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Network Working Group P. Grau
Request for Comments: 4707 V. Heinau
Category: Experimental H. Schlichting
R. Schuettler
Freie Universitaet Berlin
October 2006
Netnews Administration System (NAS)
Status of This Memo
This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet
community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.
Discussion and suggestions for improvement are requested.
Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).
IESG Note
This RFC is not a candidate for any level of Internet Standard. The
IETF disclaims any knowledge of the fitness of this RFC for any
purpose, and in particular notes that the decision to publish is not
based on IETF review for such things as security, congestion control
or inappropriate interaction with deployed protocols. The RFC Editor
has chosen to publish this document at its discretion. Readers of
this document should exercise caution in evaluating its value for
implementation and deployment.
Abstract
The Netnews Administration System (NAS) is a framework to simplify
the administration and usage of network news (also known as Netnews)
on the Internet. Data for the administration of newsgroups and
hierarchies are kept in a distributed hierarchical database and are
available through a client-server protocol.
The database is accessible by news servers, news administrators, and
news readers. News servers can update their configuration
automatically; administrators are able to get the data manually.
News reader programs are able to get certain information from an NAS
server, automatically or at a user's discretion, which provides
detailed information about groups and hierarchies to the user.
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
NAS is usable in coexistence with the current, established process of
control messages; an unwanted interference is impossible.
Furthermore, NAS is able to reflect the somewhat chaotic structure of
Usenet in a hierarchical database. NAS can be used without
modification of existing news relay, news server, or news reader
software; however, some tasks will be better accomplished with NAS-
compliant software.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ....................................................3
2. Overview ........................................................4
3. Protocol Level ..................................................5
4. Description of Functions ........................................6
5. Definitions .....................................................7
6. Specification of the NAS Protocol (TCP) .........................8
6.1. Responses ..................................................8
6.1.1. Overview ............................................8
6.1.2. Response Code Values, Structure, and Meaning ........8
6.2. Connection Setup ...........................................9
6.3. Commands ..................................................10
6.3.1. Structure ..........................................10
6.3.2. Overview ...........................................10
6.3.3. Detailed Description ...............................10
6.3.3.1. HELP ......................................11
6.3.3.2. INFO ......................................12
6.3.3.3. DATE ......................................13
6.3.3.4. VERS ......................................14
6.3.3.5. QUIT ......................................15
6.3.3.6. LIST ......................................16
6.3.3.7. LSTR ......................................18
6.3.3.8. HIER ......................................19
6.3.3.9. DATA ......................................21
6.3.3.10. GETP .....................................22
6.3.3.11. GETA .....................................25
6.3.3.12. Unknown Commands and Syntax Errors .......27
6.3.4. Data Headers .......................................27
6.4. Status Indicators .........................................41
6.5. Newsgroup Types ...........................................41
6.6. Hierarchy Types ...........................................42
6.7. PGP Keys ..................................................42
7. Specification of the NAS Protocol (UDP) ........................44
8. IANA Considerations ............................................44
9. Security Considerations ........................................44
10. Response Codes (Overview) .....................................45
11. Data Headers for DATA and HIER Commands (Overview) ............45
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
12. References ....................................................46
12.1. Normative References .....................................46
12.2. Informative References ...................................47
1. Introduction
An increasing number of newsgroups, hierarchies, and articles has
made the administration of news servers a complex and time-consuming
task. The tools for the administration have remained unchanged for
ten years and are no longer appropriate. Many hierarchies are
inconsistent; many new newsgroups are not created or only with a
large delay; removed groups keep lurking in the configuration files
for a long period of time. There is no administration tool that
utilizes the power of the Internet, and it is not possible to check
the consistency of the news server at a given point of time.
Users find it difficult to get an overview of the newsgroups, the
charter of a particular one, which language is preferred, or whether
a group is moderated. Renaming, the status change from moderated to
unmoderated or vice versa, and the splitting of a group into several
others are dynamic processes. These processes are in common use, but
it takes a long time until every news server is aware of these
changes.
An increasing number of faked control messages has appeared in the
last few years. Purposely or accidentally, control messages were
sent to foreign news servers to create or remove a certain group,
although this was not approved according to the rules of the
hierarchy in question. Due to this fact, automatic creation and
removal are disabled on many news servers, and several dead groups
have not been deleted. It is very difficult for users to determine
the current status of a group, and in some cases they simply cannot
tell that the group they are posting to is not an active group but a
dead or invalid one.
It is the design goal of Netnews Administration System (NAS) to
provide an out-of-band system that helps to maintain, propagate, and
deliver the required information. There will not be any interference
with current protocols and standards. It is not intended to make use
of control messages or some special Network News Transfer Protocol
(NNTP) commands. The advantage of NAS is that it provides more
information in a more structured format than that of control
messages. Not only news server administrators but also Usenet users
can get more detailed information about newsgroups and hierarchies.
Due to the fact that a client connects to a server and the server
asks for authentication, this is a more reasonable procedure for
transmitting information than that for control messages.
Grau, et al. Experimental [Page 3]
RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
Furthermore, it is possible to check for changes on a regular basis
at customized intervals to keep local data up-to-date.
2. Overview
NAS is based on a database that contains information about certain
groups and hierarchies. This database is structured in a
hierarchical manner and distributed to various servers, and it is
able to receive queries at any time. The service is comparable to
directory services like DNS, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
(LDAP), or Network Information Service (NIS). The NAS protocol is
inspired by protocols like NNTP and SMTP. The port 991 is reserved
for NAS and registered by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
(IANA) [IANA-PN].
The organizational structure of NAS is hierarchical; this means that
a NAS root server collects data from the sub-servers that are
authoritative for certain hierarchies. The root server signs the
data and distributes it authoritatively. Replication of database
entries is possible. The hierarchical structure can consist of
multiple levels. Usage of the database is possible for news servers,
news readers, and special client programs. The communication is
based on TCP and UDP.
Taking the real world into account, there might be some policy
problems with a single root server. But it is possible to establish
a structure like that of the current Usenet system, where some
hierarchies have a good administration with a well-defined system of
rules, and where some are not well maintained. The goal is to get as
much information as possible under one hat, but there can be no
"official" force to achieve this.
During the startup phase, it is quite likely that there will be a
root server, handling just hierarchies with strict rules and accepted
authorities (e.g., BIG8, de.*, us.*, bln.*, fr.*, it.*).
However, it is also imaginable to have some NAS servers providing
data on, for example, alt.!binaries, some providing data on alt.*,
and even some providing alt.* following special policies or sets of
rules.
An administrator using NAS will have the choice to use just one root
server (and all its data) or to use another NAS server for special
hierarchies.
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
.............. .............. ...................
. NAS server. . NAS server. . NAS server .
. . . . . alt.*, .
. alt.* . . Big8 . . !alt.binaries.*.
.............. .............. ...................
. database . . database . . database .
.............. .............. ...................
^ ^ ^ ^
`--+ +--' `------+ +----'
| | | |
.------------. .------------.
| NAS client | | NAS client |
+------------+ +------------+
| netnews | | netnews |
| server | | server |
.------------. .------------.
Configuration A Configuration B
Figure 1
NAS contains information about newsgroups and complete hierarchies.
Furthermore, it contains information about the hierarchies'
inheritable entries and default values for a single newsgroup.
