whois output and the "changed" line.

Dear Colleagues,

Recently, the output of our whois server was modified;
the "changed" information is not shown by default.  To
see it, the new "-c" flag must be used.  This requires
using the new RIPE whois client.

The "changed" information was removed from the default
output of whois after a discussion on the mailing list
of the RIPE Database Working Group.  This discussion was
about the funtionality of the "changed" line.  A long-term
replacement for it (i.e. timestamping of updates) is 
planned.

However, there is the possibility that the existing
"changed" lines can be accidently deleted from objects.
When users want to update an object, they do a whois
look-up and re-direct the output into a temporary file.  
Then, they edit the file and send it to <auto-dbm at ripe.net>.  
Thus, before the output of the whois server was modified, 
the update contained all the previous changed fields.

Now, unless the user does "whois -c", the "changed"
attributes are not shown.  But when users want to 
update an object, they re-direct a whois look-up into
a file, edit it and then send it to the database.  However, 
this time, the "changed" lines are missing and the updated 
version of the object does not contain the previous "changed" 
lines.  This behavior is what would have happened previously 
if you had sent an update to the db and had deliberately 
omitted the changed lines.

(BTW, if you send an update to the db which only has a new 
"changed" attribute or has all the old "changed" attributes
replaced with a new one, a NOOP is the result.  The object
in the db is not changed).

If all the original "changed" information in an inetnum object
is not retained, there may be a delay in getting reverse delegation
for the associated address space.  This is because 
<auto-inaddr at ripe.net> checks the date when the assignment was 
originally made and compares it to the assignment window which
the local registry had on that date.  Thus, the request for reverse
delegation is processed manually.

So, to keep all the "changed" attributes, do 'whois -c'
when you are making a copy of the object before updating it.

If you have any questions, please contact
<ripe-dbm at ripe.net>.

Regards,

Ambrose Magee
____________________________
RIPE Database Administration.