Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) K. Murchison
Request for Comments: 8440 B. Gondwana
Category: Standards Track FastMail
ISSN: 2070-1721 August 2018
IMAP4 Extension for Returning MYRIGHTS Information in Extended LIST
Abstract
This document defines an extension to the Internet Message Access
Protocol (IMAP) LIST command that allows the client to request the
set of rights that the logged-in user has been granted on mailboxes,
along with other information typically returned by the LIST command.
Status of This Memo
This is an Internet Standards Track document.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by the
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on
Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 7841.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8440.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2018 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
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RFC 8440 IMAP LIST-MYRIGHTS August 2018
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Conventions Used in This Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3. MYRIGHTS Return Option to LIST Command . . . . . . . . . . . 2
4. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5. Formal Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
7. Privacy Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
8. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
8.1. Registration of IMAP Capability LIST-MYRIGHTS . . . . . . 4
8.2. Registration of LIST-EXTENDED Option MYRIGHTS . . . . . . 4
9. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
9.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
9.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1. Introduction
IMAP [RFC3501] clients typically fetch the set of rights granted on
mailboxes so they can expose the allowed functionality to the logged-
in user. In order to do that, the client is forced to issue a LIST
or LSUB command to list all available mailboxes, followed by a
MYRIGHTS command for each mailbox found. This document defines an
extension to the to IMAP LIST command that is identified by the
capability string "LIST-MYRIGHTS". The LIST-MYRIGHTS extension
allows the client to request the set of rights that the logged-in
user has been granted on mailboxes, along with other information
typically returned by the LIST command.
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 key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
capitals, as shown here.
3. MYRIGHTS Return Option to LIST Command
[RFC4314] defines the MYRIGHTS command, which is used by an IMAP
client to determine the set of rights that the logged-in user has
been granted on a given mailbox. Frequently, a client will have to
look up the rights for some or all of the mailboxes returned by the
Murchison & Gondwana Standards Track [Page 2]RFC 8440 IMAP LIST-MYRIGHTS August 2018
LIST command. Doing so in multiple MYRIGHTS commands wastes
bandwidth and can degrade performance if the client does not pipeline
the requests.
This document extends the LIST command with a new "MYRIGHTS" return
option [RFC5258] that allows the client to request all of the desired
information in a single command. For each listable mailbox matching
the list pattern and selection options, the server MUST return an
untagged LIST response and SHOULD also return an untagged MYRIGHTS
response containing the set of rights granted to the logged-in user.
The ordering of the responses is significant only in that the server
MUST NOT send a MYRIGHTS response for a given mailbox before it sends
the LIST response for that mailbox.
If the server is unable to look up the set of rights for a given
mailbox, it does not send the MYRIGHTS reply for that mailbox.
Client authors ought to note that generating the MYRIGHTS responses
for a large number of mailboxes may be an expensive operation for the
server. Clients SHOULD use a suitable match pattern and/or selection
option to limit the set of mailboxes returned to only those in whose
rights they are interested.
4. Examples
In this example, the "bar" mailbox doesn't exist, so it has no
MYRIGHTS reply.
C: A01 LIST "" % RETURN (MYRIGHTS)
S: * LIST () "." "INBOX"
S: * MYRIGHTS "INBOX" lrswipkxtecda
S: * LIST () "." "foo"
S: * MYRIGHTS "foo" lrs
S: * LIST (\NonExistent) "." "bar"
S: A01 OK List completed.
In this example, the LIST reply for the "foo" mailbox is returned
because it has matching children, but no MYRIGHTS reply is returned,
because "foo" itself doesn't match the selection criteria.
C: A02 LIST (SUBSCRIBED RECURSIVEMATCH) "" % RETURN (MYRIGHTS)
S: * LIST (\Subscribed) "." "INBOX"
S: * MYRIGHTS "INBOX" lrswipkxtecda
S: * LIST () "." "foo" (CHILDINFO ("SUBSCRIBED"))
S: A02 OK List completed.
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5. Formal Syntax
The following syntax specification uses the augmented Backus-Naur
Form (BNF) as described in [RFC5234]. Terms not defined here are
taken from [RFC5258].
return-option =/ "MYRIGHTS"
6. Security Considerations
In addition to the security considerations described in [RFC4314],
this extension makes it a bit easier for clients to overload the
server by requesting MYRIGHTS information for a large number of
mailboxes. However, as noted in the introduction, existing clients
already try to do that by generating a large number of MYRIGHTS
commands for each mailbox in which they are interested. While
performing MYRIGHTS information retrieval for big lists of mailboxes,
a server implementation needs to make sure that it can still serve
other IMAP connections and yield execution to other connections, when
necessary.
7. Privacy Considerations
This specification does not introduce any additional privacy concerns
beyond those described in [RFC4314].
8. IANA Considerations
8.1. Registration of IMAP Capability LIST-MYRIGHTS
This document defines the "LIST-MYRIGHTS" IMAP capability that has
been added to the "IMAP Capabilities" registry [CAPABILITIES].
8.2. Registration of LIST-EXTENDED Option MYRIGHTS
This section registers the "MYRIGHTS" option that has been added to
the "LIST-EXTENDED options" registry [EXTENDED].
LIST-EXTENDED option name: MYRIGHTS
LIST-EXTENDED option type: RETURN
LIST-EXTENDED option description: Causes the LIST command to return
MYRIGHTS responses in addition to LIST responses.
Published specification: RFC 8440, Section 3
Security considerations: RFC 8440, Section 6
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Intended usage: COMMON
Person and email address to contact for further information:
Kenneth Murchison <murch@fastmailteam.com>
Owner/Change controller: IESG <iesg@ietf.org>
9. References
9.1. Normative References
[CAPABILITIES]
IANA, "Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)
Capabilities Registry", <https://www.iana.org/assignments/
imap-capabilities/imap-capabilities>.
[EXTENDED]
IANA, "Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) LIST
EXTENDED Registry",
<https://www.iana.org/assignments/imap-list-extended>.
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.
[RFC3501] Crispin, M., "INTERNET MESSAGE ACCESS PROTOCOL - VERSION
4rev1", RFC 3501, DOI 10.17487/RFC3501, March 2003,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3501>.
[RFC4314] Melnikov, A., "IMAP4 Access Control List (ACL) Extension",
RFC 4314, DOI 10.17487/RFC4314, December 2005,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4314>.
[RFC5234] Crocker, D., Ed. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
Specifications: ABNF", STD 68, RFC 5234,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5234, January 2008,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5234>.
[RFC5258] Leiba, B. and A. Melnikov, "Internet Message Access
Protocol version 4 - LIST Command Extensions", RFC 5258,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5258, June 2008,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5258>.
[RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.
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9.2. Informative References
[RFC5819] Melnikov, A. and T. Sirainen, "IMAP4 Extension for
Returning STATUS Information in Extended LIST", RFC 5819,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5819, March 2010,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5819>.
Acknowledgments
This document is based largely on [RFC5819]. The authors would like
to thank the authors of that document for providing both inspiration
and some borrowed text for this document. The authors would also
like to thank Barry Leiba for contributing his ideas and support for
writing this specification.
Authors' Addresses
Kenneth Murchison
FastMail Pty Ltd.
Level 2, 114 William Street
Melbourne, VIC 3000
Australia
Email: murch@fastmailteam.com
Bron Gondwana
FastMail Pty Ltd.
Level 2, 114 William Street
Melbourne, VIC 3000
Australia
Email: brong@fastmailteam.com
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