another dumb RFC question

[Citizen Bleys]

Does anybody know the RFC document that specifies the standard for DNS names (ie, case sensitivity, format, legal and illegal characters)?

[Endless]

From <a href="http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc3696.html">RFC 3696</a>:

2. Restrictions on domain (DNS) names

The authoritative definitions of the format and syntax of domain
names appear in RFCs 1035 [RFC1035], 1123 [RFC1123], and 2181
[RFC2181].

Any characters, or combination of bits (as octets), are permitted in
DNS names. However, there is a preferred form that is required by
most applications. This preferred form has been the only one
permitted in the names of top-level domains, or TLDs. In general, it
is also the only form permitted in most second-level names registered
in TLDs, although some names that are normally not seen by users obey
other rules. It derives from the original ARPANET rules for the
naming of hosts (i.e., the "hostname" rule) and is perhaps better
described as the "LDH rule", after the characters that it permits.
The LDH rule, as updated, provides that the labels (words or strings
separated by periods) that make up a domain name must consist of only
the ASCII [ASCII] alphabetic and numeric characters, plus the hyphen.
No other symbols or punctuation characters are permitted, nor is
blank space. If the hyphen is used, it is not permitted to appear at
either the beginning or end of a label. There is an additional rule
that essentially requires that top-level domain names not be all-
numeric.

[Doomgaze]

I prefer RFC 1149.

[Endless]

xD

Good stuff.

[Doomgaze]

I'm not quite sure on the proper usage of "whitestuff and blackstuff" though.