Return to BSD News archive
Xref: sserve comp.os.linux.advocacy:9447 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:2322
Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!nexus.coast.net!news.kei.com!nntp.et.byu.edu!news.caldera.com!park.uvsc.edu!usenet
From: Terry Lambert <terry@cs.weber.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Linux vs. FreeBSD
Date: 21 Jun 1995 22:53:36 GMT
Organization: Utah Valley State College, Orem, Utah
Lines: 88
Message-ID: <3sa7tg$fu9@park.uvsc.edu>
References: <3qfhhv$7uc@titania.pps.pgh.pa.us> <3rf85f$bv0@agate.berkeley.edu> <3rkgc0$8o7@beethoven.orc.soton.ac.uk> <3s323f$87p@agate.berkeley.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: hecate.artisoft.com
nickkral@sextans.EECS.Berkeley.EDU (Nick Kralevich) wrote:
] In fact, why was I going though the source code
] for NetKit-B-0.05? Because I was trying to find out why the
] "rwhod" program wasn't working on my roommates FreeBSD machine.
] Actually, if anyone from the FreeBSD camp could help me, I would
] appreciate it.
]
] After we got "rwhod" running on both computers, the FreeBSD computer
] was receiving rwhod information from the Linux computer,
] the Linux computer was receiving information from the FreeBSD computer,
] the Linux computer was receiving information from the Linux computer,
] but the FreeBSD computer wasn't receiving information from itself!
] Linux --> Linux = YES
] Linux --> FreeBSD = YES
] FreeBSD --> Linux = YES
] FreeBSD --> FreeBSD = NO
Probably it wasn't working because recieving your own broadcasts
is in violation of the RFC's.
The "rwho" command is a "remote who". If you want "local who"
information, you are supposed to type "who".
] Ok, so it's having problems talking to itself. Uggg... Well,
] by reading through the source code for rwhod, I found that rwhod only
] sends messages to devices which have the "IFF_BROADCAST" or
] "IFF_POINTOPOINT" flag on. Well, on my Linux machine, the loopback
] device automatically has the IFF_BROADCAST flag on, so rwhod was
] able to send messages to itself.
Broke.
] On the FreeBSD machine, the IFF_BROADCAST flag was not turned on.
] Therefore, the "rwhod" program was refusing to send itself rwho
] information. Easy, I told myself! I'll just use ifconfig to
] turn on the IFF_BROADCAST flag.
]
] So I type:
] ifconfig lo0 broadcast localhost
Bogus! It should have given you an error message claiming you are
insane for attempting to get a machine to recieve its own broadcasts.
] When I typed the same thing on my Linux machine, I was able to toggle
] the loopback IFF_BROADCAST flag easily.
Bogus! It should have given you the same error message!
] Under FreeBSD, you can, at least with the "sl1" connection.
] Under Linux, this is isn't allowed, and the connection is lost if you
] try to send any further data over the link. In my opinion, the
] Linux behavior is the correct behavior.
User space SLIP connection maintennance daemon, I'd guess?
] That's one of the reasons my experiences with FreeBSD have been
] frustrating. The FreeBSD system is counter intuitive, it hard to
] configure, it doesn't do what I want it to do, and it doesn't
] work like it's suppose to.
OK, here's a nub: the FreeBSD system conforms to the RFC's, and
the RFC's do not follow "the rule of least astonishment".
So it may in fact be "counter intuitive", but it *is* working like
it's supposed to.
] Oh, for those of you who are reading this in comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,
] I apologize for bringing the rantings of a crazed *.advocacy group
] into the misc newsgroup.
8-).
] But I'm hoping some one will help me with my FreeBSD problems.
The correct place for the networking questions is the mailing list
questions@freebsd.org; the people who maintain that code don't have
a lot of news-reading time and probably won't respond. Their
responses are certain to be more in-depth than my own on these
particular topics.
Terry Lambert
terry@cs.weber.edu
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.