ietf-nntp Virtual hosts in NNTP servers

[Clive D. W. Feather]

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In message <Pine.LNX.4.44.0302260944330.19120-100000 at helium.sabren.com>, 
Joao Prado Maia <jpm at papercut.org> writes
>> > Anything else will require adding new features to clients.
>>      Isn't that what the people writing those clients are
>>      doing overall: adding new features? :-)
>Exactly. I didn't really wanted to start a flamewar here, but I still
>didn't understand what is the problem in adding this new feature to the
>protocol. I mean, the new version of the protocol is already adding a
>bunch of features, why not this other one that might be valuable in some
>cases ?

Well, we aren't actually adding many new features; a lot of what's going 
on here is just tidying up.

If you want something that works now, then a protocol change isn't going 
to work for you. In that case, you need to do something like playing 
games with AUTHINFO, since clients already know how to do that.

Or do you need to provide both servers on port 119? Is the ability to 
specify the port number unique to Turnpike or does everyone offer it? If 
it is common, then why not just use different ports?

>And it is not a very hard modification either, it's basically just
>sending a new command:
>
>HOST domain.com
>
>And that would be it. I'm probably missing something though.

Okay ...

Is this going to be part of the base protocol, or can it just be an 
extension? Making it an extension means that it can be specified 
separately and doesn't hold up the main document.

Will you expect all clients to always use HOST? If so, that's extra load 
on the connection which 99% of users won't need. If not, how will they 
know when to make the request? Will it be a flag that users have to set 
or clear when configuring their newsreader? Will the server use a new 
greeting code (e.g. 202, or 270) to indicate the need for HOST?

What should the server do if the client doesn't use HOST? If it uses it 
with an unrecognised domain? What if it uses HOST after GROUP? What if 
it uses it more than once during the session? Must it come before any 
MODE READER, after it, or doesn't it matter?

What should the client do if the server responds 500 to HOST?

How much will any of the above constrain implementers unnecessarily?

- -- 
Clive D.W. Feather     |  Internet Expert  | Work: <clive at demon.net>
Tel: +44 20 8371 1138  |  Demon Internet   | Home: <clive at davros.org>
Fax: +44 870 051 9937  |  Thus plc         | Web:  <http://www.davros.org>
Written on my laptop; please observe the Reply-To address

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