Internet Message Access Protocol - ANNOTATE Extension
RFC 5257

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Network Working Group                                           C. Daboo
Request for Comments: 5257                                    Apple Inc.
Category: Experimental                                        R. Gellens
                                                   QUALCOMM Incorporated
                                                               June 2008

         Internet Message Access Protocol - ANNOTATE Extension

Status of This Memo

   This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet
   community.  It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.
   Discussion and suggestions for improvement are requested.
   Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Abstract

   The ANNOTATE extension to the Internet Message Access Protocol
   permits clients and servers to maintain "meta data" for messages, or
   individual message parts, stored in a mailbox on the server.  For
   example, this can be used to attach comments and other useful
   information to a message.  It is also possible to attach annotations
   to specific parts of a message, so that, for example, they could be
   marked as seen, or important, or a comment added.

   Note that this document was the product of a WG that had good
   consensus on how to approach the problem.  Nevertheless, the WG felt
   it did not have enough information on implementation and deployment
   hurdles to meet all of the requirements of a Proposed Standard.  The
   IETF solicits implementations and implementation reports in order to
   make further progress.

   Implementers should be aware that this specification may change in an
   incompatible manner when going to Proposed Standard status.  However,
   any incompatible changes will result in a new capability name being
   used to prevent problems with any deployments of the experimental
   extension.

Daboo & Gellens               Experimental                      [Page 1]
RFC 5257                IMAP ANNOTATE Extension                June 2008

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction and Overview .......................................3
   2. Conventions Used in This Document ...............................4
   3. Data Model ......................................................4
      3.1. Overview ...................................................4
      3.2. Namespace of Entries and Attributes ........................4
           3.2.1. Entry Names .........................................5
           3.2.2. Attribute Names .....................................7
      3.3. Private Versus Shared ......................................7
      3.4. Access Control .............................................8
      3.5. Access to Standard IMAP Flags and Keywords ................11
   4. IMAP Protocol Changes ..........................................11
      4.1. General Considerations ....................................11
      4.2. ANNOTATE Parameter with the SELECT/EXAMINE Commands .......12
      4.3. ANNOTATION Message Data Item in FETCH Command .............12
      4.4. ANNOTATION Message Data Item in FETCH Response ............14
      4.5. ANNOTATION Message Data Item in STORE .....................16
      4.6. ANNOTATION Interaction with COPY ..........................18
      4.7. ANNOTATION Message Data Item in APPEND ....................18
      4.8. ANNOTATION Criterion in SEARCH ............................19
      4.9. ANNOTATION Key in SORT ....................................20
      4.10. New ACL Rights ...........................................21
   5. Formal Syntax ..................................................21
   6. IANA Considerations ............................................23
      6.1. Entry and Attribute Registration Template .................23
      6.2. Entry Registrations .......................................24
           6.2.1. /comment ...........................................24
           6.2.2. /flags .............................................24
           6.2.3. /altsubject ........................................25
           6.2.4. /<section-part>/comment ............................25
           6.2.5. /<section-part>/flags/seen .........................26
           6.2.6. /<section-part>/flags/answered .....................26
           6.2.7. /<section-part>/flags/flagged ......................27
           6.2.8. /<section-part>/flags/forwarded ....................27
      6.3. Attribute Registrations ...................................28
           6.3.1. value ..............................................28
           6.3.2. size ...............................................28
      6.4. Capability Registration ...................................28
   7. Internationalization Considerations ............................29
   8. Security Considerations ........................................29
   9. References .....................................................29
      9.1. Normative References ......................................29