Add the Rationale section to README (closes #121 )

REPO_POLICIES.md requires a Rationale section saying why the program exists. RIS Live sends only the changes to the routing table, so it cannot answer which AS an address is routed to now; routewatch keeps the table the changes add up to and answers from it. Model: opus-5-5
2026-10-20 02:10:29 +00:00
1 changed files with 4 additions and 10 deletions
@@ -10,16 +10,10 @@ querying routing information.
 RIPE RIS Live streams the BGP updates that RIPE's route collectors receive, as
 they happen, from the moment a client connects. It reports changes, not the
 routing table they add up to, so it cannot say which AS an IP address is routed
-to now or which routes a prefix has. RouteWatch applies the feed's updates to
+to now or which routes a prefix has. RouteWatch keeps that table: it applies the
-live routing tables in its own SQLite database and answers IP-to-AS lookups and
+feed's updates to live routing tables in its own SQLite database and answers
-prefix pages from them.
+from them, so an IP-to-AS lookup or a prefix page shows the routes as the feed
-
+last reported them.
 The feed sends no table when a client connects, so these tables hold only the
 routes the feed has announced since RouteWatch first started: an IP-to-AS lookup
 finds nothing for an address whose routes have not been announced since then.
 The tables also miss the updates RouteWatch drops when it falls behind under
 load and those sent while it is stopped, so a lookup or a prefix page can show a
 route the feed has withdrawn.
 ## Features