3. Protocol Level
It is expected that the real-life use of NAS will change the
requirements for the Netnews Administration System. On the one hand,
the protocol has to be extensible and flexible in order to implement
improvements; on the other hand, it must ensure compatibility between
different versions. A simultaneous migration of all sites using NAS
to a new protocol version is not likely to happen. To solve this
problem, NAS has a protocol level. This protocol level describes the
current functionality. The protocol level, being a number between 1
and 32767, is negotiated at connection setup. Enhancements and
modifications must use a different protocol level than that of their
predecessors. (Usually the protocol level is incremented by 1 with
every new version of the protocol specification.) Every current or
future implementation MUST be compatible with protocol level 1 in
order to fall back to this level if communication on a higher level
fails.
An implementation of higher protocol levels should be able to emulate
the behavior of lower levels, even if this implies a loss of
features. The negotiation of the protocol level between client and
server is described in the specification of the command VERS. If
there is no agreement on the protocol level, only commands of the
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
protocol level 1 MUST be used. Documents enhancing or modifying the
NAS standard MUST specify on which level these changes take place and
how the behavior should be in other protocol levels.
This document describes protocol level 1.
4. Description of Functions
In order to use an NAS server, a connection must be opened by the
client. The NAS server can be located in the same domain or
somewhere else on the Internet.
The NAS system is hierarchical. The idea is to have an NAS root
server like the DNS root servers. The root server distributes the
data collected from client NAS servers that are authoritative servers
for their hierarchy. The maintenance of the authoritative data is
possible on any system. The root server collects the data and makes
them available to other servers, which can in turn distribute these
data to other servers. The administrator has the opportunity to make
use of either all data or only parts of the database. NAS servers
can ask multiple NAS servers for data. An attached time stamp makes
it possible to distinguish between new and old data and to avoid
loops in the propagation.
To describe the NAS in greater detail, it is necessary to emphasize
the hierarchical design of the NAS system. The following figure
shows the propagation of data along the server hierarchy.
Authoritative data for a newsgroup or a hierarchy are collected and
written into a database. These data are available through a local
NAS server and are collected from this authoritative server by
upstream NAS servers.
There may also be NAS servers that are not authoritative servers;
these servers merely provide the information they collect from other
NAS servers to clients such as news servers, administration programs,
and news readers.
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
............ collects from >
. root NAS.-------------------------+
. server .----------------+ |
............ | |
. database. | |
............ | |
^ v | ..........................
| | | . NAS server .
| |distributes | . authoritative for de.*.
queries| | | ..........................
| | | . database .
^ v | ..........................
.............. |
. NAS server. `--------+
.............. |
. database . ...........................
.............. . NAS server .
^ ^ ^ . authoritative for bln.*.
| | | .---------. ...........................
q | | `--| netnews | . database .
u | | | server | ...........................
e | | .---------.
r | |
i | | .---------.
e | `--| admin |
s | | program |
| .---------.
|
| .---------.
`--| news |
| reader |
.---------.
Figure 2
Requests to an NAS server originating at a client (as well as at
another server) are accomplished in several steps: establishing a
connection, authentication (optional), negotiating a protocol level
(optional), queries on the database, and termination.
5. Definitions
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
6. Specification of the NAS Protocol (TCP)
6.1. Responses
6.1.1. Overview
An answer starts with a response code (a three-digit number),
optionally followed by white space and a textual message. Then the
actual text/data follows. Text is sent as a series of successive
lines of textual matter, each terminated with CRLF. A single line
containing only a single period ('.') is sent to indicate the end of
the text (i.e., the server will send a CRLF at the end of the last
line of text, a period, and another CRLF).
Answer = response-code [answertext] CRLF
text CRLF
"." CRLF
If the original text contains a period as the first character of the
text line, that first period is doubled. Therefore, the client must
examine the first character of each line received and, for those
beginning with a period, determine either that this is the end of the
text or that it should collapse the doubled period to a single one.
Example
<-- INFO
--> 101 Information follows
Server: nas.example.org (192.0.2.100)
Uptime: 2 weeks, 3 days, 5 hours, 9 minutes
Software: NAS 1.0
Client: client.example.org (192.0.2.123)
Connection: 9 minutes
Highest protocol level supported: 1
Requested protocol level: 1
Protocol level used: 1
.
6.1.2. Response Code Values, Structure, and Meaning
The first digit of the response code indicates the message type
(i.e., information, success, warning, error, or data):
1xx Information
2xx Request successful
3xx Request successful, data follow
4xx Request accepted, but no operation possible
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
5xx Request is wrong (syntax error), is not implemented, or leads to
an internal error
6xx Request successful, data follow until end mark
The second digit specifies the message category:
x0x Connection-related stuff
x1x Queries, answers, or data
x2x Server-server communication
x3x Authentication, authorization
x8x Non-standard extensions
x9x Debugging output
The actual response code for a specific command is listed in the
description of the commands. Answers of the type 1xx, 2xx, 4xx, and
5xx can have a text after the numerical code. 3xx answers contain
one or more parameters with data; the exact format is explained in
the description of the commands.
An answer to an incorrect request may be longer than one line.
6.2. Connection Setup
NAS typically uses port 991, which is reserved by IANA [IANA-PN]. If
a connection is set up by the client, the server answers immediately
(without a request) with the greeting message, which will start with
code 200:
--> 200 Welcome!
nas.example.org ready
.
If a connection is refused because the client has no permission to
access the server, the answer code is 434. That decision can be made
on connection startup based on the client's IP address. When the
server is currently out of service, the answer code is 404.
Examples:
--> 434 You have no permission to retrieve data. Good bye.
.
--> 404 Maintenance time
.
After sending a 404 or 434 message, the connection will be closed.
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6.3. Commands
6.3.1. Structure
A command consists of a command word, sometimes followed by a
parameter. Parameters are separated from the command word by white
space.
Commands used in the NAS protocol are not case sensitive. A command
word or parameter may be uppercase, lowercase, or any mixture of
upper- and lowercase.
The length of a command line is not limited. If the need to limit
the length of command lines in real-life implementations arises,
answer code 513 (line too long) should be returned.
The protocol level described in this document uses command words with
a length of exactly four characters each.
In examples, octets sent to the NAS server are preceded by "<-- " and
those sent by the NAS server by "--> ". The indicator is omitted if
the direction of the dialog does not change.
6.3.2. Overview
The commands described below are defined using the Augmented Backus-
Naur Form (ABNF) defined in [RFC4234]. The definitions for 'ALPHA',
'CRLF', 'DIGIT', 'WSP' and 'VCHAR' are taken from appendix B of
[RFC4234] and not repeated here.
The following ABNF definitions constitute the set of NAS commands
that can be sent from the client to an NAS server.
6.3.3. Detailed Description
Some overall definitions follow:
text = %d1-9 / ; all octets except
%d11-12 / ; US-ASCII NUL, CR and LF
%d14-255
answertext = WSP *( ALPHA / DIGIT / "+" / "-" / "/" / "_" /
"." / "," / ":" / "=" / "?" / "!" / SP )
utc-time = 14DIGIT ; the date and time of the server in UTC
; YYYYMMDDhhmmss
response-code = 3DIGIT ; three digit number
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
Newsgroup names and hierarchy names are defined according to the
following ABNF definitions. Since a hierarchy name can be the same
as a newsgroup name (e.g., hierarchy bln.announce.fub.* and newsgroup
name bln.announce.fub), there is no difference between the two.
name = plain-component *("." component)
component = plain-component / encoded-word
encoded-word = 1*( lowercase / DIGIT /
"+" / "-" / "/" / "_" / "=" / "?" )
plain-component = component-start *component-rest
component-start = lowercase / DIGIT
lowercase = %x61-7A ; letter a-z lowercase
component-rest = component-start / "+" / "-" / "_"
NOTE: This definition of newsgroup name is in reference to "News
Article Format and Transmission" [SON1036]. When the document "News
Article Format" [USEFOR] is established as an RFC, its definitions
should be integrated into a higher protocol level of NAS.
