Talk:Fully qualified domain name

Correcting First Paragraph

This first paragraph used to look like this:

A fully qualified domain name (or FQDN) is the human-readable name corresponding to the TCP/IP address of a network interface, as found on a computer, router or other networked device. It includes both its host name and its domain name.

I changed it. Here is my reasoning.

The statements contained in the first paragraph are incorrect. A FQDN doesn't have to be human-readable, unless in the sense that it uses human readable characters. A FQDN could be rs3927-8H.as4823.net. Is that human-readable? My point is that it has dual purpose, both human and machine.

Secondly (and more importantly), an FQDN does not correspond to ANYTHING, not by definition. There are multiple resource record types that you can use with domain names. I will point to IN TXT as a valid, but non-TCP/IP address RR as an example of why this is not true.

What i have changed the paragraph to is more correct, and does not mislead the reader into a narrow view of what DNS is capable of.

- Fudoreaper 22:28, July 29, 2005 (UTC)

I am not sure if "canonical name" is the same as and should be directed to "FQDN". I read that if one uses /etc/hosts, the first hostname on the list is considered as the canonical name. So, if the first name is a unqualified name, the canonical name is the unqualified name. It seems canonical is as opposed to aliases, and FQDN is opposed to unqualified name - they are two different concepts. That is, all the canonical and aliased names can be fully qualified, and also can be all unqualified. I read that "canonical name" is defined in RFC103.

- Ming Kin Lai