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Comment by uvdn7 | Hacker News Reader

This sounds like splitting hairs. Taking news as an example, when you say a piece of news propagates, are you implying push or pull? It doesn't imply either. The news spreads, either by someone telling someone else (push), or someone asking someone else (pull).

Technically, a distributed database/cache at DNS scale, pure push-based invalidation is just not practical.

I wrote a post about DNS invalidation earlier https://blog.the-pans.com/dns/.

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> propagates, are you implying push or pull? It doesn't imply either.

I've always used the term "propagate" even though I understand it to be a pull system due to the existence of the TTL. Either way I hold no association between pull/push and "propagate" in my mind either.

Maybe the author and their friend have some bias towards this definition, perhaps due to technical contexts they have most used that word within.

Even if you disregard push vs pull, 'propagation' still implies spread through proximity. That there would be some physical or logical topology through which it spreads. So, I agree with the OP. More details argumentation here: https://www.nslookup.io/blog/dns-propagation-does-not-exist/

There is a logical topology though, no?

> Even if you disregard push vs pull, 'propagation' still implies spread through proximity.

I don't think so? Using the same example, I would say news propagates, and there is no specific topology it spreads through.

1. Propagation implies no such thing.

2. As with the OP, the content marketing piece referenced fails to discuss the DNS beyond resolver activity, and thereby presents the same painfully half-baked construction of the system.

But there is a physical or logical topology through which it spreads?

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