6.3.3.1. HELP
Description
This command prints a short help text on a given command. If called
without parameters, it will display a complete list of commands.
help-cmd = "HELP" [WSP commandname] CRLF
commandname = "DATA" / "DATE" / "GETP" / "GETA" /
"HELP" / "HIER" / "INFO" / "LIST" /
"LSTR" / "QUIT" / "VERS"
Possible answers
100: Command overview, command description
410: Indicates that the server is not giving any information
help-answer = "410" [answertext] CRLF
text CRLF
"." CRLF
help-answer =/ "100" [answertext] CRLF
text CRLF
"." CRLF
Examples
<-- HELP
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
--> 100 NAS server nas.example.org - Version 1.0
Supported commands:
DATA - data for a newsgroup
DATE - show time of server in UTC
GETP - get package
GETA - get data from an authoritative server
HELP - show this help
HIER - data for a hierarchy
INFO - show info on current connection
LIST - list newsgroups or hierarchies
LSTR - recursive list newsgroups or hierarchies
QUIT - close the connection
VERS - show or set current protocol level
Contact address nas@example.org
.
<-- HELP LIST
--> 100 LIST
LIST - list newsgroups or hierarchies
Syntax: LIST hierarchy ...
Get a list of newsgroups and sub-hierarchies
directly under the parameter hierarchy
.
<-- HELP NOOP
--> 410
unknown command "NOOP"
.
6.3.3.2. INFO
Description
Prints information about the current connection, the server, and the
client.
info-cmd = "INFO" CRLF
Possible answers
101: Normal answer; prints some information about client
and server
400: Indicates that the server is not giving any information
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
info-answer = "400" [answertext] CRLF
text CRLF
"." CRLF
info-answer =/ "101" [answertext] CRLF
text CRLF
"." CRLF
Examples
<-- INFO
--> 101 Information follows
Server: nas.example.org (192.0.2.100)
Uptime: 2 weeks, 3 days, 5 hours, 9 minutes
Software: NAS 1.0
Client: client.example.org (192.0.2.123)
Connection: 9 minutes
Highest protocol level supported: 1
Requested protocol level: 1
Protocol level used: 1
End
.
<-- INFO
--> 400
No information available.
.
6.3.3.3. DATE
Description
Prints the current time of the server in UTC (Universal Coordinated
Time) in the format YYYYMMDDhhmmss, followed by an optional comment.
The DATE command is only for informational use and to check the
server time. For regular transmission of time over the network, the
Network Time Protocol (NTP) [RFC1305] should be used.
date-cmd = "DATE" CRLF
Possible answers
300: Print the UTC time in specified format; see below
511: Error; print an error message
date-answer = "511" [answertext] CRLF
text CRLF
"." CRLF
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
date-answer =/ "300" [answertext] CRLF
utc-time [answertext] CRLF
"." CRLF
Examples
<-- DATE
--> 300
19990427135230 UTC
.
<-- DATE
--> 511
Time is unknown
.
6.3.3.4. VERS
Description
The VERS command is used to determine the protocol level to use
between client and server. The parameter is a protocol level that
the client supports and wants to use. The server will respond with
the highest level accepted. This version number MUST not be higher
than that requested by the client. Client and server MUST only use
commands from the level that the server has confirmed. It is
possible, but seldom necessary, to change the protocol level during a
session by client request (VERS [protocol level]). When no option is
given, the current protocol level will be printed. When no protocol
level is negotiated, the protocol level 1 will be used. Commands of
a higher level are not allowed without successful negotiation. The
protocol level can be followed by an optional comment.
vers-cmd = "VERS" [WSP level] CRLF
level = 1*5DIGIT ; the valid range is 1 - 32767
Possible answers
202: Returns current protocol level
302: Requested level accepted
402: Requested level too high; falling back to lower level
510: Syntax error
vers-answer = "202" [answertext] CRLF
level [answertext] CRLF
"." CRLF
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
vers-answer =/ "302" [answertext] CRLF
level [answertext] WSP level CRLF
"." CRLF
vers-answer =/ "402" [answertext] CRLF
level [answertext] WSP level CRLF
"." CRLF
vers-answer =/ "510" [answertext] CRLF
level [answertext] CRLF
"." CRLF
Examples
<-- VERS
--> 202
2 Current protocol level is 2
.
<-- VERS 2
--> 302
2 My max protocol level is 10
.
<-- VERS 11
--> 402
10 Falling back to level 10
.
<-- VERS BAL
--> 510
1 Syntax error
.
6.3.3.5. QUIT
Description
Terminates the connection.
quit-cmd = "QUIT" CRLF
Possible answers
201: Termination of the connection
quit-answer = "201" [answertext] CRLF
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
Example
<-- QUIT
--> 201 Closing connection. Bye.
6.3.3.6. LIST
Description
To obtain a list of newsgroups and sub-hierarchies in the requested
hierarchies, the command LIST is used. The status of the hierarchies
is also given. The highest level consists of all top-level
hierarchies and is labeled "*". It can be obtained this way, too.
The data consist of a newsgroup- or hierarchy-name/status indicator
pair per line. Name and status indicator must be separated by at
least one white space. The status indicator is a single word (see
Section 6.4). The interpretation is not case sensitive.
list-cmd = "LIST" ( WSP "*" / 1*(WSP name)) CRLF
Possible answers
401: Permission denied
510: Syntax error
610: Normal response with all requested data
list-answer = "610" [answertext] CRLF
*(listdata CRLF)
"." CRLF
list-answer =/ "401" [answertext] CRLF
text CRLF
"." CRLF
list-answer =/ "510" [answertext] CRLF
text CRLF
"." CRLF
listdata = name WSP list-status
The list-status is the status of a newsgroup or hierarchy according
to Section 6.4.
list-status = "Complete" /
"Incomplete" /
"Obsolete" /
"Unknown" /
"Unmoderated" /
"Readonly" /
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"Moderated" /
"Removed" ; list-status is case-insensitive
Examples
<-- LIST *
--> 610 data follow
alt Incomplete
comp Complete
de Incomplete
rec Complete
sub Obsolete
.
<-- LIST de
--> 610 data follow
de.admin Complete
de.alt Incomplete
de.comm Complete
de.comp Complete
de.etc Complete
de.markt Complete
de.newusers Complete
de.org Complete
de.rec Complete
de.sci Complete
de.soc Complete
de.answers Moderated
de.test Unmoderated
.
<-- LIST foo
--> 610 data follow
foo Unknown
.
<-- LIST
--> 510 Syntax error
missing parameter hierarchy
.
<-- LIST de
--> 401 Something is wrong
Permission denied
.
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6.3.3.7. LSTR
Description
To obtain a recursive list of newsgroups and sub-hierarchies in the
named hierarchy, the command LSTR is used. The status of the
hierarchies is also given. The highest level consists of all top-
level hierarchies and is labeled "*". It can be obtained this way,
too.
