Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!rutgers!bellcore!bcr.cc.bellcore.com!alg
From: alg@bcr.cc.bellcore.com (Al Grimstad)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.iso
Subject: Re: X500: Does alias have to point to an existing entry?
Message-ID: <17617@bellcore.bellcore.com>
Date: 14 Sep 89 12:56:31 GMT
References: <7055@ditmela.oz>
Organization: Bellcore
Lines: 23

In article <7055@ditmela.oz> hans@ditmela.oz (Hans Eriksson) writes:
> A question concerning Directories (IS 9594, X.500):
> 
> I am almost convinced that you may create an alias which points to a
> non-existing entry. But my fellow implementors are not, so I post the
> question here.
> 
> As I see it, an alias which points to nowhere, just generates a
> NameError with aliasProblem. Maintanence of aliases is a matter
> outside the standards.
> 
> /hans

You are correct (as of the December 1988 "UNOFFICIAL 'final' version").
Refer your fellow implementors to X.511 (ISO 9594-3) clause 11.1.2.2 :
"... Where the entry being created is an alias, no check is made to
ensure that the aliasedObjectName attribute points to a valid entry."

It is the user's responsibility to manage aliases properly. The Directory
will only detect and report invalid aliases when it encounters them in the
course of its operation, it won't prevent them.

Al Grimstad  alg@bcr.cc.bellcore.com