a parallel whois tool for programs. programs that need to do whois lookups to test availablity (because names can be registered that have no NS records) can interface with pwho. the input is simple: name[ whoisserver] where "name" is a query without spaces for "whoisserver", which MUST be an IPv4 address. input is line-separated. the output is simple: q 0 st where "q" is the input-line number in sequence-space, and "st" is one of: permfail - name is not registered remotefail - temporary error; (try again later?) ok - name IS registered