Hi all, I think what Zeljko was trying to convey is it is impossible to code something that will be 100% reliable in fetching and parsing whois records for date (or other) information. Because of the abuse of spammers and ethically challenged marketing companies (including registrars) have made of the whois database, many registrars put limits for access to their whois records. Others whois lookups are simply broken.
I think the only real solution to this is to put the onus on the registrant for chosing to transfer a domain. Whois date parsing would not solve typo issues on transfers and other problems that already exist. Cheers, Doug. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Register4Less.com Quoting Tim Woodcock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Message received 2005-09-21 from 'Zeljko Dimic': > >> Hi Brian, >> >> there is no way for Tucows to find authoritative expiration date of domain >> that is registered through another registrar. Registry does not supply this >> information, or any other for domains not in our portfolio. > > This is simply not true. > > You can get the authoritative expiration date for SOME domains outside > your profile. What you are trying to say is that you cannot implement an > authoritative expiration date in the generic case. > > So, has tucows complained to icann about this problem and had them to fix > the problem at the source? > > If you have, and they said 'no', good on you, but let's go try again! > >> It is possible to query other registrars' whois and collect information, but >> there are few problems with this approach. >> - whois run by other registrar in general is not always reliable and >> accessible to us >> - whois format may differs significantly (though usually this could be >> solved) >> - reported expiration date on some registrars' whois may not always be up >> to date. Sometimes it depends on the status of one's account with that >> particular registrar (unpaid invoice would hold back date etc...) Some >> registrars would use expiration date as in 'paid-until' date. For example, >> on a multiyear registration, such registrar would register domain for one >> year only, and renew it with registry annually while showing paid until date >> in the expiration field. This creates discrepancy btw. registrar and >> registry expiration dates, and if you transferred early, you may loose >> remainder of the years(registry date is authoritative), though you paid for >> it. So in general, we found this data unreliable enough... > > Certain registrars appear to be explicitly trying to make it difficult to > extract the expiry date. We had to solve this problem years ago. > > This is pretty core functionality for doing transfers. > > It might be a smart thing for tucows to do for their resellers, even if it > has to be documented as being unreliable. It is a simple matter of whois > and a bunch of regexes. Then again, it is a simple matter of whois and a > bunch of regexes, so any reseller with software developers at their side > can implement it themselves. > >> >> Regards, >> ------------------------------------ >> >> Zeljko Dimic >> Technical Product Manager >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Tucows Inc. >> 96 Mowat Avenue >> Toronto, ON, M6K 3M1 >> Canada >> tel: 416.535.0123 x 1256 >> fax: 416.531.5584 >> ------------------------------------ >> >> > -----Original Message----- >> > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Doctor PC - >> > Brian O'Donnell >> > Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2005 6:51 PM >> > To: [email protected] >> > Subject: [domains-gen] expiry date of domain before transfer >> > >> > >> > Hello >> > >> > Does the API have a way to get the current expiry date of a domain before >> > we transfer (or attempt a transfer) to Tucows? >> > >> > This would eliminate our last bit of manual labour with regard to domain >> > transfers, and help us streamline our invoicing etc. >> > >> > If it doesn't exist, I'd like to add it to the wishlist. If it does, could >> > somebody point me to it? >> > >> > Thanks >> > >> > Brian O'Donnell >> > Doctor PC >> > www.doctorpc.ca >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > domains-gen mailing list >> > [email protected] >> > http://discuss.tucows.com/mailman/listinfo/domains-gen >> > >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> domains-gen mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://discuss.tucows.com/mailman/listinfo/domains-gen >> > > _______________________________________________ > domains-gen mailing list > [email protected] > http://discuss.tucows.com/mailman/listinfo/domains-gen > _______________________________________________ domains-gen mailing list [email protected] http://discuss.tucows.com/mailman/listinfo/domains-gen
