[db-wg] Proposal to remove "referral-by" attribute in "mntner" object or make it optional

Hello,


"referral-by" attribute(defined in RFC2725) is mandatory in "mntner" object:

[martint@ ~/ripe-db]$ whois -BHrh whois.ripe.net -t mntner | grep referral-by
referral-by:    [mandatory]  [single]     [ ]
[martint@ ~/ripe-db]$ 


I checked the db-wg mailing-list archive since January 2000 and only discussion I found regarding this attribute was from Engin Gunduz(former RIPE NCC Senior Software Engineer) in June 2004:

[martint@ ~/ripe-db]$ for year in {2000..2014}; do for month in January February March April May June July August September October November December; do wget -q --no-check-certificate https://www.ripe.net/ripe/mail/archives/db-wg/$(printf '%s-%s.txt.gz\n' "$year" "$month"); done; done
[martint@ ~/ripe-db]$ zgrep -Hi "referral-by" *
2000-August.txt.gz:-irb (or -ireferral-by) <maintainer name>
2000-August.txt.gz:Returns all objects whose referral-by attribute matches the query
2001-August.txt.gz:referral-by:  RIPE-DBM-MNT
2001-May.txt.gz:If you mean referral-by, it points to mntner handle, mandatory in mntner
2003-April.txt.gz:referral-by: RIPE-DBM-MNT
2003-April.txt.gz:referral-by: RIPE-DBM-MNT
2003-August.txt.gz:> referral-by:  RIPE-DBM-MNT
2003-December.txt.gz:    referral-by:   MAINT-RGNET
2003-December.txt.gz:    referral-by:   MAINT-RGNET
2003-December.txt.gz:    referral-by:  MAINT-RGNET
2003-December.txt.gz:    referral-by:  MAINT-RGNET
2003-December.txt.gz:    referral-by:   MAINT-RGNET
2003-December.txt.gz:>     referral-by:   MAINT-RGNET
2003-December.txt.gz:>     referral-by:   MAINT-RGNET
2003-December.txt.gz:> >     referral-by:   MAINT-RGNET
2003-December.txt.gz:> >     referral-by:   MAINT-RGNET
2003-July.txt.gz:referral-by:  RIPE-DBM-MNT
2004-April.txt.gz:referral-by:  RIPE-DBM-MNT
2004-June.txt.gz:referral-by:   [mandatory]  [single]     [inverse key]
2004-June.txt.gz:referral-by:  RIPE-DBM-MNT
2004-June.txt.gz:Subject: [db-wg] Proposed Change 2004.2: Removal of "referral-by:" Attribute
2004-June.txt.gz:[2004.2] Removal of "referral-by:" Attribute from the MNTNER Object
2004-June.txt.gz:Remove the "referral-by:" attribute from the MNTNER objects' schema. This 
2004-June.txt.gz:The "referral-by:" attribute was introduced into MNTNER objects when the 
2004-June.txt.gz:"referral-by:" is defined in RFC2725:
2004-June.txt.gz:   referral-by  This attribute is required in the maintainer object.  It
2004-June.txt.gz:      referral-by.  An auth-override can only be added to a maintainer
2004-June.txt.gz:      those identified by the maintainer in the referral-by have
2004-June.txt.gz:   "referral-by" attribute is now mandatory in the "maintainer" object
2004-June.txt.gz:   referenced by a "referral-by" attribute elsewhere.
2004-June.txt.gz:The RIPE NCC introduced the "referral-by:" attribute as a place-holder, 
2004-May.txt.gz:referral-by:   [mandatory]  [single]     [inverse key]
2005-May.txt.gz:>    referral-by:    [mandatory]  [single]     [inverse key]
2005-May.txt.gz:> >   referral-by:    [mandatory]  [single]     [inverse key]
2005-November.txt.gz:>referral-by:  RIPE-DBM-MNT
2005-November.txt.gz:> >referral-by:  RIPE-DBM-MNT
2005-November.txt.gz:> > >referral-by:  RIPE-DBM-MNT
2007-July.txt.gz:>   referral-by:    RIPE-DBM-MNT
2007-July.txt.gz:>>   referral-by:    RIPE-DBM-MNT
2007-June.txt.gz:  referral-by:    RIPE-DBM-MNT
2007-June.txt.gz:  referral-by:    RIPE-DBM-MNT
2007-June.txt.gz:>   referral-by:    RIPE-DBM-MNT
2007-June.txt.gz:>   referral-by:    RIPE-DBM-MNT
2012-April.txt.gz:referral-by: DEV-ROOT-MNT
2013-March.txt.gz:referral-by:    TRUBNIKOV-MNT
2013-March.txt.gz:> referral-by:    TRUBNIKOV-MNT
2013-March.txt.gz:> referral-by:    TRUBNIKOV-MNT
2013-March.txt.gz:>> referral-by:    TRUBNIKOV-MNT
2013-March.txt.gz:>>> referral-by:    TRUBNIKOV-MNT
[martint@ ~/ripe-db]$ 


He also proposed to remove the "referral-by" attribute, but there was no feedback to his e-mail. One can read his e-mail here: https://www.ripe.net/ripe/mail/archives/db-wg/2004-June/002797.html
In addition, while RIPE database manual says that "referral-by attribute may never be altered after the addition of the maintainer", one can easily change it at least in current RIPE database version.


Is the "referral-by" attribute obsolete? Or is it needed in some specific situation? If not, I propose to remove the "referral-by" attribute in "mntner" object or at least make it optional.



WBR,
Martin Tonusoo
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