ICANN RDAP CLI

This is a command-line interface (CLI) client for the Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) written and sponsored by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). RDAP is standard of the IETF, and extensions to RDAP are a current work activity of the IETF's REGEXT working group. More information on ICANN's role in RDAP can be found here.

Installing the RDAP Client

Pre-Built Binaries

Pre-built binaries are available for most mainstream systems: x86_64 and Arm 64bit for Linux GNU systems, x86_64 and Arm 64bit macOS, and x86_64 for Windows. You may find the pre-built binaries on the Releases page.

For non-Ubuntu Linux, compiling from crates.io or source (both are easy) is recommended to avoid issues with dynamic linking to OpenSSL.

Compiling from crates.io

If you have Rust installed on your system, then compiling from source is very straightforward. If you do not have Rust installed on your system, it is usually very easy to do: see Rustup.

If you are on a Linux system, you will need OpenSSL development files. For Debian and Ubuntu, this is usually done via apt install pkg-config libssl-dev. For other Linux systems, consult your packaging documentation.

For macOS and Windows, the native TLS libraries are used, and there are no steps needed to install them.

To build and install: cargo install icann-rdap-cli.

Compiling from Source

If you have Rust installed on your system, then compiling from source is very straightforward. If you do not have Rust installed on your system, it is usually very easy to do: see Rustup.

If you are on a Linux system, you will need OpenSSL development files. For Debian and Ubuntu, this is usually done via apt install pkg-config libssl-dev. For other Linux systems, consult your packaging documentation.

For macOS and Windows, the native TLS libraries are used, and there are no steps needed to install them.

Run the tests: cargo test

Then build the software: cargo build --release. The 'rdap' executable binary will be available in the target/release directory.

Using the RDAP Client

The basic usage is rdap XXX where XXX is a domain name, IP address, AS number, etc...

For more advanced usage, run rdap --help which should yield the extensive help guide.

Paging Output

The client has a built-in (embedded) pager. Use of this pager is controlled via the RDAP_PAGING environment variable and the -P command argument.

It takes three values:

• "embedded" - use the built-in pager
• "auto" - use the built-in pager if the program is being run from a terminal
• "none" - use no paging

For example, -P embedded will default to using the built-in pager.

By default, the client will not use a pager.

When set to "auto", the client determines if a pager is appropriate. This is done by attempting to determine if the terminal is interactive or not. If the terminal is not interactive, paging will be turned off otherwise it will be on.

Output Format

By default, the client will attempt to determine the output format of the information. If it determines the shell is interactive, output will be in rendered-markdown. Otherwise the output will be JSON.

You can explicitly control this behavior using the -O command argument or the RDAP_OUTPUT environment variable (see below).

Directing Queries To A Specific Server

By default, the client will use the RDAP bootstrap files provided by IANA to determine the authoritative server for the information being requested. These IANA files have the "base URLs" for the RDAP servers.

You can override this behavior by either specifying a base "object tag" from the IANA object tags registry or with an explicit URL.

An object tag can be specified with the -b command argument or the RDAP_BASE environment variable (see below). For example, -b arin will direct the client to find the ARIN server in the RDAP object tag registry.

An explicit base URL can be specified using the -B command or the RDAP_BASE_URL environment variable.

Caching

By default, the client will cache data based on the request URL and "self" links provided in the RDAP results.

This can be turned off with the -N command parameter or by setting the RDAP_NO_CACHE environment variable to "true".

Logging

The client logs errors, warning, and other information on its processing. This can be controlled with the --log-level command argument or the RDAP_LOG environment variable.

Secure Connections

By default, the client will use secure connections. The following arguments and environment variables can be used to modify this behavior:

• -T or RDAP_ALLOW_HTTP : RDAP servers should be using HTTPS. When given or set to true, HTTP will be allowed.
• -K or RDAP_ALLOW_INVALID_HOST_NAMES : Allows HTTPS connections in which the host name does not match the certificate.
• -I or RDAP_ALLOW_INVALID_CERTIFICATES : Allows HTTPS connections in which the TLS certificate is invalid.

Configuration

Configuration of this program may be set using environment variables or using an environment variables configuration file in the configuration directory of this program. An example is automatically written to the configuration directory. This configuraiton file may be customized by uncommenting out the provided environment variable settings.

The location of the configuration file is platform dependent.

On Linux, this file is located at $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/rdap/rdap.env or $HOME/.config/rdap/rdap.env.

On macOS, this file is located at $HOME/Library/Application Support/rdap/rdap.env.

On Windows, this file is located at {FOLDERID_RoamingAppData}\rdap\config\rdap.env.

Resetting

Use the --reset argument to reset all client state. This will remove the RDAP and IANA caches and reset the rdap.env file (see above) to the default.

License

Licensed under either of

• Apache License, Version 2.0 (LICENSE-APACHE or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
• MIT license (LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT) at your option.

Contribution

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, intentionally submitted for inclusion in the work by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual licensed pursuant to the Apache License, Version 2.0 or the MIT License referenced as above, at ICANN’s option, without any additional terms or conditions.