[DNSOP] Re: on the more general problem of delegating to other namespaces in the DNS

[Andrew McConachie <[e-mail]>]

On 17 Jun 2025, at 17:44, Joe Abley wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Warren, Wes and I put our respective heads together in Prague and came 
> up with this:
>
>   https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-jabley-dnsop-zone-cut-to-nowhere/
>
> This is some general advice for how to delegate a domain to another 
> namespace.
>
> This document proposes a standard mechanism that is potentially 
> applicable, we think, to the .INTERNAL situation that was discussed at 
> some length a while ago (and in a couple of messages today) but also 
> includes other examples of when it could and should not be used.
>
> This document doesn't direct the IANA to do anything, to avoid the 
> policy conversation that implies, but if it achieved consensus it 
> would provide a standard mechanism that IANA could reasonably choose 
> to use.
>
> <clickbait type="wes/science">Wes was still madly typing into a 
> half-closed laptop as I left to board a flight and the document only 
> contains references to his science to follow, not the actual science. 
> If this sounds intriguing, review the document to learn more. 
> </clickbait>
>
> <clickbait type="warren/kittens">There are kittens.</clickbait>
>

I’ve read through the draft as well as the messages on list, but I 
still don’t understand the use case for this draft. Why is creating a 
delegation to nowhere better than doing nothing?

One interpretation of the draft could be that its purpose is to provide 
documentation for human consumption. Is this an intended interpretation? 
Or are zone cuts to nowhere also useful information for machines? If so, 
how SHOULD a resolver on the private side of split-horizon dns behave 
when it encounters a zone cut to nowhere?

Thanks,
Andrew