Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 alpha 4/15/85; site ucbvax.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!ucbvax!tcp-ip From: tcp-ip@ucbvax.ARPA Newsgroups: fa.tcp-ip Subject: Doing the Right Thing Message-ID: <8188@ucbvax.ARPA> Date: Fri, 14-Jun-85 21:14:14 EDT Article-I.D.: ucbvax.8188 Posted: Fri Jun 14 21:14:14 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 15-Jun-85 08:16:38 EDT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.ARPA Organization: University of California at Berkeley Lines: 34 From: Mike Muuss [In responding to MRC's comments, I am reducing the distribution back down to the TCP-IP@NIC list] I don't believe that I implied that the TOPS-20 systems were doing anything wrong; it's just that they were where we ran into the problems. Yes, what BRL's mail systems are doing right now is perhaps somewhat distasteful, but rather than expending effort on improving the current table-driven software, I have directed that all implementation effort be focused on the transition to domain-based naming using domain servers & resolvers. We have a version of MMDF which operates with the domain server system currently in testing, and hope to begin using it in production fairly soon (at least against our own local domain server). Interestingly, in the current state of affairs, the nicname.ARPA syntax really isn't expected to be valid (because it is not in the table), but in the domain-server view of the world, this is a perfectly correct syntax. Our intention was to make it possible for our users to enter the new syntax as soon as possible, so that they could begin to get accustomed to it; this has been true for many months now. However, implementing this meant that we had to "infer" the valid set of nicnames for each host in the .ARPA domain by munging the table. The code that built our internal tables "KNEW" the format of the NIC tables, and thus our problem. At such time as the NIC reorders the tables to have the full (new) domain name of the host FIRST, our table-builder will break again, but hopefully we will have transitioned to using the domain servers by then, and have rid ourselves of our .ARPA tables all together! -Mike