[NNTP] Optional LIST commands (was: LIST EXTENSIONS (again))

[Clive D.W. Feather]

In message <871xf8zuox.fsf_-_ at windlord.stanford.edu>, Russ Allbery
<rra at stanford.edu> writes
>So, here's a question.  Why *aren't* they extensions?  If it's just
>because they were in RFC 977, I don't think that's a very good reason;
[Ken says they weren't]

Don't look at me: I thought you lot had sorted all this out before I
came on the scene.

>Here's a proposal:  Why don't we make LIST NEWSGROUPS mandatory (pretty
>much everyone implements it, even if they don't have any data to return,
>and the case of not having any data to return is already supported in the
>description of the command), and make LIST ACTIVE.TIMES, LIST
>DISTRIB.PATS, and LIST DISTRIBUTIONS separate extensions?
>
>(Actually, I'd be quite happy if we dropped LIST DISTRIBUTIONS entirely,

Enthusiastically supported.

Taking this and Ken's message, here's what I'll do if nobody screams:

* Make LIST NEWSGROUPS mandatory.
* Create a new standard extension called LIST.
* All commands in this extension have two-part keywords; the only
  restriction is that they can't be the same as the mandatory LIST
  commands, obviously.
* An implementation can support any number of such keywords but:
  - they are only for returning information;
  - no LIST command can change the server state;
  - they all use the same, specified, set of response codes.
* LIST EXTENSIONS lists all of the supported keywords.
* We document meanings for ACTIVE.TIMES and DISTRIB.PATS.

[If you don't understand all these points, wait for some draft text.]

>They're optional commands, we want to advertise them in LIST EXTENSIONS,
>we have a well-defined way of doing that for actual extensions... I think
>this would be the simplest approach.

Indeed.

-- 
Clive D.W. Feather  | Work:  <clive at demon.net>   | Tel:    +44 20 8495 6138
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