ietf-nntp Where are we at?

[Clive D.W. Feather]

Stan O. Barber said:
> 027 with the additional comment that OVER and LIST OVERVIEW.FMT both must be
> implemented if either is.
> I would also note that some wording on how to clarify the whole issue of
> LIST and its relatives would be welcome. There
> was the suggestion that some wording might help, but I didn't see any.

We already have:

     Note that 
     where a command has variants depending on a keyword (e.g.
     LIST ACTIVE and LIST NEWSGROUPS), then 501 MUST be used when
     the requested variant is not implemented but the base command
     is.

However, perhaps you could add the following to 4, after the paragraph
ending "Arguments MUST NOT exceed 497 octets".

    Commands may have variants, using a second keyword immediately
    after the first to indicate which variant is required. The only
    such commands in this specification are LIST and MODE.

and in 4.1 make the edit:

    ... A server MAY provide
    extensions to this memo, including new commands,
+   new variants or features
    of existing commands, and other ways of changing the internal
    state of the server.

> 034 (RFC 1939 influenced how I organized the NNTP document. I chose another
> RFC that the IESG approved as a template for this document and that was the
> RFC I chose. I will add clarifying text to the draft if that remains
> confusing for people to figure out.)

I'm not sure enough survives to be worth it, but if you keep the reference
then please add something.

> 035

I've just reviewed this, and I stand by the comment that re-ordering the
syntax would be beneficial.

We might also (like Usefor is doing) like to look at the =/ notation of RFC
2234. This would allow the syntax to be written:

        command-line = command *WSP CRLF

        command = article-command
        article-command = "ARTICLE" [WSP (msg-id / article-number)]

        command =/ body-command
        body-command = "BODY" [WSP (msg-id / article-number)]

        command =/ date-command
        date-command = "DATE"

etc. Or commands can be grouped:

        command = article-command / head-command /
                  body-command / stat-command
        article-command = "ARTICLE" [WSP (msg-id / article-number)]
        head-command    = "HEAD"    [WSP (msg-id / article-number)]
        body-command    = "BODY"    [WSP (msg-id / article-number)]
        stat-command    = "STAT"    [WSP (msg-id / article-number)]

        command =/ date-command
        date-command = "DATE"

        command =/ last-command / next-command
        last-command = "LAST"
        next-command = "NEXT"

etc.

The remaining syntax items could then be placed with relevant commands,
or grouped at the end if they belong to many commands.

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