Look, I appologize for nit picking. Tucows is not providing .ca expiry dates because they cannot provide .com expiry dates, not because they cannot retrieve them. I get a little annoyed when someone building a generic system makes statments like this.
This distinction probably doesn't matter to anyone on this list, so I'm just creating noise where I shouldn't be. -- Tim. Message received 2005-09-21 from 'Tom McDonald': > > > Wednesday, September 21, 2005, 3:10:54 PM, you wrote: > > TW> 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. > > TW> This is simply not true. > > Well Tim, it *is* true. No matter how much you want to have OpenSRS > pass you the data the fact is, the Registry (*the* authoritative > source for exp dates) will not give it to a Registrar if the domain > is not owned by the requesting Registrar (at least for com|net). The > notion of regexes or simple programming techniques doesn't even come > into play when you're faced with such a situation because you can't > trust the output of another Registrar. > > I'm with you -- I wish it were different so I could easily handle > transfers on a programmatic level -- But it is not up to Tucows or me > or you.:( > > Regards, > -tom > > TW> You can get the authoritative expiration date for SOME domains outside > TW> your profile. What you are trying to say is that you cannot implement an > TW> authoritative expiration date in the generic case. > > TW> So, has tucows complained to icann about this problem and had them to fix > TW> the problem at the source? > > TW> 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... > > TW> Certain registrars appear to be explicitly trying to make it difficult to > TW> extract the expiry date. We had to solve this problem years ago. > > TW> This is pretty core functionality for doing transfers. > > TW> It might be a smart thing for tucows to do for their resellers, even if > it > TW> has to be documented as being unreliable. It is a simple matter of whois > TW> and a bunch of regexes. Then again, it is a simple matter of whois and a > TW> bunch of regexes, so any reseller with software developers at their side > TW> 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 > >> > > TW> _______________________________________________ > TW> domains-gen mailing list > TW> [email protected] > TW> http://discuss.tucows.com/mailman/listinfo/domains-gen > _______________________________________________ domains-gen mailing list [email protected] http://discuss.tucows.com/mailman/listinfo/domains-gen
