[NNTP] RFC 4643 user-pass-char question

[Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho]

On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 11:23:45PM +0200, Julien ÉLIE wrote:
> I for one reckon it is a pretty good situation to answer 503.
> According to RFC 3977:
>
>   If the server recognizes the command but
>   does not provide an optional feature (for example, because it does
>   not store the required information), or if it only handles a subset
>   of legitimate cases (see the HDR command, Section 8.5, for an
>   example), the response code 503 MUST be returned.
>
>
> Here, AUTHINFO USER/PASS is recognized but does not provide the
> "white space" support and only handles a subset of legitimate
> users and passwords!

Rather depends on whether it is considered a syntax error (which is what I read
the draft 9 wording to require) or, as you say, an unimplemented optional
feature.  (OTOH, I find the whole 501/503 distinction rather confusing in
practice.)

One could even make the case that the server MAY respond with 481 (failed
authentication - no such user here).

-- 
Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho, Jyväskylä, Finland
http://antti-juhani.kaijanaho.fi/newblog/
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