The use of "*" as a wildcard pattern following the beginning of a
hierarchy name is also possible; so a "LSTR de.a*" would return a
list of all newsgroups and hierarchies starting with "de.a".
lstr-cmd = "LSTR" ( WSP "*" / 1*(WSP name ["*" / ".*"]) ) CRLF
Possible answers
401: Permission denied
510: Syntax error
610: Normal answer with all requested data
lstr-answer = "610" [answertext] CRLF
*(listdata CRLF)
"." CRLF
lstr-answer =/ "401" [answertext] CRLF
text CRLF
"." CRLF
lstr-answer =/ "510" [answertext] CRLF
text CRLF
"." CRLF
listdata = name WSP list-status
The list-status is the status of a newsgroup or hierarchy according
to Section 6.4.
list-status = "Complete" /
"Incomplete" /
"Obsolete" /
"Unknown" /
"Unmoderated" /
"Readonly" /
"Moderated" /
"Removed" ; list-status is case-insensitive
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
Example
<-- LSTR de.admin
--> 610 recursive mode
de.admin Complete
de.admin.infos Moderated
de.admin.lists Moderated
de.admin.misc Unmoderated
de.admin.net-abuse Complete
de.admin.net-abuse.announce Moderated
de.admin.net-abuse.mail Unmoderated
de.admin.net-abuse.misc Unmoderated
de.admin.net-abuse.news Unmoderated
de.admin.news Complete
de.admin.news.announce Moderated
de.admin.news.groups Unmoderated
de.admin.news.misc Unmoderated
de.admin.news.nocem Unmoderated
de.admin.news.regeln Unmoderated
.
6.3.3.8. HIER
Description
The command HIER lists all information available about the hierarchy.
With the data header "Name", a new data block for each hierarchy is
started. The header "Name" gives the name of the hierarchy. The
data headers are described in Section 6.3.4. The default is to
transmit all available information. It can be limited to a list of
desired headers ("Name" and "Status" are always given). A set of
comma-separated headers, as an option to the HIER command, will
return the requested header fields.
hier-cmd = "HIER" 1*(WSP name) [WSP selection] CRLF
selection = *( "," header ) ; Describes the data fields
; that are requested
header = ALPHA *( ALPHA / "-" ) ; According to section 6.3.4
Example for selection
,Followup,Description : For all entries list Name, Status, Followup
and Description
Possible answers
401: Permission denied
Grau, et al. Experimental [Page 19]
RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
510: Syntax error
611: Regular answer with all requested data
hier-answer = "611" [answertext] CRLF
*(hierdata CRLF)
"." CRLF
hier-answer =/ "510" [answertext] CRLF
*(text CRLF)
"." CRLF
hier-answer =/ "401" [answertext] CRLF
*(text CRLF)
"." CRLF
hierdata = "Name:" WSP text CRLF
"Status:" WSP text CRLF
*(header ":" WSP text CRLF)
[("Ctl-PGP-Key:" CRLF PGP-answer /
"Mod-PGP-Key:" CRLF PGP-answer)]
PGP-answer: The exact format is described in Section 6.7.
Examples
<-- HIER de
--> 611 Data coming
Name: de
Status: Complete
Serial: 20020823120306
Description: Internationale deutschsprachige Newsgruppen
Netiquette: http://www.kirchwitz.de.example/~amk/dni/netiquette
FAQ: http://www.kirchwitz.de.example/~amk/dai/einrichtung
Ctl-Send-Adr: moderator@dana.de.example
Ctl-Newsgroup: de.admin.news.announce
Mod-Wildcard: %s@moderators.dana.de.example
Language: DE
Charset: ISO-8859-1
Encoding: text/plain
Newsgroup-Type: Discussion
Hier-Type: Global
Comp-Length: 14
Date-Create: 19920106000000
.
<-- HIER bln
--> 401
Permission denied
.
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
<-- HIER
--> 510 Syntax error
missing parameter hierarchy
.
6.3.3.9. DATA
Description
The DATA command corresponds to the HIER command, as explained in
6.3.3.8, but it is used for information about a newsgroup. A summary
of codes can be found in Section 6.3.4.
data-cmd = "DATA" 1*(WSP name) [WSP selection] CRLF
Possible answers
401: Permission denied
510: Syntax error
612: Regular answer with all requested data
data-answer = "612" [answertext] CRLF
*(datadata CRLF)
"." CRLF
data-answer =/ "510" [answertext] CRLF
text CRLF
"." CRLF
data-answer =/ "401" [answertext] CRLF
text CRLF
"." CRLF
datadata = "Name:" WSP text CRLF
"Status:" WSP text CRLF
*(header ":" WSP text CRLF)
[("Ctl-PGP-Key:" CRLF PGP-answer /
"Mod-PGP-Key:" CRLF PGP-answer)]
Examples
<-- DATA de.comp.os.unix.linux.moderated
--> 612 data follow
Name: de.comp.os.unix.linux.moderated
Status: Moderated
Serial: 20020823120312
Description: Linux und -Distributionen.
<dcoulm-moderators@linux-config.de.example>
Charter: http://www.dana.de.example/mod/chartas/de.html
Netiquette: http://www.kirchwitz.de.example/~amk/dni/netiquette
Grau, et al. Experimental [Page 21]
RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
Netiquette: ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de.example/doc/usenet/german
/Netiquette
Mod-Sub-Adr: dcoulm-moderators@linux-config.de.example
Mod-Group-Info: http://wpxx02.toxi.uni-wuerzburg.de.example
/~dcoulmod/
Newsgroup-Type: Discussion
.
<-- DATA de.foo
--> 612 data follow
Name: de.foo
Status: Unknown
.
<-- DATA de
--> 401
Permission denied
.
<-- DATA
--> 510 Syntax error
missing parameter newsgroup
.
6.3.3.10. GETP
Description
GETP is used for server-server communication. It requests the data
for the hierarchy specified by the parameter "name". The format of
the data is the same as for the commands "HIER" and "LIST". If "*"
is given as hierarchy name, all data the server is offering will be
transmitted.
The "timestamp" attached to a package consists of the date and time
that the package was created. The timestamp for a package is
transmitted together with the package data by the server and marks a
specific revision for the package data.
When a client requests a package with GETP, it transmits the
timestamp attached to the package in its database so that the server
can check whether the data on the client side is still valid or if it
is too old. If the data on the client side is still valid, a 213
answer is sent, so the client knows that its data is OK. If the
timestamp is "0", the server is forced to transmit the data.
Grau, et al. Experimental [Page 22]
RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
Timestamps set by the server must be increasing and may not be more
than 12 hours in the future.
The data for a successful request are signed and sent in ASCII armor
according to [RFC2440], so a client can check the signature or ignore
it. The actual data will be surrounded by the armor start and end
sections, according to Section 6.2 of [RFC2440].
getp-cmd = "GETP" WSP username WSP password WSP timestamp
WSP ( name / "*" ) CRLF
username = *1( VCHAR ) / "0" ; Length of VCHAR >= 1
password = *1( VCHAR ) / "0" ; Length of VCHAR >= 1
timestamp = utc-time / ; date and time of the last retrieval
"0" ; force the transmission of data
Possible answers
213: Current data at the client side
411: No hierarchy with that name
430: Permission denied
510: Syntax error
613: Hierarchy data
getp-answer = "613" [answertext] CRLF
pgp-ascii-armor-start ; this is according to [RFC2440]
*(getpdata CRLF)
pgp-ascii-armor-end ; this is according to [RFC2440]
"." CRLF
getp-answer =/ "213" [answertext] CRLF
text CRLF
"." CRLF
getp-answer =/ "430" [answertext] CRLF
text CRLF
"." CRLF
getp-answer =/ "411" [answertext] CRLF
text CRLF
"." CRLF
getp-answer =/ "510" [answertext] CRLF
text CRLF
"." CRLF
pgp-ascii-armor-start and the pgp-ascii-armor-end are built according
to [RFC2440], Section 6.2., "Forming ASCII Armor".
