On 21/08/13 20:03, Bob Braden wrote:
Indeed, TCPMUX is quite historic... it represents a Road Not Taken. My memory is a bit hazy after 30+ years, but I think there was a serious discussion around 1979 of using strings instead of contact port numbers for opening TCP connections. Here is the hazy part... I *think* that Chaosnet used strings, and two well known MIT Daves introduced a proposal to adopt this mechanism for TCP. (Also, maybe XNS used strings? Not sure about that...) The internet working group ultimately rejected the idea, I think when Jon Postel argued that contact ports provided greater conceptual economy.
Hi Bob, thanks for historic insight. Btw, do you remember why TCPMUX was even defined given the above sentiment?
Maybe I got this wrong, but in any case I hope that someone else who was in the room then will correct me. Jack? Vint? Dave? Danny?
Martin