usefor-article-05 July 2001
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2.1. Definitions
An "article" is the unit of news, analogous to an [RFC 2822]
"message". A "proto-article" is one that has not yet been injected
into the news system.
A "message identifier" (5.3) is a unique identifier for an article,
usually supplied by the "posting agent" which posted it or, failing
that, by the "injecting agent". It distinguishes the article from
every other article ever posted anywhere. Articles with the same
message identifier are treated as if they are the same article
regardless of any differences in the body or headers.
A "newsgroup" is a single news forum, a logical bulletin board,
having a name and nominally intended for articles on a specific
topic. An article is "posted to" a single newsgroup or several
newsgroups. When an article is posted to more than one newsgroup, it
is said to be "crossposted"; note that this differs from posting the
same text as part of each of several articles, one per newsgroup.
A newsgroup may be "moderated", in which case submissions are not
posted directly, but mailed to a "moderator" for consideration and
possible posting. Moderators are typically human but may be
implemented partially or entirely in software.
A "hierarchy" is the set of all newsgroups whose names share a first
component (as defined in 5.5). The term "sub-hierarchy" is also used
where several initial components are shared.
A "poster" is the person or software that composes and submits a
possibly compliant article to a "posting agent". The poster is
analogous to [RFC 2822]'s author(s).
A "posting agent" is the software that assists posters to prepare
proto-articles, in compliance with this standard. The proto-article
is then passed on to an "injecting agent" for final checking and
injection into the news stream. If the article is not compliant, or
is rejected by the injecting agent, then the posting agent informs
the poster with an explanation of the error.
A "reader" is the person or software reading news articles.
A "reading agent" is software which presents articles to a reader.
A "followup" is an article containing a response to the contents of
an earlier article (the followup's "precursor").
A "followup agent" is a combination of reading agent and posting
agent that aids in the preparation and posting of a followup.
An article's "reply address" is the address to which mailed replies
should be sent. This is the address specified in the article's From
header (5.2), unless it also has a Reply-To header (6.1).
A "reply agent" is a combination of reading agent and mailer that
aids in the preparation and posting of an email response to an
article.
A "sender" is the person or software (usually, but not always, the
same as the poster) responsible for the operation of the posting
agent or, which amounts to the same thing, for passing the article to
the injecting agent. The sender is analogous to [RFC 2822]'s sender.
An "injecting agent" takes the finished article from the posting
agent (often via the NNTP "post" command) performs some final checks
and passes it on to a relaying agent for general distribution.
A "relaying agent" is software which receives allegedly compliant
articles from injecting agents and/or other relaying agents, and
possibly passes copies on to other relaying agents and serving
agents.
A "news database" is the set of articles and related structural
information stored by a serving agent and made available for access
by reading agents.
A "serving agent" receives an article from a relaying agent and files
it in a news database. It also provides an interface for reading
agents to access the news database.
A "control message" is an article which is marked as containing
control information; a relaying or serving agent receiving such an
article may (subject to the policies observed at that site) take
actions beyond just filing and passing on the article.
A "gateway" is software which receives news articles and converts
them to messages of some other kind (e.g. mail to a mailing list), or
vice versa; in essence it is a translating relaying agent that
straddles boundaries between different methods of message exchange.
The most common type of gateway connects newsgroup(s) to mailing
list(s), either unidirectionally or bidirectionally, but there are
also gateways between news networks using this standard's news format
and those using other formats.
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#Diff to first older
--- ../s-o-1036/Definitions.out June 1994
+++ ../usefor-article-05/Definitions.out July 2001
@@ -1,139 +1,93 @@
-2.3. Definitions
+2.1. Definitions
-The term "character set", wherever it is used in this Draft,
-refers to a coded character set, in the sense of ISO charac-
-ter set standardization work, and must not be misinterpreted
-as meaning merely "a set of characters".
-
-In this Draft, ASCII character 32 is referred to as "blank";
-the word "space" has a more generic meaning.
-
-An "article" is the unit of news, analogous to a MAIL "mes-
-sage".
