From: "Hal E. Fulton" <hal9000@...>
Date: 2001-09-16T19:26:57+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:21257] Peer-to-peer

Hello all,

Networking question for you.

I'm doing this to increase my knowledge of
the net classes... so don't tell me to use drb.  :)
Actually, I may convert it to drb as an exercise
afterward...

Suppose I wanted to implement a Napster-like
server whose purpose was to enable 
communication between peers. How do I get
the clients to talk?

In one sense I suppose it's natural to identify 
the clients by IP address... but I'd like to allow
the possibility of clients being on the same
machine.

Basically, assuming A is the server and B and C
are clients, how do I tell B and C how to contact 
each other? And how do they then talk?

Thanks,
Hal