Subject: (IPng 7215) Re: PF_INET6, AF_INET6 values.

From: Mukesh Kacker <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1999 00:05:47 -0800 (PST)

> Last time I looked at the API standard, the values for these were not 
> explicitly set.
....
> 
> What's the correct way to deal with the issue?
> 

You have just discovered the need for what some in the industry
call the "ABI" or (Application Binary Interface). It involves a lot
more than values of defined constants to have the ability to share
"precompiled binaries that are distributed for a given platform"
though those values are certainly a part of it.

There is no "central registry" for those "values space" (ala IANA for
all the numbers used in protocols). Product teams at comapanies or
cooredinated development groups (e.g FreeBSD, Linux etc) enforce a
registry that typically tries to keep the compatible with their
previous releases but that is about it.

The advise would be to pick one platform to track which you want to stay
compatible with and  and learn how to figure out its "binary interface"
(which is lot more than values of constants) and try to design
your "my stack" in a manner so you can share binaries with it.

Current reality only allows people to keep struggling to have "source level"
compatibility and that is the goal API efforts discussed here have been
limited to that.

[ Apologies if you know all this already this has been superfluous :-) ]

- Mukesh Kacker
  Internet Engineering
  Solaris Software
  Sun Microsystems Inc
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