From time to time you may find that you are dropped from the computer
even though you haven't chosen to "log out." There are three reasons why this
happens: the computer fails; you are preempted; you remain inactive for too
long.

     There are two ways in which the computer fails: there are problems with
Multics itself; there are problems with the communications channel.  When the
former occurs, the message MULTICS NOT IN OPERATION is usually printed.  Then
you must wait until Multics is back in operation and log in again.  When the
latter occurs, you may simply be interrupted with the message that normally
prompts you to make the connection.  In this case, you can log in as usual and
pick up where you were interrupted.

     On occasion you may be preempted because there are too many users on
Multics.  In this case, you will be notified in advance.  You can either log
out or be logged out automatically.

     When you remain inactive for a while, 25 minutes or so, you will also be
told that you will be logged out in a few minutes.  If you become active, the
automatic log out will be cancelled.  Otherwise, you will be logged out
automatically.


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Historical Background

This edition of the Multics software materials and documentation is provided and donated
to Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Group BULL including BULL HN Information Systems Inc. 
as a contribution to computer science knowledge.  
This donation is made also to give evidence of the common contributions of Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Bell Laboratories, General Electric, Honeywell Information Systems Inc., Honeywell BULL Inc., Groupe BULL
and BULL HN Information Systems Inc. to the development of this operating system. 
Multics development was initiated by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Project MAC (1963-1970),
renamed the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence in the mid 1970s, under the leadership
of Professor Fernando Jose Corbato. Users consider that Multics provided the best software architecture 
for managing computer hardware properly and for executing programs. Many subsequent operating systems 
incorporated Multics principles.
Multics was distributed in 1975 to 2000 by Group Bull in Europe , and in the U.S. by Bull HN Information Systems Inc., 
as successor in interest by change in name only to Honeywell Bull Inc. and Honeywell Information Systems Inc. .

                                          -----------------------------------------------------------

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without
fee is hereby granted,provided that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies
and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting
documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining
to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission.
    Copyright 1972 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Honeywell Information Systems Inc.
    Copyright 2006 by BULL HN Information Systems Inc.
    Copyright 2006 by Bull SAS
    All Rights Reserved