Bug#2220: INN feed password interacts badly with trn XMODE READER
Package: inn
Version: 1.4sec-7
If you have a hosts.nntp line something like:
news.foo.ac.uk:sesame
(indicating that news.foo.ac.uk may connect, but must supply the
password `sesame') then you get the following behaviour from INN:
200 chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk InterNetNews server INN 1.4 22-Dec-93 ready
xmode reader
480
mode reader
200 chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk InterNetNews NNRP server INN 1.4 22-Dec-93 ready (posting ok).
Unfortunately trn, when uses `mode reader' to switch what might be an
INN server into reading mode, tries `xmode reader' first. It then
bombs out because it doesn't understand the 480 response code.
This problem doesn't occur if you don't set a password, because INN
then says `500 Syntax error or bad command' instead of 480, and trn
tries `mode reader' instead.
The de-facto standard for `mode reader' is (obviously) the one set by
INN, which is to understand only `mode reader'. However, this is on
rather dodgy ground according to the NNTP RFC, which says that
extension commands should start with X.
I think that the right way to solve this is to fix INN rather than
trn, and that INN should accept `xmode reader' in this situation, or
at least give a 500 response rather than a 480 response.
Ian.
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