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Versions: (draft-gellens-imapext-annotate) 00
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IMAP Extensions Working Group R. Gellens
Internet Draft: IMAP ANNOTATE Extension C. Daboo
Document: draft-ietf-imapext-annotate-00.txt July 2000
IMAP ANNOTATE Extension
Status of this Memo
This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026. Internet-Drafts are
working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its
areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also
distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts.
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six
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The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
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Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society 2000. All Rights Reserved.
Gellens & Daboo Expires January 2001 [Page 1]Internet Draft IMAP ANNOTATE Extension July 2000
Table of Contents
1 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3 Conventions Used in This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
4 Document Meta-Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4.1 Open Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4.2 Change History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5 Introduction and Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
6 Data Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6.2 Namespace of Entries and Attributes . . . . . . . . . . 5
6.2.1 Entry Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6.2.2 Attribute Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
7 Private vs. Non-Private . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
8 IMAP Protocol Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
8.1 ANNOTATION Message Data Item in FETCH Command . . . . . . 8
8.2 ANNOTATION Message Data Item in FETCH Response . . . . . 10
8.3 ANNOTATION Message Data Item in STORE . . . . . . . . . . 11
8.3.1 Conditional Annotation STORE . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
8.4 ANNOTATION Message Data Item in APPEND . . . . . . . . . 12
8.5 ANNOTATION-MODTIME Message Data Item in STATUS . . . . . 13
8.6 ANNOTATION Criterion in SEARCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
8.7 ANNOTATION Key in SORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.8 Annotation Modtime Untagged Response . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.9 ACL Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
9 Formal Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
10 IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
10.1 Entry and Attribute Registration Template . . . . . . . . 17
11 Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
12 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
13 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
14 Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
15 Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1 Abstract
The ANNOTATE extension to the Internet Message Access Protocol
[IMAP4] permits clients and servers to maintain "metadata" for
messages stored in an IMAP4 mailbox.
2 Discussion
Public comments can be sent to the IETF IMAP Extensions mailing
list, <ietf-imapext@imc.org>. To subscribe, send a message to
<ietf-imapext-request@imc.org> with the word SUBSCRIBE as the body.
Private comments should be sent to the authors.
3 Conventions Used in This Document
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The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [KEYWORDS].
Formal syntax is defined using ABNF [ABNF] as modified by [IMAP4].
In examples, "C:" and "S:" indicate lines sent by the client and
server respectively. Line breaks not preceded by a "C:" or "S:" are
for editorial clarity only.
4 Document Meta-Data
4.1 Open Issues
At points in this document open issues are discussed, marked by the
text "<<<OPEN-ISSUE>>>". These are items which have not been
finalized. Discussion and comment is requested. Please use the
IETF IMAP Extensions mailing list, as described in section
2.
4.2 Change History
Changes since -00:
1. Clarified text describing attributions, entries, and
attributes.
2. Changed 'modifiedsince' to 'modtime'; referenced ACAP spec.
3. Deleted 'queued' flag.
4. Expanded and explained smtp-envelope entry.
5. Restricted including ANNOTATION data in unsolicited responses
until the client uses it first. (Open issue as to if needed).
6. Examples now only use valid entries and attributes.
7. Updated Security Considerations.
8. Content-Type now defaults to text/plain.
9. Open Issue: Shared vs. private annotations.
10. Open issue: Annotation Modtime untagged response or VALIDTIME
FETCH data.
11. Open issue: Conditional annotation STORE.
12. ANNOTATION criterion available if both "ANNOTATE" and "SORT"
in CAPABILITY command response.
13. Prohibition on annotations in lieu of base spec functionality.
14. Specified required ACL rights.
15. ANNOTATION message data item in APPEND.
16. ANNOTATION-MODTIME message data item in STATUS.
17. Replaced ATOM_CHAR with utf8-char.
18. Updated other ABNF entries.
5 Introduction and Overview
The ANNOTATE extension is present in any IMAP4 implementation which
returns "ANNOTATE" as one of the supported capabilities in the
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CAPABILITY command response.
