* Steven M. Bellovin:
On Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:12:43 +0200 Florian Weimer <fw@deneb.enyo.de> wrote:
* Steven M. Bellovin:
A few years ago, the IETF was considering various jumbogram options. As best I recall, that was the official response from the relevant IEEE folks: "no". They're concerned with backward compatibility.
Gigabit ethernet has already broken backwards compatibility and is essentially point-to-point, so the old compatibility concerns no longer apply. Jumbo frame opt-in could even be controlled with a protocol above layer 2.
I'm neither attacking nor defending the idea; I'm merely reporting.
I just wanted to point out that the main reason why this couldn't be done without breaking backwards compatibility is gone (shared physical medium with unknown and unforeseeable receiver capabilities).
I'll also note that the IETF is very unlikely to challenge IEEE on this.
It's certainly unwise to do so before PMTUD works without ICMP support. 8-)