> On Mar 28, 2005, at 7:04 PM, Christos Zoulas wrote:
> > You are not dropping packets. You are returning ENOBUFS to the  
> > application, and you are giving it a chance to retry.

and Jason Thorpe replied:
> How does the return value affect the app's chance to retry?  It can  
> just as well retry if you return 0.

I don't have much else to say in this thread, but here I think Christos
has a point well taken: isn't it useful to preserve a distinction between

a _dropped_ packet, that is, a packet _you think you've sent_ but it fell
on the floor somewhere, without your knowledge unless/until the protocol
you're using eventually discovers that the recipient hasn't seen it,

and a packet _you know you've not sent_ because the system call at the point
of sending tells you "didn't send it, hit me again" ?

Seems to me Christos is on the right track in not considering those two
cases identical, and in preferring the term _dropped packet_ for the first
case.

-Chap