📌 Draft Standard

PIP-17: PNS Pactus Name System

Authors	Kayhan Alizadeh [me@kehiy.net]
Discussion	View Discussion PIP-17
Category	Network
Created	2023-12-17

Abstract
Motivation
Specification

Abstract

This proposal suggests adding a TLD registry to the Pactus blockchain, allowing users to register TLDs and point them to a contract that manages them.

Motivation

Adding the ability to point to a Pactus address, IP address, or other blockchain addresses using human-readable domain names can make sharing addresses secure and easier. It also improves the overall web3 experience on Pactus.

Specification

TLDs

The PNS system is similar to DNS on the internet, with two main components in Pactus: top-level domains (TLDs) and Registrars. Each TLD has three parts:

Owner (a Pactus address)
Name (the TLD itself, such as .pac)
Registrar (a contact address that manages subdomains and resolves them)

The nodes SHOULD keep track of TLDs, and provide RPC for finding Registrars of each TLD. time-to-live of these records should be 30 minutes.

Submitting a new TLD requires a transfer transaction to the treasury address with this structure:

Memo: TLD [name] [registrar] (example: TLD pac pc1zwqxz2wmz5upuvxzj3kpgfq3k2are4s3ctqxtxy)
Amount should be 10000 PAC coins to prevent random spam TLD registrations.

NOTE: The memo limit is 64 characters in Pactus, and the address contains 42 characters, so, we can define TLDs up to 17 characters.

The Owner MUST be able to change the contract by submitting the same name with a different contract address. Additionally, some other addresses MUST NOT be able to register the same TLD. any transaction with a different style and lower amount MUST be considered a normal transfer transaction.

The network/blockchain nodes SHOULD keep track of these PNS TLDs, index them (their owner, name, and last registrar), and define RPC methods for resolving them.

Registrars

A registrar contract SHOULD implement one main function:

// This function provides a way to register new domains like: blockchain.pac, 🔥.pac, and more.
// Calling this function can be Owner(s) only and it's OPTIONAL.
fn register(name: String, record: String) -> bool;

Resolving by clients

The wallets, clients, and applications can use RPC nodes and resolve names by reading the registrar contract storage related to it.