RFC 1460 (rfc1460) - Page 1 of 17

Post Office Protocol - Version 3

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Network Working Group                                            M. Rose
Request for Comments: 1460                  Dover Beach Consulting, Inc.
Obsoletes: 1225                                                June 1993


                    Post Office Protocol - Version 3


Status of this Memo

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

Overview

   This memo is a revision to RFC 1225, a Draft Standard.  It makes the
   following changes from that document:

        - the RPOP facility is removed;

        - the optional APOP facility is added (which is in interoperable,
          operational use in at least three implementations);

        - a typo was corrected with respect to the interaction of LAST
          and RSET;

        - section numbers were added; and,

        - an acknowledgements section was added.

1. Introduction

   On certain types of smaller nodes in the Internet it is often
   impractical to maintain a message transport system (MTS).  For
   example, a workstation may not have sufficient resources (cycles,
   disk space) in order to permit a SMTP server [RFC 821] and associated
   local mail delivery system to be kept resident and continuously
   running.

   Similarly, it may be expensive (or impossible) to keep a personal
   computer interconnected to an IP-style network for long amounts of
   time (the node is lacking the resource known as "connectivity").

   Despite this, it is often very useful to be able to manage mail on
   these smaller nodes, and they often support a user agent (UA) to aid



Rose
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