Annotation of src/usr.bin/whois/whois.1, Revision 1.29
1.29 ! schwarze 1: .\" $OpenBSD: whois.1,v 1.28 2010/03/04 18:17:03 krw Exp $
1.1 deraadt 2: .\" $NetBSD: whois.1,v 1.5 1995/08/31 21:51:32 jtc Exp $
3: .\"
4: .\" Copyright (c) 1985, 1990, 1993
5: .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
6: .\"
7: .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
8: .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
9: .\" are met:
10: .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
11: .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
12: .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
13: .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
14: .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
1.20 millert 15: .\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
1.1 deraadt 16: .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
17: .\" without specific prior written permission.
18: .\"
19: .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
20: .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
21: .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
22: .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
23: .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
24: .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
25: .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
26: .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
27: .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
28: .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
29: .\" SUCH DAMAGE.
30: .\"
31: .\" @(#)whois.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 6/20/94
32: .\"
1.29 ! schwarze 33: .Dd $Mdocdate: March 4 2010 $
1.1 deraadt 34: .Dt WHOIS 1
1.5 aaron 35: .Os
1.1 deraadt 36: .Sh NAME
37: .Nm whois
1.3 deraadt 38: .Nd Internet domain name and network number directory service
1.1 deraadt 39: .Sh SYNOPSIS
40: .Nm whois
1.28 krw 41: .Op Fl AadgilmQRr
1.19 millert 42: .Oo
43: .Fl c Ar country-code | Fl h Ar host
44: .Oc
45: .Op Fl p Ar port
1.26 sobrado 46: .Ar name ...
1.1 deraadt 47: .Sh DESCRIPTION
1.19 millert 48: The
1.13 aaron 49: .Nm
1.19 millert 50: utility looks up records in the databases maintained by several
1.3 deraadt 51: Network Information Centers
1.21 jmc 52: .Pq Tn NICs .
1.1 deraadt 53: .Pp
54: The options are as follows:
55: .Bl -tag -width Ds
1.23 jmc 56: .It Fl A
57: Use the Asia/Pacific Network Information Center
58: .Pq Tn APNIC
59: database.
60: It contains network numbers used in East Asia, Australia,
61: New Zealand, and the Pacific islands.
1.3 deraadt 62: .It Fl a
63: Use the American Registry for Internet Numbers
64: .Pq Tn ARIN
1.13 aaron 65: database.
66: It contains network numbers used in those parts of the world
1.3 deraadt 67: covered neither by
1.27 henning 68: .Tn AfriNIC ,
69: .Tn APNIC ,
70: .Tn LACNIC ,
1.19 millert 71: nor by
1.3 deraadt 72: .Tn RIPE .
1.19 millert 73: .Pp
74: (Hint: All point of contact handles in the
75: .Tn ARIN
76: whois database end with
77: .Qq Li -ARIN . )
1.18 millert 78: .It Fl c Ar country-code
79: This is the equivalent of using the
80: .Fl h
81: option with an argument of
82: .Qq Ar country-code Ns Li .whois-servers.net .
1.3 deraadt 83: .It Fl d
1.19 millert 84: Use the US Department of Defense database.
1.13 aaron 85: It contains points of contact for subdomains of
1.21 jmc 86: .Tn \&.MIL .
1.8 millert 87: .It Fl g
88: Use the US non-military federal government database, which contains points of
89: contact for subdomains of
1.21 jmc 90: .Tn \&.GOV .
1.3 deraadt 91: .It Fl h Ar host
92: Use the specified host instead of the default NIC
1.8 millert 93: (whois.crsnic.net).
1.3 deraadt 94: Either a host name or an IP address may be specified.
1.19 millert 95: .Pp
96: By default
97: .Nm
98: constructs the name of a whois server to use from the top-level domain
99: .Pq Tn TLD
100: of the supplied (single) argument, and appending
101: .Qq Li .whois-servers.net .
102: This effectively allows a suitable whois server to be selected
103: automatically for a large number of
104: .Tn TLDs .
105: .Pp
106: In the event that an IP
1.21 jmc 107: address is specified, the whois server will default to the American
1.19 millert 108: Registry for Internet Numbers
109: .Pq Tn ARIN .
110: If a query to
111: .Tn ARIN
112: references
113: .Tn APNIC , LACNIC ,
114: or
115: .Tn RIPE ,
116: that server will be queried also, provided that the
117: .Fl Q
118: option is not specified.
119: .Pp
120: If the query is not a domain name or IP address,
121: .Nm
122: will fall back to
123: .Pa whois.crsnic.net .
1.8 millert 124: .It Fl i
125: Use the Network Solutions Registry for Internet Numbers
1.19 millert 126: .Pq Tn whois.networksolutions.com
1.13 aaron 127: database.
1.19 millert 128: Historically, it contained network numbers and domain contact information
129: for most of
1.8 millert 130: .Tn \&.COM ,
131: .Tn \&.NET ,
132: .Tn \&.ORG
133: and
134: .Tn \&.EDU
135: domains.
1.19 millert 136: However, the registration of these domains is now done by a number of
137: independent and competing registrars and this database holds no information
138: on the domains registered by organizations other than Network Solutions, Inc.
139: Also, note that the
140: .Tn InterNIC
141: database
142: .Pq Pa whois.internic.net
143: is no longer handled by Network Solutions, Inc.