The ANNOTATE extension adds a new message data item to the FETCH and
STORE commands, as well as adding SEARCH and SORT keys and APPEND
and STATUS modifiers.
This extension makes the following changes to the IMAP4 protocol:
a) adds a new ANNOTATION message data item for use in the FETCH
command
b) adds a new ANNOTATION message data item for use in the STORE
command
c) adds a new ANNOTATION search criterion for use in the SEARCH
command
d) adds a new ANNOTATION sort key for use in the SORT command
extension
e) adds a new ANNOTATION data item for use in the APPEND command
f) adds a new ANNOTATION-MODTIME modifier for use in the STATUS
command
The data model used for the storage of annotations is based on that
of the Application Configuration Access Protocol [ACAP]. Note that
there is no inheritance in annotations.
Clients MUST NOT use annotations in lieu of equivalent IMAP base
specification facilities. For example, use of a "seen" flag in the
vendor namespace together with ".PEEK" in fetches. Such behavior
would significantly reduce IMAP interoperability.
The rest of this document describes the data model and protocol
changes more rigorously.
6 Data Model
6.1 Overview
The data model used in ANNOTATE is that of a uniquely named entry
with a set of uniquely named attributes, each of which has a value.
A single coherent unit of "metadata" for a message is stored as a
single entry, made up of several attributes.
For example, a comment added to a message has an entry name of
"/message/comment". This entry is composed of several attributes
such as "value", "modtime", etc. which contain the properties and
data of the entry.
The protocol changes to IMAP described below allow a client to
access or change the values of any attributes in any entries in a
message annotation, assuming it has sufficient access rights to do
so (see section 8.9 for specifics).
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6.2 Namespace of Entries and Attributes
Each message annotation is made up of a set of entries. Each entry
has a hierarchical name in UTF-8, with each component of the name
separated by a slash ("/").
Each entry is made up of a set of attributes. Each attribute has a
hierarchical name in UTF-8, with each component of the name
separated by a period (".").
The value of an attribute is NIL (has no value), or a string of zero
or more octets.
Entry and attribute names are not permitted to contain asterisk
("*") or percent ("%") characters and MUST be valid UTF-8 strings
which do not contain NUL. Invalid entry or attribute names result
in a BAD response in any IMAP commands where they are used.
Use of non-visible UTF-8 characters in entry and attribute names is
strongly discouraged.
This specification defines an initial set of entry and attribute
names available for use in message annotations. In addition, an
extension mechanism is described to allow additional names to be
added for extensibility.
6.2.1 Entry Names
Entry names MUST be specified in a standards track or IESG approved
experimental RFC, or fall under the vendor namespace. See section
10.1 for the registration template.
/message
Defines the top-level of entries associated with an entire
message. This entry itself does not contain any attributes.
/message/comment
Defines a comment or note associated with an entire message.
/message/flags
Defines the top-level of entries for client-use flags associated
with an entire message. All sub-entries are maintained entirely
by the client. There is no implicit change to any flag by the
server.
/message/flags/redirected
/message/flags/forwarded
Defines client-use flags for an entire message. The "value"
attribute of these entries must be either "1", "0" or NIL. The
'redirected' flag indicates that a message has been handed off
to someone else, by resending the message with minimal
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alterations, and in such a way that a reply by the new recipient
is addressed to the original author, not the user who performed
the redirection. The 'forwarded' flag indicates the message was
resent to another user, embedded within or attached to a new
message.
/message/smtp-envelope
Defines the top-level of entries which together describe the
SMTP envelope used in delivery of the message. There are no
attributes at this level. The client SHOULD NOT modify the
/message/smtp-envelope entry or any sub-entries or any of their
attributes, except in messages which have the DRAFT flag set.
/message/smtp-envelope/from
/message/smtp-envelope/to
/message/smtp-envelope/orcpt
/message/smtp-envelope/envid
Contains the properties of the SMTP envelope: 'from' is the
return-path of the message; 'to' is the recipient of the
message. 'orcpt' and 'envid' contain the original recipient and
envelope ID as specified in [SMTP-DSN].
/message/subject
Contains text supplied by the message recipient, to be used by
the client instead of the original message Subject.
