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Network Working Group A. Melnikov
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Request for Comments: 4731 Isode Ltd
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Category: Standards Track D. Cridland
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Inventure Systems Ltd
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November 2006
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IMAP4 Extension to SEARCH Command for Controlling
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What Kind of Information Is Returned
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Status of This Memo
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This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
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Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
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improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
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Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
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and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
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Copyright Notice
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Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2006).
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Abstract
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This document extends IMAP (RFC 3501) SEARCH and UID SEARCH commands
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with several result options, which can control what kind of
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information is returned. The following result options are defined:
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minimal value, maximal value, all found messages, and number of found
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messages.
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Table of Contents
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1. Introduction ....................................................2
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2. Conventions Used in This Document ...............................2
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3. IMAP Protocol Changes ...........................................2
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3.1. New SEARCH/UID SEARCH Result Options .......................2
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3.2. Interaction with CONDSTORE extension .......................4
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4. Formal Syntax ...................................................5
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5. Security Considerations .........................................6
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6. IANA Considerations .............................................6
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7. Normative References ............................................6
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8. Acknowledgments .................................................6
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Melnikov & Cridland Standards Track [Page 1]
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RFC 4731 IMAP4 Extension to SEARCH November 2006
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1. Introduction
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[IMAPABNF] extended SEARCH and UID SEARCH commands with result
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specifiers (also known as result options), which can control what
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kind of information is returned.
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A server advertising the ESEARCH capability supports the following
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result options: minimal value, maximal value, all found messages,
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and number of found messages. These result options allow clients to
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get SEARCH results in more convenient forms, while also saving
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bandwidth required to transport the results, for example, by finding
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the first unseen message or returning the number of unseen or deleted
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messages. Also, when a single MIN or a single MAX result option is
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specified, servers can optimize execution of SEARCHes.
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2. Conventions Used in This Document
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In examples, "C:" and "S:" indicate lines sent by the client and
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server, respectively.
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The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
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"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
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document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [KEYWORDS].
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3. IMAP Protocol Changes
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3.1. New SEARCH/UID SEARCH Result Options
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The SEARCH/UID SEARCH commands are extended to allow for the
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following result options:
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MIN
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Return the lowest message number/UID that satisfies the SEARCH
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criteria.
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If the SEARCH results in no matches, the server MUST NOT
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include the MIN result option in the ESEARCH response; however,
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it still MUST send the ESEARCH response.
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MAX
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Return the highest message number/UID that satisfies the SEARCH
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criteria.
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If the SEARCH results in no matches, the server MUST NOT
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include the MAX result option in the ESEARCH response; however,
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it still MUST send the ESEARCH response.
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Melnikov & Cridland Standards Track [Page 2]
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RFC 4731 IMAP4 Extension to SEARCH November 2006
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ALL
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Return all message numbers/UIDs that satisfy the SEARCH
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criteria. Unlike regular (unextended) SEARCH, the messages are
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always returned using the sequence-set syntax. A sequence-set
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representation may be more compact and can be used as is in a
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subsequent command that accepts sequence-set. Note, the client
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MUST NOT assume that messages/UIDs will be listed in any
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particular order.
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If the SEARCH results in no matches, the server MUST NOT
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include the ALL result option in the ESEARCH response; however,
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it still MUST send the ESEARCH response.
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COUNT
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Return number of the messages that satisfy the SEARCH criteria.
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This result option MUST always be included in the ESEARCH
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response.
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If one or more result options described above are specified, the
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extended SEARCH command MUST return a single ESEARCH response
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[IMAPABNF], instead of the SEARCH response.
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An extended UID SEARCH command MUST cause an ESEARCH response with
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the UID indicator present.
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Note that future extensions to this document can allow servers to
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return multiple ESEARCH responses for a single extended SEARCH
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command. These extensions will have to describe how results from
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multiple ESEARCH responses are to be amalgamated.
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If the list of result options is empty, that requests the server to
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return an ESEARCH response instead of the SEARCH response. This is
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equivalent to "(ALL)".
