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Network Working Group                                    M. A. PadlipskyRequest for Comments: 967                              Mitre Corporation                                                           December 1985All Victims TogetherSTATUS OF THIS MEMO   This RFC notes a significant omission from the networking literature   and proposes to remedy it.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.DISCUSSION   An interesting thing happened the other day. Some people were up   visiting from IBM Federal Systems Division and, during the course of   the conversation, one of them pointed out that they had just as much   if not more trouble with the operating system purveyors about making   OS "changes" in behalf of networking as anyone else. At the time I   just observed that it looked as if we were all victims together and   went on to the next point, but further reflection prompts me to offer   a few thoughts on the topic to the RFC community:   o   To us, it's axiomatic that networking code is system code when it       has to be.   o   To Them, it's anathema.   o   We haven't really hit very hard on the point in the literature       (although I guess I have made a few strong assertions along those       lines, here and there, and it's at least implicit in some of Dave       Clark's stuff), unless in my usual slipshod fashion I've just       missed seeing it.   o   It would probably be responsible of us to rectify the omission       (assuming there is one) since the literature is supposed to be       the way the researchers educate the practioners.   o   Therefore, I propose a new subseries of RFCs on how the       networking code was integrated with various OSs, with an eye       toward subsequent publication of the collection in the open       literature (RFCs being only semi-open, after all). I'll even       volunteer to coordinate, at least to the extent of taking offers       from people who are willing to tackle various systems and telling       them who else is having a bash at the same one for purposes of       possible collaboration--and possibly even merging the results of       separate efforts if people just send in things they've already       done. (I suppose I even have to offer to do a bit of editing, if       people want.)Padlipsky                                                       [Page 1]

RFC 967                                                    December 1985All Victims Together   What I'd like to see emerge is a bunch of little essays along the   lines of what I attempted to do on Multics inRFC 928, pp.14-21,   which would probably be a waste of electrons to reproduce here, but I   will if Jon thinks it's worthwhile at some level. With luck,   volunteers will emerge to discuss all of the major operating systems   currently on the net and most of the minor ones as well, since one of   the most interesting philosophical aspects of the exercise is to see   just what cuts and pastes get made to any OS if it's networked. My   guess is that given more modern systems' tendencies to make adding   device drivers more straightforward and to offer interprocess   communication primitives at the system level, the likeliest   difficulties to encounter would be getting on the process creation   path appropriately for Telnet--but that's reasoning ahead of the   data. Suffice it to say that each piece should address Host-Host   protocol interpreter(s) integration as well as Host-Comm Subnet   Processor PI (including device driver, if one), plus something about   Telnet and something else about FTP (at least to the extent of   whether it's per-user or "monolithic"--on the server side, that is),   and, of course, some relevant anatomizing of the OS itself.   The moral, it seems to me, is that we have a chance to strike back at   the oppressors by showing them what they should be furnishing with   their silly off-the-rack systems if they are going to continue to   object to our alterations to make the bloody things fit anywhere near   right. It's a little extra effort on our part, but it's probably a   worthy goal. Indeed, if anybody from IPTO is watching I suppose I'd   even go so far as to suggest a pro tem System Integration Task force   if I hadn't already volunteered once in this thing and used up my   quota.   Think about it.EDITOR'S NOTE   The editor recalls a session at the 5th Data Communication Symposium   (the one at Snowbird) titled "Impact of Networks on Host-System   Design and Architecture". (1977)Padlipsky                                                       [Page 2]