whois does not recognise .pw TLD

[Matthew Gall]

Binary package hint: whois

The WHOIS client in the current release version of precise does not recognise the .pw TLD and it's associated WHOIS server (whois.nic.pw)

Example output:
matthew@matthew-laptop:~$ uname -a
Linux matthew-laptop 3.2.0-30-generic #48-Ubuntu SMP Fri Aug 24 16:52:48 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
matthew@matthew-laptop:~$ whois --version
Version 5.0.15.

Report bugs to <email address hidden>.
matthew@matthew-laptop:~$ cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=12.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=precise
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS"

matthew@matthew-laptop:~$ whois mgall.pw
This TLD has no whois server.

However, if I pass the WHOIS server:
matthew@matthew-laptop:~$ whois -h whois.nic.pw -H mgall.pw
This whois service is provided by CentralNic Ltd and only contains
information pertaining to Internet domain names we have registered for
our customers. By using this service you are agreeing (1) not to use any
information presented here for any purpose other than determining
ownership of domain names, (2) not to store or reproduce this data in
any way, (3) not to use any high-volume, automated, electronic processes
to obtain data from this service. Abuse of this service is monitored and
actions in contravention of these terms will result in being permanently
blacklisted. All data is (c) CentralNic Ltd https://www.centralnic.com/

Domain ID:CNIC-DO1162701
Domain Name:MGALL.PW

Information for the .pw TLD can be found at IANA at https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/pw.html

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: whois 5.0.15ubuntu2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-30.48-generic 3.2.27
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-30-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.2
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon May 6 15:09:25 2013
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: whois
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

Updated to provide the following as a candidate for a Stable Release Update (SRU):

[Impact]
With the bug described in detail above, users performing WHOIS checks on .pw gTLD domains will be unable to access WHOIS information for the domain. This package should be updated as described to a version of whois of at least 5.0.25 in the stable release (12.04, 13.04) to allow users to perform these checks, and further move to ensure during the gTLD release programme in progress through ICANN, that similar fixes are backported to stable releases.

[Test Case]
To reproduce the above bug:
1) Open a Terminal
2) Run "whois mgall.pw" (without the quotes)
3) The bug will result in the below output:

matthew@matthew-laptop:~$ whois mgall.pw
This TLD has no whois server.

Correct output of the above should be:

matthew@matthew-laptop:~$ whois mgall.pw
This whois service is provided by CentralNic Ltd and only contains
information pertaining to Internet domain names we have registered for
our customers. By using this service you are agreeing (1) not to use any
information presented here for any purpose other than determining
ownership of domain names, (2) not to store or reproduce this data in
any way, (3) not to use any high-volume, automated, electronic processes
to obtain data from this service. Abuse of this service is monitored and
actions in contravention of these terms will result in being permanently
blacklisted. All data is (c) CentralNic Ltd https://www.centralnic.com/

Domain ID:CNIC-DO1162701
Domain Name:MGALL.PW

[Regression Potential]
The risks of regression of functionality of this package is not updated in the stable channel is high. Failure to update this package may result in failures for users to check data for certain gTLDs or ccTLDs in the stable release, which would clearly would be a regression in functionality and in need of a further SRU.

[Robie Basak (racb)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better.

Please could you check if this is still an issue in 13.04 or the current development release? It sounds reasonable to seek an update to 12.04 for this, but we need to know if we need to cherry-pick a fix that has already been released in a newer version, or if the development version needs fixing first.

Once you have answered, please change the bug status back to New.

Thanks!

[Matthew Gall (matthewgall)]

As I am not running 13:04, I graciously thank Tom Hill for providing this below debug. The issue still occurs on 13.04.

thill@thill-laptop:~$ uname -a
Linux thill-laptop 3.8.0-19-generic #30-Ubuntu SMP Wed May 1 16:35:23 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

thill@thill-laptop:~$ cat /etc/lsb-release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=13.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=raring
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 13.04"

thill@thill-laptop:~$ whois --version
Version 5.0.20.

Report bugs to <email address hidden>.

thill@thill-laptop:~$ whois mgall.pw
This TLD has no whois server.

thill@thill-laptop:~$ whois -h whois.nic.pw mgall.pw
This whois service is provided by CentralNic Ltd and only contains
information pertaining to Internet domain names we have registered for
our customers. By using this service you are agreeing (1) not to use any
information presented here for any purpose other than determining
ownership of domain names, (2) not to store or reproduce this data in
any way, (3) not to use any high-volume, automated, electronic processes
to obtain data from this service. Abuse of this service is monitored and
actions in contravention of these terms will result in being permanently
blacklisted. All data is (c) CentralNic Ltd https://www.centralnic.com/

Domain ID:CNIC-DO1162701
Domain Name:MGALL.PW
Created On:06-May-2013 10:49:00 UTC
Last Updated On:06-May-2013 10:49:03 UTC
Expiration Date:06-May-2014 23:59:59 UTC
<truncated>

[Robie Basak (racb)]

Reproduced on 5.0.20ubuntu1 on Raring.
Fixed on 5.0.24 on Saucy.
Fixed on 5.0.25 on Saucy.

If you need a fix for an existing stable release, please comment with a justification against https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates#When and complete steps 1 through 4 in https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates#Procedure

[Robie Basak (racb)]

Correction:

Reproduced on 5.0.24 on Saucy.
Fixed on 5.0.25 on Saucy.

[Matthew Gall (matthewgall)]

I'm a little conflicted, taking a read of https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates#When there doesn't appear to be a justification under this, apart from "Bugs which do not fit under above categories, but (1) have an obviously safe patch and (2) affect an application rather than critical infrastructure packages (like X.org or the kernel)." sounds like it would match in this case.

It would be reasonable to assume that this functionality is actually important, and with the upcoming new gTLD programme in 2013 starting, would probably be quite important to have whois updates pushed to the LTS releases.

Am I going the right way with this, or should I really be requesting a backport?

[Robie Basak (racb)]

Thanks for taking the time to read and consider SRU policy.

I can't speak for the SRU team, so if you'd like to know for sure you can contact them on the ubuntu-devel list.

However, we had a discussion about the bind9 zone hints file, and the conclusion was to SRU that. I think a patch to update the servers that whois contacts counts as similar data that would be acceptable to SRU. Otherwise I can imagine a time when whois breaks for certain gTLDs or ccTLDs in the stable release, which would clearly would be a regression in functionality and in need of an SRU.

So IMHO it's fine to SRU this (but I am not on the SRU team and cannot make a final decision).

[Matthew Gall (matthewgall)]

Thanks for getting back to me Robie. I'll move to get this to SRU and see where we go from here.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

The Precise Pangolin has reached end of life, so this bug will not be fixed for that release