TONT 33103 将软盘用作信号量标记

原文链接：https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20051205-09/?p=33103

In the very early days of Windows 95, the distribution servers were not particularly powerful. The load of having the entire team installing the most recent build when it came out put undue strain on the server. The solution (until better hardware could be obtained) was to have a stack of floppy disks in the office of the “build shepherd”. (The job of “Build Shepherd” was to perform the initial diagnosis of problems with the build itself or with verification testing and make sure the right developer is called in to address the problem.)

在 Windows 95 研发的初期，用来发版的服务器性能并不算强大。当新版本发布后，整个团队都去上拉取最新构建版本进行安装这件事对服务器造成了可观的压力。解决方法（在换用更强力的硬件之前）是在『构建牧羊人』的办公室里放置一摞软盘。（『构建牧羊人』的工作是对构建版本、或者验证测试进行初步的问题筛查，并确保对应的开发者能被及时叫来处理问题。）

If you wanted to install the latest build, you had to go to the Build Shepherd’s office and take one of the specially-marked floppy disks. When you finished installing, you returned the disk.

假如你想安装最新的构建版，你就需要去构建牧羊人的办公室里去取一张做了特殊标记的软盘，等安装完之后，再把软盘送回去。

In other words, the floppy disk acted as a real-world semaphore token.

换句话说，这些软盘变成了现实世界中的信号量标记。