[NNTP] Snapshot 6

[Clive D.W. Feather]

Okay, snapshot 6 is available in the usual place:

<http://www.davros.org/nntp-texts/draft25.pre-6.txt>
<http://www.davros.org/nntp-texts/draft25.pre-6.html>

This one completes the structural changes; unless there are any silly errors
or things people want adjusting, it's probably ready to go out as the next
official draft. Russ: I suggest that I take apply comments between now and
the morning (my time) of Monday 10th and then send it to the I-D editor.

Summary of changes from snapshot 5:

* No outstanding issues.
* Definition of "keyword" moved from 3.1 to 2.
* Statement in 3.1 that a server MUST implement all commands removed.
* 502 = "wrong mode" made illegal.
* 3.6 moved to 3.3.
* Paragraph moved to 3.3.1 from CAPABILITIES.
* TRANSIT capability renamed as IHAVE.
* Assorted changes in 3.3.2 (was 3.6.2), including new capability labels.
* Comment modifiers removed.
* Minor wording change in 3.3.3 (was 3.6.3) in respect of -MODE-READER
  (also renamed from -MODE_READER).
* Term "standard extension" deleted.
* Changes to the requirements for extensions in 3.3.4 (was 3.6.4).
* Changes to the cross-references in the table in 3.3.5 (was 3.6.5).
* New section 3.4 replaces old 3.3:
    3.4  Mandatory and Optional Commands
      3.4.1  Reading and Transit Servers
      3.4.2  Mode switching
* 3.4 and 3.5 renumbered as 3.5 and 3.6.
* Minor wording changes in 3.5 (was 3.4).
* <> put round formal syntactic entities in several places.
* Command definitions lose the "reader-only" concept but gain either
  "is mandatory" or "indicating capability" lines. Similar changes to
  the table in 7.6.2.
* Assorted changes to CAPABILITIES examples.
* MODE READER completely rewritten.
* LISTGROUP moved to between GROUP and LAST and description simplified to
  refer to GROUP (which has a minor consequential wording change).
* Paragraph moved from 7.5 ("Time") to DATE.
* Section 8 reorganised and renamed:
  8.  Article field access commands
    8.1  Article metadata
      8.1.1  The :bytes metadata item
      8.1.2  The :lines metadata item
    8.2  Database consistency
    8.3  OVER
    8.4  LIST OVERVIEW.FMT
    8.5  HDR
    8.6  LIST HEADERS
  (Since LISTGROUP has moved, this eliminates the concept of "standard
  extension"). Text from the old 8.3 and 8.4 distributed to appropriate
  places, and consequential changes made to the command descriptions.
* 8.3 to 8.6 more consistent about using "fields" rather than "headers
  and metadata".
* Text in OVER distinguishing "Lines" from ":lines" expanded.
* Section 9 (Deprecated commands) removed and subsequent sections
  revert to the numbering used up to snapshot 3.
* New section 9.8 "Extensions and Validation" describes how an extension
  author should provide syntax that seamlessly merges in; minor changes
  elsewhere in section 9 (was 10) to ease this.
* Wording change in the acknowledgement of DRUMS and RFC 1869.
* Fix spelling of Ken's name.
* New appendix B "Summary of Commands".
* Old appendix B renamed as C.
* Old appendix C "Formal specification of the standard extensions" deleted.

-- 
Clive D.W. Feather  | Work:  <clive at demon.net>   | Tel:    +44 20 8495 6138
Internet Expert     | Home:  <clive at davros.org>  | Fax:    +44 870 051 9937
Demon Internet      | WWW: http://www.davros.org | Mobile: +44 7973 377646
Thus plc            |                            |