RFC 954 (rfc954) - Page 2 of 4
NICNAME/WHOIS
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 954 October 1985 NICNAME/WHOIS PROTOCOL To access the NICNAME/WHOIS server: Connect to the SRI-NIC service host at TCP service port 43 (decimal). Send a single "command line", ending with(ASCII CR and LF). Receive information in response to the command line. The server closes its connection as soon as the output is finished. EXISTING USER PROGRAMS NICNAME is the global name for the user program, although many sites have chosen to use the more familiar name of "WHOIS". There are versions of the NICNAME user program for TENEX, TOPS-20, and UNIX. The TENEX and TOPS-20 programs are written in assembly language (FAIL/MACRO), and the UNIX version is written in C. They are easy to invoke, taking one argument which is passed directly to the NICNAME server at SRI-NIC. Contact NIC@SRI-NIC.ARPA for copies of the program. COMMAND LINES AND REPLIES A command line is normally a single name specification. Note that the specification formats will evolve with time; the best way to obtain the most recent documentation on name specifications is to give the server a command line consisting of "? " (that is, a question-mark alone as the name specification). The response from the NICNAME server will list all possible formats that can be used. The responses are not currently intended to be machine-readable; the information is meant to be passed back directly to a human user. The following three examples illustrate the use of NICNAME as of October 1985. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Command line: ? Response: Please enter a name or a NIC handle, such as "Smith" or "SRI-NIC". Starting with a period forces a name-only search; starting with exclamation point forces handle-only. Examples: Harrenstien & Stahl & Feinler