/message/vendor/<vendor-token>
Defines the top-level of entries associated with an entire
message as created by a particular product of some vendor.
These sub-entries can be used by vendors to provide
client-specific attributes. The vendor-token MUST be registered
with IANA.
/body/<part-specifier>
Defines the top-level of entries associated with a specific body
part of a message. This entry itself does not contain any
attributes. The part-specifier uses the same part specifier
syntax as the BODY message data item in the FETCH command
[IMAP4].
/body/<part-specifier>/comment
Defines a comment or note associated with a specific body part
of a message.
/body/<part-specifier>/flags
Defines the top-level of entries associated with flag state for
a specific body part of a message. All sub-entries are
maintained entirely by the client. There is no implicit change
to any flag by the server.
/body/<part-specifier>/flags/seen
/body/<part-specifier>/flags/answered
/body/<part-specifier>/flags/flagged
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Defines flags for a specific body part of a message. The
"value" attribute of these entries must be either "1", "0" or
NIL.
/body/<part-specifier>/vendor/<vendor-token>
Defines the top-level of entries associated with a specific body
part of a message as created by a particular product of some
vendor. This entry can be used by vendors to provide client
specific attributes. The vendor-token MUST be registered with
IANA.
6.2.2 Attribute Names
Attribute names MUST be specified in a standards track or IESG
approved experimental RFC, or fall under the vendor namespace. See
section 10.1 for the registration template.
value
The data value of the attribute.
size
The size of the value, in octets. Set automatically by the
server, read-only to clients.
modtime
An opaque value set by the server when this entry is modified.
It can be used by the client to request notification of which
entries have changed relative to that of a known entry. In
addition to its use in disconnected/synchronization operations,
it can also be helpful in determining which entries have changed
while a client is connected. (The value is intended to be used
only for comparisons within a server, not as an accurate
timestamp.) It is described more fully in section 3.1.1 of
[ACAP].
content-type
A MIME [MIME] content type and subtype that describes the nature
of the content of the "value" attribute. If not present, a
value of "text/plain; charset=utf8" is assumed.
vendor.<vendor-token>
Defines an attribute associated with a particular product of
some vendor. This attribute can be used by vendors to provide
client specific attributes. The vendor-token MUST be registered
with IANA.
7 Private vs. Non-Private
<<<OPEN-ISSUE>>>
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Some IMAP mailboxes are private, accessible only to the owning user.
Other mailboxes are not, either because the owner has set an ACL
[ACL-EXT] which permits access by other users, or because it is a
shared mailbox.
This raises the issue of shared versus private annotations.
If all annotations are private, it is impossible to set annotations
in a shared or otherwise non-private mailbox that are visible to
other users. This eliminates what could be a useful aspect of
annotations in a shared environment.
If all annotations are shared, it is impossible to use annotations
for private notes on messages in shared mailboxes. Also, modifying
an ACL to permit access to a mailbox by other users may
unintentionally expose private information.
For example, an administrator may want to set shared annotations on
messages in a shared folder, which individual users may wish to
supplement with additional notes.
If shared and private annotations are to coexist, we need a clear
way to differentiate them. Also, it should be as easy as possible
for a client to access both and not overlook either.
One suggestion is to duplicate all attributes, with 'pers.' and
'shared.' prefixes. For example, instead of there being one 'size'
attribute in an entry, there would be two: 'pers.size' and
'shared.size'. Both would be returned by default to the client, to
make sure the client didn't miss one.
8 IMAP Protocol Changes
8.1 ANNOTATION Message Data Item in FETCH Command
This extension adds an ANNOTATION message data item to the FETCH
command. This allows clients to retrieve annotations for a range of
messages in the currently selected mailbox.
ANNOTATION <entry-specifier> <attribute-specifier>
The ANNOTATION message data item, when used by the client in the
FETCH command, takes an entry specifier and an attribute
specifier.
Example:
C: a FETCH 1 (ANNOTATION ("/message/comment" "value"))
S: * 1 FETCH (ANNOTATION ("/message/comment" (("value"
"My comment"))))
S: a OK Fetch complete
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In the above example, the content of the "value" attribute for the
"/message/comment" entry is requested by the client and returned by
the server.
