[NNTP] Comments on draft-...-authinfo-03

[Jeffrey M. Vinocur]

On Sep 17, 2004, at 5:39 AM, Clive D.W. Feather wrote:

> Ken Murchison said:
>>> Page 4, "The server may list ...". Is the server required to reject 
>>> any
>>> AUTHINFO command that is then received? The purpose of this 
>>> paragraph isn't
>>> clear to me.
>> I believe the purpose is to prevent clients which are capable of
>> AUTHINFO USER from attempting to use it if the server explicitly 
>> states
>> that its not available.
>
> In which case, shouldn't you say that the server MUST reject these
> commands?

I feel like we've had this discussion before...

If a new standard specifies that a server must reject AUTHINFO USER, 
servers are simply going to disregard that, because no one wants to 
break backwards compatibility for users who haven't updated their 
clients in a decade (and we all know there are some).  The goal of the 
requirement above is to prohibit revised clients from using AUTHINFO 
USER -without- having to break backwards compatibility for clients that 
have never heard of LIST EXTENSIONS.

-- 
Jeffrey M. Vinocur
jeff at litech.org