[NNTP] draft-ietf-nntpext-streaming-02

[Andrew - Supernews]

>>>>> "Charles" == Charles Lindsey <chl at clerew.man.ac.uk> writes:

 >> In practice, streaming feeds and newsreading are never done on the
 >> same connection. If for some strange reason the client wants to
 >> use reader commands, it can reconnect.

 Charles> Part of the problem is that, whilst we can say in LIST
 Charles> EXTENSIONS that STREAMING is (now) allowed, there is no way
 Charles> to give an UN-EXTENSION which says that reader commands are
 Charles> no longer available. The draft mandates that every NNTP
 Charles> server has full 'reader' capability, even if it is
 Charles> permanently used for streaming transit.

The draft mandates nothing of the kind. The server is allowed to
reject reader commands if MODE READER has not been used, and it's
allowed to reject the MODE READER command itself.

Don't ever lose sight of the fact that 90%+ of servers doing transit
feeding simply _do not have reader functionality at all_, and never
will have regardless of what any specification says.

-- 
Andrew, Supernews
http://www.supernews.com