Path: utzoo!utstat!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!wuarchive!texbell!ssbn!looking!brad
From: brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton)
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: Re: New .newsrc format [was Dynamic "smart" expiration?]
Message-ID: <73362@looking.on.ca>
Date: 7 Jan 90 23:25:10 GMT
References: <69903@looking.on.ca> <433@texas.dk> <8170@xenna.Xylogics.COM> <-B+6U6ggpc2@ficc.uu.net>
Organization: Looking Glass Software Ltd.
Lines: 29
Class: discussion

Actually, since it's usually easier to hack software to ignore lines
than partial lines, and because we don't want to see .newsrc lines getting
longer than the crazy lengths they can already get, I propose that any
options go on lines by themselves, after the normal line.

The standard would be something like "Any line starting with white space
is an option line, pertaining to the most recent newsgroup."

Still requires that the existing programs be modified, but it's not too
painful a hack, I think.

Within these lines. options could be present in B news header format,
something News programs all know how to read:

Global options could appear before the first newsgroup

------
news.admin: 1-7600
	Filtered: 7580
	Kill: chuq@apple.com
	Rnsoft: 5663
news.software.b: 1-2000,2002
alt.sex: 1-54324
-------

and so on.  If you like you could allow multi-options per line, but that
doesn't actually gain you a lot.
-- 
Brad Templeton, ClariNet Communications Corp. -- Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473