Clean up whois manual.

Document the RA_SERVER environment variable.

Remove the obsolete -R option, and discourage people from trying
to use the Network Solutions server.

Describe the default behaviour in the DESCRIPTION section,
not buried in the options.

1 files changed, 42 insertions, 67 deletions

diff --git a/usr.bin/whois/whois.1 b/usr.bin/whois/whois.1
index 0f0f17739937..9ffa8009f7b0 100644
--- a/usr.bin/whois/whois.1
+++ b/usr.bin/whois/whois.1
@@ -47,6 +47,38 @@ utility looks up records in the databases maintained by several
 Network Information Centers
 .Pq Tn NICs .
 .Pp
+By default
+.Nm
+constructs the name of a whois server to use from the top-level domain
+.Pq Tn TLD
+of the supplied (single) argument, and appending
+.Qq Li .whois-servers.net .
+This effectively allows a suitable whois server to be selected
+automatically for a large number of
+.Tn TLDs .
+.Pp
+In the event that an IP
+address is specified, the whois server will default to the American
+Registry for Internet Numbers
+.Pq Tn ARIN .
+If a query to
+.Tn ARIN
+references
+.Tn APNIC , AfriNIC , LACNIC ,
+or
+.Tn RIPE ,
+that server will be queried also, provided that the
+.Fl Q
+option is not specified.
+.Pp
+If the query is not a domain name or IP address,
+.Nm
+will fall back to
+the host specified in the
+.Ev RA_SERVER
+environment variable, or if that is not set, it will use
+.Pa whois.crsnic.net .
+.Pp
 The options are as follows:
 .Bl -tag -width indent
 .It Fl a
@@ -90,64 +122,10 @@ contact for subdomains of
 .It Fl h Ar host
 Use the specified host instead of the default variant.
 Either a host name or an IP address may be specified.
-.Pp
-By default
-.Nm
-constructs the name of a whois server to use from the top-level domain
-.Pq Tn TLD
-of the supplied (single) argument, and appending
-.Qq Li .whois-servers.net .
-This effectively allows a suitable whois server to be selected
-automatically for a large number of
-.Tn TLDs .
-.Pp
-In the event that an IP
-address is specified, the whois server will default to the American
-Registry for Internet Numbers
-.Pq Tn ARIN .
-If a query to
-.Tn ARIN
-references
-.Tn APNIC , AfriNIC , LACNIC ,
-or
-.Tn RIPE ,
-that server will be queried also, provided that the
-.Fl Q
-option is not specified.
-.Pp
-If the query is not a domain name or IP address,
-.Nm
-will fall back to
-.Pa whois.crsnic.net .
 .It Fl i
-Use the Network Solutions Registry for Internet Numbers
+Use the obsolete Network Solutions Registry for Internet Numbers
 .Pq Pa whois.networksolutions.com
 database.
-It contains network numbers and domain contact information for most of
-.Pa .COM , .NET , .ORG
-and
-.Pa .EDU
-domains.
-.Pp
-.Sy NOTE !
-The registration of these domains is now done by a number of
-independent and competing registrars and this database holds no information
-on the domains registered by organizations other than Network Solutions, Inc.
-Also, note that the
-.Tn InterNIC
-database
-.Pq Pa whois.internic.net
-is no longer handled by Network Solutions, Inc.
-For details, see
-.Pa http://www.internic.net/ .
-.Pp
-(Hint: Contact information, identified by the term
-.Em handle ,
-can be looked up by prefixing
-.Qq Li "handle "
-to the
-.Tn NIC
-handle in the query.)
 .It Fl I
 Use the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
 .Pq Tn IANA
@@ -190,24 +168,21 @@ Use the R\(aaeseaux IP Europ\(aaeens
 database.
 It contains network numbers and domain contact information
 for Europe.
-.It Fl R
-Use the Russia Network Information Center
-.Pq Tn RIPN
-database.
-It contains network numbers and domain contact information
-for subdomains of
-.Pa .RU .
-This option is deprecated; use the
-.Fl c
-option with an argument of
-.Qq Li RU
-instead.
 .El
 .Pp
 The operands specified to
 .Nm
 are treated independently and may be used
 as queries on different whois servers.
+.Sh ENVIRONMENT
+.Bl -tag
+.It Ev RA_SERVER
+The default whois server.
+If this is unset,
+.Nm
+will use
+.Pa whois.crsnic.net .
+.El
 .Sh EXIT STATUS
 .Ex -std
 .Sh EXAMPLES