228 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
228 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
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Network Working Group B. Leiba
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Request for Comments: 2177 IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
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Category: Standards Track June 1997
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IMAP4 IDLE command
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Status of this Memo
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This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
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Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
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improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
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Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
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and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
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1. Abstract
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The Internet Message Access Protocol [IMAP4] requires a client to
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poll the server for changes to the selected mailbox (new mail,
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deletions). It's often more desirable to have the server transmit
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updates to the client in real time. This allows a user to see new
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mail immediately. It also helps some real-time applications based on
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IMAP, which might otherwise need to poll extremely often (such as
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every few seconds). (While the spec actually does allow a server to
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push EXISTS responses aysynchronously, a client can't expect this
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behaviour and must poll.)
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This document specifies the syntax of an IDLE command, which will
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allow a client to tell the server that it's ready to accept such
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real-time updates.
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2. Conventions Used in this Document
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In examples, "C:" and "S:" indicate lines sent by the client and
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server respectively.
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The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", and "MAY"
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in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2060
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[IMAP4].
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3. Specification
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IDLE Command
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Arguments: none
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Responses: continuation data will be requested; the client sends
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the continuation data "DONE" to end the command
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Leiba Standards Track [Page 1]
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RFC 2177 IMAP4 IDLE command June 1997
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Result: OK - IDLE completed after client sent "DONE"
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NO - failure: the server will not allow the IDLE
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command at this time
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BAD - command unknown or arguments invalid
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The IDLE command may be used with any IMAP4 server implementation
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that returns "IDLE" as one of the supported capabilities to the
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CAPABILITY command. If the server does not advertise the IDLE
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capability, the client MUST NOT use the IDLE command and must poll
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for mailbox updates. In particular, the client MUST continue to be
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able to accept unsolicited untagged responses to ANY command, as
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specified in the base IMAP specification.
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The IDLE command is sent from the client to the server when the
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client is ready to accept unsolicited mailbox update messages. The
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server requests a response to the IDLE command using the continuation
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("+") response. The IDLE command remains active until the client
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responds to the continuation, and as long as an IDLE command is
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active, the server is now free to send untagged EXISTS, EXPUNGE, and
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other messages at any time.
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The IDLE command is terminated by the receipt of a "DONE"
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continuation from the client; such response satisfies the server's
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continuation request. At that point, the server MAY send any
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remaining queued untagged responses and then MUST immediately send
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the tagged response to the IDLE command and prepare to process other
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commands. As in the base specification, the processing of any new
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command may cause the sending of unsolicited untagged responses,
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subject to the ambiguity limitations. The client MUST NOT send a
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command while the server is waiting for the DONE, since the server
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will not be able to distinguish a command from a continuation.
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The server MAY consider a client inactive if it has an IDLE command
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running, and if such a server has an inactivity timeout it MAY log
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the client off implicitly at the end of its timeout period. Because
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of that, clients using IDLE are advised to terminate the IDLE and
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re-issue it at least every 29 minutes to avoid being logged off.
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This still allows a client to receive immediate mailbox updates even
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though it need only "poll" at half hour intervals.
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Leiba Standards Track [Page 2]
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RFC 2177 IMAP4 IDLE command June 1997
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Example: C: A001 SELECT INBOX
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S: * FLAGS (Deleted Seen)
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S: * 3 EXISTS
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S: * 0 RECENT
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S: * OK [UIDVALIDITY 1]
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S: A001 OK SELECT completed
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C: A002 IDLE
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S: + idling
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...time passes; new mail arrives...
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S: * 4 EXISTS
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C: DONE
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S: A002 OK IDLE terminated
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...another client expunges message 2 now...
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C: A003 FETCH 4 ALL
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S: * 4 FETCH (...)
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S: A003 OK FETCH completed
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C: A004 IDLE
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S: * 2 EXPUNGE
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S: * 3 EXISTS
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S: + idling
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...time passes; another client expunges message 3...
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S: * 3 EXPUNGE
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S: * 2 EXISTS
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...time passes; new mail arrives...
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S: * 3 EXISTS
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C: DONE
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S: A004 OK IDLE terminated
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C: A005 FETCH 3 ALL
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S: * 3 FETCH (...)
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S: A005 OK FETCH completed
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C: A006 IDLE
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4. Formal Syntax
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The following syntax specification uses the augmented Backus-Naur
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Form (BNF) notation as specified in [RFC-822] as modified by [IMAP4].
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Non-terminals referenced but not defined below are as defined by
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[IMAP4].
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command_auth ::= append / create / delete / examine / list / lsub /
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rename / select / status / subscribe / unsubscribe
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/ idle
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;; Valid only in Authenticated or Selected state
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idle ::= "IDLE" CRLF "DONE"
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Leiba Standards Track [Page 3]
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RFC 2177 IMAP4 IDLE command June 1997
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5. References
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[IMAP4] Crispin, M., "Internet Message Access Protocol - Version
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4rev1", RFC 2060, December 1996.
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6. Security Considerations
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There are no known security issues with this extension.
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7. Author's Address
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Barry Leiba
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IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
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30 Saw Mill River Road
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Hawthorne, NY 10532
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Email: leiba@watson.ibm.com
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Leiba Standards Track [Page 4]
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