[ietf-nntp] :bytes metadata

[Charles Lindsey]

In <877k0e140v.fsf at windlord.stanford.edu> Russ Allbery <rra at stanford.edu> writes:

>I think Andrew is arguing for us making the following two statements:

>> * :bytes MUST be greater than the canonical size minus 999.
>> * :bytes MUST be less than the wire size plus 999.

>Andrew, is that right?  Is 999 reasonable?

No. I think there are three sizes that can arise:

A. Canonical size excluding Xref header and a bit of Path.
B. Canonical size as delivered to client (incl. both those).
C. Wire size as delivered to client (includes dot stuffing).

so A <= B <= C

(and I suppose there is also a wire size excluding Xref and Path, which
could be anywhere between A and C).

So can we be clear which problem we are trying to address. It is that A
might differ from B, or that B might differ from C, or is it both? OUr
final wording must make it clear.

>He has the most practical experience with the issues raised and with how
>clients react to them in practice, so I'm inclined to go with his
>expertise here.  The only change I may argue for is s/wire size/canonical
>size/ in the second statement as well and just saying "tough" to servers
>who don't have easy access to the canonical size, but I don't have a
>strong feeling about that.

I think that would be solving the A <= B problem, but not the B <= C
problem. Maybe that's what we want to solve.

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