Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!sdcsvax!ucbvax!BIONET-20.ARPA!ROODE
From: ROODE@BIONET-20.ARPA (David Roode)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains
Subject: easy relay name service
Message-ID: <12360639101.18.ROODE@BIONET-20.ARPA>
Date: 23 Dec 87 02:18:30 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Distribution: inet
Organization: The ARPA Internet
Lines: 17

Discussing mail relay service per se wasn't my intent.  The need or
lack thereof for host name databases in name servers given the
presumption of assorted relays was the concern.

Suppose BITNET registered name service for domain BIT.NET, and named
its hosts in the form x.BIT.NET .  Affirmation would occur for all
queries x.BIT.NET for all x, i.e. regardless of x.  The response would
be one or more valid records, each indicating a mail relay location.
The point is the name server need know nothing about the domain other
than the relay sites' identities.

I guess I am making a hypothesis that says it is trivial to provide
linkage to the Internet domain naming system for BITNET.  No
accomodation is needed in name resolvers.  This obviates multiple
BITNET kludges in effect in many local mail systems. It is upwardly
compatible with any future evolution of BITNET.
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