Grau, et al. Experimental [Page 23]
RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
getpdata = "Name:" WSP text CRLF
"Status:" WSP text CRLF
"Serial:" WSP timestamp CRLF
*(header ":" WSP text CRLF)
[("Ctl-PGP-Key:" CRLF PGP-answer /
"Mod-PGP-Key:" CRLF PGP-answer)]
Examples
<-- GETP 0 0 0 humanities
--> 615 data follow
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Name: humanities
Status: Complete
Serial: 20020821094529
Description: Branches of learning that investigate human
constructs and concerns as opposed to natural processes.
Netiquette: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu.example/pub/usenet
/news.announce.newusers
/A_Primer_on_How_to_Work_With_the_Usenet_Community
Rules: http://www.uvv.org.example/docs/howto.txt
Ctl-Send-Adr: group-admin@isc.org.example
Ctl-Newsgroup: news.announce.newgroup
Language: EN
Charset: US-ASCII
Encoding: text/plain
Newsgroup-Type: Discussion
Hier-Type: Global
Comp-Length: 14
Date-Create: 19950417143009
Name: humanities.answers
Status: Moderated
Serial: 20020821094533
Description: Repository for periodic USENET articles. (Moderated)
Mod-Sub-Adr: news-answers@mit.edu.example
Mod-Adm-Adr: news-answers-request@mit.edu.example
Newsgroup-Type: Announce
Date-Create: 19950725182040
Name: humanities.classics
[...]
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (IRIX64)
iD8DBQE9Zj/Wn13IYldLZg8RAhWiAJ4y7o+3FzBpRjYJj2HWwXyG2g8FoQCfeEsH
rRynPhhjveiY/XBkkrrZFho=
Grau, et al. Experimental [Page 24]
RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
=muK4
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
.
<-- GETP 0 0 19990909101000 de
--> 213
You are up-to-date
.
<-- GETP foo
--> 510 Syntax error
Missing parameters
.
<-- GETP guest test 0 de
--> 430
You have no permission to retrieve the data
.
6.3.3.11. GETA
Description
The GETA command is used for server-server communication; it is used
to collect authoritative data and will request packages that the
server is authoritative for. A package is the authoritative data
either for a newsgroup or a hierarchy. Each package has a
"timestamp" attached to mark the revision of the package. This
timestamp is set by the server to the date of the last modification
of the package data in UTC format. A timestamp of "0" indicates that
the package MUST be retrieved. If the retrieving client has a recent
package (i.e., no modification on the authoritative server), the
server sends only a 215 response. The format of the data is the same
as that for the commands "HIER" and "LIST".
geta-cmd = "GETA" WSP username WSP password WSP
timestamp WSP name CRLF
Possible answers
215: The client already has the current data
430: Permission denied
411: No hierarchy with that name
510: Syntax error
615: Regular answer with all requested data
Grau, et al. Experimental [Page 25]
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geta-answer = "615" [answertext] CRLF
pgp-ascii-armor-start ; this is according to [RFC2440]
*(getadata CRLF)
pgp-ascii-armor-end ; this is according to [RFC2440]
"." CRLF
geta-answer =/ "215" [answertext] CRLF
text CRLF
"." CRLF
geta-answer =/ "430" [answertext] CRLF
text CRLF
"." CRLF
geta-answer =/ "411" [answertext] CRLF
text CRLF
"." CRLF
geta-answer =/ "510" [answertext] CRLF
text CRLF
"." CRLF
getadata = "Name:" WSP text CRLF
"Status:" WSP text CRLF
"Serial:" WSP timestamp CRLF
*(header ":" WSP text CRLF)
[("Ctl-PGP-Key:" CRLF PGP-answer/
"Mod-PGP-Key:" CRLF PGP-answer)]
Example
<-- GETA 0 0 0 humanities
--> 613 data follow
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Name: humanities
Status: Complete
Serial: 20020821094529
Description: Branches of learning that investigate human
constructs and concerns as opposed to natural processes.
Netiquette: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu.example/pub/usenet
/news.announce.newusers
/A_Primer_on_How_to_Work_With_the_Usenet_Community
Rules: http://www.uvv.org.example/docs/howto.txt
Ctl-Send-Adr: group-admin@isc.org.example
Ctl-Newsgroup: news.announce.newgroup
Language: EN
Charset: US-ASCII
Encoding: text/plain
Newsgroup-Type: Discussion
Hier-Type: Global
Grau, et al. Experimental [Page 26]
RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
Comp-Length: 14
Date-Create: 19950417143009
Name: humanities.answers
Status: Moderated
Serial: 20020821094533
Description: Repository for periodic USENET articles. (Moderated)
Mod-Sub-Adr: news-answers@mit.edu.example
Mod-Adm-Adr: news-answers-request@mit.edu.example
Newsgroup-Type: Announce
Date-Create: 19950725182040
Name: humanities.classics
[...]
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (IRIX64)
iD8DBQE9Zj/Wn13IYldLZg8RAhWiAJ4y7o+3FzBpRjYJj2HWwXyG2g8FoQCfeEsH
rRynPhhjveiY/XBkkrrZFho=
=muK4
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
.
6.3.3.12. Unknown Commands and Syntax Errors
If a command is recognized as unknown, a 519 return code (unknown
command) is given. If an error occurs after the command string
(e.g., a missing parameter), a 510 return code (Syntax error: Missing
parameter) is given.
6.3.4. Data Headers
The following paragraphs describe key words and key terms that
support retrieval and storing of information. Every header has a
unique English name.
The content of a header is inheritable within a hierarchy, as long as
the header is marked as inheritable. The content is the default
value for all downstream newsgroups and sub-hierarchies. For
example, in the hierarchy "de", the language header has the value
"DE" (German); therefore, this value is "DE" for all newsgroups in
this hierarchy, except for those that explicitly define a language
code of their own.
Hierarchies and newsgroups must have at least values for the headers
"Name" and "Status". Unknown hierarchies or groups get the status
"Unknown".
Grau, et al. Experimental [Page 27]
RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
The header used in the NAS protocol are not case sensitive. A header
may be uppercase, lowercase, or any mixture of upper- and lowercase.
It is recommended that the first letter of the header and the first
letter after a dash be uppercase and that all other characters be
lowercase.
Name
Header: Name
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: yes
Inheritable: no
Repeatable: no
Description: Name of a hierarchy.
Comment: Start of a new data block.
Example: Name: comp
Used for: newsgroup
Mandatory: yes
Repeatable: no
Description: Name of a newsgroup
Comment: Start of a new data block.
Example: Name: de.admin.news.announce
Status
Header: Status
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: yes
Inheritable: no
Repeatable: no
Description: Status of a hierarchy.
Comment: For a detailed description, see Section 6.4.
Example: Status: Hierarchy-Complete
Used for: newsgroup
Mandatory: yes
Repeatable: no
Description: Status of a newsgroup.
Comment: For a detailed description, see Section 6.4.
Example: Status: Group-Moderated
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Serial
Header: Serial
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: no
Repeatable: no
Description: Timestamp for hierarchy data.
Comment: For a detailed description, see Section 6.4.
Example: Serial: 20020821102413
Used for: newsgroup
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: no
Repeatable: no
Description: Timestamp for newsgroup data.
Comment: For a detailed description, see Section 6.4.
Example: Serial: 20020821102413
Group for followup
Header: Followup
Used for: newsgroup
Mandatory: no
Repeatable: no
Description: Name of the newsgroup that will take the followup
postings of a moderated group.
