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NNTP standardization in 1983
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Julien ÉLIE
Mar 10, 2013, 6:28:10 PM3/10/13
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Thirty years ago...
http://article.olduse.net/31...@cbosgd.UUCP
From: cbosgd!mark
Newsgroups: net.news
Message-ID: <31...@cbosgd.UUCP>
Subject: USENET interchanged standard posted
Date: Sun Feb 27 21:11:57 1983
[...]
The reason for having a standard is that there are now five
separate, full fledged implementations of news, all talking
to each other, and up until now the only specification for
how sites should communicate has been "whatever doesn't
break the code". Needless to say, this is not very helpful
to someone who is producing a new implementation. It just
all needed to be written down. Please note that this is a
standard for the interchange of news between computer systems,
NOT a standard for the user interface. Requesting new features
in the user interface is a different issue entirely. However,
some improvements to the user interface require information
to be present in the news as it's exchanged, thus fields like
References and Organization.
This standard does provide for some technical advances over
B news 2.9. Headers are now compatible with RFC 822, making
it possible (in theory) to use the same software to process
both news and mail. (All mail will soon be in 822 format,
since 4.2BSD and some Bell Labs version of mail will soon
support it. At last - a common, documented UNIX mail format!)
There are no longer any limitations on the length of newsgroup
names. Replies will work properly, in spite of the route the
article happened to reach you by (assuming you have an internet
mailer on your system - if not the old method will continue to
work as well as it ever did for a reasonable period of time
[e.g., there are no plans to break it]). Several other new features
exist, and you are encouraged to read the proposed standard
for details.
[...]
Also please bear in mind that, once a
standard is adopted, it's pretty well cast in concrete.
Enhancements are possible, by some sort of mutual agreement,
but old features must continue to be supported essentially
forever, so if you see a better way to do something, let's
hear about it now! Also bear in mind that we have an existing
network out there, and upward compatibility with sites running
older software is very important - don't suggest that we all
change to some totally incompatible format all at once.
The standard itself is pretty long - 17 pages of nroff output.
Hopefully nobody's /usr/spool will fill up on the way out.
[...]
I'll post RFC 822 in a few days unless I'm asked not to - I want
to wait to try to avoid overflowing spool directories by posting
two big things at once.
Mark Horton
--
Julien ÉLIE
« – Ils transportent une arme secrète dans un tonneau !
– La cervoise tiède !!!
– Non, ça c'est une arme connue. » (Astérix)
http://article.olduse.net/31...@cbosgd.UUCP
From: cbosgd!mark
Newsgroups: net.news
Message-ID: <31...@cbosgd.UUCP>
Subject: USENET interchanged standard posted
Date: Sun Feb 27 21:11:57 1983
[...]
The reason for having a standard is that there are now five
separate, full fledged implementations of news, all talking
to each other, and up until now the only specification for
how sites should communicate has been "whatever doesn't
break the code". Needless to say, this is not very helpful
to someone who is producing a new implementation. It just
all needed to be written down. Please note that this is a
standard for the interchange of news between computer systems,
NOT a standard for the user interface. Requesting new features
in the user interface is a different issue entirely. However,
some improvements to the user interface require information
to be present in the news as it's exchanged, thus fields like
References and Organization.
This standard does provide for some technical advances over
B news 2.9. Headers are now compatible with RFC 822, making
it possible (in theory) to use the same software to process
both news and mail. (All mail will soon be in 822 format,
since 4.2BSD and some Bell Labs version of mail will soon
support it. At last - a common, documented UNIX mail format!)
There are no longer any limitations on the length of newsgroup
names. Replies will work properly, in spite of the route the
article happened to reach you by (assuming you have an internet
mailer on your system - if not the old method will continue to
work as well as it ever did for a reasonable period of time
[e.g., there are no plans to break it]). Several other new features
exist, and you are encouraged to read the proposed standard
for details.
[...]
Also please bear in mind that, once a
standard is adopted, it's pretty well cast in concrete.
Enhancements are possible, by some sort of mutual agreement,
but old features must continue to be supported essentially
forever, so if you see a better way to do something, let's
hear about it now! Also bear in mind that we have an existing
network out there, and upward compatibility with sites running
older software is very important - don't suggest that we all
change to some totally incompatible format all at once.
The standard itself is pretty long - 17 pages of nroff output.
Hopefully nobody's /usr/spool will fill up on the way out.
[...]
I'll post RFC 822 in a few days unless I'm asked not to - I want
to wait to try to avoid overflowing spool directories by posting
two big things at once.
Mark Horton
--
Julien ÉLIE
« – Ils transportent une arme secrète dans un tonneau !
– La cervoise tiède !!!
– Non, ça c'est une arme connue. » (Astérix)
Julien ÉLIE
Mar 10, 2013, 6:31:58 PM3/10/13
to
> Date: Sun Feb 27 21:11:57 1983
> Subject: USENET interchanged standard posted
Which became RFC 850 (June 1983).
> Subject: USENET interchanged standard posted
Better say the standardization of the format of news articles in 1983...
NNTP standard came in 1986 (RFC 977).
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