[db-wg] Whois changes

On Wed, 11 May 2005, Rimas Janusauskas wrote:

>
>
> Hi,
>
> IMHO preferable solution  is to modify "changed:"  attribute format:
> changed: <e-mail address>
> with automatically  generated timestamp.
>
> Such modification also allows exclude  errors like "changed:"
> attribute order, updates  with untouched "changed:" etc.



Well.. I have had use of this feature, to be able to change 
objects without changing the changed-lines, when the ripe
hostmasters wrongly changed a couple of thousand of our objects,
several times a row. (during arin->ripe movements of old inetnums)
So, I dont know, if ripe promise to behave, maybe this is a good thing.





>
> Best regards,
>
>        Rimas Janusauskas,
>        Vilnius University Hostmaster
>
>
>
> On Wed, 11 May 2005, Shane Kerr wrote:
>
>> Date: Wed, 11 May 2005 10:13:31 +0200
>> From: Shane Kerr <shane at ripe.net>
>> To: Erics <EricS at t-com.net>
>> Cc: db-wg at ripe.net
>> Subject: Re: [db-wg] Whois changes
>>
>> Erics wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> i think this is a good idea.
>>> The default output should show the last changed date.
>>> This could be very helpful for LIRs.
>>>
>>>
>> It is easy for users who need this information to get it -- add the "-B"
>> flag to your query. Also, most users of the database are not LIRs.
>>
>> Relying on the "changed:" attribute to know when objects were updated
>> has the problem that there is no error checking on it. A user can put
>> almost any "changed:" value that they want. I could update my person
>> object today to have this value:
>>
>> changed: ripe-dbm at ripe.net 19901215
>>
>> I think in the past people have suggested a "reliable" timestamp on
>> objects in the database, but other people have argued against it.
>>
>> One suggestion was to add an optional attribute with a reliable
>> timestamp that would get generated by the database. This way, if it is
>> there you can trust it, but if it is not then you must rely on
>> "changed:" attributes or do without any information.
>>
>> --
>> Shane
>>
>>
>

-- 

Mvh

 	/Fredrik

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