From owner-freebsd-hackers Thu Feb 15 12:58:53 1996 Return-Path: owner-hackers Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) id MAA22538 for hackers-outgoing; Thu, 15 Feb 1996 12:58:53 -0800 (PST) Received: from halloran-eldar.lcs.mit.edu (halloran-eldar.lcs.mit.edu [18.26.0.159]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) with SMTP id MAA22525 for ; Thu, 15 Feb 1996 12:58:46 -0800 (PST) Received: by halloran-eldar.lcs.mit.edu; (5.65/1.1.8.2/19Aug95-0530PM) id AA13534; Thu, 15 Feb 1996 15:58:26 -0500 Date: Thu, 15 Feb 1996 15:58:26 -0500 From: "Garrett A. Wollman" Message-Id: <9602152058.AA13534@halloran-eldar.lcs.mit.edu> To: Nate Williams Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Broadcast, Netmask, and other such information In-Reply-To: <199602152052.NAA01312@rocky.sri.MT.net> References: <199602152029.NAA01202@rocky.sri.MT.net> <9602152037.AA13188@halloran-eldar.lcs.mit.edu> <199602152052.NAA01312@rocky.sri.MT.net> Sender: owner-hackers@FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk < said: >> 10.5.5.31 is not a valid host address. (Neither is 10.5.5.0, which >> you correctly avoided using; it means ``this host''.) > Currently, we are allocated an entire class C (204.182.243.255), and I > get the same results when I ping '204.182.243.0' as when I ping the > broadcast address, '204.182.243.255'. I always understood that > '127.0.0.1' meant ``this host''. Be careful about writing the addresses. What you are allocated is 204.182.243.0/24, which used to be called a class C and is now called a 24-bit network or just a ``/24'' for short. The reason why pinging the zero address acts like a broadcast is because 4.2BSD got the broadcast address wrong, and subsequent versions contained brain-damage which attempts to remain compatible with it. -current has had this brain-damage excised. 127.0.0.1 means `host 1 on network 127'. By convention, network 127 was assigned to the loopback interface. There is no technical reason behind this convention; it could just as easily have been network 69. -GAWollman -- Garrett A. Wollman | Shashish is simple, it's discreet, it's brief. ... wollman@lcs.mit.edu | Shashish is the bonding of hearts in spite of distance. Opinions not those of| It is a bond more powerful than absence. We like people MIT, LCS, ANA, or NSA| who like Shashish. - Claude McKenzie + Florent Vollant