-
-A "poster" is a human being (or software equivalent) submit-
-ting a possibly-compliant article to be "posted": made
-available for reading on all relevant hosts. A "posting
-agent" is software that assists posters to prepare articles,
-including determining whether the final article is compli-
-ant, passing it on to a relayer for posting if so, and
-returning it to the poster with an explanation if not. A
-"relayer" is software which receives allegedly-compliant
-articles from posting agents and/or other relayers, files
-copies in a "news database", and possibly passes copies on
-to other relayers.
-
- NOTE: While the same software may well function
- both as a relayer and as part of a posting agent,
- the two functions are distinct and should not be
- confused. The posting agent's purpose is (in
- part) to validate an article, supply header infor-
- mation that can or should be supplied automati-
- cally, and generally take reasonable actions in an
- attempt to transform the poster's submission into
- a compliant article. The relayer's purpose is to
- move already-compliant articles around efficiently
- without damaging them.
-
-A "reader" is a human being reading news articles. A "read-
-ing agent" is software which presents articles to a reader.
-
- NOTE: Informal usage often uses "reader" for both
- these meanings, but this introduces considerable
- potential for confusion and misunderstanding, so
- this Draft takes care to make the distinction.
-
-A "newsgroup" is a single news forum, a logical bulletin
-board, having a name and nominally intended for articles on
-
-INTERNET DRAFT to be NEWS sec. 2.3
-
-
-a specific topic. An article is "posted to" a single news-
-group or several newsgroups. When an article is posted to
-more than one newsgroup, it is said to be "cross-posted";
-note that this differs from posting the same text as part of
-each of several articles, one per newsgroup. A "hierarchy"
-is the set of all newsgroups whose names share a first com-
-ponent (see the name syntax in section 5.5).
-
-A newsgroup may be "moderated", in which case submissions
-are not posted directly, but mailed to a "moderator" for
-consideration and possible posting. Moderators are typi-
-cally human but may be implemented partially or entirely in
-software.
-
-A "followup" is an article containing a response to the con-
-tents of an earlier article (the followup's "precursor"). A
-"followup agent" is a combination of reading agent and post-
-ing agent that aids in the preparation and posting of a fol-
-lowup.
-
-Text comparisons are "case-sensitive" if they consider
-uppercase letters (e.g. "A") different from lowercase let-
-ters (e.g. "a"), and "case-insensitive" if letters differing
-only in case (e.g. "A" and "a") are considered identical.
-Categories of text are said to be case-(in)sensitive if com-
-parisons of such texts to others are case-(in)sensitive.
-
-A "cooperating subnet" is a set of news-exchanging hosts
-which is sufficiently well-coordinated (typically via a cen-
-tral administration of some sort) that stronger assumptions
-can be made about hosts in the set than about news hosts in
-general. This is typically used to relax restrictions which
-are otherwise required for worst-case interoperability; mem-
-bers of a cooperating subnet MAY interchange articles that
-do not conform to this Draft's specifications, provided all
-members have agreed to this and provided the articles are
-not permitted to leak out of the subnet. The word "subnet"
-is used to emphasize that a cooperating subnet is typically
-not an isolated universe; care must be taken that traffic
-leaving the subnet complies with the restrictions of the
-larger net, not just those of the cooperating subnet.
-
-A "message ID" is a unique identifier for an article, usu-
-ally supplied by the posting agent which posted it. It dis-
-tinguishes the article from every other article ever posted
-anywhere (in theory). Articles with the same message ID are
-treated as identical copies of the same article even if they
-are not in fact identical.
-
-A "gateway" is software which receives news articles and
-converts them to messages of some other kind (e.g. mail to a
-mailing list), or vice-versa; in essence it is a translating
-relayer that straddles boundaries between different methods
-of message exchange. The most common type of gateway
-
-INTERNET DRAFT to be NEWS sec. 2.3
-
-
-connects newsgroup(s) to mailing list(s), either unidirec-
-tionally or bidirectionally, but there are also gateways
-between news networks using this Draft's news format and
-those using other formats.
-
-A "control message" is an article which is marked as con-
-taining control information; a relayer receiving such an
-article will (subject to permissions etc.) take actions
-beyond just filing and passing on the article.
-
- NOTE: "Control article" would be more consistent
- terminology, but "control message" is already well
- established.
-
-An article's "reply address" is the address to which mailed
-replies should be sent. This is the address specified in
-the article's From header (see section 5.2), unless it also
-has a Reply-To header (see section 6.3).
