[NNTP] [2501] Reader commands in transit servers and vice-versa

[Richard Clayton]

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In message <87653kk144.fsf at windlord.stanford.edu>, Russ Allbery
<rra at stanford.edu> writes
>Richard Clayton <richard at highwayman.com> writes:
>> Clive D.W. Feather <clive at demon.net> writes
>
>>>    The specific description of each command will describe it as a
>>>    "transit command", a "reader command", or a "general command". An
>>>    NNTP server may be "transit-only", "reader-only", or "general-use".
>
>>>    * A general-use server MUST fully implement all the commands in this
>>>      specification.
>
>>>    * A reader-only server MUST fully implement all reader commands,
>>>      but does not need to implement transit commands.
>
>> Calling it "reader only" when you'd expect POST to work (so that end-
>> users with normal sorts of existing software can expect to interoperate
>> with it usefully) is rather obscure :(
>
>> Surely you can't mean for people to have lots of "general-use" systems
>> since who would wish to implement all of the gubbins around IHAVE (and
>> other transit type chatter) just so they can provide POST
>
>> ie: the categories need to be something like "transit", "customer" and
>> "general-use", with appropriate command categorisation following from
>> that!
>
>Could you rephrase that?

I suspect that a "reader only" configuration will allow POST (but may
not allow IHAVE).

This is confusing because POST is "writing" ... so I think its a dumb
name (based on old concepts) to put into a new spec :(

>I honestly have no idea what you just said or
>what you're driving at.  If someone didn't want to implement IHAVE, they'd
>provide a reader-only server, not a general-use server.

A new point (which I hope I can express clearly): "end-user" systems (as
opposed to transit servers run by ISPs) usually use POST, but sometimes
use IHAVE...  making servers fully implement everything in order to
accommodate legacy users of IHAVE doesn't seem likely -- so I expect one
will see "reader only" systems with extensions to cope with IHAVE.

- -- 
richard @ highwayman . com                       "Nothing seems the same
                          Still you never see the change from day to day
                                And no-one notices the customs slip away"

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