ietf-mxcomp
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Re: change of version string

2004-08-10 18:51:04

On Tue, Aug 10, 2004 at 01:57:53PM -0700, Ted Hardie wrote:
This has *NOTHING* to do with RR types.  The same problems would exist
if we were talking about changing

 example.com TXTspf1 "a mx ptr"
 example.com TXTspf2 "a mx ptr"

That is, deleting a few characters and moving a quote doesn't change
anything.

I personally think this is a lot clearer that the two records are answering
different questions.  The following

example.com 3600      IN 104  "a mx ptr"
example.com 3600 IN 105  "a mx ptr"

is even clearer, since there is no implication that two RRs who happen
to be next to each in type code have anything to do with each other.
Mnemonics like TXTspf1 and TXTspf2 might imply they do.

But it would then follow that a new dns record type would have to be
generated for every change.  Alternatively, you could have a version in
the data:

example.com 3600 IN SPF "104 a mx ptr"
example.com 3600 IN SPF "105 a mx ptr"

(In this case the full rr set would be returned, and the client would
then know all supported versions and could make a choice, for whatever
that's worth.)

The issue of where the version number is located is independent of the
record type. 

-- 
Kent Crispin 
kent(_at_)icann(_dot_)org    p: +1 310 823 9358  f: +1 310 823 8649
kent(_at_)songbird(_dot_)com SIP: 81202(_at_)fwd(_dot_)pulver(_dot_)com