Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!shadooby!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!gore
From: gore@eecs.nwu.edu (Jacob Gore)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: new terminal names
Message-ID: <7080014@eecs.nwu.edu>
Date: 18 Apr 89 01:58:25 GMT
References: <8YAj6Yy00UoJ41ApYV@andrew.cmu.edu>
Organization: Northwestern U, Evanston IL, USA
Lines: 16

/ comp.protocols.tcp-ip / amanda@lts.UUCP (Amanda Walker) / Apr 10, 1989 /

>    For instance, the domain application wants host type and OS type for the
>    hosts on which the domain's nameservers run.  What on Earth for?
> 
> I can think of several reasons off-hand.  The most practical one is for
> identifying special circumstances.  For example, the FTP client in our
> Macintosh TCP/IP package uses this information to provide extended
> functionality (such as directory browsing and file size estimation)
> for hosts it "understands."

If you are doing an FTP to foo.bar.edu, how does it help to know that the
two name servers for bar.edu are a Timex/Sinclair and an IBM Selectric?

Jacob Gore				Gore@EECS.NWU.Edu
Northwestern Univ., EECS Dept.		{oddjob,chinet,att}!nucsrl!gore