# Re: Minutes for URI

Randy Bush (randy@psg.com)
Mon, 22 Nov 1993 23:24:58 -0800 (PST)

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    Message-Id: <m0p1s7O-00030BC@rip.psg.com>

    From: randy@psg.com (Randy Bush)

    Subject: Re: Minutes for URI

    To: mitra@path.net (Mitra)

    Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1993 23:24:58 -0800 (PST)

    In-Reply-To: <CGxMMw.JL6@pandora.sf.ca.us> from "Mitra" at Nov 23, 93 06:42:30 am

> In private mail, Randy has pointed out that my statements on the NNTP URL
> differ from his memory and the minutes.

Not your public statements, but your private statements. But pfui on the
games.

I contend that the meeting tasked the writing of an NNTP URL, and the
minutes would seem to support that. I recommend that the NNTP URL be of
the form

host-identifier / message-id

as opposed to your suggestion of

host-identifier / article-number

The reasons are, to quote only myself, as you witheld your consent to
quote,

997 would imply that the ARTICLE [nnn] form is not useful in isolation,
i.e. a non-interactive session.

3.1.2. ARTICLE (selection by number)

ARTICLE [nnn]

Displays the header, a blank line, then the body (text) of the
current or specified article. The optional parameter nnn is the
numeric id of an article in the current newsgroup and must be chosen
from the range of articles provided when the newsgroup was selected.
If it is omitted, the current article is assumed.

------------

host-name/message-id tells you the location of an NNTP server and what an
NNTP client needs to tell an NNTP server to unequivocally get a specific
article. This is the essence of a URL.

host-name/article-number is sufficiently ephemeral (a day or two!) that
message-id to article-number mapping updates (to keep the URN to URL locator
servers current) will create more net traffic than the actual lookups.

------------

[ re: why do gopher news gateways use article-number ]

Because they are interactive browsers, not go-get-identity one-shots.

'Nuf!

randy

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