ietf-nntp Issue: empty groups

["Clive D.W. Feather" <[e-mail]>]

I didn't intent to open a can of worms here, honest.

Suppose that a group contained articles 222 to 234. Thus the response to
GROUP would be first=222, last=234, count=13. Now suppose that all the
articles are expired, making the group empty. What can GROUP now legally
return ? [We all agree, I hope, that the next article to arrive would be
235, setting the reply to first=last=235, count=1.]

Here's the possibilities.

(A) first=last=count=0. This is set by INN; my draft forbids it.

(B) first=last+1, count=0. My draft allows this. I see no reason why first
couldn't be 235 (allowing the client to know the articles have expired
permanently).

(C) first>last+1, count=0. My draft sort of forbids this by omission; Jack
De Winter would like it to be explicit.

(D) first>last, count>0. My draft forbids this.

(E) first<=last, count=0. My draft allows this.

(F) first<=last, count>0. My draft allows this by implication - is there
any way we can in fact forbid it ?


My inclination is to tune the wording to have:
    Forbid A, C, D.
    Allow E and F.
    SHOULD do B.

Any dissent ?

-- 
Clive D.W. Feather    | Associate Director  | Director
Tel: [phone] | Demon Internet Ltd. | CityScape Internet Services Ltd.
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