On Apr 30, 2015, at 9:02 AM, Andrew Sullivan <a...@anvilwalrusden.com> wrote:
> 
> On Thu, Apr 30, 2015 at 11:14:24AM -0400, Lyman Chapin wrote:
>> 
>> "Label - The identifier of an individual node in the sequence of nodes that 
>> comprise a fully-qualified domain name."
>> 
> 
> I am not sure this is quite right, or if it is it's circular with the
> other definitions in RFC 1034.
> 
> 1034 says this:
> 
>    Each node has a label, which is zero to 63 octets in length.
>    Brother nodes may not have the same label, although the same label
>    can be used for nodes which are not brothers.  One label is
>    reserved, and that is the null (i.e., zero length) label used for
>    the root.
> 
>    The domain name of a node is the list of the labels on the path
>    from the node to the root of the tree.  By convention, the labels
>    that compose a domain name are printed or read left to right, from
>    the most specific (lowest, farthest from the root) to the least
>    specific (highest, closest to the root).
> 
> The problem therefore that I see is that the identifier of the node is
> the domain name (which we have clarified as the "fully-qualified
> domain name").  This is why the text I'd previously sent to Suzanne
> used "portion".  For while I agree that it's not great, it does anchor
> this in the discussion already in 1034.
> 
> What about
> 
> Label - the identifier of an individual node in the DNS namespace
> taken apart from its location in a fully-qualified domain name.
> 
> I think this is consistent with the "Each node has a label" language.
> But it's pretty hard to understand, and still faintly circular.

These are all circular, and I think we have to live with that. This last one is 
fine with me too.

We now have:

        The portion of a domain name at each node in the tree making up a 
fully-qualified domain name.
        The identifier of an individual node in the sequence of nodes that 
comprise a fully-qualified domain name.
        The identifier of an individual node in the DNS namespace taken apart 
from its location in a fully-qualified domain name.

--Paul Hoffman
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