ietf-nntp HDR parameter proposal

[Clive D.W. Feather]

Charles Lindsey said:
> >(we could perhaps add:
> >    BASEX  = BASE + XREF
> >)
> 
> That's getting dangerously near having "any header you mention here will
> work", which is exactly what Russ did not like about my original proposal
> last year.

No, that is *not* what I'm suggesting.

I'm suggesting that the commonest case after "anything" and "just the
base headers" is "just the base headers plus Xref", so either we have a
package containing only Xref, or we have a package for base+Xref. Or both,
of course.

>> I would lean towards saying that "HDR" with no parameters means "will
>> accept any header name or metadata item it knows about". I'm assuming
>> there's no backwards-compatibility issue here; if there is, then use
>> "HDR *" for this case and make "HDR" equivalent to "HDR +".
> No, I think it is important to have the ALL parameter for that case.

Any reason for "ALL" rather than "*" (I feel that the latter makes it
clearer that it's special)?

> HDR
> without parameter means "I promise nothing; try it, and good luck if it
> works for you".

Okay. So the same as "HDR +".

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