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

[Clive D.W. Feather]

Jeffrey M. Vinocur said:
>>> 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...

Quite possibly.

> 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.

Okay, this rings a bell, and I can't see any way even to document it
formally.

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