Handling Message Disposition Notification with the JSON Meta Application Protocol (JMAP)Linagora100 Terrasse Boieldieu - Tour FranklinParis - La Défense CEDEX92042Francerouazana@linagora.comhttps://www.linagora.com
Applications
JMAPJMAPJSONemailMDNThis document specifies a data model for handling Message Disposition Notifications (MDNs) (see RFC 8098) in the JSON Meta Application Protocol (JMAP) (see RFCs 8620 and 8621).
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Table of Contents
. Introduction
. Notational Conventions
. Terminology
. Addition to the Capabilities Object
. MDN
. MDN/send
. MDN/parse
. Samples
. Sending an MDN for a Received Email Message
. Asking for an MDN When Sending an Email Message
. Parsing a Received MDN
. IANA Considerations
. JMAP Capability Registration for "mdn"
. JMAP Error Codes Registration for "mdnAlreadySent"
. Security Considerations
. Normative References
Author's Address
IntroductionJMAP ("" ) is a generic protocol for synchronising data, such as mail, calendars, or contacts, between a client and a server. It is optimised for mobile and web environments, and it provides a consistent interface to different data types.
JMAP for Mail ("" ) specifies a data model for synchronising email data with a server using JMAP. Clients can use this to efficiently search, access, organise, and send messages.
Message Disposition Notifications (MDNs) are defined in and are used as "read receipts", "acknowledgements", or "receipt notifications".
A client can come across MDNs in different ways:
When receiving an email message, an MDN can be sent to the sender. This specification defines an "MDN/send" method to cover this case.
When sending an email message, an MDN can be requested. This must be done with the help of a header field, as already specified by ; the header field can already be handled by guidance in .
When receiving an MDN, the MDN could be related to an existing sent message. This is already covered by in the EmailSubmission object. A client might want to display detailed information about a received MDN. This specification defines an "MDN/parse" method to cover this case.
Notational Conventions
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
when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.
Type signatures, examples, and property descriptions in this document follow the conventions established in . Data types defined in the core specification are also used in this document.
Servers MUST support all properties specified for the new data types defined in this document.
TerminologyThe same terminology is used in this document as in the core JMAP specification.
Because keywords are case insensitive in IMAP but case sensitive in JMAP, the $mdnsent keyword MUST always be used in lowercase.
Addition to the Capabilities ObjectCapabilities are announced as part of the standard JMAP Session resource; see . This defines a new capability, "urn:ietf:params:jmap:mdn".
The capability "urn:ietf:params:jmap:mdn" being present in the "accountCapabilities" property of an account represents support for the "MDN" data type, parsing MDNs via the "MDN/parse" method, and creating and sending MDN messages via the "MDN/send" method.
Servers that include the capability in one or more "accountCapabilities" properties MUST also include the property in the "capabilities" property.
The value of this "urn:ietf:params:jmap:mdn" property is an empty object both in the account's "accountCapabilities" property and in the "capabilities" property.
MDNAn MDN object has the following properties:
forEmailId: Id|nullThe Email id of the received message to which this MDN is related. This property MUST NOT be null for "MDN/send" but MAY be null in the response from the "MDN/parse" method.
subject: String|nullThe subject used as "Subject" header field for this MDN.
textBody: String|nullThe human-readable part of the MDN, as plain text.
includeOriginalMessage: Boolean (default: false)If true, the content of the original message will appear in the third component of the multipart/report generated for the MDN. See for details and security considerations.
reportingUA: String|nullThe name of the Mail User Agent (MUA) creating this MDN. It is used to build the MDN report part of the MDN. Note that a null value may have better privacy properties.
disposition: DispositionThe object containing the diverse MDN disposition options.
mdnGateway: String|null (server-set)The name of the gateway or Message Transfer Agent (MTA) that translated a foreign (non-Internet) message disposition notification into this MDN.
originalRecipient: String|null (server-set)The original recipient address as specified by the sender of the message for which the MDN is being issued.
finalRecipient: String|nullThe recipient for which the MDN is being issued. If set, it overrides the value that would be calculated by the server from the Identity defined in the "MDN/send" method, unless explicitly set by the client.
originalMessageId: String|null (server-set)The "Message-ID" header field (not the JMAP id) of the message for which the MDN is being issued.
error: String[]|null (server-set)Additional information in the form of text messages when the "error" disposition modifier appears.
extensionFields: String[String]|nullThe object where keys are extension-field names, and values are extension-field values (see ).
