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Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!bcm!watson!sob
From: sob@watson.bcm.tmc.edu (Stan Barber)
Newsgroups: news.sysadmin,news.admin,news.groups
Subject: Re: CALL FOR VOTE, COMP.INTERNET.ADDR AND COMP.INTERNET
Message-ID: <1466@gazette.bcm.tmc.edu>
Date: 27 Mar 89 04:12:57 GMT
References: <2078@pikes.Colorado.EDU> <15805@oberon.USC.EDU>
Sender: usenet@bcm.tmc.edu
Reply-To: sob@watson.bcm.tmc.edu (Stan Barber)
Followup-To: news.sysadmin
Organization: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
Lines: 20

In article <15805@oberon.USC.EDU> blarson@skat.usc.edu (Bob Larson) writes:
>Hosts with ancient software (that should upgrade, but havn't for some reason)
>should fetch HOSTS.TXT from sri-nic.arpa as frequently as they feel the
>need.  This file only contains the 6000 or so hosts that want to be
>listed.

WRONG. The HOSTS.TXT file contains those that MUST be listed, not those
that want to be listed. New domains in the internet must have name servers.
These MUST appear in HOSTS.TXT. Others do not. Most sites CANNOT have their
hosts listed in HOSTS.TXT because the NIC is trying to keep the size down.

Old time networks (MIT, Berkeley, Stanford) have a large number of listings
because they were there first. It would be great if those sites would
ask the NIC to remove unneeded host entries so that the overall size of
HOSTS.TXT would be smaller and would in fact list those critical sites only.


Stan           internet: sob@bcm.tmc.edu         Baylor College of Medicine
Olan           uucp: {rice,killer,hoptoad}!academ!sob
Barber         Opinions expressed are only mine.