WHAT IS THIS? As a programming exercise for learning Python, I wrote a simple rwhois server (described in RFC 2167). It uses in-memory data structures, and it intuits the schema based on the data it sees. The server takes as input a schema file, which for now just describes which attributes should be indexed (and how), and data files which look much like the C rwhoisd's data files. This version supports a sort of extended query syntax: IP or CIDR queries ending in "**" will result in a "subnet" search, where all of the found subnets at or below the specified network will be returned. Ending a IP or CIDR query with a single "*" will result in a "supernet" search. REQUIREMENTS python 2.4 or later INSTALL This can be run from it's source directory, which is a fine way to do it. However, if you wish to install it, as root: % python setup.py install This is just using the standard Python distutils, so there is actually a great deal of flexibility here. Try % python setup.py install --help to see some of the options available. RUNNING IT This is assuming that you are running it from the distribution directory. % tar zxvf python-rwhoisd-0.4.tar.gz % cd python-rwhoisd-0.4 % ./bin/pyrwhoisd sample_data/example_schema \ sample_data/example_data & Voila! You should now have some sort of rwhois server running on port 4321 CONFIGURING IT Edit rwhoisd/config.py. This file has comments describing options that you can change. DATA See the example_schema and example_data files in the sample_data directory. The format of the data files is very similar to the format used by the C rwhois server (rwhoisd-1.5.x from www.rwhois.net). It has the following differences, however: * These files may have records separated by blank lines instead of dashes. * They are not sensitive to trailing separators (whitespace or dashes) * They do not have to be arranged in any special manner. That is, the C rwhoisd forces (or at least encourages) you to arrange your data files into different directories per authority-area. These can be wherever. * This server does not support attribute "aliases". * It doesn't quite support indexing network blocks (i.e., values like "10.1.42.0 - 10.1.42.255"). It should be noted that this server in small ways violates the description put forth by RFC 2167. In particular, it does not establish independent schemas for each authority area. There may be other violations as well.