"*" and "%" wildcard characters can be used in either specifier to
match one or more characters at that position, with the exception
that "%" does not match the hierarchy delimiter for the specifier it
appears in (that is, "/" for an entry specifier or "." for an
attribute specifier). Thus an entry specifier of "/message/%"
matches entries such as "/message/comment" and "/message/subject",
but not "/message/flags/redirected".
Examples:
C: a FETCH 1 (ANNOTATION ("/message/*" ("value" "modtime")))
S: * 1 FETCH (ANNOTATION
(("/message/comment" ("value" "My comment"
"modtime" "20000704000001"))
("/message/subject" ("value" "Rhinoceroses!"
"modtime" "19991231235959"))
("/message/vendor/eudora/label" ("value" "label43"
"modtime" "20000705101502"))
("/message/vendor/eudora/personality"
("value" "Tallulah Bankhead"
"modtime" "20000705101558"))))
S: a OK Fetch complete
In the above example, the contents of the "value" and "modtime"
attributes for any entries in the "/message" hierarchy are requested
by the client and returned by the server.
C: a FETCH 1 (ANNOTATION ("/message/%" "value"))
S: * 1 FETCH (ANNOTATION
(("/message/comment" ("value" "Patch Mangler"))
("/message/subject"
("value" "Patches? We don' need no steenkin patches!"))))
S: a OK Fetch complete
In the above example, the contents of the "value" attributes for
entries at the top level only of the "/message" hierarchy are
requested by the client and returned by the server.
Entry and attribute specifiers can be lists of atomic specifiers, so
that multiple items of each type may be returned in a single FETCH
command.
Examples:
C: a FETCH 1 (ANNOTATION
(("/message/comment" "/message/subject") "value"))
S: * 1 FETCH (ANNOTATION
(("/message/comment" ("value" "What a chowder-head"))
("/message/subject" ("value" "How to crush beer cans"))))
S: a OK Fetch complete
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In the above example, the contents of the "value" attributes for the
two entries "/message/comment" and "/message/subject" are requested
by the client and returned by the server.
8.2 ANNOTATION Message Data Item in FETCH Response
The ANNOTATION message data item in the FETCH response displays
information about annotations in a message.
ANNOTATION parenthesised list
The response consists of a list of entries, each of which has a
list of attribute-value pairs.
Examples:
C: a FETCH 1 (ANNOTATION ("/message/comment" "value"))
S: * 1 FETCH (ANNOTATION ("/message/comment" (
("value" "My comment"))))
S: a OK Fetch complete
In the above example, a single entry with a single attribute-value
pair is returned by the server.
C: a FETCH 1 (ANNOTATION
(("/message/comment" "/message/subject") "value"))
S: * 1 FETCH (ANNOTATION
(("/message/comment" ("value" "My comment"))
("/message/subject" ("value" "My subject"))))
S: a OK Fetch complete
In the above example, two entries each with a single attribute-value
pair are returned by the server.
C: a FETCH 1 (ANNOTATION
("/message/comment" ("value" "modtime")))
S: * 1 FETCH (ANNOTATION
(("/message/comment"
("value" "My comment"
"modtime" "19990203205432"))))
S: a OK Fetch complete
In the above example, a single entry with two attribute-value pairs
is returned by the server.
Servers SHOULD send ANNOTATION message data items in unsolicited
FETCH responses if the annotation is changed by a third-party,
allowing servers to keep clients updated with changes to annotations
by other clients. However, servers MUST NOT include ANNOTATION data
in unsolicited responses until the client has used ANNOTATION data
in a FETCH command. This restriction avoids sending ANNOTATION data
to a client until the client has shown it is capable of handling it.
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<<<OPEN-ISSUE>>>
Is this prohibition really neccesary?
8.3 ANNOTATION Message Data Item in STORE
ANNOTATION <parenthesised entry-attribute-value list>
Sets the specified list of entries by adding or replacing the
specified attributes with the values provided. Clients can use
NIL for values of attributes it wants to remove from entries.
