Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) Extension for Streaming Feeds
RFC 4644

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Network Working Group                                         J. Vinocur
Request for Comments: 4644                            Cornell University
Updates: 2980                                               K. Murchison
Category: Standards Track                     Carnegie Mellon University
                                                            October 2006

  Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) Extension for Streaming Feeds

Status of This Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).

Abstract

   This memo defines an extension to the Network News Transfer Protocol
   (NNTP) to provide asynchronous (otherwise known as "streaming")
   transfer of articles.  This allows servers to transfer articles to
   other servers with much greater efficiency.

   This document updates and formalizes the CHECK and TAKETHIS commands
   specified in RFC 2980 and deprecates the MODE STREAM command.

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................2
      1.1. Conventions Used in this Document ..........................2
   2. The STREAMING Extension .........................................3
      2.1. Streaming Article Transfer .................................3
      2.2. Advertising the STREAMING Extension ........................4
      2.3. MODE STREAM Command ........................................5
           2.3.1. Usage ...............................................5
           2.3.2. Description .........................................5
           2.3.3. Examples ............................................5
      2.4. CHECK Command ..............................................6
           2.4.1. Usage ...............................................6
           2.4.2. Description .........................................6
           2.4.3. Examples ............................................6
      2.5. TAKETHIS Command ...........................................7

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RFC 4644           NNTP Extension for Streaming Feeds       October 2006

           2.5.1. Usage ...............................................7
           2.5.2. Description .........................................7
           2.5.3. Examples ............................................8
   3. Augmented BNF Syntax for the STREAMING Extension ................9
      3.1. Commands ...................................................9
      3.2. Command Datastream .........................................9
      3.3. Responses .................................................10
      3.4. Capability Entries ........................................10
   4. Summary of Response Codes ......................................10
   5. Security Considerations ........................................11
   6. IANA Considerations ............................................11
   7. Acknowledgements ...............................................12
   8. References .....................................................12
      8.1. Normative References ......................................12
      8.2. Informative References ....................................12

1.  Introduction

   According to the NNTP specification [NNTP], a peer uses the IHAVE
   command to query whether a server wants a particular article.
   Because the IHAVE command cannot be pipelined, the need to stop and
   wait for the remote end's response greatly restricts the throughput
   that can be achieved.

   The ad-hoc CHECK and TAKETHIS commands, originally documented in
   [NNTP-COMMON], provide an alternative method of peer-to-peer article
   transfer that permits a more effective use of network bandwidth.  Due
   to their proven usefulness and wide deployment, they are formalized
   in this specification.

   The ad-hoc MODE STREAM command, also documented in [NNTP-COMMON], is
   deprecated by this specification, but due to its ubiquity is
   documented here for backwards compatibility.

1.1.  Conventions Used in this Document

   The notational conventions used in this document are the same as
   those in [NNTP] and any term not defined in this document has the
   same meaning as in that one.

   The key words "REQUIRED", "MUST", "MUST NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT",
   "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as
   described in "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
   Levels" [KEYWORDS].

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RFC 4644           NNTP Extension for Streaming Feeds       October 2006

   This document assumes you familiarity with NNTP [NNTP].  In general,