Latest on the dbase software

Folks,

here is an update of what has happened with the database software over
the last few months:

- options have been added to whoisd (some you may have already seen):

	-r	do NOT lookup referenced objects
	-F	do fast lookup, in short format, without reformatting
		(implies -r)
	-V	faciltates version numbers to be logged in queries
		this is used to identify prtraceroute and prcheck
		queries. For instance, prtraceroute is logged with
		-Vpt0.32 at the moment, where "pt" stands for
		prtraceroute and 0.32 is the version of prtraceroute
		used. This option is internal to special tools that
		use the database, and should NOT be used on command
		line.
	-k	keepalive. This option will keep the connection
		between client and server open after a query. Also
		this option is ONLY used in tools that need a number
		of queries fast after one another (like prtraceroute)

	All the options (except the -V and -k) are available in the
	latest ripe whois client: ftp.ripe.net:tools/ripe-whois.tar.Z

	Please note that these options will NOT work with other whois
	servers, and only work with the latest beta whoisd.

- the "notify" attribute as defined in ripe-096 has been implemented.
The database has accepted "notify" and "maintainer" already for some
months, but now the functionality of "notify" has been added last
week. The functionality of "maintainer" is not implemented yet. You
are welcome to use "notify" but please do not go mad on it.

- the guarded stuff has (finally) been implemented, and is currently
under heavy test at the NCC. It includes all the things needed to
implement ripe-81 guarded attributes, including conflict handling and
all other things needed. A document describing the procedures is being
written (at this moment actually) and will be ready soon.

- many many many small and big bugs have been reported and fixed. Most
modules of the software have had some 5-10 fixes each, and the main
programs like whoisd have had some 20 fixes. Many of these bugs were
nasty little programming errors that appear in only some
circumstances, and were thus hard to find. Also, many things have
changed to speed things up a bit more.

- the software is unfortunately still beta, simply because there are
too many changes made every day. Once the guarded attributes have been
debugged and the documentation written ;-( it will be an official
release.

- Some stats, taken out of the quarterly report December 93 (which
will be published this week):

	(All stats over Oct, Nov and Dec 1993)

	queries:					177,423
	e-mail messages with updates processed: 	  3,575
	number of objects processed from these e-mails:	 42,767
	number of networks in database:			 29,646
	number of persons in database:			 13,238
	number of domains in database:			  2,339
	number of AS in the database:			    224

More info of course at the RIPE meeting. If you have any questions
about the database (from general to very specific) please send me a
mail. See you in 11 days.

-Marten