Juliusz asked me to pass this along to -ctte since non-subscribers can't post.
On Sat, Sep 22, 2007 at 10:14:23PM +0200, Juliusz Chroboczek wrote: > The semantics of gethostbyname have always been rather vaguely > defined. In particular, it has never been clear whether multiple > addresses are returned in an order specified by the DNS server, in the > order corresponding to local preferences, or in some other order. The > only thing that is clear is that the first address returned is the > preferred address -- the one that should be used by primitive > applications that are unwilling to deal with the complexities of > multiple addresses. > > RFC 3484 clarifies that the list of addresses returned by getaddrinfo > is in an order that takes into account both the server's and local > preferences. While this might or might not be the best semantics, it > is at least a well defined semantics; one that software authors can > expect to rely on. > > Please, do not change standard interfaces in Debian. If you really > believe a better interface is needed, please define a new interface > under a new name; there is precedent to this approach (e.g. setresuid), > which is much better than overloading standard names (e.g. the OpenBSD > semantics of setuid, which, while better than the POSIX semantcs, causes > useless confusion and grief). > > Regards, > > Juliusz -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
