Re: in support of axfr-clarify

[Kevin Darcy <kcd@daimlerchrysler.com>]

"D. J. Bernstein" wrote:

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> Paul Vixie writes:
> > bind has done wrong.
>
> Interoperability is more important than your notions of what's ``right''
> and ``wrong''---never mind the question of whether your notions are
> actually supported by the Full Standard DNS specifications.
>
> The ``axfr-clarify'' document claims to codify existing practice. The
> problem is that what it actually codifies is BIND 9 practice. You admit
> that this ``clarification'' imposes rules that are disobeyed by BIND 8,
> for example, and by djbdns.
>
> My web pages have said for three years that the DNS specifications are
> horribly inadequate. This doesn't mean that I will support a dishonest,
> clearly biased document that tries to force me to imitate BIND 9's silly
> implementation decisions at the expense of my users.

Dan,
        Interoperability is fine and dandy, but should not stand in the way
of writing new specifications to do The Right Thing. This new specification
makes AXFR error reporting and behavior more intuitive, and it puts data in
the proper parts of the AXFR response (vis-a-vis Answer, Authority and
Additional) in order to allow for future extensions. These two points --
error/reporting behavior and allocation of records among sections -- seem to
be your (and your minions') major objections to the new specification,
because you've been bending the _de_facto_ rules in these regards (e.g.
"section agnosticism" or whatever you call it). If your users have any
"expense" due to the new specification, it is because you chose to _ad_lib_
in the absence of a clear specification, instead of proceeding in a
conservative and/or cautious fashion. C'est la vie...

For the record, I support the draft.


- Kevin



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