ietf-nntp HDR

[Clive D.W. Feather]

Russ Allbery said:
>> Existing practice with XHDR/XPAT is (as I've repeatedly pointed out)
>> broken in this respect: some servers (Typhoon and its ilk) behave as
>> though the requested header were empty, other servers (e.g. INN, and
>> mine) return a 501 error.
> 
>> I'd like to be able to allow HDR on arbitrary headers, but at the moment
>> it's out of the question for performance reasons.
> 
> I think a 503 response is the best approach here, even though it isn't
> anyone's existing practice right now.  501 doesn't make any sense, as it's
> not a syntax error.  503 seems to be exactly what the situation needs.

I agree.

Suggested approach: a server MAY restrict HDR to certain specific headers.
If so, any other header will produce a 503. If a server supports both the
OVER and HDR extensions, it MUST allow HDR on any header returned by OVER.

-- 
Clive D.W. Feather  | Work:  <clive at demon.net>   | Tel:  +44 20 8371 1138
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