IMAP4 Multimailbox SEARCH Extension
RFC 6237
Document | Type |
RFC - Experimental
(May 2011; No errata)
Obsoleted by RFC 7377
Updates RFC 4466
|
|
---|---|---|---|
Authors | Alexey Melnikov , Barry Leiba | ||
Last updated | 2015-10-14 | ||
Replaces | draft-melnikov-imapext-multimailbox-search | ||
Stream | IETF | ||
Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized bibtex | ||
Reviews | |||
Stream | WG state | WG Document | |
Document shepherd | No shepherd assigned | ||
IESG | IESG state | RFC 6237 (Experimental) | |
Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | Peter Saint-Andre | ||
IESG note | Timo Sirainen <tss@iki.fi> is the Document Shepherd. | ||
Send notices to | (None) |
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) B. Leiba Request for Comments: 6237 Huawei Technologies Updates: 4466 A. Melnikov Category: Experimental Isode Limited ISSN: 2070-1721 May 2011 IMAP4 Multimailbox SEARCH Extension Abstract The IMAP4 specification allows the searching of only the selected mailbox. A user often wants to search multiple mailboxes, and a client that wishes to support this must issue a series of SELECT and SEARCH commands, waiting for each to complete before moving on to the next. This extension allows a client to search multiple mailboxes with one command, limiting the round trips and waiting for various searches to complete, and not requiring disruption of the currently selected mailbox. This extension also uses MAILBOX and TAG fields in ESEARCH responses, allowing a client to pipeline the searches if it chooses. This document updates RFC 4466. Status of This Memo This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for examination, experimental implementation, and evaluation. This document defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet community. This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has received public review and has been approved for publication by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Not all documents approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741. Information about the current status of this document, any errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6237. Leiba & Melnikov Experimental [Page 1] RFC 6237 IMAP4 Multimailbox SEARCH Extension May 2011 Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2011 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. Code Components extracted from this document must 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 1.1. Conventions Used in This Document ..........................3 2. New ESEARCH Command .............................................3 2.1. The ESEARCH Response .......................................4 2.2. Source Options: Specifying Mailboxes to Search .............5 3. Examples ........................................................6 4. Formal Syntax ...................................................7 5. Security Considerations .........................................8 6. IANA Considerations .............................................9 7. Acknowledgements ................................................9 8. Normative References ............................................9 1. Introduction The IMAP4 specification allows the searching of only the selected mailbox. A user often wants to search multiple mailboxes, and a client that wishes to support this must issue a series of SELECT and SEARCH commands, waiting for each to complete before moving on to the next. The commands can't be pipelined, because the server might run them in parallel, and the untagged SEARCH responses could not then be distinguished from each other. This extension allows a client to search multiple mailboxes with one command, and includes MAILBOX and TAG fields in the ESEARCH response, yielding the following advantages: o A single command limits the number of round trips needed to search a set of mailboxes. o A single command eliminates the need to wait for one search to complete before starting the next. Leiba & Melnikov Experimental [Page 2] RFC 6237 IMAP4 Multimailbox SEARCH Extension May 2011 o A single command allows the server to optimize the search, if it can. o A command that is not dependent upon the selected mailbox eliminates the need to disrupt the selection state or to open another IMAP connection. o The MAILBOX, UIDVALIDITY, and TAG fields in the responses allow a client to distinguish which responses go with which search (andShow full document text