Comment: The value can be used as default value for the
"Followup-To:" header on postings to a moderated group.
This value is only useful on groups that are moderated
(Status Group-Moderated) and have a dedicated discussion
group.
Example: Followup: bln.announce.fub.zedat.d
(for the moderated group bln.announce.fub.zedat)
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Short description
Header: Description
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: no
Repeatable: no
Description: Short description of a hierarchy.
Example: Description: Angelegenheiten, die den Grossraum Berlin
betreffen
(for the hierarchy bln)
Used for: newsgroup
Mandatory: no
Repeatable: no
Description: Short description of a newsgroup.
Comment: This information is often presented to the news reader
upon selection of the newsgroup, and it should be a
brief but meaningful description of the topic.
Example: Description: Technisches zur Newssoftware
(for de.admin.news.software)
Charter-URL
Header: Charter
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: no
Repeatable: yes
Description: URL that points to the charter of a hierarchy.
Example: Charter: ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de.example/doc/news/bln/bln
(for the hierarchy bln)
Used for: newsgroup
Mandatory: no
Repeatable: yes
Description: URL that points to the charter of a newsgroup.
Comment: This information should be presented to the
news reader upon selection of the newsgroup.
Example: Charter: ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de.example/doc/news/bln
/bln.markt.arbeit
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Netiquette-URL
Header: Netiquette
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: yes
Repeatable: yes
Description: URL that points to the netiquette of a hierarchy.
Comment: Since the netiquettes are often valid for
a complete hierarchy, this is inheritable.
Example: Netiquette:
http://www.kirchwitz.de.example/~amk/dni/netiquette
Used for: newsgroup
Mandatory: no
Repeatable: yes
Description: URL for Netiquette.
Comment: If a group has some special rules, this is the
pointer to these rules.
Example: Netiquette: http://go.to.example/bln.markt
(for bln.markt)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Header: FAQ
Used for: Newsgroup
Mandatory: no
Repeatable: yes
Description: URL for the FAQ of a newsgroup.
Example: FAQ: http://www.dard.de.example/
Administration rules
Header: Rules
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: yes
Repeatable: yes
Description: URL pointing to a document that describes the rules for
creating, deleting, or renaming newsgroups in this
hierarchy.
Comment: Normally inherited from the toplevel hierarchy.
Grau, et al. Experimental [Page 31]
RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
Example: Rules: http://www.kirchwitz.de.example/~amk/dai
/einrichtung
Control Email
Header: Ctl-Send-Adr
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: yes
Repeatable: yes
Description: Email address of the sender of control messages.
Comment: Multiple addresses are valid.
Example: Ctl-Send-Adr: group-admin@isc.org.example
Control newsgroup
Header: Ctl-Newsgroup
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: yes
Repeatable: yes
Description: Name of the newsgroup that will get the postings for
checkgroups, rmgroup, and newsgroup control messages.
Example: Ctl-Newsgroup: de.admin.news.groups
Moderators
Header: Mod-Wildcard
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: yes
Repeatable: no
Description: Moderator wildcard for this hierarchy.
Comment: This information can be used for the configuration of
the news software, for example, to configure the
moderators file in INN.
Example: Mod-Wildcard: %s@moderators.dana.de.example
(for the hierarchy de)
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Submission address
Header: Mod-Sub-Adr
Used for: newsgroup
Mandatory: no
Repeatable: yes
Description: Email address for submissions to the newsgroup.
Comment: If there is no "Mod-Sub-Adr" for a moderated newsgroup,
"Mod-Wildcard" of the hierarchy is used. This is useful
only for moderated groups (Status Group-Moderated).
Example: Mod-Sub-Adr: news-answers@mit.edu.example
(for the newsgroup news.answers)
Moderator's address (email)
Header: Mod-Adm-Adr
Used for: newsgroup
Mandatory: no
Repeatable: yes
Description: Email address of the moderator of the newsgroup.
Comment: If there is no code "Mod-Adm-Adr" for a moderated
newsgroup, "Mod-Wildcard" of the hierarchy is used.
This is useful only for moderated groups
(Status Group-Moderated).
Example: Mod-Adm-Adr: news-answers-request@mit.edu.example
(for the newsgroup news.answers)
Info-URL
Header: Mod-Group-Info
Used for: newsgroup
Mandatory: no
Repeatable: yes
Description: URL that points to a document where the moderator
presents information about the newsgroup and the
submission of articles.
Example: Mod-Group-Info: http://www.example.org/cola-submit.html
(for comp.os.linux.announce)
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
Language
Header: Language
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: yes
Repeatable: yes
Description: The language that will normally be used in postings.
Comment: The notation is according to the "Content-Language"
field of [RFC2616]. The languages not
preferred are enclosed in parentheses.
Example: Language: DE
(for the hierarchy de)
Used for: newsgroup
Mandatory: no
Repeatable: yes
Description: The language that will normally be used in postings.
Comment: The notation is according to the "Content-Language"
field of [RFC2616]. The languages not
preferred are enclosed in parentheses.
Example: Language: TR
Language: DE
Language: (EN)
(for the newsgroup bln.kultur.tuerkisch)
Charset
Header: Charset
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: yes
Repeatable: yes
Description: Charset that will normally be used in postings in this
hierarchy.
Comment: The complete set of charset names is defined by
[RFC2277] and the IANA Character Set registry [IANA-CS].
The charsets that are not the preferred charsets are
enclosed in parentheses.
Example: Charset: ISO-8859-1
(for the hierarchy de)
Grau, et al. Experimental [Page 34]
RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
Used for: newsgroup
Mandatory: no
Repeatable: yes
Description: Charset that will normally be used in
postings in this group.
Comment: The complete set of charset names is defined by
[RFC2277] and the IANA Character Set registry
[IANA-CS]. The charsets that are not the preferred
charsets are enclosed in parentheses.
Example: Charset: ISO-8859-9
Charset: ISO-8859-1
(for the newsgroup bln.kultur.tuerkisch)
Encoding
Header: Encoding
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: yes
Repeatable: yes
Description: Encoding for this hierarchy according to MIME [RFC2045].
Comment: This is the media type used in this hierarchy; a list of
registered media types can be found at [IANA-MT]. The
encodings not preferred are enclosed in parentheses.
Example: Encoding text/plain
Used for: newsgroup
Mandatory: no
Repeatable: yes
Description: Encoding for this newsgroup according to MIME [RFC2045].
Comment This is the media type used in this newsgroup; a list of
registered media types can be found at [IANA-MT]. The
encodings not preferred are enclosed in parentheses.
Example: Encoding: text/plain
Grau, et al. Experimental [Page 35]
RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
Type of newsgroup
Header: Newsgroup-Type
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: yes
Repeatable: yes
Description: Default newsgroup type in this hierarchy.
Comment: This header has no concrete meaning for a hierarchy but
is used for the inheritance to newsgroups in the
hierarchy.
Specification of the types can be found in Section 6.5.
Example: Newsgroup-Type: Discussion
(for the hierarchy de)
Used for: newsgroup
Mandatory: no
Repeatable: yes
Description: Type of newsgroup.
Comment: Specification of the types can be found in Section 6.5.
Example: Newsgroup-Type: Announce
(for de.admin.news.announce)
Type of hierarchy
Header: Hier-Type
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: yes
Repeatable: yes
Description: Type of hierarchy.
Comment: Specification of the types can be found in Section 6.6.
