Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!EMU.NCSL.NIST.GOV!colella
From: colella@EMU.NCSL.NIST.GOV (Richard Colella)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.iso
Subject: Re:  X500: Does alias have to point to an existing entry?
Message-ID: <8909142001.AA29457@emu.ncsl.nist.gov>
Date: 14 Sep 89 20:01:12 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Lines: 21

Hans,
> 
> 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.

Yes, you can create an alias that points to a non-existent entry.
The decision to let this happen was made a couple of years ago.
The standards folks decided that the tradeoff between the complexity
and cost of guaranteeing aliases appeared to outweigh the necessity
of having this feature.
> 
> As I see it, an alias which points to nowhere, just generates a
> NameError with aliasProblem.

Yes--X.511/ISO 9594-3, Clause 18.4.6, Item 12.5.2.1.
>
Regards,
Richard