[news.software.b] "maybe-I-have"

flee@shire.cs.psu.edu (Felix Lee) (10/29/89)

I wrote:
> Yes, except you need a "maybe-I-have" NNTP response, if you want
> reliable article transmission.

John Coolidge <coolidge@brutus.cs.uiuc.edu> wrote:
> It's in the NNTP spec, more or less. Just use NNTP response code 436
> (transfer failed - try again later).

Except that when "nntpxmit" gets a "436" it aborts the rest of the
transfer.  "436" is used by "nntpd" when "rnews" fails, and when that
happens, it's often pointless to keep sending things to have "rnews"
fail again.

Some distinction should be made between this-article failure and
news-system failure.
--
Felix Lee	flee@shire.cs.psu.edu	*!psuvax1!flee