[db-wg] last-modified:, a succesor to changed:

Dear Piotr,

On Thu, Apr 17, 2014 at 05:36:21PM +0200, Piotr Strzyzewski wrote:

> 1. Breaking some scripts (already mentioned).

Scripts depending on the existance of "changed:" when parsing an object
will break anyway if the attribute is made optional, so I fail to see
the point. Patching a script to accept ISO8601 string instead of
"20140101" should be trivial task for most companies when given a few
months notice. I expect any company with a dependency on the RIPE Whois
Database to invest at least a few hours per year to maintain the
software driving their operations. 

As Denis stated earlier, scripts /updating/ the RIPE database need no
change as the attribute will just be ignored by the RIPE Whois software.

> 2. Some people keep real history of changes using this attribute. If
> this is going to be deprecated, they would be forced to rewrite some
> scripts.

The history is already recorded, and automatically available through the
use of the --list-versions and --show-version flags. This is real
history as it can show you the actual changes between versions of an
object. When people deem it necessary to publically record who or what
made the last change, a "remarks:" attribute would be appropiate.

Kind regards,

Job