"Layering" terminology (was: Re: "so-called" keyword and layer 3)

[John C Klensin <klensin@jck.com>]

--On Wednesday, December 05, 2001 5:48 PM +0800 Maynard Kang
<maynard@pobox.org.sg> wrote:

> Hi John, with regard to the precision of terminology used,
> perhaps it might be helpful to adopt a more specific term to
> describe each "layer" in the dns-search draft, rather than to
> rely on numbers which might cause confusion.

That is certainly true, but, each time I find a term, it has
ancillary connotations that add to the confusion.  I can't draw
analogies to white/yellow pages services without picking up
their baggage and history of failures.  I can't really talk
about "global" versus "localized" mechanisms and databases
without creating as much confusion as they help alleviate.  So,
if you have suggestions....

But, unless we can find terminology that really fits, I think it
might be better to force people to read documents and
definitions rather than looking at a word and guessing at the
mechanisms.

> A "Layer 2" searching mechanism sounds almost incredulous if
> the OSI model comes to mind ("A link layer method for
> searching names in the DNS?? Those IETF guys must be crazy...")

That is why the document was changed, after -00 or even earlier,
to talk about "search layers" or "sublayers".  It is unfortunate
that the list has slipped back into the use of the unqualified
word "layer" and abbreviations like "L2", but they are certainly
more convenient.

   john