Bob,
This contradicts Section 2.1 of RFDC 1123, which says an application
SHOULD support literal addresses (and of course DNS support is a MUST) --
Section 6.1.1.)
Within the application space, which is what we were talking about with
RFC 1123, I'd have to say that the times have changed. Back in 1989 DNS
was still relatively unproven, failures were common, and there was a
need to be able to get around DNS. Remember that even as late as two
years prior, one had to edit SunOS binaries to gain access to DNS.
Worse, use of literals in applications leads to their being placed in
configuration files, and that's just bad juju in a dynamic world. I'm
not saying that DNS is perfect by any stretch, but the alternative is worse.
Still, I don't think John is suggesting that we prohibit applications
from supporting literals. I personally just think we shouldn't
highlight such examples.
As I recall, John was in the room, by the way, when that text was discussed.
Eliot
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