Subject: Re: [SOLVED] Re: other services ok, ftp not (was 1.5.11 - tcp problems)
From: Brian Dessent <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2004 00:32:40 -0700

Carlo Florendo wrote:

> On a curious note, why do the inetutils  apps like ftp, telnet, etc.
> still use getservbyname() and the other getserv  functions when, as you
> said,
> these apps could just have the port and protocol hardcoded or specified
> in a config file?

As far as I know that traces back to the original TCP/IP networking code
in unix, 4.2BSD circa 1983 from what a quick google shows.  Back then
things were a lot simpler and I suppose it was more straightforward to
have one config file that defined all the services the box was running
and what ports they were to listen on, and to have each daemon query
that file through getservbyname().  As far as I know the tools in
inetutils are the direct descendents of the original BSD commands from
way back, so the code still uses those methods.

Brian

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