> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark.Andrews@nominum.com [mailto:Mark.Andrews@nominum.com]
> Sent: Monday, March 06, 2000 12:01 PM
> To: Dan Oscarsson
> Cc: phoffman@imc.org; jseng@pobox.org.sg; dlee@icu.ac.kr;
> idn@ops.ietf.org; iname@aptld.org; bill@mail.nic.nu;
> konishi@jp.apan.net; kwu@yam.com; syhan@cclab.konkuk.ac.kr;
> markk@netsol.com; zwh@cnnic.net.cn; chang@netpia.com;
> tinwee@pobox.org.sg; chon@cosmos.kaist.ac.kr; bmanning@isi.edu;
> kwu@yam.com.tw
Is anyone in the CC list not on the IDN list?
-------
I don't see any clearcut definitions below. Do any exist?
If they do, can you please copy the (current) *definitions*.
If they don't, can you suggest some *definitions*.
It appears to me that each and every "RFC" has its own
definition(s), or near definitions, on this, rather than
referring to a common (versioned) document about this.
Kind regards
/kent k
> > So what is the difference?
> > For me a host name is the name of a host while a domain name
> > can be the name of a host or of many other things.
>
> Not bad for a first level answer. For the second level you
> need to remember that host names have a MUCH more restricted
> syntax to domain names.
>
> Currently domain names have no restrictions on what is a legal
> character (8bit). The only restrictions are total and label
> lengths. Host names on the other hand are restricted to A-Z,
> 0-9, "-" and "." case insensitive. "." is only allowed between
> labels.
>
> I keep listening to debates about what is / should be legal in a
> (international) domain name. Restrictions on character sets and
> whether punctuation and control characters should be included.
> Most of these arguements are really about what is / should be
> legal in a international host name. I have made this plea once
> before.
>
> Please be careful to use host name when you mean a
> host name.
> Do not use domain name when you mean host name as
> it leads to
> confusion.
>
> Telnet uses host names.
> Email uses host names or mail domains (these should both be
> syntactically identical).
> HTTP uses host names.
> Traceroute uses host names.
> hosts.equiv uses host names.
> host.allow/host.deny uses host names.
>
> Personally I would like to see a similar distinction with IDNS.
> i.e. any character in a international domain name, a very
> restricted character set(s) in a international host name.
>
> Please remember that today we actually choose to use
> domain names
> that are not syntactically identical to hostnames so we
> can avoid
> accidental collisions with hostnames. SRV records
> owner names are
> done this way.
>
> Mark
> --
> Mark Andrews, Nominum Inc. / Internet Software Consortium
> 1 Seymour St., Dundas Valley, NSW 2117, Australia
> PHONE: +61 2 9871 4742 INTERNET:
> Mark.Andrews@nominum.com
>