1.21 jmc 144: For details, see
1.29 ! schwarze 145: .Lk http://www.internic.net/ .
1.19 millert 146: .Pp
147: (Hint: Contact information, identified by the term
148: .Em handle ,
149: can be looked up by prefixing
1.22 jmc 150: .Qq Li \&!
1.19 millert 151: or
1.22 jmc 152: .Qq Li handle\ \&
1.19 millert 153: to the
154: .Tn NIC
155: handle in the query.)
1.17 fgsch 156: .It Fl l
1.19 millert 157: Use the Latin American and Caribbean IP address Regional Registry
1.17 fgsch 158: .Pq Tn LACNIC
159: database.
1.19 millert 160: It contains network numbers used in much of Latin America and the
1.21 jmc 161: Caribbean.
1.6 deraadt 162: .It Fl m
163: Use the Route Arbiter Database
164: .Pq Tn RADB
1.14 aaron 165: database.
166: It contains route policy specifications for a large
1.6 deraadt 167: number of operators' networks.
1.19 millert 168: .It Fl p Ar port
169: Connect to the whois server on
170: .Ar port .
171: If this option is not specified,
172: .Nm
173: defaults to the
174: .Dq whois
175: port listed in
176: .Pa /etc/services
177: (port 43).
1.9 millert 178: .It Fl Q
1.13 aaron 179: Do a quick lookup.
180: This means that
1.9 millert 181: .Nm
1.24 jmc 182: will not attempt to lookup the name in the authoritative whois
1.9 millert 183: server (if one is listed) nor will it contact InterNic if a lookup
1.13 aaron 184: fails.
185: This flag has no effect when combined with any other flag.
1.8 millert 186: .It Fl R
187: Use the Russia Network Information Center
188: .Pq Tn RIPN
1.13 aaron 189: database.
190: It contains network numbers and domain contact information
1.8 millert 191: for subdomains of
1.21 jmc 192: .Tn \&.RU .
1.19 millert 193: This option is deprecated; use the
1.21 jmc 194: .Fl c
1.19 millert 195: option with an argument of
196: .Qq Li RU
197: instead.
1.23 jmc 198: .It Fl r
199: Use the R\(aaeseaux IP Europ\(aaeens
200: .Pq Tn RIPE
1.18 millert 201: database.
1.23 jmc 202: It contains network numbers and domain contact information for Europe.
1.1 deraadt 203: .El
204: .Pp
205: The default action, unless directed otherwise with a special
206: .Ar name ,
207: is to do a very broad search, looking for matches to
208: .Ar name
209: in all types of records and most fields (name, nicknames, hostname, net
210: address, etc.) in the database.
211: For more information as to what
212: .Ar name
213: operands have special meaning, and how to guide the search, use
214: the special name
1.13 aaron 215: .Dq help .
1.19 millert 216: .Ss Special cases
217: Queries beginning with an exclamation point
1.22 jmc 218: .Ql \&!
1.19 millert 219: are assumed to be
220: .Tn NSI
221: contact handles.
222: Unless a host or domain is specified on the command line,
223: .Pq Tn whois.networksolutions.com
224: will be used as the
225: .Nm
226: database.
227: .Pp
228: Similarly, queries beginning with
229: .Dq COCO-
230: are assumed to be
231: .Tn CORE
232: contact handles.
233: Unless a host or domain is specified on the command line,
234: .Pq Tn whois.corenic.net
235: will be used as the
236: .Nm
237: database.
1.18 millert 238: .Sh EXAMPLES
239: Most types of data, such as domain names and
240: .Tn IP
241: addresses, can be used as arguments to
242: .Nm
243: without any options, and
244: .Nm
245: will choose the correct whois server to query.
246: Some exceptions, where
247: .Nm
248: will not be able to handle data correctly, are detailed below.
249: .Pp
250: To obtain contact information about an
251: administrator located in the Russian
252: .Tn TLD
253: domain
254: .Qq Li RU ,
255: use the
256: .Fl c
257: option as shown in the following example, where
258: .Ar CONTACT-ID
259: is substituted with the actual contact identifier.
260: .Pp
261: .Dl "whois -c RU CONTACT-ID"
262: .Pp
263: (Note: This example is specific to the
264: .Tn TLD
265: .Qq Li RU ,
266: but other
267: .Tn TLDs
268: can be queried by using a similar syntax.)
1.19 millert 269: .Pp
270: The following example demonstrates how to query
271: a whois server using a non-standard port, where
272: .Dq Li query-data
273: is the query to be sent to
274: .Dq Li whois.example.com
1.21 jmc 275: on port
1.19 millert 276: .Dq Li rwhois
277: (written numerically as 4321).
278: .Pp
279: .Dl "whois -h whois.example.com -p rwhois query-data"
1.1 deraadt 280: .Sh SEE ALSO
1.18 millert 281: .Rs
282: .%A Ken Harrenstien
283: .%A Vic White
284: .%T NICNAME/WHOIS
285: .%D 1 March 1982
286: .%O RFC 812
287: .Re
1.1 deraadt 288: .Sh HISTORY
289: The
1.13 aaron 290: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 291: command appeared in
292: .Bx 4.3 .
![[BACK]](/icons/back.gif){kind=icon}
Return to whois.1 CVS log ![[TXT]](/icons/text.gif){kind=icon}
![[DIR]](/icons/dir.gif){kind=icon}
Up to [local] / src / usr.bin / whois