> So unless Russ is right and that the > fact FIDS are choosen by the client has > been decided arbitrarily ... I still have > no answer to my question.
In the current version of 9P, there is no reason why the client has to choose the fids (file ids). You don't have to believe me, but it's true. The client must choose the tags (request ids) since it sends the first request message without any input from the server. The tags are what enable having multiple messages outstanding. There is an historical reason why fids are chosen by the client, but like most historical reasons, it no longer applies. In very early versions of 9P (before the first edition release), there were no tags. Replies were matched based on fid and type, so fids had to be chosen by the client, just as tags do now. Tags were introduced on November 21, 1990: http://swtch.com/go/fid2tag Russ
