Technical Summary
The sockets API has provided a standard mapping of the Internet
Protocol suite to many operating systems. Both TCP [RFC0793] and UDP
[RFC0768] have benefited from this standard representation and access
method across many diverse platforms. SCTP is a new protocol that
provides many of the characteristics of TCP but also incorporates
semantics more akin to UDP. This document defines a method to map
the existing sockets API for use with SCTP, providing both a base for
access to new features and compatibility so that most existing TCP
applications can be migrated to SCTP with few (if any) changes.
Working Group Summary
There is strong consensus in the TSVWG among the participants
involved in SCTP behind this document. There were several reviews
during the WGLC, implemented many times, and there were no
significant dissenting views expressed.
Protocol Quality
This SCTP Socket API is implemented in many code bases, namely
FreeBSD/Linux/Solaris by the coauthors
Thomas Dreibholz <dreibh@iem.uni-due.de> in the
well-known SCTPLIB userland SCTP implementation, and in RSPLIB
Irene Rüngeler in the INET framework which is a
widely used part of the OMNeT++ simulation environment.
"Becke, Martin" <martin.becke@uni-due.de> the
described API as co-author of the measurement tool netperfmeter.
Robin Seggelmann <seggelmann@fh-muenster.de>
implemented SCTP support for OpenSSL and the API draft.
Michael Tüxen <Michael.Tuexen@lurchi.franken.de>
(a coauthor) the ID was also used for the SCTP
kernel implementations in HP-UX and AIX. The
FreeBSD implementation has been ported to Windows and Mac OS X.
Jon Leighton <leighton@cis.udel.edu>
implementations including creating SCTP enabled
versions of NSPR, Firefox and Chrome, on multiple platforms.
RFC Editor Note
In the code samples in Appendix A and B, please add <CODE BEGINS> and <CODE ENDS> at the beginning and end of each of the example code files.