ietf-nntp LIST NEWSGROUPS

[Ken Murchison]

Charles Lindsey wrote:

> In <3F0AC639.7050302 at oceana.com> Ken Murchison <ken at oceana.com> writes:
> 
> 
>>Minor nit: Do we want to refer to a "mapping" or "database" of newsgroup 
>>descriptions instead of a newsgroups "file"?  It seems that current 
>>implementation is creeping into the text.  Cyrus for instance has a 
>>database of mailbox meta-data, one of which is a comment and/or 
>>description.  I won't argue for this change strenuously.
> 
> 
> The term "Newsgroups File" is well ingrained into common parlance, e.g in
> the phrase "For your newsgroups file" (case sensitive) which appears in
> all newgroup messages and is recognized and processed by all(?) news
> servers. It ain't broke ... .
> 
> Likewise "active file".

True, but neither of these have anything to do with the wire protocol. 
These are adminitrative things.

If I'm a new developer writing a client or server from scratch (as I 
did), why do I care how INN or other servers keep track of the active 
newsgroups and their descriptions or the overview data?

I just think its bad form to mix implementation notes/hints/references 
in with a protocol specification.  But like I said, I don't want to 
start a religious war, and I'm not going to fight for this change.

I've become well aware of the inertia (for better or worse) behind a lot 
of the current usenet practices and implementations, and I'm not about 
to step in front of the train over a minor point.  ;)

-- 
Kenneth Murchison     Oceana Matrix Ltd.
Software Engineer     21 Princeton Place
716-662-8973 x26      Orchard Park, NY 14127
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