RFC 2229 (rfc2229) - Page 3 of 30

A Dictionary Server Protocol

RFC 2229              A Dictionary Server Protocol          October 1997


   The webster protocol is not suitable for providing access to a large
   number of separate dictionary databases, and extensions to the
   current webster protocol were not felt to be a clean solution to the
   dictionary database problem.

   The DICT protocol is designed to provide access to multiple
   databases.  Word definitions can be requested, the word index can be
   searched (using an easily extended set of algorithms), information
   about the server can be provided (e.g., which index search strategies
   are supported, or which databases are available), and information
   about a database can be provided (e.g., copyright, citation, or
   distribution information).  Further, the DICT protocol has hooks that
   can be used to restrict access to some or all of the databases.

1.1.  Requirements

   In this document, we adopt the convention discussed in Section 1.3.2
   of [RFC 1122] of using the capitalized words MUST, REQUIRED, SHOULD,
   RECOMMENDED, MAY, and OPTIONAL to define the significance of each
   particular requirement specified in this document.

   In brief: "MUST" (or "REQUIRED") means that the item is an absolute
   requirement of the specification; "SHOULD" (or "RECOMMENDED") means
   there may exist valid reasons for ignoring this item, but the full
   implications should be understood before doing so; and "MAY" (or
   "OPTIONAL") means that his item is optional, and may be omitted
   without careful consideration.

2.  Protocol Overview

2.1.  Link Level

   The DICT protocol assumes a reliable data stream such as provided by
   TCP.  When TCP is used, a DICT server listens on port 2628.

   This server is only an interface between programs and the dictionary
   databases.  It does not perform any user interaction or
   presentation-level functions.

2.2.  Lexical Tokens

   Commands and replies are composed of characters from the UCS
   character set [ISO10646] using the UTF-8 [RFC 2044] encoding.  More
   specifically, using the grammar conventions from [RFC 822]:







Faith & Martin               Informational