Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!newstop!texsun!wintermute.Sun.COM!jthomp
From: jthomp@wintermute.Sun.COM (Jim Thompson)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: Protocol Design issue
Message-ID: <1940@texsun.Central.Sun.COM>
Date: 18 Dec 89 15:30:50 GMT
References: <10439@ucsd.Edu> <12485@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com>
Sender: news@texsun.Central.Sun.COM
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.  Mt. View, Ca.
Lines: 14

In article <12485@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com> smb@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com (Steven M. Bellovin) writes:
>Sending a count followed by the exact number of bytes can work; indeed,
>that's what Peter Honeyman and I did in uucp's 'e' protocol.  A few
>caveats...  First, do everyone a favor and send the count in ASCII.
>Using htonl() would work, but is only convenient if (a) the receiving
>machine has ntohl(), and (b) both sides use 32-bit longs.  Me -- unless
>there's a major performance issue, I'd prefer ASCII.

Indeed, even 'rmt' uses the same technique.
(ascii encoding and all.)

Jim Thompson - Network Engineering - Sun Microsystems -	jthomp@central.sun.com
Member of the Fatalistic International Society for Hedonistic Youth (FISHY)
"Unemployment is the solution, not the problem."  -- B.I.R.D.