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From: barns@GATEWAY.MITRE.ORG
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: New Host-Requirement RFCs
Message-ID: <8910201839.AA29376@arcturus.mitre.org>
Date: 20 Oct 89 18:39:37 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 39

The HR RFCs don't seem to explicitly state that source routes are limited
to Internet-registered domains, but that was certainly the idea in mind.
The possibility of allowing non-Internet-registered names was brought
up and discussed quite a bit during the lengthy discussion of mail
source routing in the HRWG.  The mail source route discussion probably
constituted 10 or 15% of the total verbiage burning up the wires during
that effort.  I have a file containing most if not all of the relevant
messages which I hereby offer (not without misgivings) to mail to anyone
who wishes to read about 280KB on the subject.  I might edit it down a
bit first if I have some free time - not to remove the content on this
subject, but to strip out other topics from multi-topic messages.

A big part of the justification (or excuse, depending on your religion)
for sticking with Internet-registered names was a feeling that most of
the uses of the %-hack could be replaced by an appropriate usage of MX
records, including perhaps some strategically chosen wildcard MX's.
This theory holds that even if you're not on the Internet, you can
register yourself and get your name into some server with an MX pointing
to the appropriate gateway(s) for mail to your non-Internet network.
According to this reasoning, you don't actually need the % hack for
what (I think) Henry Spencer is talking about.

Perhaps there are objections to this.  Some people seem to object in
principle to universal registries; this leads back to the Absolute vs.
Relative issue, which is even older than TCP/IP.  RFC 733 defined a
sort of source route syntax using multiple @ characters; when some
people started using it, there were loud screams and (so I am told,
I wasn't working in the mail arena at the time so I can't speak from
direct knowledge) a meeting was called by or at DARPA at which it was
outlawed.  This was probably about 8 to 10 years ago - I've forgotten.
Anyhow, there is religion involved here, I think.

A different objection might be that it is difficult in practice, for
one reason or another, for the off-Internet people to get registered
with appropriate MX's.  I haven't heard this specific complaint, but if
it is a problem in practice, maybe the people hurt by it should speak
up, and perhaps something can be worked out eventually to improve matters.

Bill Barns / MITRE-Washington / barns@gateway.mitre.org