RFC 3502 (rfc3502) - Page 1 of 7
Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) - MULTIAPPEND Extension
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
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