[NNTP] [2505] CAPABILITIES indication of features not currently available

Clive D.W. Feather clive at demon.net
Fri Dec 3 09:01:23 PST 2004


Ken Murchison said:
>>> That is something I can cure by writing it better. Let me have another go
>>> and see what you think then.
>> I'll certainly take a look, but really, I don't think it's a matter of
>> wording; regardless of how it's worded, it adds syntactic complexity to
>> the CAPABILITIES command.  Not a lot, admittedly, but I'm also not seeing
>> a lot of benefit for the way that I expect most clients to work.
> I propose that we put this issue to rest for the current document.  We 
> have bigger fish to fry.  The WG can revisit it down the road if deemed 
> necessary.

<scream>
If the world [not just this list, I'm not complaining at you two] would
stop sending me emails that I need to answer, I could explain myself.
</scream>

Quick attempt at explaining the core issue follows.

If we say nothing, the WG will have potential problems revisiting the issue
in the future because clients won't be expecting new things. We need to
leave ourselves just enough space to play with. When I get three moments to
myself, I can write that minimum. Then the rest *can* be safely left,
because client authors Have Been Warned.

Remember the "capabilities in the initial response line" idea? If the
original authors of NNTP had thought far enough ahead, they'd have said
something like:

    The server MUST begin any comment with a letter or digit.
    The client MUST NOT assume this, and MUST be prepared to find any
    character present.

    Extensions to, and future versions of, this specification may put
    other information between the arguments and the comment, using a
    non-alphanumeric character to indicate its presence. Clients can
    safely ignore any such information that they do not understand.

Space for the future, you see?

-- 
Clive D.W. Feather  | Work:  <clive at demon.net>   | Tel:    +44 20 8495 6138
Internet Expert     | Home:  <clive at davros.org>  | Fax:    +44 870 051 9937
Demon Internet      | WWW: http://www.davros.org | Mobile: +44 7973 377646
Thus plc            |                            |



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