25 Mar
2017
25 Mar
'17
9:55 a.m.
On Fri, Mar 24, 2017 at 4:56 PM Josh Good <pepe(a)naleco.com> wrote:
Which brings up a question I have: why didn't UNIX implement ethernet
network interfaces as file names in the filesystem? Was that "novelty" a
BDS development straying away from AT&T UNIX?
See https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc681, section 4j:
FILEDES = OPEN( "/DEV/NET/HARV",2 );
People were thinking about it. There was no shortage of people at the time
who were struggling to find a way to make the Unix model work for
networking (not me, I had no clue; I was just an interested observer). It
didn't quite work out and as a result we were left with the non-unix-like
socket interface we have today, and a feeling among many of us that we'd
missed an opportunity.
It's really hard to get this stuff right, and the approach outlined in the
RFC is not really what you want. Rob had a nice talk 20+ years ago about
the right and wrong way to do this; I can't find it and he can't find it,
and I keep hoping it'll appear.
It's a shame that Unix did not get a Unix-like model for networking, but
maybe it was just too soon.
ron