ietf-nntp Re: Last major open issue (48x return codes)

Ken Murchison ken at oceana.com
Tue Sep 9 08:02:32 PDT 2003


Clive D.W. Feather wrote:

> However, instead of just stopping there, we should require 401 to *have an
> argument* to indicate what the hoop is. This argument would be the name of
> the command or extension used to request the facility. For example:
> 
>     [C] GROUP misc.test
>     [S] 401 MODE READER
> 
>     [C] GROUP local.database
>     [S] 401 AUTH
> 
>     [C] GROUP local.secrets
>     [S] 401 STARTTLS (You need at least 3DES encryption)
> 
> (The bit in parentheses is a comment and not part of the required response.)
> 
> As a transitional/depreciated mode, we could allow 480 for authentication
> and, if there are significant implementations, 483 for privacy.
> 
> Thoughts on this? I think it's the cleanest suggestion yet.

I could live with this, but do existing clients do anything useful with 
the text following a 4xx response code?  This would be the first failure 
code to include formmatted data, correct?

My (clueless?) guess is that existing clients can derive meaning from 
48x, but wouldn't have any idea what the problem is if it sees 401.

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