RFC 2180 (rfc2180) - Page 2 of 14
IMAP4 Multi-Accessed Mailbox Practice
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 2180 IMAP4 Multi-Accessed Mailbox Practice July 1997 2. Conventions used in this document In examples,"C1:", "C2:" and "C3:" indicate lines sent by 3 different clients (client #1, client #2 and client #3) that are connected to a server. "S1:", "S2:" and "S3:" indicated lines sent by the server to client #1, client #2 and client #3 respectively. A shared mailbox, is a mailbox that can be used by multiple users. A multi-accessed mailbox, is a mailbox that has multiple clients simultaneously accessing it. A client is said to have accessed a mailbox after a successful SELECT or EXAMINE command. The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC-2119]. 3. Deletion/Renaming of a multi-accessed mailbox If an external agent or multiple clients are accessing a mailbox, care must be taken when handling the deletion or renaming of the mailbox. Following are some strategies an IMAP server may choose to use when dealing with this situation. 3.1. The server MAY fail the DELETE/RENAME command of a multi-accessed mailbox In some cases, this behavior may not be practical. For example, if a large number of clients are accessing a shared mailbox, the window in which no clients have the mailbox accessed may be small or non- existent, effectively rendering the mailbox undeletable or unrenamable. Example:C1: A001 DELETE FOO S1: A001 NO Mailbox FOO is in use by another user. Gahrns Informational
