When I type "whois example.com", whois queries the Internet and
gives me really basic information.  No referral chasing.
Quality I expect from Sun (keeping much of their userland the
same as it was for SunOS 3, and shipping vi(1) from 1942).

I pulled over whois from OpenBSD 3.2-current to start to make
a patch.  But first I compiled it, on a whim.

It compiled just fine.  Works right by chasing down referrals.

For thoroughness, the FreeBSD 4.7-current version doesn't "just work".

As much as I like arbitrary differences between BSDs just for
the sake of it (biting sarcasm), any danger in just sucking
the OpenBSD whois into NetBSD and saving the effort?

My part in bringing the BSDs together...

chuck