Example: Hier-Type: Regional
(for hierarchy bln)
Grau, et al. Experimental [Page 36]
RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
Regional or Organizational Area
Header: Area
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: yes
Repeatable: yes
Description: Description of the geographical region or organization
of this hierarchy.
Comment: This code is useful when the hierarchy type
(Hier-Type) is "Regional" or "Organization".
Example: Area: Grossraum Berlin
(for the hierarchy bln)
Name length of group names
Header: Name-Length
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: yes
Repeatable: no
Description: Maximum length of a newsgroup name.
Example: Name-Length: 72
(for the hierarchy bln)
Component length of group names
Header: Comp-Length
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: yes
Repeatable: no
Description: Maximum length of a single component in the newsgroup
name.
Example: Comp-Length: 14
(for the hierarchy de)
Grau, et al. Experimental [Page 37]
RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
Article length
Header: Article-Length
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: yes
Repeatable: no
Description: Maximum length of an article in bytes.
Comment: This header has no concrete meaning for a hierarchy but
is used for the inheritance to newsgroups in the
hierarchy.
Example: Article-Length: 50000
Used for: newsgroup
Mandatory: no
Repeatable: no
Description: Maximum length of an article in bytes.
Example: Article-Length: 50000
Date of creation
Header: Date-Create
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: yes
Repeatable: no
Description: Creation date of a hierarchy; can even be in the future.
Comment: The format is the same as in the DATE command.
Example: Date-Create: 19970330101514
Used for: newsgroup
Mandatory: no
Repeatable: no
Description: Creation date of a newsgroup; can even be in the future.
Comment: The format is the same as in the DATE command.
Example: Date-Create: 19970330101514
Grau, et al. Experimental [Page 38]
RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
Date of removal
Header: Date-Delete
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: yes
Repeatable: no
Description: Date of removal of a hierarchy; can even be in the
future.
Comment: The format is the same as in the DATE command.
Example: Date-Delete: 19970330101514
Used for: newsgroup
Mandatory: no
Repeatable: no
Description: Date of removal of a newsgroup; can even be in the
future.
Comment: The format is the same as in the DATE command.
Example: Date-Delete: 19970330101514
Successor
Header: Replacement
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: no
Repeatable: yes
Description: Name of the hierarchy that replaced a removed hierarchy
if status is "Hierarchy-Obsolete" or will replace a
hierarchy if the date of removal is in the future.
Example: Replacement: de
(for the hierarchy sub)
Used for: newsgroup
Mandatory: no
Repeatable: yes
Description: Name of the newsgroup or newsgroups that will replace a
removed newsgroup if status is "Group-Removed" or will
replace the newsgroup if the date of removal is in the
future.
Example: Replacement: bln.markt.arbeit
(for bln.jobs)
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
Source
Header: Source
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: yes
Repeatable: no
Description: Pointer to an organization or person responsible
for this hierarchy. SHOULD be a URL or an email
address.
Example: Source: http://www.dana.de.example/mod/
(for the hierarchy de)
E: This is for tracking the maintainer of a hierarchy.
Control PGP key
Header: Ctl-PGP-Key
Used for: hierarchy
Mandatory: no
Inheritable: yes
Repeatable: yes
Description: PGP key (with additional information: key owner, key-id,
etc.) of the sender of control messages in this
hierarchy.
Comment: The exact format is described in Section 6.7.
Example: Ctl-PGP-Key:
U de.admin.news.announce
B 1024
I D3033C99
L http://www.dana.de.example/mod/pgp/dana.asc
L ftp://ftp.isc.org.example/pub/pgpcontrol/PGPKEYS.gz
F 5B B0 52 88 BF 55 19 4F 66 7D C2 AE 16 26 28 25
V 2.6.3ia
K------BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
K-Version: 2.6.3ia
K-
K-mQCNEALZ+Xfm/WDCEMXM48gK1PlKG6TkV3SLbXt4CnzpGM0tOMa
K-HjlHqM1wEGUHD5hw/BL/heR5Tq+C5IEyXQQmYwkrgeVFMOz/rAQ
[...]
K-SDw+iQgAAtN6zrYOhHFBp+
K-VpvRovMz+lSOy9Zcsbs+5t8Pj9ZVAQyfxBkqD5A=
K-=Xwgc
K -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
Moderator's PGP key
Header: Mod-PGP-Key
Used for: newsgroup
Mandatory: no
Repeatable: yes
Description: Public PGP key (with additional information: key owner,
key-id, etc.) of this newsgroup's moderator.
Comment: The exact format is described in Section 6.7
Example: See Section 6.7.
6.4. Status Indicators
The status indicator uniquely determines the status of a hierarchy or
newsgroup. The indicator is case insensitive.
Indicator Type Description
----------- --------- -------------------------------------------
Complete hierarchy Authorized, complete known hierarchy
Incomplete hierarchy Not completely known hierarchy (like free.*)
Obsolete hierarchy Obsolete hierarchy; should contain only
newsgroups with status "Removed"
Unknown hierarchy No information available; unknown hierarchy
Unmoderated newsgroup Posting allowed; unmoderated
Readonly newsgroup Posting not allowed
Moderated newsgroup Moderated group; articles must be sent to
the moderator
Removed newsgroup Deleted or renamed newsgroup; no posting or
transport
Unknown newsgroup Unknown group; no information available
----------- --------- -------------------------------------------
6.5. Newsgroup Types
A Newsgroup Type is a comprehensive overview about some
characteristics of a newsgroup, being a test group, a binary group,
or some other kind. The Newsgroup Type is case insensitive.
Type Meaning
----------- ------------------------------------------------------
Discussion Discussion (text postings)
Binary (Encoded) binary postings
Sources Source postings (e.g., comp.unix.sources)
Announce Announcements, press releases, RfD/CfV
Test Test postings, sometimes reflectors (e.g., de.test)
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Robots Automatic postings (like the former comp.mail.maps)
Experiment Experimental, other
----------- ------------------------------------------------------
6.6. Hierarchy Types
To describe a hierarchy, the following Hierarchy Types are used.
These Types are used to mark some properties of a news hierarchy.
They are case insensitive.
Type Meaning
-------------- ---------------------------------------------------
Global International, global hierarchy
(e.g., the hierarchies comp, de, rec)
Regional Regional hierarchy
(e.g., the hierarchies ba, bln, tor)
Alt Alternative hierarchy, simpler rules for
creating a group, no formal structure
(e.g., the hierarchy alt)
Non-commercial Only for personal use; commercial use is prohibited
(e.g., the hierarchy de)
Commercial Commercial use permitted (e.g., the hierarchy biz)
Organization Hierarchy bound to an organization
(e.g., the hierarchy gnu)
-------------- ---------------------------------------------------
6.7. PGP Keys
PGP keys for Ctrl-PGP-Key and Mod-PGP-Key are transmitted in the
following structure:
PGP-answer = "V" SP Version CRLF
"U" SP User-ID CRLF
"B" SP Bits CRLF
"I" SP Key-ID CRLF
"F" SP Finger CRLF
*("L" SP Location CRLF)
*("K-" Keyblock CRLF)
"K" SP Keyblock CRLF
Version = text
User-ID = text
Bits = text
Key-ID = text
Finger = text
Location = text
Keyblock = text
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Key Name Mandatory Description
--- --------- --------- --------------------------------------
K Keyblock yes Public key block in ASCII armor format
[RFC2440]
V Version yes PGP-Version
U User-ID no Key user id
B Bits no Number of bits
I Key-ID no Key id, without leading "0x"
F Finger no Fingerprint
L Location no URL that points to the public key
--- --------- --------- --------------------------------------
A hyphen following the code indicates that the block is continued on
the next line. In the last message row, there MUST be white space
after the code; this is also true for a single line code.
