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

On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 06:19:14PM +0200, Martin Tõnusoo wrote:

> "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: <snip> 
> 
> 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.

What is to be gained by removing this attribute (or making it optional)? 

Currently the attribute is is quite prevalent in the existing database,
so outright deletion is out of the question in my honest opinion:

princess at worker02:/var/spool/irr_database$ grep -c referral-by ripe.db
46753
princess at worker02:/var/spool/irr_database$

Maybe one of the RIPE database administrators can comment on current
"referral-by" usage? What has changed between 2004 and 2014? 

How are other RIRs using the attribute? If RIPE is to deprecate the
attribute, it might be worth writing a small Internet-Draft to update
RFC 2725.

Kind regards,

Job
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