The ANNOTATION message data item used with the STORE command has an
implicit ".SILENT" behavior. This means the server does not
generate an untagged FETCH in response to the STORE command and
assumes that the client updates its own cache if the command
succeeds.
Examples:
C: a STORE 1 ANNOTATION ("/message/comment"
("value" "My new comment"))
S: a OK Store complete
In the above example, the entry "/message/comment" is created (if
not already present) and the attribute "value" with data set to "My
new comment" is created if not already present, or replaced if it
exists.
C: a STORE 1 ANNOTATION ("/message/comment" ("value" NIL))
S: a OK Store complete
In the above example, the "value" attribute of the entry
"/message/comment" is removed.
Multiple entries can be set in a single STORE command by listing
entry-attribute-value pairs in the list.
Example:
C: a STORE 1 ANNOTATION ("/message/comment" ("value"
"Get tix Tuesday")
"/message/subject" ("value"
"Wots On"))
S: a OK Store complete
In the above example, the entries "/message/comment" and
"/message/subject" are created (if not already present) and the
attribute "value" is created for each entry if not already present,
or replaced if they exist.
Multiple attributes can be set in a single STORE command by listing
multiple attribute-value pairs in the entry list.
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Example:
C: a STORE 1 ANNOTATION ("/message/comment"
("value" "My new comment"
"vendor.foobar" "foo's bar"))
S: a OK Store complete
In the above example, the entry "/message/comment" is created (if
not already present) and the attributes "value" and "vendor.foobar"
are created if not already present, or replaced if they exist.
8.3.1 Conditional Annotation STORE
<<<OPEN ISSUE>>>
Should there be a STORE modifier which permits the client to detect
and avoid a collision?
MODTIME <modtime>
Instructs the server to abort the STORE and return a NO response
if any specified entry has a modtime attribute greater than the
supplied value.
Examples:
C: a STORE 1 ANNOTATION MODTIME 19720612140000
("/message/comment" ("value" "Tune a Fish?"))
S: a NO Entry modified since specified value
In the above example, the client attempts a STORE into the
"/message/comment" entry which is conditioned on the entry modtime
being 19720612140000 or earlier.
C: a STORE 1 ANNOTATION MODTIME 19720612140000
("/message/comment" ("value" "No Comment")
"/message/subject" ("value" "The King Is Not a Subject"))
S: a NO Entry modified since specified value
In the above example, the client attempts a STORE into the
"/message/comment" and "/message/subject" entries which is
conditioned on neither of the entry modtimes being greater than
19720612140000.
8.4 ANNOTATION Message Data Item in APPEND
ANNOTATION <parenthesised entry-attribute-value list>
Sets the specified list of entries and attributes in the
resulting message.
Example:
C: a APPEND drafts ANNOTATION ("/message/comment"
("value" "Don't send until we hear from Sally")) {310}
S: + Ready for literal data
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C: MIME-Version: 1.0
...
C:
S: a OK APPEND completed
In the above example, a comment is added to a new message appended
to the mailbox. The ellipsis represents the bulk of the message.\
8.5 ANNOTATION-MODTIME Message Data Item in STATUS
ANNOTATION-MODTIME
Requests that the STATUS command results include the latest
modtime of all annotation entries of all messages in the
mailbox.
Example:
C: a STATUS cards (ANNOTATION-MODTIME MESSAGES)
S: * STATUS cards (MESSAGES 231
ANNOTATION-MODTIME 19991114020700)
S: a OK STATUS completed
8.6 ANNOTATION Criterion in SEARCH
The ANNOTATION criterion for the SEARCH command allows a client to
search for a specified string in the value of an annotation entry of
a message.
ANNOTATION <entry-name> <attribute-name> <value>
Messages that have annotations with entries matching <entry-name>
and attributes matching <attribute-name> and the specified string
<value> in their values are returned in the SEARCH results. The "*"
character can be used in the entry or attribute name fields to match
any content in those items. The "%" character can be used in the
entry or attribute name fields to match a single level of hierarchy
only.