A Disposition object has the following properties:
actionMode: StringThis MUST be one of the following strings: manual-action / automatic-action
sendingMode: StringThis MUST be one of the following strings: mdn-sent-manually / mdn-sent-automatically
type: StringThis MUST be one of the following strings: deleted / dispatched / displayed / processed
See for the exact meaning of these different fields. These fields are defined as case insensitive in but are case sensitive in this RFC and MUST be converted to lowercase by "MDN/parse".
MDN/sendThe "MDN/send" method sends a message in the style of from an MDN object. When calling this method, the "using" property of the Request object MUST contain the capabilities "urn:ietf:params:jmap:mdn" and "urn:ietf:params:jmap:mail"; the latter because of the implicit call to "Email/set" and the use of Identity objects, which is described below.
The method takes the following arguments:
accountId: IdThe id of the account to use.
identityId: IdThe id of the Identity to associate with these MDNs. The server will use this identity to define the sender of the MDNs and to set the "finalRecipient" field.
send: Id[MDN]A map of the creation id (client specified) to MDN objects.
onSuccessUpdateEmail: Id[PatchObject]|nullA map of the id to an object containing properties to update on the Email object referenced by the "MDN/send" if the sending succeeds. This will always be a backward reference to the creation id (see the example below in ).
The response has the following arguments:
accountId: IdThe id of the account used for the call.
sent: Id[MDN]|nullA map of the creation id to an MDN containing any properties that were not set by the client. This includes any properties that were omitted by the client and thus set to a default by the server. This argument is null if no MDN objects were successfully sent.
notSent: Id[SetError]|nullA map of the creation id to a SetError object for each record that failed to be sent or null if all successful.
In this context, the existing SetError types defined in and are interpreted as follows:
notFound:
The reference "forEmailId" cannot be found or has no valid "Disposition-Notification-To" header field.
forbidden:
"MDN/send" would violate an Access Control List (ACL) or other permissions policy.
forbiddenFrom:
The user is not allowed to use the given "finalRecipient" property.
overQuota:
"MDN/send" would exceed a server-defined limit on the number or total size of sent MDNs. It could include limitations on sent messages.
tooLarge:
"MDN/send" would result in an MDN that exceeds a server-defined limit for the maximum size of an MDN or more generally, on email message.
rateLimit:
Too many MDNs or email messages have been created recently, and a server-defined rate limit has been reached. It may work if tried again later.
invalidProperties:
The record given is invalid in some way.
The following is a new SetError:
mdnAlreadySent:
The message has the $mdnsent keyword already set.
If the "accountId" or "identityId" given cannot be found, the method call is rejected with an invalidArguments error.
The client MUST NOT issue an "MDN/send" request if the message has the $mdnsent keyword set.
When sending the MDN, the server is in charge of generating the "originalRecipient" and "originalMessageId" fields according to . "finalRecipient" will also generally be generated by the server based on the provided identity, but if specified by the client and allowed (see ), the server will use the client-provided value.
The client is expected to explicitly update each "Email" for which an "MDN/send" has been invoked in order to set the $mdnsent keyword on these messages. To ensure that, the server MUST reject an "MDN/send" that does not result in setting the keyword $mdnsent. Thus, the server MUST check that the "onSuccessUpdateEmail" property of the method is correctly set to update this keyword.
MDN/parseThis method allows a client to parse blobs as messages in the style of to get MDN objects. This can be used to parse and get detailed information about blobs referenced in the "mdnBlobIds" of the EmailSubmission object or any email message the client could expect to be an MDN.
The "forEmailId" property can be null or missing if the "originalMessageId" property is missing or does not refer to an existing message or if the server cannot efficiently calculate the related message (for example, if several messages get the same "Message-ID" header field).
The "MDN/parse" method takes the following arguments:
accountId: IdThe id of the account to use.
blobIds: Id[]The ids of the blobs to parse.
