Add equivalent of getnameinfo

[badeend]

Should the inverse of resolve_addresses be part of this proposal? Eg resolve_name based on getnameinfo.

Although they would be each other's mirror image, their use cases are very different. resolve_addresses is used by almost every application that is connected to the internet, while its inverse resolve_name is relatively niche.

• Pro: symmetry
• Con: Not part of the MVP spirit. Can be added later.

[sunfishcode]

Another Pro is that it improves compatibility with existing code that uses this feature. But it still seems relatively niche.

What if we include it in the proposal for now, and see how it goes? If we encounter complications, we can remove it. But if it's traighforward, we can just include it, and save ourselves the extra work of discovering applications in the future that eventually need it, and then adding it for them.

[badeend]

If we were to include resolve_name/getnameinfo, does that also open the door for inclusion of gethostname ?

[sunfishcode]

Yeah, since we have getsockname and if we add resolve_name, gethostname isn't all that different. We should still associated it with a handle though, to avoid having an implied ambient "host".

[badeend]

Not sure I see the relationship. Despite their unfortunate names, getsockname & getpeername don't return names but socket addresses. gethostname returns the name of the current computer.

We should still associated it with a handle though, to avoid having an implied ambient "host".

Ofcourse 😄 Part of the "network" capability or part of some kind of "host info" capability?

[sunfishcode]

Yeah; getsockname returns an address, and then you could use getaddrinfo to get the name. That's not exactly the same as gethostname, but big picture, there doesn't seem to be a fundamental reason not to include gethostname.

Ofcourse smile Part of the "network" capability or part of some kind of "host info" capability?

This isn't necessarily definitive, Linux has separate Network and UTS namespaces, so maybe it makes sense to make this a separate "host info" capability.