/etc/glob: The Untold Story of Early Unix Shell Globbing

This article delves into the history and function of `/etc/glob` in early Unix systems. Before the V7 Bourne Shell, Unix shell globbing wasn't handled by the shell itself but delegated to the external program `/etc/glob`. `/etc/glob` received the command and arguments, expanded wildcards, and then executed the command. The article details how `/etc/glob` worked across different Unix versions, including handling escaped characters and the rationale behind using an external program—likely due to resource constraints in early systems.