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From: hta@uninett.no (Harald T. Alvestrand)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Lifetime of TCP/IP (Re: source of TCP/IP)
Date: 1 Aug 1994 09:48:18 GMT
Organization: Uninett
Lines: 39
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <31igd2$d2c@trane.uninett.no>
References: <3163r7$440@quagga.ru.ac.za> <CtMp4G.7Ap@calcite.rhyolite.com> <31bl91$3b9@cesdis1.gsfc.nasa.gov> <CtqrFJ.IM5@calcite.rhyolite.com> <31fd07$6pq@cesdis1.gsfc.nasa.gov>
NNTP-Posting-Host: domen.uninett.no
In article <31fd07$6pq@cesdis1.gsfc.nasa.gov>, becker@cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov (Donald Becker) writes:
|> In article <CtqrFJ.IM5@calcite.rhyolite.com>,
|> Vernon Schryver <vjs@calcite.rhyolite.com> wrote:
|> >such a sad sign of the death of TCP/IP. Yes, TCP/IP is dead. IPv4 will
|> >be the last generation. TCP will be fondly remembered as a legacy
|> >protocol on a few million systems in 5-10 years, with just as much
|> >life as the OSI protocols. Ah, well. It was great while it lived.
|>
|> I believe just about everything we now do with computers will be obsolete or
|> a legacy system in 5-10 years... except TCP/IP. The internals of a system,
|> both software and hardware, might be expensive and difficult to develop, but
|> the interfaces between systems are the high-value items that won't be
|> changed. TCP/IP is one of those high-value interfaces.
According to the IETF ALE working group,, IPV4 is expected to be dead (that is,
it no longer provides universal connectivity on the Internet) somewhere between
the years 2000 and 2006.
So, before that, anyone who wants universal Internet connectivity will have
to be able to support IP:NG (currently named IPV6, I think).
I see no reason to believe in any grand revolution with TCP.
I also think that a document describing the places where (various versions of)
*BSD networking is incompatible with the RFCs would make an excellent
informational RFC, since, as you say, *BSD networking is a lot of "current
practice" on the Internet.
(One example: The fact that Jon Postel, the author of TCP, and Berkeley
disagreed about the significance of the URG pointer in TCP has made it the
most useless feature of the protocol)
(BTW, I don't think all TCP stacks are BSD; I wouldn't expect routers, PCs
and other dedicated HW to use the *BSD networking source.)
--
Harald Tveit Alvestrand
Harald.T.Alvestrand@uninett.no
G=Harald;I=T;S=Alvestrand;O=uninett;P=uninett;C=no
+47 73 59 70 94
My son's name is Torbjørn. The letter between "j" and "r" is o with a slash.