[NNTP] LISTGROUP

Mark Crispin MRC at CAC.Washington.EDU
Mon Apr 18 16:03:56 PDT 2005


My comments:

I think that I've expressed my dismay at NNTP's abuse of 4xx codes before, 
and 411 and 412 are no exception.  412 in particular offends me; if this 
isn't properly a 5xx code I have a hard time thinking of what would be.

Can we get rid of that "estimated" from "estimated number of articles in 
the group"?  As far as I am concerned, an estimated value is worse than 
useless, and an NNTPv2 compliant server should be required to give an 
exact value.

What is a "reported" high and low water mark as opposed to a high and low 
water mark?

In a range, how is 5-1 interpreted?  Is it equivalent to 1-5?

Note that if 5-1 is equivalent to 1-5, then 5- is equivalent to 4-5 if 4 
is the highest article number (and you need to change that "all following" 
text).

If it is it an error, then there needs to be an error code.

Should lists of article numbers/ranges be allowed, e.g. 1-5,14-34,56- ?

Your first two examples have two extraneous spaces after the command.  Are 
these significant for some reason?

Your first example is really of a "never posted to group" instead of an 
"empty group".  You probably should have a separate empty group example.

Your second, third, and fourth examples show estimates for the number of 
articles, and back up my point about the overall uselessness of the 
estimates.  Please let's have exact values.

-- Mark --

http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.



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