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Newsgroups: comp.protocols.misc
Subject: Virtual hosting in IRC and NNTP
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2025 13:43:13 -0700
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I have a proposal for implementing virtual hosting in IRC and NNTP (if it
does not already have them).

The HOST command takes one argument being a domain name in ASCII format,
and will cause the server to treat as though the client is trying to
connect to the server with the specified name (like "Host:" in HTTP). The
port number is not specified, because the server already knows what port
number the client tried to connect to.

The HOST command cannot be used with TLS (use SNI instead if you are using
TLS) nor can it be used in combination with the STARTTLS command.

In IRC, HOST must precede USER and NICK if virtual hosting is used.

In NNTP, HOST will reset the state of the connection if it is successful,
and the server responds by 200, 201, 400, or 502, as appropriate, just
as though it is a new connection. HOST should be used before any other
commands since the capabilities etc might be different for different
virtual hosts and because authentication, etc will probably be different
so you will have to make any authentication and other state after you
specify the domain name rather than before.

-- 
Don't laugh at the moon when it is day time in France.