> Dropping a packet upon encountering a resource problem isn't effort, let alone best effort
The dropping part isn’t the effort; the forwarding part is.
> the checksums in UDP (and TCP!) also poorly assure integrity when datagrams are delivered.
That’s true, but it’s becoming less of a problem with ubiquitous encryption these days (at least on WAN connections).
I mean that in the same rhetorical sense of "standing around leaning on your shovel isn't effort, let alone best effort". Of course we all understand that what is effort is digging the ditch.
Anyway, so the question is, if typical IP forwarding is "best effort" ... what is an example of poor effort, and what exhibits it?
Re:Never* Use Datagrams
by 01HNNWZ0MV43FF on Sunday June 23, 2024 @07:22PM
(#40771462)
Should be "at most once" and "at least once", it's already used in other distributed systems with the same kind of problem
"Effort" generally refers to some sort of persistence in the face of difficulty. Dropping a packet upon encountering a resource problem isn't effort, let alone best effort.
The way "best effort" is used in networking is quite at odds with the "best efforts" legal/business term, which denotes something short of a firm commitment, but not outright flaking off.
Separately from the delivery question, the checksums in UDP (and TCP!) also poorly assure integrity when datagrams are delivered. They only somewhat improve on the hardware.