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- Revised Telnet Status Option
- NIC 31154 (25 Oct. 74)
- Request for Comments: 651
- D. Crocker (UCLA-NMC) 25 Oct. 74
- RFC# 651
- Online file: <[ISI]<DCROCKER>STATUS-OPTION-REVISION.RNO
-
-
- Revised Telnet Status Option
- 1. Command name and code
- STATUS 5
- 2. Command meanings
- As described in the NAOL and NAOP option specifications, this option applies
- to a simplex connection.
- IAC DO STATUS
- Sender of DO wishes to be able to send requests for status-of-options
- information, or confirms that he is willing to send such requests.
- IAC WILL STATUS
- Sender of WILL wishes or agrees to send status information,
- spontaneously or in response to future requests.
- IAC DON'T STATUS
- Sender refuses to carry on any further discussion of the current
- status of options.
- IAC WON'T STATUS
- Sender refuses to carry on any further discussion of the current
- status of options.
- IAC SB STATUS SEND IAC SE
- Sender requests receiver to transmit his (the receiver's) perception
- of the current status of Telnet options. The code for SEND is 1. (See
- below.)
- IAC SB STATUS IS ... IAC SE
- Sender is stating his perception of the current status of Telnet
- options. The code for IS is 0. (See below.)
- 3. Default
- DON'T STATUS/WON'T STATUS. That is, the current status of options will not
- be discussed.
- 4. Motivation for the option
- This option allows a user/process to verify the current status of Telnet
- options (e.g., echoing) as viewed by the person/process on the other end of
- the Telnet connection. Simply renegotiating options could lead to the
- nonterminating request loop problem discussed in (NIC #16237). The changes
- to the option, described in this paper, allow STATUS to fit into the normal
- structure of Telnet options, by deferring the actual transfer of status
- information to the SB command. Additionally, the numbers of bytes that must
- be sent to describe the state of the options has been considerably reduced.
- 5. Description of the option
- WILL/DO are now used only to obtain and grant permission for future
- discussion. The actual exchange of status information occurs within option
- subcommands (IAC SB STATUS...).
- Once the two hosts have exchanged a WILL and a DO, the sender of the WILL
- STATUS is free to transmit status information, spontaneously or in response
- to a request from the sender of the DO. At worst, this may lead to
- transmitting the information twice. Only the sender of the DO may send
- requests (IAC SB STATUS SEND IAC SE) and only the sender of the WILL may
- transmit actual status information (within an IAC SB STATUS IS ... IAC SE
- command).
- IS has the subcommands WILL, DO and SB. They are used EXACTLY as used during
- the actual negotiation of Telnet options, except that SB is terminated with
- SE, rather than IAC SE. Transmission of SE, as a regular data byte, is
- accomplished by doubling the byte (SE SE). Options that are not explicitly
- described are assumed to be in their default states. A single IAC SB STATUS
- IS ... IAC SE describes the condition of ALL options.
- The following is an example of use of the option:
- Host1: IAC DO STATUS
- Host2: IAC WILL STATUS
- (Host2 is now free to send status information at any time.
- Solicitations from Host1 are NOT necessary. This should not produce
- any dangerous race conditions. At worst, two IS's will be sent.
- Host1 (perhaps): IAC SB STATUS SEND IAC SE
- Host2 (the following stream is broken into multiple lines only for
- readability. No carriage returns are implied.):
- IAC SB STATUS IS
- WILL ECHO
- DO SUPPRESS-GO-AHEAD
- WILL STATUS
- DO STATUS
- WILL RCTE
- SB RCTE <11><1><24> SE
- DO NAOL
- SB NAOL DS <66> SE
- IAC SE
- Explanation of Host2's perceptions: It is responsible for echoing back
- the data characters it receives over the Telnet connection; it will not
- send Go-Ahead signals; it will both issue and request Status information;
- it will send instruction for controlling the other side's terminal
- printer; it will discuss the line width for data it is sending.
-