[NNTP] LISTGROUP

[Clive D.W. Feather]

Russ Allbery said:
>> Will the current article number (pointer) be set to the first article in
>> the group, as GROUP demands, or will it be set to the first article in
>> the range? I'm inclined to suggest the latter.
> After thinking about this for a moment, I have no strong opinion, except
> to say that if we want it to be range-dependent, we need to hammer out
> exactly what implication that has if there are no articles in the
> specified range.

And other questions, such as what are the effects of NEXT and LAST if they
would take the current article number out of the range?

I can live with the following:

* A range can only be provided if the group name is provided.
* The range acts as a filter on the returned results of the LISTGROUP
  command, but does not affect the server state.

In other words, it's a way to reduce the size of the response by discarding
unwanted material, but that's all.

I am strongly against anything that tries to push the envelope beyond that.

>> If the newsreader cannot remember the most recently selected newsgroup,
>> it's broken, the standard should not take an interest in this SOEP(*).
> Agreed.

Actually, I'm not so sure. Modularity of code means it's sometimes awkward
to keep track of this stuff, and having an enquiry facility can be useful.
Note how you *can* find the current article number by going STAT with no
arguments.

Furthermore, LISTGROUP already needs to know the currently selected group
in case it's invoked with no arguments. This is a way to get the group name
but, of course, you then get the entire group listing dumped at you.

Can I suggest that GROUP with no arguments should be permitted? This would
improve the commonality between the two commands (to all intents and
purposes, LISTGROUP is already GROUP with more output).

-- 
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            |                            |