🚀 go-pugleaf

I've got a few questions about mach/next ports and their interactions
with the netname server, that I'm hoping someone out there in netland
can help me with. I want to make sure I'm not missing something obvious.

First, is there a way to store "persistent" information about a port
other than through the net name server? For example, I have an
application that wants to set up a private port and pass that along to
other applications (probably via the other applications publicly
registered port) Is there some set of information that it can pass to a
second application so that the second application can write the
information to disk, exit, be restarted some time later, reread the
information off the disk and establish a connection to that private
port? I get the impression that the answer is no. Ports and access
rights are stored in the kernel and when the application quits they are
gone forever. Is that correct?

Second, is there a way to ask the net name server for all the registered
ports that it knows about? Again, I think the answer is no. You have to
know the port you are asking for in advance. This provides a potential
solution to my first question. If my private port is registered with the
net name server with a randomly generated name, then it can pass that
randomly generated name to the other applications and they can use that
to reestablish the connection. That all works if I can be sure that
someone can't query the net name server and find my random name.

Finally, is there is a way to request all the ports on the local net
that match a certain name? Using the "*" parameter to one of the net
name lookup routines will give me one port (the first to answer the
broadcast request I would guess) Is there a form that gives me all the
ports that answer? If not, why not? Are the broadcasts unreliable? Is
there a better way?

						Thanks in advance,
							- |Daryll

-- 
Daryll Strauss          			     f	The Aerospace Corp.
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NeXTMail: daryll@harlot.rb.ca.us                     r  Los Angeles, Ca. 90009
"It's my reality and I'll warp it if I want to!"     d	(213) 336-9358