The response has the following arguments:
accountId: IdThe id of the account used for the call.
parsed: Id[MDN]|nullA map of the blob id to a parsed MDN representation for each successfully parsed blob or null if none.
notParsable: Id[]|nullA list of ids given that corresponds to blobs that could not be parsed as MDNs or null if none.
notFound: Id[]|nullA list of blob ids given that could not be found or null if none.
The following additional errors may be returned instead of the "MDN/parse" response:
requestTooLarge:
The number of ids requested by the client exceeds the maximum number the server is willing to process in a single method call.
invalidArguments:
If the given "accountId" cannot be found, the MDN parsing is rejected with an invalidArguments error.
SamplesSending an MDN for a Received Email MessageA client can use the following request to send an MDN back to the sender:
[[ "MDN/send", {
"accountId": "ue150411c",
"identityId": "I64588216",
"send": {
"k1546": {
"forEmailId": "Md45b47b4877521042cec0938",
"subject": "Read receipt for: World domination",
"textBody": "This receipt shows that the email has been
displayed on your recipient's computer. There is no
guarantee it has been read or understood.",
"reportingUA": "joes-pc.cs.example.com; Foomail 97.1",
"disposition": {
"actionMode": "manual-action",
"sendingMode": "mdn-sent-manually",
"type": "displayed"
},
"extension": {
"EXTENSION-EXAMPLE": "example.com"
}
}
},
"onSuccessUpdateEmail": {
"#k1546": {
"keywords/$mdnsent": true
}
}
}, "0" ]]
If the email id matches an existing email message without the $mdnsent keyword, the server can answer:
[[ "MDN/send", {
"accountId": "ue150411c",
"sent": {
"k1546": {
"finalRecipient": "rfc822; john@example.com",
"originalMessageId": "<199509192301.23456@example.org>"
}
}
}, "0" ],
[ "Email/set", {
"accountId": "ue150411c",
"oldState": "23",
"newState": "42",
"updated": {
"Md45b47b4877521042cec0938": {}
}
}, "0" ]]
If the $mdnsent keyword has already been set, the server can answer an error:
[[ "MDN/send", {
"accountId": "ue150411c",
"notSent": {
"k1546": {
"type": "mdnAlreadySent",
"description" : "$mdnsent keyword is already present"
}
}
}, "0" ]]
Asking for an MDN When Sending an Email MessageThis is done with the "Email/set" "create" method of .
[[ "Email/set", {
"accountId": "ue150411c",
"create": {
"k2657": {
"mailboxIds": {
"2ea1ca41b38e": true
},
"keywords": {
"$seen": true,
"$draft": true
},
"from": [{
"name": "Joe Bloggs",
"email": "joe@example.com"
}],
"to": [{
"name": "John",
"email": "john@example.com"
}],
"header:Disposition-Notification-To:asText": "joe@example.com",
"subject": "World domination",
...
}
}
}, "0" ]]
Note the specified "Disposition-Notification-To" header field indicating where to send the MDN (usually the sender of the message).
Parsing a Received MDNThe client issues a parse request:
[[ "MDN/parse", {
"accountId": "ue150411c",
"blobIds": [ "0f9f65ab-dc7b-4146-850f-6e4881093965" ]
}, "0" ]]
The server responds:
[[ "MDN/parse", {
"accountId": "ue150411c",
"parsed": {
"0f9f65ab-dc7b-4146-850f-6e4881093965": {
"forEmailId": "Md45b47b4877521042cec0938",
"subject": "Read receipt for: World domination",
"textBody": "This receipt shows that the email has been
displayed on your recipient's computer. There is no
guarantee it has been read or understood.",
"reportingUA": "joes-pc.cs.example.com; Foomail 97.1",
"disposition": {
"actionMode": "manual-action",
"sendingMode": "mdn-sent-manually",
"type": "displayed"
},
"finalRecipient": "rfc822; john@example.com",
"originalMessageId": "<199509192301.23456@example.org>"
}
}
}, "0" ]]
In the case that a blob id is not found, the server would respond:
[[ "MDN/parse", {
"accountId": "ue150411c",
"notFound": [ "0f9f65ab-dc7b-4146-850f-6e4881093965" ]
}, "0" ]]
If the blob id has been found but is not parsable, the server would respond:
[[ "MDN/parse", {
"accountId": "ue150411c",
"notParsable": [ "0f9f65ab-dc7b-4146-850f-6e4881093965" ]
}, "0" ]]
IANA ConsiderationsJMAP Capability Registration for "mdn"This section registers the "mdn" JMAP Capability in the "JMAP Capabilities" registry as follows:
Capability Name:
urn:ietf:params:jmap:mdn
Intended Use:
common
Change Controller:
IETF
Security and Privacy Considerations:
This document, .