Examples:
C: a SEARCH ANNOTATION "/message/comment" "value" "IMAP4"
S: * SEARCH 2 3 5 7 11 13 17 19 23
S: a OK Search complete
In the above example, the message numbers of any messages containing
the string "IMAP4" in the "value" attribute of the
"/message/comment" entry are returned in the search results.
C: a SEARCH ANNOTATION "*" "*" "IMAP4"
S: * SEARCH 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34
S: a OK Search complete
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In the above example, the message numbers of any messages containing
the string "IMAP4" in any attribute of any entry are returned in the
search results.
A special case exists when the "modtime" attribute is used as the
<attribute-name> parameter in the ANNOTATION search criterion. In
this case the server matches messages when the corresponding
"modtime" value is greater than the value supplied in the ANNOTATION
criterion. This allows a client, for example, to find out which
messages contain annotations that have changed since the last time
it updated its disconnected cache.
Example:
C: a SEARCH ANNOTATION "*" "modtime" "1999101713283412"
S: * SEARCH 1 3 6 10 15 21 28 36 45 55
S: a OK Search complete
In the above example, the message numbers of any messages whose
"modtime" attribute of any entry exceeds the value
"1999101713283412" are returned in the search results.
8.7 ANNOTATION Key in SORT
The ANNOTATION criterion for the SORT command [SORT-EXT] instructs
the server to return the message numbers or UIDs of a mailbox,
sorted using the values of the specified annotations. The
ANNOTATION criterion is available if the server returns both
"ANNOTATE" and "SORT" as supported capabilities in the CAPABILITY
command response.
ANNOTATION <entry-name> <attribute-name>
Messages are sorted using the values of the <attribute-name>
attributes in the <entry-name> entries. (The charset argument
determines sort order, as specified in the SORT extension
description.)
Examples:
C: a SORT (ANNOTATION "/message/subject" "value") UTF-8 ALL
S: * SORT 2 3 4 5 1 11 10 6 7 9 8
S: a OK Sort complete
In the above example, the message numbers of all messages are
returned, sorted according to the "value" attribute of the
"/message/subject" entry.
Note that the ANNOTATION sort key must include a fully specified
entry and attribute -- wildcards are not allowed.
8.8 Annotation Modtime Untagged Response
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<<<OPEN-ISSUE>>>
Should there be an untagged Annotation Modtime response? This would
be issued by the server during a FETCH or SEARCH command to informs
the client of the latest modtime of all entries specified in the
FETCH or returned in the SEARCH results. It would also be issued
following a group of one or more unsolicited FETCH responses to
indicate that the client has received all updates to entries which
have modtime values less than or equal to the indicated modtime
value.
* ANNOTATION-MODTIME <modtime>
Informs the client of the latest modtime used in immediately
prior results.
Example:
C: a SEARCH ANNOTATION "*" "modtime" "1999101713283412"
S: * SEARCH 1 3 6 10 15 21 28 36 45 55
S: * ANNOTATION-MODTIME 20000624140000
S: a OK Search complete
8.9 ACL Rights
The "r" right, as specified in [ACL-EXT], is required to use
annotations in any command other than STORE.
The "w" right is needed to use annotations in the STORE command.
9 Formal Syntax
The following syntax specification uses the Augmented Backus-Naur
Form (ABNF) notation as specified in [ABNF].
Non-terminals referenced but not defined below are as defined by
[IMAP4].
Except as noted otherwise, all alphabetic characters are case-
insensitive. The use of upper or lower case characters to define
token strings is for editorial clarity only. Implementations MUST
accept these strings in a case-insensitive fashion.
