New RIPE DB sw version

Dear all,

the RIPE NCC is happy to announce version 2.3 of the RIPE Database software.
This new version introduces complete support for the IPv6 address objects.

Only the RIPE NCC can introduce objects with value ALLOCATED in the status
field of IPv4 address objects. This reflects the current registration policy.

Some other minor features and a number of bug fixes have been introduced.

For more details, please see the release notes included below and on the
software package.

This new version is available immediately from ftp.ripe.net and will be
used on whois.ripe.net starting next Monday (7th June).

Regards,
Joao Damas
DB Group
RIPE NCC

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RELEASE NOTES for RIPE Database 2.3

This a new release with substantial new features added. There are also
some bug fixes and some operational enhancements.

SUPPORTED SYSTEMS

This release has been tested with perl 5.004_04 on bsdi3.1
and Solaris 2.6 systems. Please let us know if you have
problems running it on other systems.

NEW FEATURES

Changes on inet6num object:

 - mnt-lower attribute has been added to the inet6num object, so that
   users will be able to use hierarchical authorisation with inet6num 
   objects.

 - status attribute has been added to the inet6num object. It is a 
   generated attribute. Possible values are TLA, SUBTLA, NLA and SLA 
   (Top Level Aggregator, Sub-TLA, Next Level Aggregator and Site 
   Local Aggregator).
     
     o inet6num objects with a prefix length between 4 and 15, 
       inclusive, are assigned TLA in their status attribute.
     o For TLA 0x0001 (first two bytes are 2001 in hexadecimal 
       notation):
         o prefixes between 16 and 35, inclusive, are assigned SUBTLA 
           value in status attribute.
         o prefixes between 36 and 48, inclusive, are assigned NLA 
           value in status attribute.
         o prefixes between 49 and 64, inclusive, are assigned SLA 
           value in status attribute.
     o For TLAs other than 0x0001:
         o prefixes between 16 and 24, inclusive, are not allowed, 
           since they are reserved bits.
         o prefixes between 25 and 48, inclusive, are assigned NLA
           value in status attribute.
         o prefixes between 49 and 64, inclusive, are assigned SLA
           value in status attribute.
      o inet6num objects with a prefix length grater than 64 are not
        allowed.

 - Only aggregatable global unicast address blocks can be registered
   in the database (the most significant three bits are 001).


A check has been added for updates of inetnum objects. Only certain
maintainers are allowed to add inetnum objects with status ALLOCATED
now, others should use ASSIGNED. The list of authorised maintainers is
set in the configuration file with the following syntax

ALLOCMNT <mntnername> [<mntnername> ...]

Instead of putting many mntners in this line, the setting can span
many lines.


INCLUDE facility.

A possibility of splitting the configuration file into separate files
has been 
added. The syntax is

INCLUDE <filename>

Inclusion may be nested (up to the number of free file descriptors).
If the <filename> does not contain a "/" sign, it is considered to
refer to a file from the same directory as the main configuration
file.


newdb changes. 

The newdb program has been modified, a few minor bugs have been fixed. 
Now, if a database file exists, newdb -a prints a warning message and
skips that file (before, it would stop with an error).


New syntax checks.

The regular expression passed in the auth attribute like follows
	auth: MAIL-FROM <regexp> 
is now subject to new syntax checks. Missing regexp is signaled with
an error, a whitespace in the regexp triggers a warning.

All e-mail addresses in various attributes of the database (upd-to,
e-mail, guardian, mnt-nfy, notify) are checked. If they match the
AUTOBOX address then the object is rejected to prevent mail loops.


MAINTENANCE RELATED CHANGES

New log file was introduced which logs values given to whois client on
the command line. No timestamp and no query source information is logged.

When running in test mode server sends additional RFC822 header line
containing the original recipient address a message would be sent to
in normal mode of operation.


BUG FIXES

After a hierarchical authorisation failure an erratical notification
was sent to maintainer of the object stating that creation was
succesfull while in fact it wasn't. At the same time a proper
acknowledge message was sent informing about an authorisation failure.
This was corrected and false notification is not sent anymore.