Re: How to add new "protocols" ?
Ben Laurie (ben@gonzo.ben.algroup.co.uk)
Tue, 18 Feb 1997 19:21:32 +0000 (GMT)
Ross Patterson wrote:
>
> Ben Laurie <ben@gonzo.ben.algroup.co.uk> writes:
>
> >I was about to point this out. But it goes further. The point of a URL is that
> >it provides _complete_ information on how to retrieve the specified resource.
> >TCP is therefore mandated by http: in order to make the information complete
> >(we then know that we resolve the hostname with DNS and connect with TCP).
>
> Actually, TCP and port 80 are mandated by the fact that you've searched
> the DNS for an IP address that matched the specified name. People tend
> to forget that the DNS can and does support more than just IP. If you'd
> searched using a different record class (e.g. CHAOS), you'd need to use
> the appropriate native stream-transport protocol. It is perfectly
> reasonable for a given name to have both IP and non-IP data in the DNS,
> and which you ask for would depend on which you wanted.
I hadn't forgotten this. But if http: didn't mandate TCP and I found an IP
address and a CHAOS one for the same host, how would I access it? Not defined.
I may find an MX record for the host, but does this mean I can do HTTP over
SMTP? No.
Cheers,
Ben.
--
Ben Laurie Phone: +44 (181) 994 6435 Email: ben@algroup.co.uk
Freelance Consultant and Fax: +44 (181) 994 6472
Technical Director URL: http://www.algroup.co.uk/Apache-SSL
A.L. Digital Ltd, Apache Group member (http://www.apache.org)
London, England. Apache-SSL author