TIL: hosts.txt described the internet

A bit of historical trivia: before the invention of the Domain Name System, the host file on your computer was the lookup for the internet.

RFC921 describes plans to implement the new Domain Name System and the state of affairs in 1984.

Every host in the Internet is expected to have a way of translating the name of any other host into its Internet address.

By and large, the name to address translation is done by looking up the information in a table of all hosts.

The maintenance of this table is centralized at the Network Information Center (NIC). Each host is expected to obtain a current copy of the table on a timely basis. This table is called “HOSTS.TXT” [8] and is normally accessed via the Hostnames Server [9].

RFC952 explains that users could get a copy via FTP by

logging in as user = ANONYMOUS, password = GUEST, and retrieving the file “NETINFO:HOSTS.TXT”