RFC 2180 (rfc2180) - Page 2 of 14

IMAP4 Multi-Accessed Mailbox Practice

RFC 2180         IMAP4 Multi-Accessed Mailbox Practice         July 1997


2. Conventions used in this document

   In examples,"C1:", "C2:" and "C3:" indicate lines sent by 3 different
   clients (client #1, client #2 and client #3) that are connected to a
   server.  "S1:", "S2:" and "S3:" indicated lines sent by the server to
   client #1, client #2 and client #3 respectively.

   A shared mailbox, is a mailbox that can be used by multiple users.

   A multi-accessed mailbox, is a mailbox that has multiple clients
   simultaneously accessing it.

   A client is said to have accessed a mailbox after a successful SELECT
   or EXAMINE command.

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED",  "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC-2119].


3. Deletion/Renaming of a multi-accessed mailbox

   If an external agent or multiple clients are accessing a mailbox,
   care must be taken when handling the deletion or renaming of the
   mailbox. Following are some strategies an IMAP server may choose to
   use when dealing with this situation.


3.1. The server MAY fail the DELETE/RENAME command of a multi-accessed
     mailbox

   In some cases, this behavior may not be practical.  For example, if a
   large number of clients are accessing a shared mailbox, the window in
   which no clients have the mailbox accessed may be small or non-
   existent, effectively rendering the mailbox undeletable or
   unrenamable.

   Example:

   

             C1: A001 DELETE FOO
             S1: A001 NO Mailbox FOO is in use by another user.







Gahrns                       Informational