Re: [dict-beta] Protocol version

[Navdeep B. <pop...@jp...>]

Oops, forgot to include the client name:

CLIENT stamp client versions
CLIENT <549...@mi...> "Whatever 1.6.2" 1.1/1.0

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> From: "Navdeep Bains" <pop...@jp...>
> To: dic...@di...
> Subject: [dict-beta] Protocol version
> Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 14:34:26 -0800
> X-Mailer: Mail Beacon 1.0
> 
> If we're going to update the protocol, we'll eventually change something that makes complete backwards compatibility impossible, so there will have to be some kind of version control. New clients/servers will have to reveal what version of DICT they are running.
> 
> Here's dirty way of doing it...
> 
> New clients send a modified CLIENT command:
> 
> Clients sign in using the server's time stamp(do all DICT servers send a time stamp?):
> 
> CLIENT <549...@mi...> 1.1/1.0
> 
> 1.1 and 1.0 are the protocol versions the client supports, in response to the CLIENT command, a new server would send a special response code:
> 
> xxx 1.1
> 
> The server and client have now agreed to use v1.1.
> Of course, if the server doesn't support any of the listed versions, it would return an error:
> 
> xxx None of the listed versions are supported.
> 
> If the client doesn't send a CLIENT command, or sends the normal kind, the server downgrades to DICT 1.0 and sends a 250 response code. This way, the server & client both know exactly what's supported, and it's completely backwards compatible. Old servers will simply ignore the modified CLIENT command and return a 250 response code. If the server returns a 250 response code, the client knows the server only supports DICT 1.0.
> 
> This is all off the top of my head, so feel free to contribute & criticize, all of you have more experience dealing with DICT servers than I do.
>