[NNTP] Notes on auxiliary documents

[Charles Lindsey]

In <4193952E.7030307 at oceana.com> Ken Murchison <ken at oceana.com> writes:

>Clive D.W. Feather wrote:

>> Sections 2.4.2 and 6: we say that the server MUST discard all knowledge. 
>> Does this include NNTP state? E.g.
>> 
>>     [C] GROUP a.group
>>     [S] 211 10 555 666 a.group selected
>>     [C] AUTHINFO SASL MECHANISM
>>     [SASL details omitted, security layer created]
>>     [S] 281
>>     [C] ARTICLE 10
>> 
>> Does the server respond with 220 or 412? Whichever the answer is, it 
>> needs to be made more clear.

>That's a good question.  This wording comes from the other SASL profile 
>docs (IMAP, POP, SMTP) in which authentication usually (always?) happens 
>before other commands.

>I don't *think* that server has to go back to the "unselected group" 
>state after auth, but my guess is that if the client authenticates in 
>the middle of a session its because they are trying to access a group 
>that returned a 480 and therefore will be changing groups immediately 
>after auth.

Not necessarily.

Suppose you are in Group A, happily reading articles. Suppose you now
encounter an article cross-posted to the restricted group B. The server
invites you to authenticate, which you do. You would now like to be in the
same NNTP state as before, still in Group A with the crossposted article
still the current article, so you can now read it.

OTOH, what happens if you are unable to authenticate? Is there some way
that you can remain in the same group, ignore that article, and continue
reading the rest of the articles in the group?

-- 
Charles H. Lindsey ---------At Home, doing my own thing------------------------
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