This is jwhois, an improved Whois client capable of selecting Whois server
to query based on a flexible configuration file using either regular
expressions or CIDR blocks.

Please send bug reports, suggestions, improvements, rewrites and other
material to bug-jwhois@gnu.org.


 1.  Configuration file
 2.  ./configure
 2.1 Default Host
 2.2 Cache Functionality
 3.  IPv6 support
 4.  What to do when things go wrong
 5.  Obtaining jwhois

1. Configuration File
=====================

   In the example/ subdirectory in the distribution archive is an example
configuration file for jwhois. This file should contain all of the known
public Whois server records. Any changes to either host listed in that
example configuration file should be reported to the maintainer so that
the change can be included in future releases.

   The configuration file should reside in the /usr/local/etc directory,
or the directory that you specified using the --sysconfdir switch to the
configure script.

2. ./configure

2.1. Default Host
=================

   If jwhois can't find any configuration file, the queries will be
directed to a default host. The default value is `whois.internic.net',
but this can be changed by using the --enable-DEFAULTHOST switch to
the configure script.

2.2. Cache Functionality
========================

   This version of jwhois includes a functionality that can cache Whois
responses. The cached information is stored in a local database which can
be read and written to by jwhois.  The default location for this file
is /usr/local/var, but this can be changed by adding another directory
with --localstatedir=<dir> when running the configure script.

   The location of the database can also be set in the configuration file.
Normally, jwhois is setgid to some specific group that has the ability to
read and write to the database. The database is not created by the installation
script, so you have to create it manually after having installed the binary.

   The default group is `nogroup' which is probably a sane enough
alternative that shouldn't impose any security problems. The group can
be set by calling the configure script with the `--enable-GROUP' parameter,
or you can modify the group owner and setgid bits manually.


3. IPv6 Support
===============

   jwhois has support for IPv6 using the inet6-apps package from The
Inner Net.  The package is delivered with the libinet6.a library which
consists of a number of functions required for IPv6, such as improved
versions of getaddrinfo().  If your systems C library already has support
for IPv6 in getaddrinfo(), you don't need the inet6-apps package.

4. What to do when things go wrong
==================================

   There is a command line switch called -v or --verbose. Use it. The
output that it gives can give significant help with locating a potential
problem with jwhois.  When attempting to use the cache feature, the most
common problem is that jwhois doesn't have permission to write the database
files that it need.  Use the verbose flag to see if this is indeed the problem.

5. Obtaining JWHOIS
===================
JWHOIS can be obtained via anonymous FTP from
ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/jwhois/
