[NNTP] Proposed changes to draft-ietf-nntpext-streaming-02

[Ken Murchison]

Changes from Previous Version:

   New:
   o  Added "Command Continuation" section.

   Changed:
   o  Replaced uses of "asynchronous" with "pipelined".
   o  Wording used in MODE STREAM examples.
   o  Removed (ill-advised) 432 response code as a temporary failure for
      TAKETHIS.  Replaced with discussion of 400 response for temporary
      failure.
   o  Changed reference to IANA requirements in [NNTP] from Section 8 to
      Section 8.1.


Outstanding issue:

    o Do we want to add any discussion of the server issuing a 400 (or
      maybe a 403) response to TAKETHIS?


Relevant text diff:

@@ -224,7 +208,7 @@
  .fi
  .LP
  .ne 4
-2.2. Asynschronous Article Transfer
+2.2. Pipelined Article Transfer
  .IP
  The STREAMING extension provides the same functionality as the IHAVE
  command ([NNTP] section 6.3.2) but splits the query and transfer
@@ -297,16 +281,16 @@
  .ne 4
  2.3.3. Examples
  .IP
-Example of a client requesting the ability to stream articles from a
-server which does not support this extension:
+Example of a client checking the ability to stream articles on a
+legacy server which does not support this extension:
  .in 8
  .nf
  [C] MODE STREAM
  [S] 501 Unknown MODE variant
  .fi
  .IP
-Example of a client successfully requesting the ability to stream
-articles:
+Example of a client checking the ability to stream articles on a
+legacy server which supports this extension:
  .in 8
  .nf
  [C] MODE STREAM
@@ -399,7 +383,6 @@
  .in 8
  .nf
  239 message-id   Article transferred OK
-432 message-id   Transfer failed; try again later
  439 message-id   Transfer rejected; do not retry
  .fi
  .IP
@@ -409,7 +392,7 @@
  message-id = Article message-id
  .fi
  .IP
-The first parameter of the 239, 432, and 439 responses MUST be the
+The first parameter of the 239 and 439 responses MUST be the
  message-id provided by the client as the parameter to TAKETHIS.
  .LP
  2.5.2. Description
@@ -423,9 +406,8 @@
  a line indicates the end of the text, and lines starting with a dot
  in the original text have that dot doubled during transmission.  The
  server MUST return either a 239 response, indicating that the article
-was successfully transferred, a 432 response, indicating that the
-transfer failed but should be tried again later, or a 439 response,
-indicating that the article was rejected.
+was successfully transferred or a 439 response, indicating that the
+article was rejected.

  This function differs from the POST command in that it is intended for
  use in transferring already-posted articles between hosts.  It SHOULD
@@ -444,7 +426,8 @@
  The client SHOULD NOT assume that the article has been successfully
  transferred unless it receives an affirmative response from the
  server.  A lack of response (such as a dropped network connection or a
-network timeout) SHOULD be treated the same as a 432 response.
+network timeout) or a 400 response SHOULD be treated as a temporary
+failure and cause the transfer to be tried again later if possible.

  Because some news server software may not be able immediately to
  determine whether or not an article is suitable for posting or
@@ -500,7 +483,8 @@
  [C]
  [C] This is just a test article.
  [C] .
-[S] 432 <i.am.an.article.you.will.want at example.com>
+[S] 400 Service temporarily unavailable
+[Server closes connection.]
  .fi
  .LP
  .ne 4
@@ -525,7 +509,19 @@
  takethis-command    = "TAKETHIS" WS message-id
  .fi
  .LP
-3.2. LIST EXTENSIONS responses
+3.2. Command Continuation
+.IP
+.nh
+This syntax extends the non-terminal "command-continuation", which
+represents the further material sent by the client in the case of
+multi-stage commands.
+.IP
+.nf
+command-continuation =/ takethis-continuation
+takethis-continuation = encoded-article
+.fi
+.LP
+3.3. LIST EXTENSIONS responses
  .IP
  This syntax defines the specific LIST EXTENSIONS responses for the
  STREAMING extension.
@@ -569,13 +565,6 @@
  Meaning: transfer not possible; try again later.
  .fi
  .IP
-Response code 432
-.in 8
-.nf
-Generated by: TAKETHIS
-Meaning: transfer failed; try again later.
-.fi
-.IP
  Response code 438
  .in 8
  .nf
@@ -600,11 +589,11 @@
  6. IANA Considerations
  .IP
  This section gives a formal definition of the STREAMING extension as
-required by Section 8 of [NNTP] for the IANA registry.
+required by Section 8.1 of [NNTP] for the IANA registry.

  .in 8
  .ti 5
-o  The STREAMING extension provides for asynchronous transfer of
+o  The STREAMING extension provides for pipelined transfer of
  articles.

  .ti 5


-- 
Kenneth Murchison     Oceana Matrix Ltd.
Software Engineer     21 Princeton Place
716-662-8973 x26      Orchard Park, NY 14127
--PGP Public Key--    http://www.oceana.com/~ken/ksm.pgp