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Example: C: A282 SEARCH RETURN (MIN COUNT) FLAGGED
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SINCE 1-Feb-1994 NOT FROM "Smith"
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S: * ESEARCH (TAG "A282") MIN 2 COUNT 3
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S: A282 OK SEARCH completed
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Example: C: A283 SEARCH RETURN () FLAGGED
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SINCE 1-Feb-1994 NOT FROM "Smith"
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S: * ESEARCH (TAG "A283") ALL 2,10:11
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S: A283 OK SEARCH completed
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The following example demonstrates finding the first unseen message
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as returned in the UNSEEN response code on a successful SELECT
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command:
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Melnikov & Cridland Standards Track [Page 3]
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RFC 4731 IMAP4 Extension to SEARCH November 2006
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Example: C: A284 SEARCH RETURN (MIN) UNSEEN
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S: * ESEARCH (TAG "A284") MIN 4
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S: A284 OK SEARCH completed
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The following example demonstrates that if the ESEARCH UID indicator
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is present, all data in the ESEARCH response is referring to UIDs;
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for example, the MIN result specifier will be followed by a UID.
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Example: C: A285 UID SEARCH RETURN (MIN MAX) 1:5000
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S: * ESEARCH (TAG "A285") UID MIN 7 MAX 3800
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S: A285 OK SEARCH completed
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The following example demonstrates returning the number of deleted
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messages:
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Example: C: A286 SEARCH RETURN (COUNT) DELETED
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S: * ESEARCH (TAG "A286") COUNT 15
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S: A286 OK SEARCH completed
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3.2. Interaction with CONDSTORE extension
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When the server supports both the ESEARCH and the CONDSTORE
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[CONDSTORE] extension, and the client requests one or more result
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option described in section 3.1 together with the MODSEQ search
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criterion in the same SEARCH/UID SEARCH command, then the server MUST
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return the ESEARCH response containing the MODSEQ result option
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(described in the following paragraph) instead of the extended SEARCH
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response described in section 3.5 of [CONDSTORE].
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If the SEARCH/UID SEARCH command contained a single MIN or MAX result
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option, the MODSEQ result option contains the mod-sequence for the
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found message. If the SEARCH/UID SEARCH command contained both MIN
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and MAX result options and no ALL/COUNT option, the MODSEQ result
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option contains the highest mod-sequence for the two returned
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messages. Otherwise the MODSEQ result option contains the highest
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mod-sequence for all messages being returned.
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Example: The following example demonstrates how Example 15 from
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[CONDSTORE] would look in the presence of one or more result option:
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C: a1 SEARCH RETURN (MIN) MODSEQ "/flags/\\draft"
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all 620162338
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S: * ESEARCH (TAG "a1") MIN 2 MODSEQ 917162488
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S: a1 OK Search complete
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C: a2 SEARCH RETURN (MAX) MODSEQ "/flags/\\draft"
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all 620162338
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S: * ESEARCH (TAG "a2") MAX 23 MODSEQ 907162321
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Melnikov & Cridland Standards Track [Page 4]
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RFC 4731 IMAP4 Extension to SEARCH November 2006
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S: a2 OK Search complete
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C: a3 SEARCH RETURN (MIN MAX) MODSEQ "/flags/\\draft"
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all 620162338
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S: * ESEARCH (TAG "a3") MIN 2 MAX 23 MODSEQ 917162488
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S: a3 OK Search complete
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C: a4 SEARCH RETURN (MIN COUNT) MODSEQ "/flags/\\draft"
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all 620162338
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S: * ESEARCH (TAG "a4") MIN 2 COUNT 10 MODSEQ 917162500
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S: a4 OK Search complete
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4. Formal Syntax
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The following syntax specification uses the Augmented Backus-Naur
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Form (ABNF) notation as specified in [ABNF].
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Non-terminals referenced but not defined below are as defined by
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[IMAP4], [CONDSTORE], or [IMAPABNF].
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Except as noted otherwise, all alphabetic characters are case-
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insensitive. The use of upper or lowercase characters to define
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token strings is for editorial clarity only. Implementations MUST
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accept these strings in a case-insensitive fashion.
