[dns-operations] Why are cnames called "canonical" names?

[Paul Ferguson]

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I can't help but feel this is relevant. :-)


http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/canonical?s=t
canonical
[kuh-non-i-kuh l]
 adjective, Also, canonic
1. pertaining to, established by, or conforming to a canon or canons.


http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/canon
canon
[kan-uh n]
 noun
1. an ecclesiastical rule or law enacted by a council or other
competent authority and, in the Roman Catholic Church, approved by the
pope.
2. the body of ecclesiastical law.
3. the body of rules, principles, or standards accepted as axiomatic
and universally binding in a field of study or art:
the neoclassical canon.
4. a fundamental principle or general rule:
the canons of good behavior.

- - ferg


On 4/9/2015 6:57 PM, Mark Andrews wrote:

> 
> In message <55272759.9030605 at easydns.com>, "Mark E. Jeftovic" 
> writes:
>> 
>> Thanks but that page doesn't go into why the term "canonical" was
>> adopted, as opposed to "alias" (which makes sense), or even 
>> "knickname", "doppelganger" or something like "pointer".
>> 
>> Somebody did send me a very comprehensive background off list 
>> which goes back to Kernighan & Ritchie's "C" book.
>> 
>> - mark
> 
> The target (RHS) of the CNAME is supposed to be the official 
> (canonical) name of the entity (though nameservers are required to
>  handle CNAME chains when this requirement is not being met).
> 
> The LHS is the alias. The RHS is the canonical name.
> 
> Think of CNAME as "the canonical name of this alias is ..."
> 
> Now if were providing a list of alias for this entity then ALIAS 
> would be the right name for the record and more than one of them 
> would be supported.
> 
> Mark
> 
>> Roland Dobbins wrote:
>>> On 10 Apr 2015, at 6:26, Mark E. Jeftovic wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Is it in the "accepted as genuine" sense of "included in the 
>>>> list of sacred books officially accepted as genuine" 
>>>> definition of "canonical" that led to this?
>>> 
>>> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNAME_record>
>>> 
>>> ----------------------------------- Roland Dobbins 
>>> <rdobbins at arbor.net> 
>>> _______________________________________________ dns-operations 
>>> mailing list dns-operations at lists.dns-oarc.net 
>>> https://lists.dns-oarc.net/mailman/listinfo/dns-operations 
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>>> https://lists.dns-oarc.net/mailman/listinfo/dns-jobs
>>> 
>> 
>> -- Mark E. Jeftovic <markjr at easydns.com> Founder & CEO, easyDNS 
>> Technologies Inc. +1-(416)-535-8672 ext 225 Read my blog: 
>> http://markable.com
>> 
>> _______________________________________________ dns-operations 
>> mailing list dns-operations at lists.dns-oarc.net 
>> https://lists.dns-oarc.net/mailman/listinfo/dns-operations 
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- -- 
Paul Ferguson
VP Threat Intelligence, IID
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