Example
<-- HIER de
--> 611 Data coming
Name: de
Status: Hierarchy
[...]
Ctl-PGP-Key:
U de.admin.news.announce
B 1024
I D3033C99
L http://www.dana.de.example/mod/pgp/dana.asc
L ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de.example/unix/news/pgpcontrol/PGPKEYS.gz
F 5B B0 52 88 BF 55 19 4F 66 7D C2 AE 16 26 28 25
V 2.6.3ia
K------BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
K-Version: 2.6.3ia
K-
K-mQCNAzGeB/YAAAEEALZ+Xfm/WDCEMXM48gK1PlKG6TkV3SLbXt4CnzpGMtOM
K-HjlHaU6Xco5ijAuqM1wEGUHD5hw/BL/heR5Tq+C5IEyXQQmYwkrgeVFMO/rA
[...]
K-SDw+Id0JPFO9AWOiQgAAtN6zrYOhHFBp+68h9k674Yg9IHqj3BWdRjJF6PKo
K-VpvRovMz+lSOy9Zcsbs+5t8Pj9ZVAQyfxBkqD5A=
K-=Xwgc
K -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
[...]
.
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7. Specification of the NAS Protocol (UDP)
UDP is intended for reading programs (news readers); it is not in the
scope of this document. The use of UDP for NAS will be described in
a separate paper.
8. IANA Considerations
The IANA has registered the application/nasdata media type as defined
by the following information:
Media type name: application
Media subtype name: nasdata
Required parameters: none
Optional parameters: level
The NAS protocol level number for the enclosed
NAS data package. If not present, the
protocol level defaults to 1.
Encoding scheme: NAS data is plain text; no special encodings are
needed.
Security considerations: see below
9. Security Considerations
Security issues are only addressed in respect to server-server
communication in this protocol level. Username and password
combinations in the GETA and GETP commands can be used to make sure
that connections are only accepted from authorized clients. PGP keys
according to [RFC2440] are used to sign NAS data in server-server
communication in order to validate that the data is authentic and has
not been tampered with.
Every server does have the possibility (in both server-server and
server-client communication) to deny some commands or the whole
connection according to the client's IP number.
No mechanisms are defined in the current protocol level to allow a
client to validate that it is talking to a legitimate server or that
the data it receives is authentic.
A stronger authentication scheme will be provided in a higher
protocol level.
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
10. Response Codes (Overview)
Code Description
---- --------------------------------------------------------------
100 Command overview, Information, command description (HELP)
101 Information about connection, client and server (INFO)
200 Greeting message (Connection Setup)
201 Termination of the connection (QUIT)
202 Returns current protocol level (VERS)
213 Valid data at the client side (GETP)
215 The client already has the current data (GETA)
300 Time in UTC (DATE)
302 Answer to a successful request (VERS)
400 Indicates that the server is not giving any information (INFO)
401 Permission denied (LIST, LSTR, HIER, DATA)
402 Requested level too high; falling back to lower level (VERS)
404 Server currently out of service (Connection Setup)
410 Indicates that the server is not giving any information (HELP)
411 No hierarchy with that name (GETP, GETA)
430 Permission denied (GETP, GETA)
434 Client has no permission to talk to server (Connection Setup)
510 Syntax error
511 Internal error (TIME)
513 Line too long
519 Unknown command
610 Regular answer with all requested data (LIST, LSTR)
611 Regular answer with all requested data (HIER)
612 Regular answer with all requested data (DATA)
613 hierarchy data (GETP)
615 Regular answer with all requested data (GETA)
---- --------------------------------------------------------------
11. Data Headers for DATA and HIER Commands (Overview)
Header Mandatory Use Multiple Description
------------- --------- --- -------- ---------------------
Name yes H/N no Name of a hierarchy
or newsgroup (Start
of a new data block)
Status yes H/N no Status of hierarchy
or newsgroup
Serial no H/N no Revision of hierarchy
/newsgroup data
Followup no N no Group for followup
Description no H/N no Short description of
a hierarchy/newsgroup
Charter no H/N yes Charter-URL
Netiquette no H/N yes Netiquette-URL
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
FAQ no N yes FAQ-URL
Rules no H yes Administration rules
URL
Ctl-Send-Adr no H yes Control email
Ctl-Newsgroup no H yes Control newsgroup
Mod-Wildcard no H no Moderator wildcard
Mod-Sub-Adr no N no Submission address
Mod-Adm-Adr no N yes Moderator's address
(email)
Mod-Group-Info no N yes Info-URL
Language no H/N yes Language
Charset no H/N yes Charset
Encoding no H/N yes Encoding
Newsgroup-Type no H/N yes Type of newsgroup
Hier-Type no H yes Type of hierarchy
Area no H yes Regional or
organizational area
Name-Length no H no Total length of group
names
Comp-Length no H no Component length of
group names
Article-Length no H no Article length
Date-Create no H/N no Date of creation
Date-Delete no H/N no Date of removal
Replacement no H/N yes Successor
Source no H yes Source of data
Ctl-PGP-Key no H yes Control PGP key
Mod-PGP-Key no N yes Moderator's PGP key
------------- --------- --- -------- ---------------------
N: Newsgroup, H: Hierarchy
12. References
12.1. Normative References
[IANA-CS] IANA: Character Sets,
<http://www.iana.org/assignments/character-sets>.
[RFC2045] Freed, N. and N. Borenstein, "Multipurpose Internet Mail
Extensions (MIME) Part One: Format of Internet Message
Bodies", RFC 2045, November 1996.
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[RFC2277] Alvestrand, H., "IETF Policy on Character Sets and
Languages", BCP 18, RFC 2277, January 1998.
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RFC 4707 Netnews Administration System (NAS) October 2006
[RFC2440] Callas, J., Donnerhacke, L., Finney, H., and R. Thayer,
"OpenPGP Message Format", RFC 2440, November 1998.
[RFC2616] Fielding, R., Gettys, J., Mogul, J., Frystyk, H., Masinter,
L., Leach, P., and T. Berners-Lee, "Hypertext Transfer
Protocol -- HTTP/1.1", RFC 2616, June 1999.
[RFC4234] Crocker, D. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
Specifications: ABNF", RFC 4234, October 2005.
12.2. Informative References
[IANA-MT] IANA: Media Types, <http://www.iana.org/assignments/>.
[IANA-PN] IANA: Assigned Port Numbers,
<http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers>.
[RFC1305] Mills, D., "Network Time Protocol", RFC 1305, University of
Delaware, March 1992.
[SON1036] H. Spencer, "News Article Format and Transmission", A Draft
for an RFC 1036 Successor,
<ftp://zoo.toronto.edu/pub/news.txt.Z>.
[USEFOR] USEFOR Working Group, "News Article Format", Work in
Progress.
Acknowledgement
This work has been supported by the German Academic Network
Organization (DFN-Verein) with funds from the German Federal Ministry
of Education and Research (Bundesministerium fuer Bildung und
Forschung).
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Authors' Addresses
Philipp Grau
Vera Heinau
Heiko Schlichting
Robert Schuettler
Freie Universitaet Berlin
ZEDAT
Fabeckstr. 32
14195 Berlin
Germany
Phone: +49 30 838-74707
Fax: +49 30 838-56721
EMail: nas@fu-berlin.de
URL: http://nas.fu-berlin.de/
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Full Copyright Statement
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Grau, et al. Experimental [Page 49]