Recorded scope and limits
D. Libes, Integrated Systems Group, NIST, August 1990. Establishes the long-standing argument that a computer name works best as an arbitrary tag rather than a description, because a name chosen from a machine’s current role does not stay appropriate. It is about host names rather than physical position identifiers, and states no requirement for either.
Use the task guides below to see how this source informs a labeling decision. Check the publication scope and the edition adopted by your project before applying it. A publisher overview is not the full text of a standard, and software documentation does not prescribe a physical label format.
Read the library’s edition and applicability notes.
What this source establishes
Establishes the argument that names encoding a current role go stale. It does not establish anything about physical labeling.
Review date: 2026-09-16. This note describes the source scope; it is not a project approval.