Subject: any more comments?

From: Edward Lewis <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 16:01:44 -0400

Because of impending travel (RIPE), I'll have some quiet time to go 
through comments on the wild cards.  So I'm asking for those who 
haven't spoken up yet that have something to add, please hit the list 
soon.

The draft cutoff for the next meeting is October 25.

The (non-exhaustive list of) questions out there (reflecting comments to date):

1) Should we remove the restriction on names that start with a '*' 
and have another in the middle?  I think we know how this would work, 
even if there is some unhappiness with the explanation in the -00's 
Appendix A.  (Hey - it was a '00' ;).)

2) Should we use a phrase like "source of synthesis" when refering to 
the "power" a domain name starting with a '*' has when it comes to 
the lookup process?  Should we try to abandon the term "wildcard" as 
it has become too overloaded?

3) Does the prohibition against synthesizing records at 
non-authoritative servers make "* NS" inherently "illegal"?  Is 
record synthesis followed when it comes to referral messages?

The other issues are out there, have been discussed, and I think 
there's enough agreement to put stuff into words of a draft.  (I'm 
not declaring a consensus, I'm just acting as an editor...)
-- 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Edward Lewis                                            +1-703-227-9854
ARIN Research Engineer

"I can't go to Miami.  I'm expecting calls from telemarketers." -
Grandpa Simpson.

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From: Peter Koch <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 11:50:06 +0200

> and have another in the middle?  I think we know how this would work, 

in my opinion the restriction as it stands is not consistent. Why should
*.<foo>.*.<bar> be worse than <foo>.*.<bar> once we agree that the latter
does not synthesize <foo>.<something>.<bar> (the MARID case). In fact
it will only synthesize anything else but *.<bar> and below. So, the
clarification should just say that only the leftmost star actually counts.
Again, a counterexample in the/an appendix may help.

> the "power" a domain name starting with a '*' has when it comes to 

Yes.

> it has become too overloaded?

That's a nice approach to clarification - just deprecate the confusing term :-)
But yes, in the document itself, when explaining anything, I'd either say
"source of synthesis" (or whatever the term will be) or "*".
By the way, since someone asked whether the "*" in a zone is always a
"source of synthesis" it might be helpful to explicitly state that this
"power" can't be taken away, not even by writing "\*".

-Peter