BW Whois README File

VERSION:

Current version: 2.7
Released 26 November 2000

You can always find the current version of BW Whois here:  

    http://bw.org/whois/

DESCRIPTION: 

    BW Whois was created to work with the new-mangled whois system 
    introduced 1 Dec 1999.


Here's the same statement said another way: 

    BW Whois is a whois client for RFC-954 compliant whois servers using 
    the shared domain registration system as revised 1 December 1999. 


Under the new domain-name regime the whois system is now distributed 
amongst the various domain-police^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H registrars, thereby 
requiring that we make at least two separate requests (to two separate 
servers) for each whois record. 

This program will first go to the "root" whois server and ask for a record. 
If found, the root server will tell us where to go get the actual record, and 
then we go get it. 

This program is free software. You may modify and distribute it under 
the same terms as perl itself. 

INSTALLATION:

See the INSTALLATION file. 

FILES: 

This program is distributed as a tarball containing the following files: 

whois       -- The program itself, written in perl. You shouldn't need to 
               modify this at all, unless your perl is in a non-standard 
               place.

               You may need to rename it for CGI mode. 

install.sh  -- A simple install script for UNIX-ish systems. Must be run 
               as root. Results may vary. Use at your own risk. Contents 
               may settle during shipping. See INSTALL for more details. 

tld.conf    -- The optional TLD table. Put this in /etc/tld.conf

whois.html  -- A sample file for use with the CGI mode. This one is a 
               bit fancier than the one that --makehtml creates. 

whois.1     -- The whois man page. Copy this to /usr/local/man/man1/whois.1 
               or to the equivalant location on your system. 

whois.txt   -- The man page in text format, for those of you who don't have 
               man on your sytem (e.g. Windows or MAC). 

HISTORY     -- The revision history of the program. 

README      -- This file. 

COPYRIGHT   -- The lawyers made me do it. 

DISCLAIMER  -- Use only as directed. 



--Bill

