[db-wg] "status:" attribute values in the RIPE database

Hi Ronald

It says in the documentation that you cannot split the primary key
attribute value over multiple lines. To make sure that is still the
case, I just tried to create this object in the test database:

INETNUM:       10.0.0.0
               -
               10.0.0.255
NETNAME:       fred
descr:         whatever
COUNTRY:       NL
ADMIN-C:       dw-test
TECH-C:        dw-test
abuse-c:       unread at ripe.net
STATUS:        Assigned Pa
MNT-BY:        AARDVARK-MNT
SOURCE:        TEST

this is the response I got back:

Create FAILED: [inetnum] 10.0.0.0 - 10.0.0.255

inetnum:        10.0.0.0 - 10.0.0.255
***Info:    Continuation lines are not allowed here and have been removed
netname:        fred
descr:          whatever
country:        NL
admin-c:        dw-test
tech-c:         dw-test
abuse-c:        unread at ripe.net
***Error:   Syntax error in unread at ripe.net
status:         ASSIGNED PA
***Info:    Value Assigned Pa converted to ASSIGNED PA
mnt-by:         AARDVARK-MNT
source:         TEST

The important bit is that first info message:
***Info:    Continuation lines are not allowed here and have been removed

Exactly as it says in the documentation, the pkey split lines have
been merged back into a single line separated by single spaces and
without causing an error.

cheers
denis
co-chair DB-WG

On Tue, 8 Jun 2021 at 23:45, Ronald F. Guilmette via db-wg
<db-wg at ripe.net> wrote:
>
> In message <YL89iirxN8Q9SlXS at hydra.ck.polsl.pl>,
> Piotr Strzyzewski <Piotr.Strzyzewski at polsl.pl> wrote:
>
> >On Mon, Jun 07, 2021 at 04:48:38PM -0700, Ronald F. Guilmette via db-wg wrote:
> >> inetnum:    A1.B1.C1.D1 -
> >>              A2.B2.C2.D2
> >>
> >> My parser wasn't expecting THAT!
> >
> >That says a lot about the parser, as this is well described in
> >documentation:
>
> Although it may have escaped your attention, as a general matter, reality
> frequently diverges from documentation.
>
> In any case, it is easily possible to parse WHOIS records sufficiently well
> to do a multitude of useful things without consulting any documentation
> of the format. It can be done just by eyeballing what is fundamentally
> a rather simple syntax.
>
> Furthermore, as I noted, there are literally hundreds of thousands of
> objects in the APNIC data base.  Of these only a single one had an
> inetnum: field that was splattered, needlessly, and for no apparently
> good reason, across multiple lines.
>
> (I hope to soon find out whether such pointless oddities are present
> also in the RIPE data base.)
>
>
> Regards,
> rfg
>