The Jabber-ID Header Field
draft-saintandre-jabberid-09
The information below is for an old version of the document.
| Document | Type |
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 7259.
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Author | Peter Saint-Andre | ||
| Last updated | 2013-09-20 | ||
| RFC stream | Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) | ||
| Formats | |||
| Reviews | |||
| IETF conflict review | conflict-review-saintandre-jabberid, conflict-review-saintandre-jabberid, conflict-review-saintandre-jabberid, conflict-review-saintandre-jabberid, conflict-review-saintandre-jabberid, conflict-review-saintandre-jabberid | ||
| Stream | WG state | (None) | |
| Document shepherd | (None) | ||
| IESG | IESG state | I-D Exists (IESG: Dead) | |
| Consensus boilerplate | Unknown | ||
| Telechat date | (None) | ||
| Responsible AD | Lisa M. Dusseault | ||
| Send notices to | stpeter@jabber.org |
draft-saintandre-jabberid-09
Network Working Group P. Saint-Andre
Internet-Draft Cisco Systems, Inc.
Intended status: Informational September 20, 2013
Expires: March 24, 2014
The Jabber-ID Header Field
draft-saintandre-jabberid-09
Abstract
This document defines a header field that enables the author of an
email or netnews message to include a Jabber Identifier in the
message header block for the purpose of associating the author with a
particular Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) address.
Status of this Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
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This Internet-Draft will expire on March 24, 2014.
Copyright Notice
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Implementation Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.1. Inclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.2. Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.3. Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.4. Disposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
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1. Introduction
The Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP), documented in
[RFC6120], is a streaming XML technology that enables any two
entities on a network to exchange well-defined but extensible XML
elements (called "XML stanzas") in close to real time. Given XMPP's
heritage in the Jabber open-source community, one of the primary uses
for XMPP is instant messaging and presence as documented in
[RFC6121], and XMPP addresses are still referred to as Jabber IDs.
Because almost all human users of Jabber/XMPP instant messaging and
presence systems also use email systems [RFC5322] and because many
such users also use netnews systems [RFC5536], it can be helpful for
such users to specify their Jabber IDs in the messages they author.
The Jabber-ID header field provides a standard location for that
information. Members of the XMPP instant messaging and presence
community have been experimenting with this usage for many years. As
a result, this document provides informational documentation
regarding the syntax and implementation of the Jabber-ID header
field, including the information necessary to register the Jabber-ID
field in the Provisional Message Header Field Registry maintained by
the IANA.
2. Syntax
The syntax of the Jabber-ID header field is defined below using
Augmented Backus-Naur Form [RFC5234], where the "pathxmpp" rule is
defined in the XMPP URI specification [RFC5122] and the remaining
rules are defined in the Internet Message Format specification
[RFC5322]:
Jabber-ID = SP *WSP pathxmpp *WSP CRLF
Although a native XMPP address can contain virtually any Unicode
character [UNICODE], the header of an email or netnews message is
allowed to contain only printable ASCII characters (see Section 2 of
[RFC5322]). Therefore, any characters outside the ASCII range
[RFC20] in an XMPP address needs to be converted to ASCII before
inclusion in a Jabber-ID header field, in accordance with the rules
specified in the XMPP URI specification [RFC5122]. In addition,
characters allowed in XMPP localparts and XMPP resourceparts but
disallowed by the relevant URI rules need to be percent-encoded in
accordance with the rules specified in the URI specification
[RFC3986].
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3. Implementation Notes
3.1. Inclusion
The Jabber-ID header field is associated with the author of the
message; see [RFC5322]. If the "From:" header field of an email
message contains more than one mailbox, the Jabber-ID header field
ought not be added to the message. There ought to be no more than
one instance of the Jabber-ID header field.
3.2. Generation
For a user whose XMPP address is "juliet@example.com", the
corresponding Jabber-ID header field would be:
Jabber-ID: juliet@example.com
As noted, non-ASCII characters in XMPP addresses need to be converted
into ASCII before inclusion in a Jabber-ID header field. Consider
the following XMPP address:
jiři@čechy.example
In the foregoing example, the string "ř" stands for the Unicode
character LATIN SMALL LETTER R WITH CARON and the string "č"
stands for the Unicode character LATIN SMALL LETTER C WITH CARON,
following the "XML Notation" used in [RFC3987] to represent
characters that cannot be rendered in ASCII-only documents. For
those who do not read Czech, this example could be Anglicized as
"george@czech-lands.example".
