At 05:49 PM 5/30/00 +1200, you wrote:

Andy Linton wrote:

...

My apologies! I'm using the RIPE whois client and it never returns when I type:

whois -h whois.domainz.net.nz lionra.net.nz

although it's quite able to talk to other whois servers around the planet.

OK, I was kinda intrigued about this one. So I downloaded the RIPE stuff and had a play.

It seems that the RIPE whois terminates its query with a single LF, not CRLF as as the Domainz server is expecting. From tcpdump:

17:02:01.058956 toyunix.zl2tnm.gen.nz.62311 > www-wlg.domainz.net.nz.whois: P 1: 16(15) ack 1 win 17520 4500 0037 d189 0000 4006 7d4c c0a8 0102 ca2e a012 f367 002b 3d2b 3c24 0827 44dd 5018 4470 cec9 0000 6461 6564 616c 7573 2e63 6f2e 6e7a 0a

(for those who don't read hex, that's <ip-header> <tcp header> "daedalus.co.nz\n" No "\r". I suspect the Domainz server is waiting for the CR not the LF.

I'm amazed. I didn't think it was possible to screw up the whois protocol, much less have an outfit like RIPE do it. From RFC 954:

Agreed. That's why I was so surprised when it didn't work and why I didn't check when I should have. If we're talking RFCs - RFC 1123 (:-) 1.2.2 Robustness Principle At every layer of the protocols, there is a general rule whose application can lead to enormous benefits in robustness and interoperability: "Be liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you send" Software should be written to deal with every conceivable error, no matter how unlikely; sooner or later a packet will come in with that particular combination of errors and attributes, and unless the software is prepared, chaos can ensue. In general, it is best to assume that the network is filled with malevolent entities that will send in packets designed to have the worst possible effect. This assumption will lead to suitable protective design, although the most serious problems in the Internet have been caused by unenvisaged mechanisms triggered by low-probability events; mere human malice would never have taken so devious a course! Thanks for sorting this out, by the way! --------- To unsubscribe from nznog, send email to majordomo(a)list.waikato.ac.nz where the body of your message reads: unsubscribe nznog