ietf-nntp Mandatory and optional commands

[Clive D.W. Feather]

I am under the impression that all commands in draft15, except those in the
extensions (section 9.5) are mandatory. Is that correct ?

LIST EXTENSIONS has a 500 response listed. That is surely wrong, even if
the command isn't provided. Or is it intended ?

Some LIST sub-commands, such as LIST ACTIVE.TIMES, need not return valid
data if the server doesn't maintain it. This is what the 403 and 503
responses are for, right ? Or do we really intend to allow 501 for this ?

In principle each command could be:

(1) Mandatory, facility must be provided (e.g. GROUP).
(2) Mandatory, facility need not be provided (e.g. LIST ACTIVE.TIMES).
(3) Optional (e.g. none ? LIST EXTENSIONS ?).
(4) Part of an extension, in which case it is mandatory if the extension is
supported and optional (?) otherwise.

Am I on the right track so far ?


My problem is that I can't find anything that actually says that all
commands are mandatory, or that some are optional. LIST ACTIVE.TIMES
mentions that the information might not be available, though not in the
clearest way. Do we need new wording for this ?

-- 
Clive D.W. Feather  | Work:  <clive at demon.net>   | Tel:  +44 20 8371 1138
Internet Expert     | Home:  <clive at davros.org>  | Fax:  +44 20 8371 4037
Demon Internet      | WWW: http://www.davros.org | Mobile: +44 7973 377646
Thus plc            |                            |