.42 Catches
From 42Experiment
Running an unofficial, numeric TLD can cause a few problems. This page should reference the potential issues from any point of view (end-user, admin) and with any service (WWW, mail, DNS itself ...).
Please help building this page by creating a paragraph for the issues you know about
Contents |
[edit] General issues
[edit] Regarding the TLD itself
There are a number of RFCs that govern DNS. Some 2181 and 3986 seem to indicate that there is NOTHING against having a numeric TLD. Others (such as 1123) still rely on the fact that the TLD is alphabetical.
There is no real consensus at this time (see this thread from the IETF DNSOP WG).
The problem is essentially that, although the protocol has no restriction on what to use as a label, interpretations of the RFCs might have lead to implement such restrictions in the software. Besides, TLDs now fall under the authority of ICANN, so it is more a policy issue than a technical one (and this is why being independent from ICANN is a good thing for the Experiment.)
[edit] Numeric SLDs and IP confusion
Since the very beginning, the same question has popped up many times: "With this new TLD, is 192.168.0.42 a hostname or an IP?"
The answer is simple. RFC 1123 says a "host SHOULD check the string syntactically for a dotted-decimal number before looking it up in the Domain Name System".
For the moment, the 42Registry stands by the initial rule forbidding numeric SLDs. If we decide to lift it, we will carefully explain what to expect when registering a numeric SLD and why there should be no confusion with IPv4 dotted-quads.
[edit] Windows and Numeric TLDs
Out of the box, Windows simply refuses to resolve what they call "Bad TLDs". Fortunately, this restriction is very easy to overcome, as it is governed by a simple key in the Registry.
What you need to do is open the Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters. You then need to Create a new DWORD key called "ScreenBadTlds" and set its value to "0".
Alternatively, you can just download this .reg file directly from the 42Registry and open it from Windows, and you should be good to go.
More info at Microsoft's original KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947228
[edit] lighttpd bug
If you intend to serve web pages for a .42 website with lighttpd, you should be aware of this bug: http://redmine.lighttpd.net/issues/2143
[edit] PHP FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL bug
PHP email validation filter fails with all numeric TLDs. So far, the bug report has been marked as Bogus, even though the same filter will validate nonexistent TLDs such as .foo and .stuff. It seems that the PHP team considers numeric TLDs to simply be invalid per nature.
[edit] Chromium bug
Google Chrome and Chromium CAN navigate numeric TLDs, but you must coax them into it.
You must type the leading "http://" before actually entering the URL, then select the second option from the drop-down list that appears, as show below:
Once you have done this for a give URL, Chromium should remember it for next time.
Bug report: http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=31405
Related: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2144225
[edit] Mainstream hosting providers
When you own a domain name and you want your web content hosted somewhere, it is usually fairly easy: you type your domain into a box on some form, and voila, your website is available at www.example.com.
The trick with the .42 TLD is that most mainstream hosting providers will refuse the domain. Most likely they will only accept ICANN-approved TLDs, which we are not. If this is your situation, then there are two options:
- ask the provider to support .42, and please do tell us if you succeed !
- switch to another, 42-aware provider.
[edit] Using a .42 email
The problem is pretty much the same as with a web provider, but the consequences run deeper, so you should be extra-careful. Not everyone can resolve your .42 domain, and therefore, not everyone can send email to such an address. Besides, an email address ending in .42 will most likely be rejected by virtually every service on the web where an email address is needed.
But since you know that this is an Experiment, you should know all this already. Right ? :-)
[edit] Addendum: short URLs to bug reports
| PHP | http://bit.ly/fC0ZaA |
| lighttpd | http://bit.ly/gRsupr |
| Chromium | http://bit.ly/eLA6nY |
| Windows | http://bit.ly/fArMUL |
