RFC 967 (rfc967) - Page 1 of 2
All victims together
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group M. A. Padlipsky
Request for Comments: 967 Mitre Corporation
December 1985
All Victims Together
STATUS OF THIS MEMO
This RFC notes a significant omission from the networking literature
and proposes to remedy it. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
DISCUSSION
An interesting thing happened the other day. Some people were up
visiting from IBM Federal Systems Division and, during the course of
the conversation, one of them pointed out that they had just as much
if not more trouble with the operating system purveyors about making
OS "changes" in behalf of networking as anyone else. At the time I
just observed that it looked as if we were all victims together and
went on to the next point, but further reflection prompts me to offer
a few thoughts on the topic to the RFC community:
o To us, it's axiomatic that networking code is system code when it
has to be.
o To Them, it's anathema.
o We haven't really hit very hard on the point in the literature
(although I guess I have made a few strong assertions along those
lines, here and there, and it's at least implicit in some of Dave
Clark's stuff), unless in my usual slipshod fashion I've just
missed seeing it.
o It would probably be responsible of us to rectify the omission
(assuming there is one) since the literature is supposed to be
the way the researchers educate the practioners.
o Therefore, I propose a new subseries of RFCs on how the
networking code was integrated with various OSs, with an eye
toward subsequent publication of the collection in the open
literature (RFCs being only semi-open, after all). I'll even
volunteer to coordinate, at least to the extent of taking offers
from people who are willing to tackle various systems and telling
them who else is having a bash at the same one for purposes of
possible collaboration--and possibly even merging the results of
separate efforts if people just send in things they've already
done. (I suppose I even have to offer to do a bit of editing, if
people want.)
Padlipsky