-
-The notation (e.g.) "(ASCII 17)" following a name means
-"this name refers to the ASCII character having value 17".
-An "ASCII printable character" is an ASCII character in the
-range 33-126. An "ASCII control character" is an ASCII
-character in the range 0-31, or the character DEL (ASCII
-127). A "non-ASCII character" is a character having a value
-exceeding 127.
-
- NOTE: Blank is neither an "ASCII printable charac-
- ter" nor an "ASCII control character".
+ An "article" is the unit of news, analogous to an [RFC 2822]
+ "message". A "proto-article" is one that has not yet been injected
+ into the news system.
+
+ A "message identifier" (5.3) is a unique identifier for an article,
+ usually supplied by the "posting agent" which posted it or, failing
+ that, by the "injecting agent". It distinguishes the article from
+ every other article ever posted anywhere. Articles with the same
+ message identifier are treated as if they are the same article
+ regardless of any differences in the body or headers.
+
+ A "newsgroup" is a single news forum, a logical bulletin board,
+ having a name and nominally intended for articles on a specific
+ topic. An article is "posted to" a single newsgroup or several
+ newsgroups. When an article is posted to more than one newsgroup, it
+ is said to be "crossposted"; note that this differs from posting the
+ same text as part of each of several articles, one per newsgroup.
+
+ A newsgroup may be "moderated", in which case submissions are not
+ posted directly, but mailed to a "moderator" for consideration and
+ possible posting. Moderators are typically human but may be
+ implemented partially or entirely in software.
+
+ A "hierarchy" is the set of all newsgroups whose names share a first
+ component (as defined in 5.5). The term "sub-hierarchy" is also used
+ where several initial components are shared.
+
+ A "poster" is the person or software that composes and submits a
+ possibly compliant article to a "posting agent". The poster is
+ analogous to [RFC 2822]'s author(s).
+
+ A "posting agent" is the software that assists posters to prepare
+ proto-articles, in compliance with this standard. The proto-article
+ is then passed on to an "injecting agent" for final checking and
+ injection into the news stream. If the article is not compliant, or
+ is rejected by the injecting agent, then the posting agent informs
+ the poster with an explanation of the error.
+
+ A "reader" is the person or software reading news articles.
+
+ A "reading agent" is software which presents articles to a reader.
+
+ A "followup" is an article containing a response to the contents of
+ an earlier article (the followup's "precursor").
+
+ A "followup agent" is a combination of reading agent and posting
+ agent that aids in the preparation and posting of a followup.
+
+ An article's "reply address" is the address to which mailed replies
+ should be sent. This is the address specified in the article's From
+ header (5.2), unless it also has a Reply-To header (6.1).
+ A "reply agent" is a combination of reading agent and mailer that
+ aids in the preparation and posting of an email response to an
+ article.
+
+ A "sender" is the person or software (usually, but not always, the
+ same as the poster) responsible for the operation of the posting
+ agent or, which amounts to the same thing, for passing the article to
+ the injecting agent. The sender is analogous to [RFC 2822]'s sender.
+
+ An "injecting agent" takes the finished article from the posting
+ agent (often via the NNTP "post" command) performs some final checks
+ and passes it on to a relaying agent for general distribution.
+
+ A "relaying agent" is software which receives allegedly compliant
+ articles from injecting agents and/or other relaying agents, and
+ possibly passes copies on to other relaying agents and serving
+ agents.
+
+ A "news database" is the set of articles and related structural
+ information stored by a serving agent and made available for access
+ by reading agents.
+
+ A "serving agent" receives an article from a relaying agent and files
+ it in a news database. It also provides an interface for reading
+ agents to access the news database.
+
+ A "control message" is an article which is marked as containing
+ control information; a relaying or serving agent receiving such an
+ article may (subject to the policies observed at that site) take
+ actions beyond just filing and passing on the article.
+
+ A "gateway" is software which receives news articles and converts
+ them to messages of some other kind (e.g. mail to a mailing list), or
+ vice versa; in essence it is a translating relaying agent that
+ straddles boundaries between different methods of message exchange.
+ The most common type of gateway connects newsgroup(s) to mailing
+ list(s), either unidirectionally or bidirectionally, but there are
+ also gateways between news networks using this standard's news format
+ and those using other formats.