Internet Mail standards | Definitions | IMC Reports
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Internet Mail standards | Definitions | IMC Reports Spam | MIME test | vCard/vCalendar S/MIME and PGP/MIME | IMC home |
Internet mail is defined by a large number of standards and recommendations that are codified by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). There are many flavors of IETF standards, recommendations, statements of common practice, and so on. Only a few of the protocols used in Internet mail are full IETF standards; however, the others are often useful and stable enough to be treated as standard by people writing Internet mail software.
For the purpose of defining Internet mail, any protocol or note that has become an IETF Request For Comments (RFC) document can be treated as somewhat of a standard. Certainly, any mail-related RFC that has been deemed to be on the IETF "standards track" should certainly be considered a standard.
Before a proposal or note becomes an RFC, it is set down as an Internet Draft (I-D) and discussed in various forums, often Working Groups (WGs) of the IETF. I-Ds are often rough drafts and subject to major changes. Some go along for years, but are then dropped or abandoned; others get on a fast track to becoming RFCs. Internet Drafts are given names when they first appear; if they become RFCs, the I-D name disappears and an RFC number is assigned.
IMC maintains an informal list of mail-related RFCs.