Re: good windows newsreader

Whiskers <catwheezel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 2008-04-26, Frank Slootweg <this@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Mike Easter <MikeE@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Frank Slootweg wrote:

Also note the "dead easy to configure" bit. As mentioned recently,
with a "news://<server.domain>/<group>)" URL, you don't have to
configure OE/WM *at all* (and it seems the same goes for TB).

I don't know about the Win Tbird, but the linux tbird 2.0.0.12 won't do
news:MID without a plugin. There's a great tbird plugin which enables
it do do a whole bunch of different syntax of the news:MID.

I haven't actually tested the url or uri configuration
news://<server.domain>/<group> -- just the news:mid

Can you please test "news://news.aioe.org/news.software.readers";
(without quotes)? (Which you of course have to plug into your
*webbrowser*, not your newsreader.)

Shouldn't that be <nntp://news.aioe.org/news.software.readers>? The news:
URI is only meant to identify a particular article or group on whatever
news-server or spool the system has pre-configured.

"nntp://news.aioe.org/news.software.readers"; doesn't work in OE/WM. It
gives "could not open the URL ... because it is not in a recognized
format.". I think that in itself that is correct, because the RFC (1738
"Uniform Resource Locators (URL)" [1]) only gives this format:

nntp://<host>:<port>/<newsgroup-name>/<article-number>

It says that ":<port>" can be omitted, but it doesn't say that for
"/<article-number>", so

nntp://<host>:<port>/<newsgroup-name>

and hence

nntp://news.aioe.org/news.software.readers

is indeed incorrect and correctly rejected by OE/WM.

You are correct that for "news:"; the RFC only mentions:

news:<newsgroup-name>
news:<message-id>

So I can only conclude that the "news://<host>:<port>/<newsgroup-name>"
is an *extension* of the standard, which assumption is supported by the
current (April 2, 2008) Internet-Draft "The 'news' and 'nntp' URI
Schemes" [2] which says:

<quote>

In the form without <article-number> the URL identifies a single
group on the specified server. This is also possible with an
equivalent 'news' URL, and the latter is better supported by user
agents, example:

nntp://news.server.example/example.group.this
news://news.server.example/example.group.this

</quote>

So the form "news://news.server.example/example.group.this"; "is better
supported by user agents".

I have a report that says that works, but the respondent did not say
Linux or Windows, nor did he mention the presence/absence of any
plugins.

I would imagine that any sensible web-browser would have some means of
being told what application to invoke to deal with a news: URI or nntp://
URL. Either in a config setting of its own, or in a 'system-wide' setting.
Or, like Lynx, the browser itself can function as a newsreader, of course.

Yes, but the *point* is whether or not the invocation of the URL will
cause the newsreader to *configure* itself. That is what OE/WM (and I
believe TB) do.

[1] The "RFC INDEX" (<http://www.ietf.org/iesg/1rfc_index.txt>) says
this for RFC 1738:

Uniform Resource Locators (URL). T. Berners-Lee, L. Masinter, M.
McCahill. December 1994. (Format: TXT=51348 bytes) (Obsoleted by
RFC4248, RFC4266) (Updated by RFC1808, RFC2368, RFC2396, RFC3986)
(Status: PROPOSED STANDARD)

I can not make real sense of the combination of "Obsoleted by" and
"Updated by". I think it's *partially* obsoleted and *partially*
updated.
In any case, I could not find a newer (than 1738) RFC which describes
the "news:"; or/and "nntp:"; style URI in *detail* (some give just one or
two examples).
So for now, I consider 1738 to be the applicable RFC, especially since
the mentioned (April 2, 2008) Internet-Draft "The 'news' and 'nntp' URI
Schemes" [2] says "Obsoletes: 1738 (if approved)", note "if approved".

[2]
<http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ellermann-news-nntp-uri-11.txt>
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: good windows newsreader
    ... Mike Easter wrote: ... configure OE/WM *at all*. ... I don't know about the Win Tbird, but the linux tbird 2.0.0.12 won't do ... plugins. ...
    (news.software.readers)
  • Re: good windows newsreader
    ... Frank Slootweg wrote: ... configure OE/WM *at all*. ... I don't know about the Win Tbird, but the linux tbird 2.0.0.12 won't do ... Mike Easter ...
    (news.software.readers)