ietf-nntp Server response length limits

[Andrew Gierth]

>>>>> "Clive" == Clive D W Feather <clive at demon.net> writes:

 >> Just to be sure that I'm reading the latest draft correctly...
 >> 
 >> A single-line server response must begin with a response code, and other
 >> than that can be of unbounded length.  Is this true?

 Clive> That's right.

 Clive> Certain response codes are followed by a group name or a
 Clive> message-ID; there is no limit on the length of these *in
 Clive> NNTP*. And the trailing text can have any length (but, of
 Clive> course, you are supposed to ignore it).

that's a weakness that needs to be fixed, then. There is no reason to
allow unbounded lengths of single-line response, and most existing
software is broken by unduly long response lines. The single-line
response should be limited to 512 octets including the CRLF (and the
including the initial three digits and space).

As for message-ids and newsgroup names: both are parameters to NNTP
commands and thus can be no longer than 497 octets; practical usages
usually require that they be smaller than that (e.g. NEWNEWS or LIST
NEWSGROUPS are likely to go over the maximum command length if given
a newsgroup name too close to the edge). The existing response codes
would, given an overall 512-octet limit, require that message-ids be
no longer than 495 octets and newsgroup names be no longer than 473
octets. In fact we _do_ limit message-ids to 250 octets in the draft,
so this is only an issue for group names.

-- 
Andrew.