[db-wg] Status of 'org' attribute

On Wed, Jul 13, 2005 at 06:11:28PM +0200, Shane Kerr wrote:
> There are two different sets of rules here.
> 
> The first is for the database: in the case of AUT-NUM objects, the
> "org:" attribute is optional. This allows AUT-NUM objects that have 
> been assigned before the ORGANISATION class was added to exist, without
> references to dummy or incorrect objects.
> 
> We can make "org:" mandatory in AUT-NUM objects. We have made other
> attributes mandatory in the past, without updating existing objects.
> This means that old AUT-NUM objects would not be fixed, but any modified
> objects must have an "org:". Our experience is that this discourages
> people from updating these objects, so some of them become less
> accurate, because people do not bother to fix them.
> 
> The second set of rules is for the resource request process: in the case
> of ASN requests, we need to know which organisation will be using the
> ASN. This information is published in the resulting AUT-NUM object, so
> from this point of view it is a required attribute.
> 
> Essentially, the database syntax can see seen as a sub-set of the
> business requirements for assigning an ASN.

Hmm, at least your story confirms the one I got from hostmaster later
today :)

>From a database point of view, I understand it's better to keep it
optional because of all the legacy objects. But for people who don't read
any manual, it's very confusing and annoying.

Is there a way or is it an idea to at least change the template returned
with -t to mandatory or as I'm probably not the first one hitting this, to
have the hostmaster bot send a more descriptive error ?

Grtx,

MarcoH