Following the rules in [RFC5122] and the Jabber-ID header field
syntax, the resulting header field might be as shown below (note that
this representation includes folding white space, which is allowed in
accordance with the ABNF):
Jabber-ID:
ji%C5%99i@%C4%8Dechy.example
3.3. Processing
Upon receiving an email or netnews message containing a Jabber-ID
header field, a user agent that supports the field ought to process
the field by converting any escaped characters to characters outside
the ASCII range in accordance with the rules specified in [RFC5122],
thus yielding a Jabber Idenfitier that can be used for native
communication on an XMPP network.
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3.4. Disposition
A user agent that has processed a Jabber-ID header field can provide
appropriate interface elements if it has independent information
linking the author of the email or netnews message with the specified
Jabber Identifier (e.g., via a user-controlled address book or
automated directory lookup). Such interface elements might include
an indicator of "presence" (i.e., that the author is online and
available for communication via XMPP) if the user is subscribed to
the presence of the author, and an element that enables the user to
initiate a text chat with the author.
4. IANA Considerations
Header field name: Jabber-ID
Applicable protocol: mail, netnews
Status: provisional
Author/Change contoller Peter Saint-Andre
<mailto:stpeter@jabber.org>
Specification document: RFC XXXX
Related information: See RFC 6120
Note to IANA and RFC Editor: Please replace "XXXX" with the number of
the RFC that results from this specification.
5. Security Considerations
Message headers are an existing standard and are designed to easily
accommodate new types. Although the Jabber-ID header field could be
forged, this problem is inherent in Internet email and netnews;
however, because a forged Jabber-ID header field might break
automated processing, applications ought not depend on the Jabber-ID
header field to indicate the authenticity of an email or netnews
message, or the identity of its author or sender. Including the
Jabber-ID header field among the signer header fields in DomainKeys
Identified Mail (DKIM) can help to mitigate against forging of the
header (see [RFC6376]).
Advertising XMPP addresses in email or netnews headers might make it
easier for malicious users to harvest XMPP addresses and therefore to
send unsolicited bulk communications to the users or applications
represented by those addresses. Care ought to be taken in balancing
the benefits of open information exchange against the potential costs
of unwanted communication. An email or netnews user agent that is
capable of including the Jabber-ID header field in outgoing email or
netnews messages ought to provide an option for its user to disable
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inclusion of the Jabber-ID header field generally, on a per-recipient
basis, and on a per-message basis.
The security considerations discussed in [RFC3986], [RFC3987],
[RFC5122], [RFC6120], and [RFC6121] also apply to the Jabber-ID
message header.
6. References
6.1. Normative References
[RFC5122] Saint-Andre, P., "Internationalized Resource Identifiers
(IRIs) and Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) for the
Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP)",
RFC 5122, February 2008.
[RFC5234] Crocker, D. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
Specifications: ABNF", STD 68, RFC 5234, January 2008.
[RFC5322] Resnick, P., Ed., "Internet Message Format", RFC 5322,
October 2008.
[RFC6120] Saint-Andre, P., "Extensible Messaging and Presence
Protocol (XMPP): Core", RFC 6120, March 2011.
6.2. Informative References
[RFC20] Cerf, V., "ASCII format for network interchange", RFC 20,
October 1969.
[RFC3986] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform
Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66,
RFC 3986, January 2005.
[RFC3987] Duerst, M. and M. Suignard, "Internationalized Resource
Identifiers (IRIs)", RFC 3987, January 2005.
[RFC5536] Murchison, K., Lindsey, C., and D. Kohn, "Netnews Article
Format", RFC 5536, November 2009.
[RFC6121] Saint-Andre, P., "Extensible Messaging and Presence
Protocol (XMPP): Instant Messaging and Presence",
RFC 6121, March 2011.
[RFC6376] Crocker, D., Hansen, T., and M. Kucherawy, "DomainKeys
Identified Mail (DKIM) Signatures", RFC 6376,
September 2011.
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[UNICODE] The Unicode Consortium, "The Unicode Standard, Version
6.2", 2012,
<http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode6.2.0/>.
Author's Address
Peter Saint-Andre
Cisco Systems, Inc.
1899 Wynkoop Street, Suite 600
Denver, CO 80202
USA
Phone: +1-303-308-3282
Email: psaintan@cisco.com
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