[NNTP] 32 bit article counters

Clive D.W. Feather clive at demon.net
Thu Jul 14 02:10:57 PDT 2005


Chris Caputo said:
> Maybe the fix for now should just be to say that client software should 
> assume a 32-bit wrap-around has occurred if the high article number is 
> more than one less than the low article number.  The would allow servers 
> using more than 32-bits to use a MOD 2^32 to create an standards compliant 
> number.  For that to work we'd also have to adjust the draft to say that 
> zero is a valid article number.

Actually, at the time I suggested a slightly better way (any time after the
LWM passes 2^31+2^30, reduce all numbers by 2^31; this avoids the zero
issue while still providing a clear flag).

But I think that there needs to be a fixed limit. Bignums are too expensive
in this context.

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