there is still a DNS lookup prob [was Re: LYNX-DEV Year 2000 ...]

[Nelson Henry Eric]

> understand why some people might want to use the IP address instead of 
> the DNS name, but it would be best if references to this site could be
> made using the DNS name (www.slcc.edu) instead of the IP address

Sorry.  Will try to keep it in mind.

BTW, using the bind library vs resolv does keep Lynx from bombing out
on those DNS names with a bunch of IP addresses, but the problem of having
to repeat lookups has not gone away.

Sometime last year I vaguely remember Fote doing some kind of fix
for failing lookups, but I can't seem to locate in CHANGES where it
was recorded.  What would happen is that (only on SunOS???) lookups
would fail with "Alert! cannot connect to remote host", or something
along those lines, and then the page you were trying to link from
would just get redrawn.  After the change you could try again, i.e.,
keep hitting return on the same link, and eventually you would connect.
Before, no amount of retrying would help.  (It seemed to me previously
that three tries was the magic number, but I have since found that the
second try is sometimes successful.)

My question is, was the implementation intended this way?  It seems to
me that Lynx could (should?) hit return rather than the user, perhaps up
to a maximum of five times. 

Another question is, am I the only one observing this problem?  It appears
to me like the reverse of what the NSL fork solves.  Sometimes you get a
name lookup that drags on forever, so you cancel.  In the problem I'm
discussing here, the name lookup is abandoned almost instantaneously,
but on the second, third or fourth try there'll be a successful connection.

__Henry