[ih] TTL [was Exterior Gateway Protocol]

[John Kristoff]

On Sat, 5 Sep 2020 00:31:31 +0000
Scott Brim via Internet-history <internet-history at elists.isoc.org>
wrote:

> Purists have said that network mechanisms that obscure problems should be
> avoided -- let the problems have full effect so they are fixed immediately
> and don't linger as ticking bombs.

Anyone who has experienced their share of bridge loops would welcome a
means by which frames could eventually die after a few times around.

To the original poster, a TTL/hop-limit field for a internetwork
protocol is a relatively easy and effective means for an internetwork
protocol to avoid more complex means to solve a topology challenge. Has
it saved the Internet, we could only guess, but mine would be yes it
has.

John