Relevant standards for public-inbox users and hackers
-----------------------------------------------------
Non-exhaustive list of standards public-inbox software attempts or
intends to implement. This list is intended to be a quick reference
for hackers and users.
Given the goals of interoperability and accessibility; strict
conformance to standards is not always possible, but rather
best-effort taking into account real-world cases. In particular,
"obsolete" standards remain relevant as long as clients and
data exists.
IETF RFCs
---------
rfc3977 - NNTP
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3977
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=3977
rfc977 - NNTP (old)
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc977
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=977
rfc1036 - Standard for Interchange of USENET Messages
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1036
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=1036
rfc5536 - Netnews Article Format
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5536
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=5536
rfc5537 - Netnews Architecture and Protocols
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5537
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=5537
rfc1738 - Uniform resource locators
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1738
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=1738
rfc5092 - IMAP URL scheme
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5092
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=5092
rfc5538 - NNTP URI schemes
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5538
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=5538
rfc6048 - NNTP additions to LIST command (TODO)
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6048
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=6048
rfc8054 - NNTP compression
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8054
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=8054
rfc4642 - NNTP TLS
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4642
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=4642
rfc8143 - NNTP TLS
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8143
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=8143
rfc2980 - NNTP extensions (obsolete, but NOT irrelevant)
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2980
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=2980
rfc4287 - Atom syndication
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4287
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=4287
rfc4685 - Atom threading extensions
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4685
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=4685
rfc2919 - List-Id mail header
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2919
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=2919
rfc5064 - Archived-At mail header
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5064
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=5064
rfc3986 - URI escaping
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=3986
rfc1521 - MIME extensions
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1521
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=1521
rfc2616 - HTTP/1.1 (newer updates should apply, too)
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2616
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=2616
rfc7230 - HTTP/1.1 message syntax and routing
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7230
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=7230
rfc7231 - HTTP/1.1 semantics and content
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7231
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=7231
rfc822 - Internet message format (1982)
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc822
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=822
rfc2822 - Internet message format (2001)
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2822
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=2822
rfc5322 - Internet message format (2008)
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5322
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=5322
rfc3501 - IMAP4rev1
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3501
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=3501
rfc2177 - IMAP IDLE
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2177
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=2177
rfc2683 - IMAP4 Implementation Recommendations
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2683
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=2683
rfc4978 - IMAP COMPRESS Extension
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4978
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=4978
rfc2369 - URLs as Meta-Syntax for Core Mail List Commands
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2369
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=2369
rfc8058 - Signaling One-Click Functionality for List Email Headers
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8058
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=8058
rfc1081 - Post Office Protocol – Version 3
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1081
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=1081
rfc1939 - Post Office Protocol – Version 3 (STD 53)
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1939
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=1939
rfc2449 - POP3 extension mechanism
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2449
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=2449
rfc2595 - STARTTLS for IMAP and POP3
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2595
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=2595
rfc2384 - POP URL Scheme
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2384
https://www.rfc-editor.org/errata_search.php?rfc=2384
Other relevant documentation
----------------------------
* IMAP capabilities registry and response codes:
https://www.iana.org/assignments/imap-capabilities
https://www.iana.org/assignments/imap-response-codes
* Documentation/technical/http-protocol.txt in git source code:
https://public-inbox.org/git/9c5b6f0fac/s
* Various mbox formats (we currently emit and parse mboxrd)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbox
* PSGI/Plack specifications (as long as our web frontend uses Perl5)
git clone https://github.com/plack/psgi-specs.git
Copyright
---------
Copyright (C) all contributors
License: AGPL-3.0+