Edward Lewis wrote: > Does such a thing exist (in one document)? > > Where I am going with this is - when one wants to automate looking at zone > files today, there are many varied formats to consider. (Kind of like > WhoIs.) With the inclusion of S-labels in some zone files I have seen, > what was once simple parsing means loading in IDNA2008 libraries. > > And given the flashback I just related, it would be good to recommend how > DNS records are shown in RFCs - for the sake of consistency between > documents. > > IMHO, it would be good to (ahem) ‘clarify’ what is meant by a zone file. > And how to write or document a DNS record. > > I’m been thinking that this is needed - or maybe I’ve overlooked a > document that’s already in use. So I’m asking if anyone knows of a > document?
There's an interesting specification in the ICANN new GTLD agreements: http://newgtlds.icann.org/sites/default/files/agreements/agreement-approved-09jan14-en.htm (Search for "master file format".) It's not concise or comprehensive; it's mostly a list of features of the master file format to not use. It looks like a wish list from those who've had to write custom parsers for the different "ZFA" file formats that the gTLD operators generate. Leaving aside the minor stuff like whether to use upper case or lower case, etc., if there were a "canonical" way to write a zone file, I'd recommend placing all RRs constituting an RRset together, without interleaving RRs from different RRsets, so that one doesn't need to scan the entire zone file before extracting RRsets. I can't think of an example from an RFC where RRs aren't shown like this, so at least there are aesthetic reasons to place them like this. (It seems like a case of unnecessary flexibility in the original spec.) -- Robert Edmonds _______________________________________________ DNSOP mailing list [email protected] https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/dnsop
