On Fri, 2003-10-24 at 00:00, Nick Rout wrote: > yes its been lingering in my mind as to why exactly there is a default > route set before the gateway to the outside world goes up?
With IP, you only *need* a loopback interface - all other interfaces can be virtual, not physical. So the presence of IP implies loopback, which implies a default route to loopback. The "inside world" is always present - the "outside world" is not. When you install new interfaces, it's up to the installer to nominate the new default route. (Yes, leaving a default route to loopback isn't necesarily that useful, but it always works) -jim