append = "APPEND" SP mailbox [SP flag-list] [SP date-time]
[SP "ANNOTATION" SP att-annotate]
SP literal
; modifies original IMAP4 APPEND command
att-annotate = "(" entry-att *(SP entry-att) ")"
fetch-att =/ fetch-annotate
; modifies original IMAP4 fetch-att
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fetch-annotate = "ANNOTATION" SP "(" entries SP attribs ")"
fetch-ann-resp = "ANNOTATION" SP "(" entry-att *(SP entry-att) ")"
store-att-flags =/ att-annotate
; modifies original IMAP4 STORE command
search-key =/ search-annotate
; modifies original IMAP4 search-key
search-annotate = "ANNOTATION" SP entry-match SP attrib-match
SP value
sort-key =/ sort-annotate
; modifies original
; draft-crispin-imapext-sort-xx.txt sort-key
sort_annotate = "ANNOTATION" SP entry SP attrib
status =/ "ANNOTATION-MODTIME"
; modifies original IMAP4 STATUS command
entries = entry-match /
"(" entry-match *(SP entry-match) ")"
attribs = attrib-match /
"(" attrib-match *(SP attrib-match) ")"
entry-att = entry SP "(" att-value *(SP att-value) ")
att-value = attrib SP value
utf8-char = %x01-FF
; any character, excluding NUL
atom-slash = any utf8-char except "/"
atom-dot = any utf8-char except "."
entry = DQUOTE 1*atom-slash *("/" 1*atom-slash) DQUOTE
entry-match = DQUOTE 1*entry-match-atom
*("/" 1*entry-match-atom) DQUOTE
entry-match-atom = 1*(list-wildcards / atom-slash)
*(list-wildcards / atom-slash)
attrib = DQUOTE 1*atom-dot *("/" 1*atom-dot) DQUOTE
attrib-match = DQUOTE 1*attrib-match-atom
*("/" 1*attrib-match-atom) DQUOTE
attrib-match-atom = 1*(list-wildcards / atom-dot)
*(list-wildcards / atom-dot)
value = nstring
10 IANA Considerations
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Both entry names and attribute names MUST be specified in a
standards track or IESG approved experimental RFC, or fall under the
vendor namespace. Vendor names MUST be registered.
10.1 Entry and Attribute Registration Template
To: iana@iana.org
Subject: IMAP Annotate Registration
Please register the following IMAP Annotate item:
[] Entry [] Attribute
[] Vendor [] Open: RFC _______
Name: ______________________________
Description: _______________________
____________________________________
____________________________________
Contact person: ____________________
email: ____________________
11 Security Considerations
Care must be taken to ensure that annotations whose values are
intended to remain private are not stored in mailboxes which are
accessible to other users. This includes mailboxes owned by the
user by whose ACLs permit access by others as well as any shared
mailboxes.
12 References
[ABNF] Crocker, Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax Specifications:
ABNF", RFC 2234, Internet Mail Consortium, Demon Internet Ltd,
November 1997.
[ACAP] Newman, Myers, "ACAP -- Application Configuration Access
Protocol", RFC 2244, Innosoft, Netscape, November 1997.
[ACL-EXT] Myers, "IMAP4 ACL extension", RFC 2086, Carnegie Mellon,
January 1997.
[IMAP4] Crispin, "Internet Message Access Protocol - Version 4rev1",
RFC 2060, University of Washington, December 1996.
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[KEYWORDS] Bradner, "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", RFC 2119, Harvard University, March 1997.
[SMTP-DSN] Moore, "SMTP Service Extension for Delivery Status
Notifications", RFC 1891, University of Tennessee, January 1996.
[SORT-EXT] Crispin, "Internet Message Access Protocol -- SORT
Extension", work in progress.
<http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-crispin-imapext-sort-xx.txt>
13 Acknowledgments
Many thanks to Chris Newman for his detailed comments on the first
draft of this document.
14 Authors' Addresses
Cyrus Daboo
Cyrusoft International, Inc.
Suite 780, 5001 Baum Blvd.
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
U.S.A.
Phone: +1 412 605 0499
Email: daboo@cyrusoft.com
Randall Gellens
QUALCOMM Incorporated
5775 Morehouse Dr.
San Diego, CA 92121-2779
U.S.A.
Phone: +1 858 651 5115
Email: randy@qualcomm.com
15 Full Copyright Statement
Copyright (C) The Internet Society 2000. All Rights Reserved.
This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph
are included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this
document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
Gellens & Daboo Expires January 2001 [Page 18]Internet Draft IMAP ANNOTATE Extension July 2000
developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
English.
The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.
This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
"AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Gellens & Daboo Expires January 2001 [Page 19]
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