ietf-nntp Response code 501

[Stan O. Barber]

Paul Overell wrote:
> 
> (Third attempt, apologies if the previous two turn up.)
> 
> In article <200007140545.AAA19326 at academ.com>, Stan Barber
> <sob at academ.com> writes
> >
> >A new draft of the base document has been sent to the Internet Drafts folks.
> >
> 
> In 4.1 Response Codes
> 
> >For unrecognized commands, the 500 response code MUST be returned
> 
> [snip]
> 
> >For recognized commands where the syntax is wrong, the 501 response
> >code MUST be returned
> 
> This is clear, 500 means unrecognized, 501 means syntax error.
> 
> but in 9.4.2 LIST ACTIVE.TIMES, 9.4.3 LIST DISTRIBUTIONS, 9.4.4 LIST
> DISTRIB.PATS, and 9.4.5 LIST NEWSGROUPS the follow phrase is used:
> 
> >If the server does not recognize the command, it SHOULD return the 501
> >error response.
> 
> If it is the intention that a conforming implementation MUST recognize
> these commands then the above phrase should be removed.  If it is the
> intention that conforming implementations can omit - MAY recognize -
> these commands then surely the return code should be 500.

The keyword involved here is "LIST" so if the arguments to a "LIST" keyword is
not
recognized, then it is a syntax error.


> ---------------------------
> 
> In 9.5.2.1 LIST OVERVIEW.FMT
> 
> >If the OVER extension is not implemented, then this command MUST NOT
> >be implemented. If that case, the server MUST return a 501
> 
> Again shouldn't this be a 500.

Nope. See above.

> 
> ---------------------------
> 
> In 8.1.4 Responses from servers without extensions
> 
> >A server NNTP that conforms to this memo but does not support
> >the extensions specified here will not recognize the LIST
> >EXTENSIONS command and MUST consequently return code 500 or
> >code 501.
> 
> Surely a server that does "not support the extensions specified here"
> can support extensions specified elsewhere, in which case it will
> recognize the LIST EXTENSIONS command.  Again the return code for
> unrecognized command should be 500, not 501.  I suggest recast to
> 
>         An NNTP server that conforms to this memo but does not support
>         any extensions will not recognize the LIST EXTENSIONS command
>         and MUST consequently return code 500.
> 

Nope. See above.