Annotation of src/usr.bin/whois/whois.1, Revision 1.38
1.38 ! jsg 1: .\" $OpenBSD: whois.1,v 1.37 2022/02/18 10:24:33 jsg 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: .\"
1.38 ! jsg 33: .Dd $Mdocdate: February 18 2022 $
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
1.34 sthen 41: .Op Fl AadgIilmPQRr
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
1.33 sthen 100: of the supplied (single) argument.
101: For newer generic domains (gTLDs), a lookup for whois.nic.tld is attempted.
102: For other TLDs, or if this lookup fails,
103: .Qq Li .whois-servers.net
104: is appended to the TLD.
1.19 millert 105: This effectively allows a suitable whois server to be selected
106: automatically for a large number of
107: .Tn TLDs .
108: .Pp
109: In the event that an IP
1.21 jmc 110: address is specified, the whois server will default to the American
1.19 millert 111: Registry for Internet Numbers
112: .Pq Tn ARIN .
113: If a query to
114: .Tn ARIN
115: references
116: .Tn APNIC , LACNIC ,
117: or
118: .Tn RIPE ,
119: that server will be queried also, provided that the
120: .Fl Q
121: option is not specified.
122: .Pp
123: If the query is not a domain name or IP address,
124: .Nm
125: will fall back to
126: .Pa whois.crsnic.net .
1.34 sthen 127: .It Fl I
128: Use the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
129: .Pq whois.iana.org
130: root zone database.
131: It contains information about top-level domains.
1.8 millert 132: .It Fl i
133: Use the Network Solutions Registry for Internet Numbers
1.19 millert 134: .Pq Tn whois.networksolutions.com
1.13 aaron 135: database.
1.19 millert 136: Historically, it contained network numbers and domain contact information
137: for most of
1.8 millert 138: .Tn \&.COM ,
139: .Tn \&.NET ,
140: .Tn \&.ORG
141: and
142: .Tn \&.EDU
143: domains.
1.19 millert 144: However, the registration of these domains is now done by a number of
145: independent and competing registrars and this database holds no information
146: on the domains registered by organizations other than Network Solutions, Inc.
147: Also, note that the
148: .Tn InterNIC
149: database
150: .Pq Pa whois.internic.net
151: is no longer handled by Network Solutions, Inc.
1.21 jmc 152: For details, see
1.37 jsg 153: .Lk https://www.internic.net/ .
1.19 millert 154: .Pp
155: (Hint: Contact information, identified by the term
156: .Em handle ,
157: can be looked up by prefixing
1.22 jmc 158: .Qq Li \&!
1.19 millert 159: or
1.22 jmc 160: .Qq Li handle\ \&
1.19 millert 161: to the
162: .Tn NIC
163: handle in the query.)
1.17 fgsch 164: .It Fl l
1.19 millert 165: Use the Latin American and Caribbean IP address Regional Registry
1.17 fgsch 166: .Pq Tn LACNIC
167: database.
1.19 millert 168: It contains network numbers used in much of Latin America and the
1.21 jmc 169: Caribbean.
1.6 deraadt 170: .It Fl m
171: Use the Route Arbiter Database
172: .Pq Tn RADB
1.14 aaron 173: database.
174: It contains route policy specifications for a large
1.6 deraadt 175: number of operators' networks.
1.32 sthen 176: .It Fl P
177: Use the PeeringDB database of AS numbers.
178: It contains details about presence at internet peering points
179: for many network operators.
1.19 millert 180: .It Fl p Ar port
181: Connect to the whois server on
182: .Ar port .
183: If this option is not specified,
184: .Nm
185: defaults to the
186: .Dq whois
187: port listed in
188: .Pa /etc/services
189: (port 43).
1.9 millert 190: .It Fl Q
1.13 aaron 191: Do a quick lookup.
192: This means that
1.9 millert 193: .Nm
1.24 jmc 194: will not attempt to lookup the name in the authoritative whois
1.9 millert 195: server (if one is listed) nor will it contact InterNic if a lookup
1.13 aaron 196: fails.
