Hello, "referral-by" attribute(defined in RFC2725) is mandatory in "mntner" object: [martint@ ~/ripe-db]$ whois -BHrh whois.ripe.net -t mntner | grep referral-by referral-by: [mandatory] [single] [ ] [martint@ ~/ripe-db]$ I checked the db-wg mailing-list archive since January 2000 and only discussion I found regarding this attribute was from Engin Gunduz(former RIPE NCC Senior Software Engineer) in June 2004: [martint@ ~/ripe-db]$ for year in {2000..2014}; do for month in January February March April May June July August September October November December; do wget -q --no-check-certificate https://www.ripe.net/ripe/mail/archives/db-wg/$(printf '%s-%s.txt.gz\n' "$year" "$month"); done; done [martint@ ~/ripe-db]$ zgrep -Hi "referral-by" * 2000-August.txt.gz:-irb (or -ireferral-by) <maintainer name> 2000-August.txt.gz:Returns all objects whose referral-by attribute matches the query 2001-August.txt.gz:referral-by: RIPE-DBM-MNT 2001-May.txt.gz:If you mean referral-by, it points to mntner handle, mandatory in mntner 2003-April.txt.gz:referral-by: RIPE-DBM-MNT 2003-April.txt.gz:referral-by: RIPE-DBM-MNT 2003-August.txt.gz:> referral-by: RIPE-DBM-MNT 2003-December.txt.gz: referral-by: MAINT-RGNET 2003-December.txt.gz: referral-by: MAINT-RGNET 2003-December.txt.gz: referral-by: MAINT-RGNET 2003-December.txt.gz: referral-by: MAINT-RGNET 2003-December.txt.gz: referral-by: MAINT-RGNET 2003-December.txt.gz:> referral-by: MAINT-RGNET 2003-December.txt.gz:> referral-by: MAINT-RGNET 2003-December.txt.gz:> > referral-by: MAINT-RGNET 2003-December.txt.gz:> > referral-by: MAINT-RGNET 2003-July.txt.gz:referral-by: RIPE-DBM-MNT 2004-April.txt.gz:referral-by: RIPE-DBM-MNT 2004-June.txt.gz:referral-by: [mandatory] [single] [inverse key] 2004-June.txt.gz:referral-by: RIPE-DBM-MNT 2004-June.txt.gz:Subject: [db-wg] Proposed Change 2004.2: Removal of "referral-by:" Attribute 2004-June.txt.gz:[2004.2] Removal of "referral-by:" Attribute from the MNTNER Object 2004-June.txt.gz:Remove the "referral-by:" attribute from the MNTNER objects' schema. This 2004-June.txt.gz:The "referral-by:" attribute was introduced into MNTNER objects when the 2004-June.txt.gz:"referral-by:" is defined in RFC2725: 2004-June.txt.gz: referral-by This attribute is required in the maintainer object. It 2004-June.txt.gz: referral-by. An auth-override can only be added to a maintainer 2004-June.txt.gz: those identified by the maintainer in the referral-by have 2004-June.txt.gz: "referral-by" attribute is now mandatory in the "maintainer" object 2004-June.txt.gz: referenced by a "referral-by" attribute elsewhere. 2004-June.txt.gz:The RIPE NCC introduced the "referral-by:" attribute as a place-holder, 2004-May.txt.gz:referral-by: [mandatory] [single] [inverse key] 2005-May.txt.gz:> referral-by: [mandatory] [single] [inverse key] 2005-May.txt.gz:> > referral-by: [mandatory] [single] [inverse key] 2005-November.txt.gz:>referral-by: RIPE-DBM-MNT 2005-November.txt.gz:> >referral-by: RIPE-DBM-MNT 2005-November.txt.gz:> > >referral-by: RIPE-DBM-MNT 2007-July.txt.gz:> referral-by: RIPE-DBM-MNT 2007-July.txt.gz:>> referral-by: RIPE-DBM-MNT 2007-June.txt.gz: referral-by: RIPE-DBM-MNT 2007-June.txt.gz: referral-by: RIPE-DBM-MNT 2007-June.txt.gz:> referral-by: RIPE-DBM-MNT 2007-June.txt.gz:> referral-by: RIPE-DBM-MNT 2012-April.txt.gz:referral-by: DEV-ROOT-MNT 2013-March.txt.gz:referral-by: TRUBNIKOV-MNT 2013-March.txt.gz:> referral-by: TRUBNIKOV-MNT 2013-March.txt.gz:> referral-by: TRUBNIKOV-MNT 2013-March.txt.gz:>> referral-by: TRUBNIKOV-MNT 2013-March.txt.gz:>>> referral-by: TRUBNIKOV-MNT [martint@ ~/ripe-db]$ He also proposed to remove the "referral-by" attribute, but there was no feedback to his e-mail. One can read his e-mail here: https://www.ripe.net/ripe/mail/archives/db-wg/2004-June/002797.html In addition, while RIPE database manual says that "referral-by attribute may never be altered after the addition of the maintainer", one can easily change it at least in current RIPE database version. Is the "referral-by" attribute obsolete? Or is it needed in some specific situation? If not, I propose to remove the "referral-by" attribute in "mntner" object or at least make it optional. WBR, Martin Tonusoo -------------------------- LINXTELECOM www.linxtelecom.com -------------------------- NOC 24/7: +372 622 3300