 nced as "run control", because an rc file controls how
 a program runs. For instance, the editor Vim looks for
 and reads the contents of the .vimrc file to determine
 its initial configuration. The most sensible pronunci-
 ation depends on the function of the file: to start
 something up, or to control how something starts up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run_Commands

djeikyb
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    ESR’s »runcom«, however, does not suggest »run control«, unless there is a rule for transoforming n to m that I don’t know about. – MPi Jan 27 '11 at 08:19
5

According to this source -- http://kb.iu.edu/data/abdr.html -- it means "run commands"

Vojtech Trefny
  • 15,171
  • See also here http://superuser.com/questions/144339/sayvimrcor-screenrc-what-does-the-rc-mean – Joril Jan 27 '11 at 07:56
0

This link gives an interesting explanation for few commands.

According to it rc stands for "runcom" which in turn stands for Run Commands.

nanosoft
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