Reference:
This document
JMAP Error Codes Registration for "mdnAlreadySent"IANA has registered one new error code in the "JMAP Error Codes" registry, as defined in .
JMAP Error Code:
mdnAlreadySent
Intended Use:
common
Change Controller:
IETF
Description:
The message has the $mdnsent keyword already set. The client MUST NOT try again to send an MDN for this message.
Reference:
This document,
Security ConsiderationsThe same considerations regarding MDN (see and ) apply to this document.
In order to reinforce trust regarding the relation between the user sending an email message and the identity of this user, the server SHOULD validate in conformance to the provided Identity that the user is permitted to use the "finalRecipient" value and return a forbiddenFrom error if not.
Normative ReferencesKey words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement LevelsIn many standards track documents several words are used to signify the requirements in the specification. These words are often capitalized. This document defines these words as they should be interpreted in IETF documents. This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements.Message Disposition Notification (MDN) profile for Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)The Message Disposition Notification (MDN) facility defined in RFC 2298 provides a means by which a message can request that message processing by the recipient be acknowledged as well as a format to be used for such acknowledgements. However, it doesn't describe how multiple Mail User Agents (MUAs) should handle the generation of MDNs in an Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP4) environment. This document describes how to handle MDNs in such an environment and provides guidelines for implementers of IMAP4 that want to add MDN support to their products. [STANDARDS-TRACK]Internet Message FormatThis document specifies the Internet Message Format (IMF), a syntax for text messages that are sent between computer users, within the framework of "electronic mail" messages. This specification is a revision of Request For Comments (RFC) 2822, which itself superseded Request For Comments (RFC) 822, "Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text Messages", updating it to reflect current practice and incorporating incremental changes that were specified in other RFCs. [STANDARDS-TRACK]Message Disposition NotificationThis memo defines a MIME content type that may be used by a Mail User Agent (MUA) or electronic mail gateway to report the disposition of a message after it has been successfully delivered to a recipient. This content type is intended to be machine processable. Additional message header fields are also defined to permit Message Disposition Notifications (MDNs) to be requested by the sender of a message. The purpose is to extend Internet Mail to support functionality often found in other messaging systems, such as X.400 and the proprietary "LAN-based" systems, and are often referred to as "read receipts," "acknowledgements," or "receipt notifications." The intention is to do this while respecting privacy concerns, which have often been expressed when such functions have been discussed in the past.Because many messages are sent between the Internet and other messaging systems (such as X.400 or the proprietary "LAN-based" systems), the MDN protocol is designed to be useful in a multiprotocol messaging environment. To this end, the protocol described in this memo provides for the carriage of "foreign" addresses, in addition to those normally used in Internet Mail. Additional attributes may also be defined to support "tunneling" of foreign notifications through Internet Mail.This document is an Internet Standard. It obsoletes RFC 3798 and updates RFC 2046 (message/partial media type handling) and RFC 3461 (Original-Recipient header field generation requirement).Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC 2119 Key WordsRFC 2119 specifies common key words that may be used in protocol specifications. This document aims to reduce the ambiguity by clarifying that only UPPERCASE usage of the key words have the defined special meanings.The JSON Meta Application Protocol (JMAP)This document specifies a protocol for clients to efficiently query, fetch, and modify JSON-based data objects, with support for push notification of changes and fast resynchronisation and for out-of- band binary data upload/download.The JSON Meta Application Protocol (JMAP) for MailThis document specifies a data model for synchronising email data with a server using the JSON Meta Application Protocol (JMAP). Clients can use this to efficiently search, access, organise, and send messages, and to get push notifications for fast resynchronisation when new messages are delivered or a change is made in another client.Author's AddressLinagora100 Terrasse Boieldieu - Tour FranklinParis - La Défense CEDEX92042Francerouazana@linagora.comhttps://www.linagora.com