Use of RPC

[Fletcher Kittredge]

In article <2031 at brchh104.bnr.ca> gene at ponder.csci.unt.edu (Gene De Lisa) writes:

>Given a SPARC platform, it seems that the choice is between using TLI or
>using RPC.  Is RPC generally viewed as an excentric Sun specific oddity,
>or is it the wave of the future?  I hope this question does not have
>religious overtones . . .

Since this is a frequently asked question, I will respond via the
newsgroup.

This should not be a religious question, but there is much money involved
and money makes for religon.

It doesn't make much sense to have a RPC mechanism which is platform
specific.  Sun RPC is the defacto standard and is demonstrably available
on a wide range of Unix boxes (since it is the basis of NFS).  However,
there is a competing standard, OFS DCE (NCS).  This RPC protocol is
available on a smaller range of Unix boxes, not including the SPARC
platform (from Sun, available from third parties).  RPC and IPC are areas
of standardiza- tion being attacked by the POSIX effort.  It is unlikely
that the IEEE will pick unmodified Sun RPC as the basis for a standard.
You don't even want to use TLI.  TLI is not widely available and does not
have the functionality of RPC.

So the answer is "no".  Sun RPC is not an excentric Sun specific oddity,
and it is not the wave of the future.  Your best bet is to define your
application's design in such a way as to make the RPC portion easily
replacable, and go with Sun RPC for the current time on the SPARC
platform.

regards,
Fletcher Kittredge
Platforms and Tools Group, BBN Software Products
10 Fawcett Street,  Cambridge, MA. 02138
617-873-3465  /  fkittred at bbn.com  /  fkittred at das.harvard.edu