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capability =/ "ESEARCH"
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search-return-data = "MIN" SP nz-number /
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"MAX" SP nz-number /
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"ALL" SP sequence-set /
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"COUNT" SP number
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;; conforms to the generic
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;; search-return-data syntax defined
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;; in [IMAPABNF]
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search-return-opt = "MIN" / "MAX" / "ALL" / "COUNT"
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;; conforms to generic search-return-opt
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;; syntax defined in [IMAPABNF]
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When the CONDSTORE [CONDSTORE] IMAP extension is also supported,
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the ABNF is updated as follows:
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search-return-data =/ "MODSEQ" SP mod-sequence-value
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;; mod-sequence-value is defined
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;; in [CONDSTORE]
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Melnikov & Cridland Standards Track [Page 5]
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RFC 4731 IMAP4 Extension to SEARCH November 2006
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5. Security Considerations
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In the general case, the IMAP SEARCH/UID SEARCH commands can be CPU
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and/or IO intensive, and are seen by some as a potential attack point
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for denial of service attacks, so some sites/implementations even
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disable them entirely. This is quite unfortunate, as SEARCH command
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is one of the best examples demonstrating IMAP advantage over POP3.
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The ALL and COUNT return options don't change how SEARCH is working
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internally; they only change how information about found messages is
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returned. MIN and MAX SEARCH result options described in this
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document can lighten the load on IMAP servers that choose to optimize
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SEARCHes containing only one or both of them.
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It is believed that this extension doesn't raise any additional
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security concerns not already discussed in [IMAP4].
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6. IANA Considerations
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IMAP4 capabilities are registered by publishing a standards track RFC
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or an IESG-approved experimental RFC. The registry is currently
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located at <http://www.iana.org/assignments/imap4-capabilities>.
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This document defines the ESEARCH IMAP capability, which IANA added
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to the registry.
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7. Normative References
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[KEYWORDS] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
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Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
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[IMAP4] Crispin, M., "INTERNET MESSAGE ACCESS PROTOCOL - VERSION
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4rev1", RFC 3501, March 2003.
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[ABNF] Crocker, D. (Ed.) and P. Overell , "Augmented BNF for
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Syntax Specifications: ABNF", RFC 4234, October 2005.
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[IMAPABNF] Melnikov, A. and C. Daboo, "Collected Extensions to IMAP4
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ABNF", RFC 4466, April 2006..
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[CONDSTORE] Melnikov, A. and S. Hole, "IMAP Extension for Conditional
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STORE", RFC 4551, June 2006.
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8. Acknowledgments
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Thanks to Michael Wener, Arnt Gulbrandsen, Cyrus Daboo, Mark Crispin,
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and Pete Maclean for comments and corrections.
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Melnikov & Cridland Standards Track [Page 6]
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RFC 4731 IMAP4 Extension to SEARCH November 2006
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Authors' Addresses
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Alexey Melnikov
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Isode Limited
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5 Castle Business Village
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36 Station Road
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Hampton, Middlesex, TW12 2BX
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UK
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EMail: Alexey.Melnikov@isode.com
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Dave A. Cridland
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Inventure Systems Limited
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EMail: dave.cridland@inventuresystems.co.uk
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URL: http://invsys.co.uk/dave/
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Melnikov & Cridland Standards Track [Page 7]
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RFC 4731 IMAP4 Extension to SEARCH November 2006
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Full Copyright Statement
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Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2006).
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This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions
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contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors
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retain all their rights.
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This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
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"AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
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OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY, THE IETF TRUST,
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AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES,
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EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT
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THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY
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IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
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PURPOSE.
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Intellectual Property
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The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
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Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to
|
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pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in
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this document or the extent to which any license under such rights
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might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has
|
||||
made any independent effort to identify any such rights. Information
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on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be
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found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.
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||||
Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any
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assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an
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||||
attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of
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||||
such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this
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||||
specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at
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||||
http://www.ietf.org/ipr.
|
||||
|
||||
The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
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||||
copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary
|
||||
rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement
|
||||
this standard. Please address the information to the IETF at
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||||
ietf-ipr@ietf.org.
|
||||
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||||
Acknowledgement
|
||||
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||||
Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
|
||||
Internet Society.
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Melnikov & Cridland Standards Track [Page 8]
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