RR syntax problem

[Mark Andrews]

> Hi,
> After doing a zone transfer ('dig @131.111.8.42 cam.ac.uk axfr')
> from a nearby DNS master, I get a few RR's with adjacent '-.' chars
> like:
> 
> admin-server-.path.cam.ac.uk. 86400 IN  A       131.111.28.159
> ------------^^
> 
> 
> When I feed RR's like this back into named, it complains:
> Feb 16 11:24:22 alf1 named[60799]: db.cam:30309: admin-server-.path.cam.ac.uk
> : bad owner name (check-names)
> 
> I'm using bind-9.3.0rc4. Is the '-.' syntax wrong, or is this a bug?

	Stop using 9.3.0rc4.  Release candidates are expected to
	be removed after the release is finalised.  We also don't
	check release candidates when looking for when a bug was
	introduced / removed.  So if 9.3.0rc4 has a serious bug but
	9.3.0 didn't it wouldn't be reported in a security advisary.

	dash is allowed in the interior of a label.  RFC 952.

	admin-server.path.cam.ac.uk is legal
	-admin-server.path.cam.ac.uk is illegal
	admin-server-.path.cam.ac.uk is illegal
 
> Is there any way I can retrieve zone-data without it
> being expanded by dig? i.e. maintain the $ORIGIN lines
> and thus shrink the transfer size?

	Firstly the zone is not transfered as text.

	Secondly the transfer will already be using compression
	pointers where possible.  "transfer-format many-answers;"
	(default in BIND9) will provide a lot more compression
	pointer targets that "transfer-format one-answer;".  At
	a minimum the second owner name will have a compression
	pointer.  Where compression pointers can be used in a
	DNS message is specified by the RFC's.

	Mark
 
> Cheers,
> Terry.
> 
> 
--
Mark Andrews, ISC
1 Seymour St., Dundas Valley, NSW 2117, Australia
PHONE: +61 2 9871 4742                 INTERNET: Mark_Andrews at isc.org