[NNTP] Capability modifiers

Peter Robinson pmrobinson at gmx.net
Thu Feb 10 14:38:27 PST 2005


Clive D.W. Feather <clive at demon.net> wrote:

> Okay, this remains the one contentious issue. I'd like us to get it closed
> off because we'd all like to see the draft out.

I like the idea of capability modifers and I think they fit neatly with
the rest of the protocol.  However, uncomfortable though it is, Russ's
point that they would rarely change the behaviour of a client, and
therefore gain you nothing, is difficult to argue with.  Therefore my
opinion is that we should remove all capability modifiers from the
draft.

The important thing (and what motivated the excellent work since the old
LIST EXTENSIONS) is that clients can now tell for sure whether there's
any need to send MODE READER.  If nothing else will get clients using
CAPABILITIES that will, since for the common case of no MODE READER,
there's now no net cost in terms of round trip times.

Peter



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