whoisRIP -k

Frank,

On Thu, 26 Apr 2001, Frank Bohnsack wrote:

> it seems that the new whois client doesn't support
> the -k option (open/close session (persistent connection)).
> 
> after a query the connection is holding but the 'client'
> get no feedback after new queries.
> 
> i tried this by 'telnet whois.ripe.net 43' and it's works
> fine.
> 
> any comments ?!

Currently if you send a query over a persistent (-k) connection before
waiting for a response from the server, the server closes your
connection.

Correct query process is query/response:

  server: wait for query
  client: send query
  client: wait for reply
  server: send reply
  server: wait for reply
  cilent: send query
     .
     .
     .

If you try to send multiple queries, it doesn't work:

  server: wait for query
  client: send query
  client: send query
  server: abort

We realize this is inefficient in some cases, and will be updating the
server in the future to allow "pipelined" queries.  Note that even
though we will be supporting this, it is still dangerous for clients to
act this way, as you can end up with a deadlock if the input buffer
fills on the Whois server when it is trying to send a reply to the
client.  Since Whois queries are so small, this will rarely be a
problem, but pipelined clients should still be written with caution.

--
Shane