ietf-nntp Initial draft FINALLY available

[chris (c.) lewis]

In article <Pine.BSI.3.93.961002001850.24587p-100000 at baklava.alt.net>,
 <ccaputo at alt.net> wrote:
>On Wed, 2 Oct 1996, Stan Barber wrote:
>> > >> >9.1 AUTHINFO
>> > >> The AUTHINFO SIMPLE and AUTHINFO GENERIC commands are listed, but not the
>> > >> plain (and widely used) AUTHINFO USER|PASS command.  Is this intentional?
>> > >Yes.
>> > Why?  Isn't this what most software is using today?
>> There is no need for both AUTHINFO (original) and AUTHINFO SIMPLE since they
>> are so similar. We don't need both, so I chose one. If folks think that it
>> should be the other one, I don't have a problem with that.
>
>If the purpose of this document is to refine RFC977, I believe we should
>only add things that have come into widespread use since RFC977 was
>released. 
>
>With this in mind, I believe we should describe AUTHINFO USER|PASS and not
>AUTHINFO SIMPLE.  AUTHINFO GENERIC should continue to be included since
>there appears to be consensus that this is a good way to extend AUTHINFO. 

>From another perspective, I don't believe AUTHINFO SIMPLE is actually
implemented.  Isn't it purely something that got lost when the older
NNTP-II spec got abandoned?  Both NNTP 1.5.x and INN 1.4 support
AUTHINFO USER/PASS, as do a number of newsreaders.  Which I think meets
the requirements for "at least two independent implementations".

Now, whether the two server implementations are exactly equivalent to
each other is a different matter (I'll be posting something about
GENERIC shortly).
-- 
"I can't stand this proliferation of paperwork.  It's useless to fight 
the forms.  You've got to kill the people producing them."
-- Vladimir Kabaidze, 64, General Director of Ivanovo Machine Building Works