Subject: Re: [rrg] Terminology, 2nd pass

From: [email-masked] (Noel Chiappa)
Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2009 17:13:24 -0400 (EDT)

> From: Dow Street <[email-masked]>

    > So, what makes a name into a locator?

When it has _structure_ which relates to _where_ the named thing is.

I.e. MAC is not a locator, even when used in a bridging system, because
there's no structure in it - MACs are just identifiers for the interface.

    > "A name is defined to be a "locator" when it is used in the context of,
    > nor perhaps by, a system that has a notion of geography, topology, or
    > distance, and the value of the name, combined with a location in the
    > system, produces a vector of relevance to that system's geography or
    > topology."

I _think_ this says the same thing as the above , but in a mathematical way,
but I'm not sure.

    > there is something about the phrase "must change if the point of
    > attachment changes" that does not seem quite right. 

Well, one thing is that a locator may change, even if the physical location
the entity is plugged in hasn't changed, if the structure of the network has
been rearranged (e.g. a chunk of topology has been re-homed, e.g. to a
different ISP).

	Noel