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Re:I spent a week without IPv4 to understand IPv6 transition... by xjay on Monday March 06, 2023 @11:43AM (#35043132)
The sad part to me is that the original IP header included variable-length addresses up to 128 bits, using two 4-bit fields called Source Address Length (SAL), and Destination Address Length (DAL). [1]

Early hardware implementations could have settled on 32-bit, but 48-bit would make more sense to be in line with EUI-48/MAC-48 (ethernet frame). The world could then gradually upgrade hardware over the decade to handle a larger address.

[1] https://www.rfc-editor.org/ien/ien28.pdf

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