"Open" (according to Lenny Kleinrock) meant "available"; thus OSPF was supposed to mean "Available, shortest path first." But, then again, these meanings get changed with time. "Open" is now a codeword for GNU/GPL/intellectual rights unencumbtered software. For OSPF, it was simply a description of an algorithm.
The reason for OSPF and link state protocols in the first place was to correct problems that evovled from distance vector protocols, such as "counting to infinity" and to speed convergence when topologies change. Distance vector protocols are easy to implement and easy to understand and easy to configure (i.e. just turn it on.) While link-state doesn't have to be difficult and should be easy to turn on and route, the history of gated has caused a certain mental inertia and prejudice to using them. Heck, even my ex-advisor grimaces with fear when you mention "link-state" in her presence. -scooter > > I can't quite figure why they stuck the word "open" in there, because it > > couldn't possibly be more open than RIP. > > Probably because it was (at the time) in heavy "competition" with the OSI > IS-IS routing protocol. Those standards were *not* openly available. (I > believe they are now.) > > Steinar Haug, Nethelp consulting, sth...@nethelp.no > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majord...@freebsd.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message To Unsubscribe: send mail to majord...@freebsd.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
