RFC 2683 (rfc2683) - Page 1 of 23

IMAP4 Implementation Recommendations

Network Working Group                                           B. Leiba
Request for Comments: 2683               IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
Category: Informational                                   September 1999


                  IMAP4 Implementation Recommendations

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
   not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this
   memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999).  All Rights Reserved.

1. Abstract

   The IMAP4 specification [RFC-2060] describes a rich protocol for use
   in building clients and servers for storage, retrieval, and
   manipulation of electronic mail.  Because the protocol is so rich and
   has so many implementation choices, there are often trade-offs that
   must be made and issues that must be considered when designing such
   clients and servers.  This document attempts to outline these issues
   and to make recommendations in order to make the end products as
   interoperable as possible.

2. Conventions used in this document

   In examples, "C:" indicates lines sent by a client that is connected
   to a server.  "S:" indicates lines sent by the server to the client.

   The words "must", "must not", "should", "should not", and "may" are
   used with specific meaning in this document; since their meaning is
   somewhat different from that specified in RFC 2119, we do not put
   them in all caps here.  Their meaning is as follows:

   must --       This word means that the action described is necessary
                 to ensure interoperability.  The recommendation should
                 not be ignored.
   must not --   This phrase means that the action described will be
                 almost certain to hurt interoperability.  The
                 recommendation should not be ignored.







Leiba                        Informational