197: This flag has no effect when combined with any other flag.
1.8 millert 198: .It Fl R
199: Use the Russia Network Information Center
200: .Pq Tn RIPN
1.13 aaron 201: database.
202: It contains network numbers and domain contact information
1.8 millert 203: for subdomains of
1.21 jmc 204: .Tn \&.RU .
1.19 millert 205: This option is deprecated; use the
1.21 jmc 206: .Fl c
1.19 millert 207: option with an argument of
208: .Qq Li RU
209: instead.
1.23 jmc 210: .It Fl r
1.36 naddy 211: Use the Reseaux IP Europeens
1.23 jmc 212: .Pq Tn RIPE
1.18 millert 213: database.
1.23 jmc 214: It contains network numbers and domain contact information for Europe.
1.1 deraadt 215: .El
216: .Pp
217: The default action, unless directed otherwise with a special
218: .Ar name ,
219: is to do a very broad search, looking for matches to
220: .Ar name
221: in all types of records and most fields (name, nicknames, hostname, net
222: address, etc.) in the database.
223: For more information as to what
224: .Ar name
225: operands have special meaning, and how to guide the search, use
226: the special name
1.13 aaron 227: .Dq help .
1.19 millert 228: .Ss Special cases
229: Queries beginning with an exclamation point
1.22 jmc 230: .Ql \&!
1.19 millert 231: are assumed to be
232: .Tn NSI
233: contact handles.
234: Unless a host or domain is specified on the command line,
1.35 sthen 235: .Pq whois.networksolutions.com
1.19 millert 236: will be used as the
237: .Nm
238: database.
239: .Pp
240: Similarly, queries beginning with
241: .Dq COCO-
242: are assumed to be
243: .Tn CORE
244: contact handles.
245: Unless a host or domain is specified on the command line,
1.35 sthen 246: .Pq whois.corenic.net
1.19 millert 247: will be used as the
248: .Nm
249: database.
1.18 millert 250: .Sh EXAMPLES
251: Most types of data, such as domain names and
252: .Tn IP
253: addresses, can be used as arguments to
254: .Nm
255: without any options, and
256: .Nm
257: will choose the correct whois server to query.
258: Some exceptions, where
259: .Nm
260: will not be able to handle data correctly, are detailed below.
261: .Pp
262: To obtain contact information about an
263: administrator located in the Russian
264: .Tn TLD
265: domain
266: .Qq Li RU ,
267: use the
268: .Fl c
269: option as shown in the following example, where
270: .Ar CONTACT-ID
271: is substituted with the actual contact identifier.
272: .Pp
273: .Dl "whois -c RU CONTACT-ID"
274: .Pp
275: (Note: This example is specific to the
276: .Tn TLD
277: .Qq Li RU ,
278: but other
279: .Tn TLDs
280: can be queried by using a similar syntax.)
1.19 millert 281: .Pp
282: The following example demonstrates how to query
283: a whois server using a non-standard port, where
284: .Dq Li query-data
285: is the query to be sent to
286: .Dq Li whois.example.com
1.21 jmc 287: on port
1.19 millert 288: .Dq Li rwhois
289: (written numerically as 4321).
290: .Pp
291: .Dl "whois -h whois.example.com -p rwhois query-data"
1.31 jmc 292: .Sh STANDARDS
1.18 millert 293: .Rs
1.30 jmc 294: .%A K. Harrenstien
295: .%A M. Stahl
296: .%A E. Feinler
297: .%D October 1985
298: .%R RFC 954
1.18 millert 299: .%T NICNAME/WHOIS
1.30 jmc 300: .Re
1.31 jmc 301: .Pp
1.30 jmc 302: .Rs
303: .%A L. Daigle
304: .%D September 2004
305: .%R RFC 3912
306: .%T WHOIS Protocol Specification
1.18 millert 307: .Re
1.1 deraadt 308: .Sh HISTORY
309: The
1.13 aaron 310: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 311: command appeared in
1.38 ! jsg 312: .Bx 4.1c .