RFC 3502 (rfc3502) - Page 1 of 7

Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) - MULTIAPPEND Extension

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Network Working Group                                         M. Crispin
Request for Comments: 3502                      University of Washington
Category: Standards Track                                     March 2003


    Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) - MULTIAPPEND 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) The Internet Society (2003).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   This document describes the multiappending extension to the Internet
   Message Access Protocol (IMAP) (RFC 3501).  This extension provides
   substantial performance improvements for IMAP clients which upload
   multiple messages at a time to a mailbox on the server.

   A server which supports this extension indicates this with a
   capability name of "MULTIAPPEND".

Terminology

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

Introduction

   The MULTIAPPEND extension permits uploading of multiple messages with
   a single command.  When used in conjunction with the [LITERAL+]
   extension, the entire upload is accomplished in a single
   command/response round trip.

   A MULTIAPPEND APPEND operation is atomic; either all messages are
   successfully appended, or no messages are appended.

   In the base IMAP specification, each message must be appended in a
   separate command, and there is no mechanism to "unappend" messages if
   an error occurs while appending.  Also, some mail stores may require



Crispin                     Standards Track
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