Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!wang!comm.wang.com!lws
From: lws@comm.wang.com (Lyle Seaman)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: (none)  Really: Internet vs Usenet vs ... addresses
Message-ID: <1990Mar29.222029.5335@comm.wang.com>
Date: 29 Mar 90 22:20:29 GMT
References: <22875@adm.BRL.MIL> <260EA70B.16489@paris.ics.uci.edu>
Organization: Wang Labs, Platform Comms.
Lines: 21

echarne@ics.uci.edu (Eli B. Charne) writes:

>  If you friend is on the Internet, (and using Unix), they should be able to
>  find their E-mail address by typing:

>	grep `hostname` /etc/hosts

>  where `hostname` should expand to their machine name, otherwise they can put
>  the machine name in that place... There might be a "prettier" way to do
>  this.

This isn't strictly true.  Anyone may have an internal TCP/IP network,
but not be on THE Internet.  For instance, if I do 
"grep `hostname` /etc/hosts"  I get 192.35.131.241.  This _is_ a valid
and duly registered network address, but I have no connections to the
real Internet.  If somebody does this and assumes that they are on the
Internet, they are in for quite a bit more confusion.

-- 
Lyle                      Wang             lws@comm.wang.com
508 967 2322         Lowell, MA, USA       uunet!comm.wang.com!lws