[NNTP] [2504] Response code for "need MODE READER first"

[Russ Allbery]

Clive D W Feather <clive at demon.net> writes:

> Issue: if MODE READER remains significant, what response code is used
> for "you can't do this until you've issued MODE READER"? The historical
> answer is 502. We added 401 in draft as "you need to invoke this feature
> first" and this seems cleaner. On the other hand, clients are going to
> have to be prepared for 502 anyway.

> If we get rid of the idea of mode-switching servers, this becomes moot.

> Ken is in favour of 401.

Both 502 and 401 have arguments in favor of them -- 401 is a lot clearer,
but 502 is what everything already does and we're discouraging people from
requiring MODE READER anyway, even if we're keeping it.  I think I lean
slightly towards removing the 401 code, since this is the only thing that
uses it right now.  I wasn't very happy with it in the first place; I
would rather have explicit codes for the few commands that will need this
kind of thing.  But I don't feel very strongly about this.

-- 
Russ Allbery (rra at stanford.edu)             <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>