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whois only works for registered domains. It won't help you find the authoritative servers for a subdomain of a registered domain (e.g. subdomain.jvns.ca).

It also relies on the registry operating an accurate and reliable whois service. I would not count on that from ccTLDs.

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To get complete whois information you need to query the registrar. Whether the whois or DNS is the most up-to-date source for the authoritative DNS servers for a domain seems like an implementation detail at the registrar rather than something you can know in advance. I guess I'm missing something.

I think what the parent is saying is that the nameserver information coming from the registrar’s Whois may not be accurate in any way compared to what is actually in the DNS. The DNS (and, by extension, the authoritative nameservers for a domain) is, by definition, the most up-to-date source for the DNS.

Edit: registrar’s whois

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