[NNTP] LISTGROUP

[Clive D.W. Feather]

Andrew - Supernews said:
>  Clive> Can we make the parameter to GROUP be optional?
> 
> No.
> 
>  Clive> The purpose is to allow the client to determine the currently
>  Clive> selected group. At present this can be done by using LISTGROUP
>  Clive> with no arguments,
> 
> "At present" meaning in the spec, or in existing implementations?
> 
> Did someone sneak in a change to the LISTGROUP result text while I
> wasn't looking?

It would seem so.

> LISTGROUP traditionally does _NOT_ return the same
> output as GROUP does;

In draft 17 (the first one I edited) we had:

   The optional parameter ggg is the name of the newsgroup to be
   selected (e.g.  "news.software.misc").  A list of valid newsgroups
   may be obtained from the LIST ACTIVE command.  If no group is
   specified, the current selected newsgroup is used.

   OUTSTANDING ISSUE
      
      On at least some servers the 211 response line is the same as with
      GROUP.  Should this be a requirement?

   The list of article numbers is returned as a multi-line response
   following the 211 response code.  It contains one number per line, is
   in numerical order, and lists precisely those articles that exist in
   the group.

In draft 18 the 211 response was changed to look the same as that of the
GROUP command, so it looks like we agreed it in March or April 2003. You'll
have to dig into the archives to see what the discussion was.

The parameter is shown as optional, with the default being the current
group, all the way back to draft 00. Checking further, RFC 2980 has this as
well.

> that may be a wart, but it's worth noting that
> there is _no other place_ in the protocol that requires the server
> to remember the name of the current group.

And so no other way for the client to find it again.

If LISTGROUP is mandatory and the first argument is optional, then making
GROUP have the same property is trivial.

If we decide to change either property of LISTGROUP then, I accept, we may
want to re-think GROUP with no argument.

-- 
Clive D.W. Feather  | Work:  <clive at demon.net>   | Tel:    +44 20 8495 6138
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