Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!midway!ncar!mephisto!mcnc!rti!dg-rtp!dg-rtp.dg.com!harvey
From: harvey@dg-rtp.dg.com (Michael Harvey)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: What is a UNIX Domain Socket?
Keywords: UNIX DOMAIN SOCKET
Message-ID: <1990Sep27.180632.25841@dg-rtp.dg.com>
Date: 27 Sep 90 18:06:32 GMT
References: <82@unigold.UUCP>
Sender: usenet@dg-rtp.dg.com (Usenet Administration)
Reply-To: harvey@dg-rtp.dg.com (Michael Harvey)
Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC
Lines: 19

In article <82@unigold.UUCP>, lance@unigold.UUCP (Lance Ellinghouse) writes:
|> Ok, I know this is a dumb question..
|> 
|> What exactly is a Unix Domain Socket?
|> What makes it different from a INET Socket?
|>
A socket is simply a communication endpoint. 
Sockets support two communications domains: the UNIX domain
for process-to-process communication on the same host,
and the Internet domain for process-to-process communication
between hosts that communicate with one another using the
DARPA standard communication protocols, such as IP, TCP, and UDP.

In the UNIX domain, socket names are UNIX pathnames;
for example, a socket may be named /tmp/foo.
Naming sockets in the Internet domain involve concatenating
the Internet address with a port number.

I think that covers the basics.  Comments?