"Dale S. Johnson": # Comment characters in templates

> 
> 
> Folks,
> 
> Dale Johnson from MERIT brings up the issue of allowing "#" style
> comments in objects between attributes. From an implementation point
> of view this is *very* simple. Any major objections? The database sw
> would simply ignore them. Note that they would have to be on a line by
> themselves, NOT inside an attribute. An example would be:
> 
> person:      Marten Terpstra
> address:     RIPE Network Coordination Centre (NCC)
> address:     PRIDE Project
> address:     Kruislaan 409
> address:     NL-1098 SJ Amsterdam
> address:     Netherlands
> # This is some comment
> phone:       +31 20 592 5064
> fax-no:      +31 20 592 5090
> e-mail:      Marten.Terpstra at ripe.net
> nic-hdl:     MT2
> # And this as well
> notify:      marten at ripe.net
> changed:     marten at ripe.net 941128
> source:      RIPE
> 
> which would be processed normally, ie the # lines ignored. They would
> not end up in the database of course.

No objections, but it should be noted in the instructions that the comments
are for the benefit of the sender only because they will not be stored in
the database.
Our (GARR-NIS) version of the RIPE database input procedures already allows
for # comment in the incoming template.

Different thoughts can be done on the following:

> Well, if there is a "#" type comment inside an attribute (ie somewhere
> inside the value of an attribute) this will generate a syntax error in
> most cases. Ie something like:
> 
> person:  Marten Terpstra
> address: .......
> phone:   +31 20 592 5065        # Preferred
> phone:   +31 20 592 5064        # Backup
> 
> would spefically NOT be allowed and would generate syntax errors for
> that attribute. Unless of course the syntax for an attribute allows #
> chars (I don't think there are any though).

it would eventually be useful to allow this kind of comments if they stay
in the database. Sometimes can be more explanatory tahn using the remarks
tag. But I suppose such a mod requires too much rewriting of the database
software. So let's skip it...

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