Network Working Group                                           L. Daigle
Request for Comments: 2957                       Thinking Cat Enterprises
Category: Informational                                      P. Faltstrom
                                                       Cisco Systems Inc.
                                                             October 2000


               The application/whoispp-query Content-Type

Status of this Memo

   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 (C) 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 (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.

   This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
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   and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
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   included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
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   followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
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   "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
   TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
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   HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
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Acknowledgement

   Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
   Internet Society.