Re: [idn] Suggested clarifications of the IDN requirements doc

[Dave Crocker <dhc@dcrocker.net>]

At 11:12 AM 8/9/00 -0400, RJ Atkinson wrote:
>At 10:34 09/08/00 , Harald Tveit Alvestrand wrote:
> >[37] The protocol MUST work for all features of DNS, IPv4, and IPv6.
> >Change to:
>          We should retain the original text, except that it would be
>prudent to add to the original text this one sentence from Harald:
>
>          "The protocol MUST NOT allow an IDN to be returned to a requestor
>          that requests the IP-to-(old)-domain-name mapping service."
>
>That one sentence helps clarify the requirement that we don't break
>existing deployed systems when IDN is deployed.


The original wording is strange, since IDNS does not have "IPv4 features" 
or "IPv6 features".  Both those protocols work fine without DNS or 
IDNS.  Presumably the intention is:

         "The protocol must work for all features of IDNS."

If some explanatory text about IPv4 and IPv6 related DNS functions is 
essential, it should be separate.

It is hard to imagine that IDNS will be used if it provides a subset of 
full DNS services.

Calling out DNS vs. IDNS interoperability issues separately and explicitly 
seems like a dandy idea.

d/