The application/whoispp-query Content-Type

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This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

Copyright © The Internet Society (2000). All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

This document defines the expression of Whois++ protocol (RFC 1835) queries within MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) (RFC 2046) media types. The intention of this document, in conjunction with RFC 2958 is to enable MIME-enabled mail software, and other systems using Internet media types, to carry out Whois++ transactions.

1. MIME Registration Information

   To: iana@isi.edu
   Subject:  Registration of MIME media type application/whoispp-query
   
   MIME Type name:         Application
   
   MIME subtype name:      whoispp-query
   
   Required parameters:    none
   
   Optional parameters:    none

Encoding considerations: Any valid MIME encodings may be used

Security considerations: This content-type contains purely descriptive information (i.e., no directives). There are security considerations with regards to the appropriateness (privacy) of information provided through the use of this content-type, and the authenticity of the information so-provided. This content-type provides no native mechanisms for authentication.

   Published specification:  this document

Person & email address to contact for further information:

Leslie L. Daigle

leslie@thinkingcat.com

   Intended usage:         common

2. whoispp-query Syntax

The following grammar, which uses BNF-like notation as defined in [RFC2234] defines the set of acceptable input to a Whois++ server. As such, it describes the expected structure of a whoispp-query media type object.

   N.B.:  As outlined in the ABNF definition, rule names and string
   literals are in the US-ASCII character set, and are case-insensitive.
   
   whois-command   =   ( system-command / terms [":" globalcnstrnts] )
                       nl
   
   system-command  =   "constraints" / "describe" / "commands" /
                       "polled-by" / "polled-for" / "version" / "list" /
                       "show" [1*sp bytestring] / "help" [1*sp
                       bytestring] / "?" [bytestring]
   
   terms           =   and-expr *("or" and-expr)
   
   and-expr        =   not-expr *("and" not-expr)
   
   not-expr        =   ["not"] (term / ( "(" terms ")" ))
   
   term            =   ( generalterm / specificterm / combinedterm )
                       localcnstrnts
   
   generalterm     =   bytestring
   
   specificterm    =   specificname "=" bytestring
   
   specificname    =   "handle" / "value" / "template"
   
   combinedterm    =   attributename "=" bytestring
   
   globalcnstrnts  =   globalcnstrnt *(";" globalcnstrnt)
   globalcnstrnt   =   "format" "=" format / "maxfull" "=" 1*digit /
                       "maxhits" "=" 1*digit / "case" "=" casevalue /
                       "search" "=" searchvalue / opt-globalcnst
   
   opt-globalcnst  =   "authenticate" "=" auth-method / "language" "="
                       language / "incharset" "=" characterset /
                       "outcharset" "=" characterset / "ignore" "="
                       attriblist / "include" "=" attriblist
   
   localcnstrnts   =   0*(";" localcnstrnt)
   
   localcnstrnt    =   "case" "=" casevalue / "search" "=" searchvalue
   
   format          =   "full" / "abridged" / "handle" / "summary" /
                       "server-to-ask"
   
   auth-method     =  bytestring
   
   language        = <The language code defined in RFC1766 [ALVE95]>
   
   characterset    =   "us-ascii" / "iso-8859-1" / "iso-8859-2" / "iso-
                       8859-3" / "iso-8859-4" / "iso-8859-5" / "iso-
                       8859-6" / "iso-8859-7" / "iso-8859-8" / "iso-
                       8859-9" / "iso-8859-10" / "UNICODE-1-1-UTF-8" /
                       "UNICODE-2-0-UTF-8" "UTF-8"

;"UTF-8" is as defined in [RFC2279]. This is ;the character set label that should be used ;for UTF encoded information; the labels ;"UNICODE-2-0-UTF-8" and "UNICODE-1-1-UTF-8" ;are retained primarily for compatibility with ;older Whois++ servers (and as outlined in ;[RFC2279]).

   searchvalue     =   "exact" / "substring" / "regex" / "fuzzy" /
                       "lstring"
   
   casevalue       =   "ignore" / "consider"
   
   bytestring      =   0*charbyte
   
   attributename   =   1*attrbyte
   
   attriblist      =   attributename 0*("," attributename)
   
   charbyte        =   "\" specialbyte / normalbyte
   
   normalbyte      =   <%d33-255, except specialbyte>
   attrbyte        =   <%d33-127 except specialbyte> /
                                              "\" <specialbyte except
                       ":" " " tab nl>
   
   specialbyte     =   " " / tab / "=" / "," / ":" / ";" / "\" /
                                              "*" / "." / "(" / ")" /
                       "[" / "]" / "^" /
                                              "$" / "!" / "?"
   
   tab             =  %d09
   sp              =  %d32        ; space
   
   digit           =   "0" / "1" / "2" / "3" / "4" /
                                              "5" / "6" / "7" / "8" /
                       "9"
   
   nl              =   %d13 %d10   ; CR LF

NOTE: Blanks that are significant to a query must be escaped. The following characters, when significant to the query, may be preceded and/or followed by a single blank:

     : ; , ( ) = !

3. Security Considerations

Security issues are discussed in section 1.

4. References

   [ALVE95]  Alvestrand H., "Tags for the Identification of Languages",
             RFC 1766, March 1995.
   
   [RFC2234] Crocker, D. and P. Overell,  "Augmented BNF for Syntax
             Specifications: ABNF", RFC 2234, November 1997.
   
   [RFC2958] Daigle, L. and P. Faltstrom, "The application/whoispp-
             response Content-type", RFC 2958, October 2000.
   
   [RFC1835] Deutsch, P., Schoultz, R., Faltstrom, P. and C.  Weider,
             "Architecture of the WHOIS++ service", RFC 1835, August
             1995.
   
   [RFC2046] Freed, N. and N. Borenstein, "Multipurpose Internet Mail
             Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types", RFC 2046,
             November 1996.
   
   [HARR85]  Harrenstein K., Stahl M. and E. Feinler, "NICNAME/WHOIS",
             RFC 954, October 1985.
   
   [POST82]  Postel J., "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol", STD 10, RFC
             821, August 1982.
   
   [IIIR]    Weider C. and P. Deutsch, "A Vision of an Integrated
             Internet Information Service", RFC 1727, December 1994.
   
   [WINDX]   Weider, C., Fullton, J. and S. Spero, "Architecture of the
             Whois++ Index Service", RFC 1913, February 1996.

[RFC2279] Yergeau F., " UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO 10646",

RFC 2279, January 1998.

5. Authors' Addresses

Leslie L. Daigle
Thinking Cat Enterprises

   Email:  leslie@thinkingcat.com

Patrik Faltstrom
Cisco Systems Inc
170 W Tasman Drive SJ-13/2
San Jose CA 95134
USA

   EMail: paf@cisco.com
   URL:   http://www.cisco.com

6. Full Copyright Statement

Copyright © The Internet Society (2000). All Rights Reserved.

This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than English.

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Acknowledgement

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