The IMAP NOTIFY Extension
RFC 5465

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Network Working Group                                     A. Gulbrandsen
Request for Comments: 5465                        Oryx Mail Systems GmbH
Updates: 5267                                                    C. King
Category: Standards Track                                    A. Melnikov
                                                              Isode Ltd.
                                                           February 2009

                       The IMAP NOTIFY Extension

Status of This Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2009 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
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (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 to this document.

Abstract

   This document defines an IMAP extension that allows a client to
   request specific kinds of unsolicited notifications for specified
   mailboxes, such as messages being added to or deleted from such
   mailboxes.

Gulbrandsen, et al.         Standards Track                     [Page 1]
RFC 5465                 IMAP NOTIFY Extension             February 2009

Table of Contents

   1. Overview and Rationale ..........................................3
   2. Conventions Used in This Document ...............................4
   3. The NOTIFY Extension ............................................4
      3.1. The NOTIFY Command .........................................4
   4. Interaction with the IDLE Command ...............................8
   5. Event Types .....................................................8
      5.1. FlagChange and AnnotationChange ............................9
      5.2. MessageNew .................................................9
      5.3. MessageExpunge ............................................10
      5.4. MailboxName ...............................................11
      5.5. SubscriptionChange ........................................12
      5.6. MailboxMetadataChange .....................................12
      5.7. ServerMetadataChange ......................................13
      5.8. Notification Overflow .....................................13
      5.9. ACL (Access Control List) Changes .........................13
   6. Mailbox Specification ..........................................14
      6.1. Mailbox Specifiers Affecting the Currently
           Selected Mailbox ..........................................14
      6.2. Personal ..................................................15
      6.3. Inboxes ...................................................15
      6.4. Subscribed ................................................15
      6.5. Subtree ...................................................15
      6.6. Mailboxes .................................................16
   7. Extension to SEARCH and SORT Commands ..........................16
   8. Formal Syntax ..................................................16
   9. Security Considerations ........................................19
   10. IANA Considerations ...........................................19
      10.1. Initial LIST-EXTENDED Extended Data Item Registrations ...19
   11. Acknowledgements ..............................................20
   12. Normative References ..........................................20
   13. Informative References ........................................21

Gulbrandsen, et al.         Standards Track                     [Page 2]
RFC 5465                 IMAP NOTIFY Extension             February 2009

1.  Overview and Rationale

   The IDLE command (defined in [RFC2177]) provides a way for the client
   to go into a mode where the IMAP server pushes it notifications about
   IMAP mailstore events for the selected mailbox.  However, the IDLE
   extension doesn't restrict or control which server events can be
   sent, or what information the server sends in response to each event.
   Also, IDLE only applies to the selected mailbox, thus requiring an
   additional TCP connection per mailbox.

   This document defines an IMAP extension that allows clients to
   express their preferences about unsolicited events generated by the
   server.  The extension allows clients to only receive events that
   they are interested in, while servers know that they don't need to go
   to the effort of generating certain types of untagged responses.

   Without the NOTIFY command defined in this document, an IMAP server