Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) - SAVEDATE Extension
draft-ietf-extra-imap-savedate-01

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EXTRA                                                           S. Bosch
Internet-Draft                                                Dovecot Oy
Intended status: Standards Track                             May 4, 2018
Expires: November 5, 2018

      Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) - SAVEDATE Extension
                   draft-ietf-extra-imap-savedate-01

Abstract

   This document adds a new capability called "SAVEDATE" to the Internet
   Message Access Protocol (IMAP).  It defines a new IMAP message
   attribute called 'save date' that, unlike the existing 'internal
   date' attribute, always indicates the moment at which the message was
   saved in its current mailbox.  The SAVEDATE capability extends the
   FETCH command with the means to retrieve the save date attribute and
   it extends the SEARCH command to allow using that attribute in
   searching criteria.

Status of This Memo

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on November 5, 2018.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2018 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
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   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
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Bosch                   Expires November 5, 2018                [Page 1]
Internet-Draft          IMAP - SAVEDATE Extension               May 2018

   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Conventions Used in This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Save Date Message Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  IMAP Protocol Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     4.1.  CAPABILITY Identification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     4.2.  FETCH Command and Response Extensions . . . . . . . . . .   4
     4.3.  SEARCH Command Extension  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   5.  Formal Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   6.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   7.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   8.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   9.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6

1.  Introduction

   This document extends Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)
   [IMAP4rev1] with a new capability called "SAVEDATE".  This capability
   adds a new IMAP message attribute called 'save date'.  The save date
   is the date and time at which a message was saved in the mailbox it
   currently resides.  The save date is similar to the existing internal
   date attribute in that it is set at the time of delivery.  However,
   the internal date attribute can be set to an arbitrary value for
   messages delivered to the mailbox using the APPEND command and it is
   usually copied from the source message for messages delivered using
   the COPY command.  In contrast, the save date attribute is always set
   to the current date and time at the moment the message is saved in
   the mailbox, irrespective of how the message is delivered and from
   where it originates.

   The save date message attribute is useful for implementing automated
   removal of messages from a mailbox after a configured amount of time.
   For that application, it is necessary to know when the message was
   saved in the mailbox, which cannot be reliably determined using the
   the internal date attribute.

   For example, a common client usage pattern is to move deleted
   messages to a Trash mailbox; these messages are considered "deleted"
   at the time they are moved to the Trash mailbox.  In an effort to
   limit the size of the Trash mailbox, a client may subsequently desire
   to permanently remove (expunge) all messages in that Trash mailbox
   deleted before a certain time (e.g. a configurable expiration