Re: [idn] I fear I cannot use IDN in the next 10 years

["Eric A. Hall" <ehall@ehsco.com>]

From: "Paul Hoffman / IMC" <phoffman@imc.org>
To: "Dan Oscarsson" <Dan.Oscarsson@trab.se>; <idn@ops.ietf.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2001 12:41 PM
Subject: Re: [idn] I fear I cannot use IDN in the next 10 years


> For the same reasons people have been repeating on this list for the
> past year. UTF-8 is the "native" encoding for a very small number of
> people.

Looking out the rear-view mirror, this is true. Looking out the
front-windshield, this is not true.

> UTF-8 is  almost never the only encoding they have.

It is the best option for getting to an "only encoding". Resistance in this
particular WG actively frustrates progress for everybody.

> Because of that, we need to
> assume that essentially all software that takes in or displays IDNs
> will have to do some conversion before putting the name parts on the
> wire. If we are going to require conversion, it is better to do that
> conversion to something that is already compatible with the current
> DNS protocol.

First of all, support for an UTF-8 encoding means that conversion is NOT
required for apps that generate UTF-8 natively. Secondarily, the DNS protocol
is NOT restricted to US-ASCII.

> Updating all of the DNS servers in the world is an option, but not
> one that makes much sense.

"all of the DNS servers" do not need to be upgraded for UDNS and similar
protocols to function properly. The only servers which need to be upgraded are
those servers where the network admin WANTS to serve IDNs as UTF-8 strings. If
an admin does not want to use UDNS, they can use ACE. We have been through
this many times.

--
Eric A. Hall                                        http://www.ehsco.com/
Internet Core Protocols          http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/coreprot/