85612 - Status bar indicates 'Resolving host 1.2.3.4' for IP addresses

Status: VERIFIED DUPLICATE of bug 72805

(Core :: Networking, defect)

Description

[Daniel Hill]

From Bugzilla Helper:
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; WinNT4.0; en-US; rv:0.9.1+) Gecko/20010612
BuildID:    2001061220

When attempting to navigate to a URL using an IP address, while the browser
attempts to establish a HTTP connection, the status bar reads 'Resolving host
1.2.3.4'. Resolving an IP address ... hmmm ... that doesn't sound right.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Enter a URL that references an IP address. The easiest way to see the error
is to visit a non existant IP (such as http://1.2.3.4/)


Actual Results:  The status bar reads 'Resolving host 1.2.3.4'

Expected Results:  The wording should be changed to something like 'Connecting
to host 1.2.3.4'

Comment 1

[R.K.Aa.]

It shouldn't say "Connecting to.." before it's actually trying to connect to the
host, and at least on Linux, that is what happens too.
Do you mean that it should say something like "Looking up host..." instead of
"Resolving host.." ?

Comment 2

[Daniel Hill]

No, what I mean is that, according to the status bar, Mozilla is trying to 
resolve an IP address. An IP address is already resolved, so this status 
message doesn't make sense.

FWIW, 'Looking Up Host' does sound much better than 'Resolving Host'.

Comment 3

[rbs]

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 72805 ***

Comment 4

[benc]

VERIFIED:
same thing. I'll try to massage the description again so it is easier to find.

To answer various questions about what the Stauts bar SHOULD say:

Before you can retrieve info from a web server, you need an IP address. If you
have a hostname, you need to convert it.

Conversion of a hostname to an IP address (analogous to looking up a name in the
phonebook so you can make a phone call...) is called "hostname (or name)
resolution".

This involves a UDP transaction, which is technically not a "connection" with a
DNS server. (Someone somewhere else asked me why we do not say we are
"connecting the to the DNS server...").

If you have an IP address, you should be able to skip this. There are situations
where you would do "name" resolution of an IP address to a hostname, but not
here, so anytime you see "resolving <ip addres>", that is pretty wrong.

In general, "connecting to" has meant the actual TCP-level network connection
between the client and the server is being opened. Once the data starts flowing,
that is the "waiting for/transering data" message. (I think some of these
strings are from Communicator, but you get the general idea.).

"Looking up" is probably too general. DNS "lookup" is a real term, but end users
think that making the actual connection to the server (since a server is not
always available, attempting to connect is sometimes considered a "look up" to
end users.

Obviously, I prefer the gearheaded terms, because I am a gearhead. Eventually,
even-more-end-user-than-Web-TV version (that my mom might user), would be better
off with simpler terminology.