Subject: Re: DNS-SD in getaddrinfo()
To: Pelle Johansson <morth@morth.org>
From: None <kpneal@pobox.com>
List: tech-net
Date: 06/05/2004 21:27:07
On Fri, Jun 04, 2004 at 03:03:40PM +0200, Pelle Johansson wrote:
> 
> 2004-06-03 kl. 16.17 skrev Matt Thomas:
> 
> >OK.  Another random thought.  Use /etc/services to specify it by the
> >existence of an alias of srv-name (srv-telnet).  The existence of the
> >alias would tell getaddrinfo that it should attempt to to use SRV 
> >records.
> 
> I had a moment to think at the gym, and realised that this is actually 
> how it should work. The SRV lookup should be on a per protocol basis, 
> not a per call to getaddrinfo() basis. /etc/services seems to be the 
> logical place to put such info (and it'd be easy to implement, just 
> prefix the lookup with "srv-"), but perhaps it could been seen as 
> misusing the traditional function of the file.

It would be a shame if this file were changed in a way that is
incompatible with other systems. Similarly, it would be bad if this
file was changed in a way likely to result in incompatiblity later
if some other system changed their /etc/services file.

My employeer uses the exact same customized /etc/services file on a wide
range of Unix and UNIX(tm) systems, including HP-UX, Solaris, Irix,
FreeBSD, and z/OS (modern MVS). Wouldn't it be strange if NetBSD became
less compatible (in this way) than MVS?

I'm not saying this is bound to happen, I'm just cautioning.
-- 
Kevin P. Neal                                http://www.pobox.com/~kpn/

 "Good grief, I've just noticed I've typed in a rant. Sorry chaps!"
                            Keir Finlow Bates, circa 1998