Server Help

[Pests]

My first time in these forums were last night and I found alot of topics about possible features or suggestion for the protocol, but the usual excuse was the protocol was designed to be simple.

Could it be possible to have an extended protocol that is also a standard so both clients and servers can support it entirely correctly.

For example, when the client sends "LOGIN:version:name:password" the version could indicate to the server the client is capable of supporting the extended protocol. If so the server responds back with a modified "LOGINOK:yourname" message indicating it supports the extended version.

The only way the modified LOGINOK message is sent is if the client supports it and asks for it, so it should be able to parse the extended message without having regular clients getting incorrect messages.

You could also set it up so the client asks for extended support by sending something like "EXTENDED" and having the server respond back with "EXTENDEDOK" or some other type of message. If I read correctly the current protocol ignores all unknown message types, so if the extended client received nothing back then it can assume the server can't support it.

The client would be responsible for degrading back into simple mode if extended is not supported on the server.

Just some ideas.

[Bak]

so if the server ignores unknown messages what's stopping you from making an extended module right now? If the server supports your extended messages, great. if it doesn't that get ignored.
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SubSpace Discretion: A Third Generation SubSpace Client

[Pests]

Very true. Their may be some more data the server can send (for example, the friends list) and depending on how well the current clients are coded might mess them up.