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* Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
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Mailbox Name Conventions
Mark Crispin
5 October 2005
Please refer to the file drivers.txt for related information.
I. Special names
Special names appear by themselves.
I.a. INBOX
The name INBOX is special and refers to primary incoming message
mailbox on the local system.
I.b. #mhinbox (UNIX only)
The name #mhinbox is special and refers to the primary incoming mh
format mailbox on the local system. Don't worry about this if you
don't know what mh format is.
II. Special prefixes
All names which start with a "#" have a "special prefix" which
identifies an alternative namespace. Special prefixes appear in front
of some additional text which constitutes a suffix.
II.a. #mh/ (UNIX only)
The prefix #mh/ is special and refers to the mh format mailbox named
with the suffix. For example, #mh/foo refers to the mh format mailbox
named foo. Don't worry about this if you don't know what mh format is.
II.b. #news. (UNIX only)
The prefix #news. is special and refers to the newsgroup named with
the suffix. For example, #news.comp.mail.misc refers to the newsgroup
named comp.mail.misc.
II.c. #ftp/ (UNIX only)
The prefix #ftp/ is special and refers to the anonymous ftp filesystem
named with the suffix. For example, #ftp/foo/bar refers to the file
/foo/bar in the anonymous FTP filesystem. Anonymous FTP files are
available to anonymous IMAP logins.
II.d. #public/ (UNIX only)
The prefix #public/ is special and refers to the public files
filesystem named with the suffix. For example, #public/foo/bar refers
to the file /foo/bar in the public filesystem. Public files are
available to anonymous IMAP logins.
II.e. #shared/ (UNIX only)
The prefix #shared/ is special and refers to the shared files
filesystem named with the suffix. For example, #shared/foo/bar
frefers to the file /foo/bar in the shared filesystem.
III. Remote names
All names which start with "{" are remote names, and are in the form
"{" remote_system_name [":" port] [flags] "}" [mailbox_name]
where:
remote_system_name Internet domain name or bracketed IP address
of server.
port optional TCP port number, default is the
default port for that service
flags optional flags, one of the following:
"/service=" service mailbox access service, default is "imap"
"/user=" user remote user name for login on the server
"/authuser=" user remote authentication user; if specified this
is the user name whose password is used (e.g.
administrator)
"/anonymous" remote access as anonymous user
"/debug" record protocol telemetry in application's
debug log
"/secure" do not transmit a plaintext password over
the network
"/imap", "/imap2", "/imap2bis", "/imap4", "/imap4rev1"
equivalent to /service=imap
"/pop3" equivalent to /service=pop3
"/nntp" equivalent to /service=nntp
"/norsh" do not use rsh or ssh to establish a preauthenticated
IMAP session
"/ssl" use the Secure Socket Layer to encrypt the session
"/validate-cert" validate certificates from TLS/SSL server (this is the
default behavior)
"/novalidate-cert" do not validate certificates from TLS/SSL server,
needed if server uses self-signed certificates
"/tls" force use of start-TLS to encrypt the session, and
reject connection to servers that do not support it
"/tls-sslv23" use the depreciated SSLv23 client when negotiating
TLS to the server. This is necessary with some
broken servers which (incorrectly) think that TLS
is just another way of doing SSL.
"/notls" do not do start-TLS to encrypt the session, even
with servers that support it
"/readonly" request read-only mailbox open (IMAP only; ignored
on NNTP, and an error with SMTP and POP3)
"/loser" disable various protocol features and perform various
client-side workarounds; for example, it disables
the SEARCH command in IMAP and does client-side
searching instead. The precise measures taken by
/loser depend upon the protocol and are subject to
change over time. /loser is intended for use with
defective servers which do not implement the
protocol specification correctly. It should be used
only as a last resort since it will seriously
degrade performance.
mailbox_name remote mailbox name, default is INBOX
For example:
{imap.foo.com}INBOX
opens an IMAP connection to system imap.foo.com and selects INBOX.
IV. All other names
All other names are treated as local file names, relative to the
user's home directory. Read drivers.txt for more details.