It’s possible that the .io cctld is going to go away [0]. Does crates.io have a backup plan at all? Does anyone know what problems it would end up causing?
I imagine the package registry having to move domains is going to cause a ton of problems.
Frankly, it’s concerning to me that so much of the Rust ecosystem has chosen to standardize on shaky ccTLDs. The Indian Ocean Territory (.io) is a small island territory whose only inhabitants are a single military base, it is crazy to use that domain for something important. Serbia (.rs) is more stable, but they could still cut off access for non-Serbians if they wanted to.
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I’d very much welcome a crates.io alternative that doesn’t require github and supports namespacing by username or org. The dependency on a proprietary platform rubs me the wrong way.
Obviously this isn’t specific to Rust, but frankly it’s bizarre to me that ICANN chose to tie top-level domains to country codes in the first place. Languages might have made sense, but a major feature of the internet is that it’s less beholden to political boundaries than most of the physical world is.
It’s more bizarre that a single organisation would have such tight control over the Internet. Assigning a tld to each country is a good way to appease each country and give them autonomy over their own portion
But do they actually have autonomy, give that random companies can use
.ioand.ai? Or did the British Indian Ocean Territory and Anguilla approve all such uses of those domains?Canada specifically won’t issue .ca without proof of residence in the country, or something close to that.
I think .io is unfortunately administered by a group outside of the country it’s related to. Which means they have less control at the moment (something something British colonialism or something)
But yeah imo country code tlds should be limited to businesses / people who reside within the specific country.
We have soo many other tld options that are better choices.
Forgot to mention .sh, which is also a ccTLD for a tiny island nation, and also shouldn’t be used for hosting anything that is difficult to move.
Saint Helena is in no way comparable because it’s not disputed territory. Back when Mauritius became independent the British carved out some islands for their continued colonial use, breaking (back then brand new) international law.
Saint Helena has no such connection to another country and it was uninhabited before the Dutch settled. The Brits later conquered it but even if the Dutch want it back it’d keep its autonomous territory status and therefore its own TLD, the Dutch have plenty of those.
They can still revoke its use anytime they want. Which is the main issue right?
So can any TLD holder. The rules for .org might change to disallow individuals. .com might outlaw non-profits. .net might get restricted to ISPs. There is a small, but existent, chance that all the oxygen molecules in the room I’m in are going to decide that they’ll huddle up in some corner, leaving me to suffocate. I refuse to worry about it.
If you want to be paranoid like that you can send the rust foundation some money and tell them to spend it on the .rust and .ferris gTLDs.
