Mark(_dot_)Andrews(_at_)isc(_dot_)org writes:
If you never update the child then it is an *administrative* error.
Changing the serial number too early is also an administrative error.
Here's a summary of our three examples of administrative errors:
1. Failing to update the parent serial number after updating the glue
in all the child servers. As you keep pointing out, this error can
cause problems with BIND 8: the data will be inconsistent until
the serial number is updated.
2. Failing to update the parent serial number after updating the glue
in the parent master. This error can cause problems with BIND 9
(and BIND 8, of course): the data will be inconsistent until the
serial number is updated.
3. Failing to update the data in the child master. This error can
cause problems with BIND 9 (and BIND 8, of course): the data will
be inconsistent until the child data is updated (and the serial
numbers handled properly).
In every case, the administrator is violating RFC 1034 (as you have
admitted), and is creating a configuration that does not work properly
with most DNS software deployed in the real world.
You persist in drawing a completely unjustified line between the first
error and the other two errors. You claim that allowable administrative
action is defined by BIND 9---never mind what RFC 1034 says, and never
mind the rest of the installed base. You cycle endlessly between ``BIND
9 is doing the Right Thing'' and ``BIND 9 handles that situation'' and
``that situation is not actually an error,'' attempting to defend each
part of the BIND 9 religion by showing how it fits with the other parts.
The circularity is pathetic.
In situations where there's a difference between the software and the
spec---for example, actions that are prohibited by RFC 1034 even though
they work in the real world, or vice versa---one can reasonably discuss
whether the actions should be considered errors. But the above actions
do _not_ work and are _not_ allowed by the spec. If you want to support
them in BIND 9, fine, but you have no basis for demanding that the rest
of us support them too.
---D. J. Bernstein, Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics,
Statistics, and Computer Science, University of Illinois at Chicago