I maintain ip-num: a Typescript library for working with IP numbers. You can see the library on Github here
Last year, I had the idea of adding an abstraction in the library for dealing with contiguous IP numbers that are not CIDR ranges. For example to be able to model this 193.0.25.0-193.0.25.5, even though it is not a valid CIDR range.
You can read the Github issue here
But lately I am rethinking if such an abstraction is a valuable addition. The main reasons for not wanting to add it are:
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IP addresses are either defined as a single IP number, or as a CIDR range. There is no formal specification/definition for just having contiguous IP numbers, and hence such an abstraction should not be provided in the library
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I cannot come up with any real-world scenario where such abstraction would be needed.
But since I am not a day to day Network engineer myself, I would like to have the input of others to validate the reasoning behind the decision not to include this abstraction.
Basically I would like to know:
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If there is actually a valid technical definition for ranges that are not CIDR? an rfc?
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Real world scenario where you would like to have ranges that are not CIDR ranges.
Please feel free to share your thoughts, either here, or on Github. It would be appreciated.
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