RFC 2088 (rfc2088) - Page 1 of 2

IMAP4 non-synchronizing literals

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Network Working Group                                           J. Myers
Request for Comments: 2088                               Carnegie Mellon
Cateogry: Standards Track                                   January 1997


                    IMAP4 non-synchronizing literals

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.

1.   Abstract

   The Internet Message Access Protocol [IMAP4] contains the "literal"
   syntactic construct for communicating strings.  When sending a
   literal from client to server, IMAP4 requires the client to wait for
   the server to send a command continuation request between sending the
   octet count and the string data.  This document specifies an
   alternate form of literal which does not require this network round
   trip.

2.   Conventions Used in this Document

   In examples, "C:" and "S:" indicate lines sent by the client and
   server respectively.

3.   Specification

   The non-synchronizing literal is added an alternate form of literal,
   and may appear in communication from client to server instead of the
   IMAP4 form of literal.  The IMAP4 form of literal, used in
   communication from client to server, is referred to as a
   synchronizing literal.

   Non-synchronizing literals may be used with any IMAP4 server
   implementation which returns "LITERAL+" as one of the supported
   capabilities to the CAPABILITY command.  If the server does not
   advertise the LITERAL+ capability, the client must use synchronizing
   literals instead.

   The non-synchronizing literal is distinguished from the original
   synchronizing literal by having a plus ('+') between the octet count
   and the closing brace ('}').  The server does not generate a command
   continuation request in response to a non-synchronizing literal, and



Myers                       Standards Track
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