ietf-nntp GROUP Responses (was: Commetns on draft-15.pdf)

[Clive D.W. Feather]

Charles Lindsey said:
[comp.foo is aliased to comp.bar]

> But the interesting question is what happens if you try to read articles
> from comp.foo, using GROUP + ARTICLE commands. You say "GROUP comp.foo",
> and what response do you get?
> 
> Does it return 411? That would seem somewhat unhelpful.
> Otherwise, it has to return 211, in which case what count, low water mark
> and high water mark does it return?

Let's put it in protocol terms.

(1) If the requested group does not exist, is the GROUP command allowed to
select a "related" group and return its details ? [Ignore the question of
what "related" means.]

If NO, then an aliased group must produce a 411 result. If YES, then:

(2) If a related group is selected, should the 211 response include the
original group name or the name of the related group ?

(3) If the answer to (2) is the original name, then is there any way to
find out what the related group is ?

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