Newsgroups: news.software.readers
From: Russell_Schulz@locutus.ofB.ORG (Russell Schulz)
Subject: GNKS: Results of self-evaluation of rnr v2.14
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 1996 21:08:25 -0700
Organization: Private System, Edmonton, AB, Canada
X-Newsreader: rnr v2.14
Comments: this message originated as a public newsgroup posting

The format of this list is based on one from Christian Perrier
<perrier@onera.fr> .  I did my own, then realized it didn't look nearly as
nice as the ones I kept seeing in news.software.readers , so I copied his.

this is an author review of rnr 2.14, a free newsreader/mail agent for
DOS systems with uucp (waffle and UUPC and uufree configuration files
are read and used directly)

The software as reviewed passes the Good Net-Keeping Seal of Approval,
if the ability to forge cancels is overlooked for the reason in Note 4.

<URL:http://www.worldgate.edmonton.ab.ca/~rschulz>
<URL:ftp://ftp.worldgate.edmonton.ab.ca/pub/rschulz/rnr.zip>


The detailed evaluation checklist

Req Item                                       Sub-Item  Item
rd? ##  Description                               OK?     OK?     Notes

Y    1  Display all essential header info                 YES
  Y       default is to display                   YES
  Y       a) display author                       YES
  Y       b) display subject                      YES
  Y       c) display newsgroups list              YES
  Y       d) display Followup-To list             YES
  Y       e) display Reply-To if not From:        YES

Y    2  Provide standard commands                         YES
  Y       clear                                   YES
  Y       separate                                YES
  Y       a) post a new article                   YES
  Y       b) post a followup article              YES
  Y       c) reply by email                       YES
  N       use standard terminology                YES

Y    3  Implement cross-posting                           YES
  Y       allow user specification                YES
  Y       cross-post (not multi-post)             YES

Y    4  Change essential headers                          YES
  Y       change headers while editing body       YES
  Y       change Subject                          YES
  Y       allow at least 70 chars in subject      YES
  Y       change Newsgroups                       YES
  Y       change Followup-To                      YES
  Y       allow Followup-To: poster               YES
  Y       change Reply-To                         YES

Y    5  Correct Subject headers in followup/reply         YES
  Y       a) prepend "Re: " (exactly!)            YES
  Y       b) preserve entire Subject              YES
  Y          even subjects > 80 chars long        YES

Y    6  Respect Followup-To                               YES
  Y       initializes Newsgroups: in followup     YES
  Y       recognize and act on 'poster'           YES

Y    7  Followups contain References                      YES
  Y       contains message-id of original         YES
  Y       never truncate individual message-id    YES
  N       contains three Refs from original       NO                1)
  N       contains entire Refs of original        NO                1)

Y    8  Direct email reply to Reply-To                    YES

Y    9  Quotation and attribution                         YES
  Y       provide method                          YES
  Y       set off by prepend                      YES
  Y       attribution line                        YES
  Y         identifies author                     YES               2)
  N         gives message-id                      NO                3)

Y   10  Subject is mandatory
  Y       do not post empty or provide <none>     YES
  Y       allow change while editing body         YES

Y   11  Must provide valid From: header                   YES
  Y       syntactically valid                     YES
  N       belongs to the user                     NO

Y   12  Must provide cancel                               YES
  Y       of own articles                         YES
  Y       *not* of others                         YES/NO            4)

N   13  Respect line length, and post WYSIWYG             NO
  N       line brks shown are present when posted YES
  N       do *not* post paragraph w/o line brks   YES
  N       warn if body has lines > 80 chars       NO                5)
  N       external editor conforms                YES

N   14  Prevent obvious errors                            YES
  N       prevent posting empty article           YES
  N       prevent posting only quoted text        YES



Notes to the checklist

First a short description of what the columns in this checklist stand for:

Reqrd?: A "Y" means that the item or subitem is a MUST for the software
        in order to get the Good Net-Keeping Seal Approval.
Item ##: This is the item number in the GNKS document
        <URL:http://www.media.mit.edu/people/rnewman/Good_Netkeeping_Seal>
Description: Follow the above link to the original document for a more
        detailed description and an explanation of the rationale behind it.
Sub-item OK ?:
Item OK?: If the item is required, this is marked "YES" if all _required_
        subitems are ok. If it is _not_ required, it is marked "YES" if
        if _all_ subitems are ok.
Notes:  These are given below:

1) rnr contains the last two, not the last three (for at most three total).

2) The Reply-To: is used in the attribution line if it exists (and it
   doesn't look illegal) -- I think this is an excellent feature.  Also,
   the e-mail address is always given, not the unmailable human name.

3) I think the Message-ID:s in the attribution line should be
   discouraged -- not everyone has an 8-character FQDN!

4) rnr is used with the waffle BBS system, where it may be necessary to
   cancel messages left by dial-in users.  There are more drastic
   warnings, and a verification must be given, and this is not available
   to dial-in users.

5) rnr doesn't allow posts that have lines >255 chars (it checks the
   first 40).
-- 
Russell_Schulz@locutus.ofB.ORG  Shad