Related RFCs
RFC 1123 - Requirements for Internet Hosts - Appli, RFC 1566 - Mail Monitoring MIB, RFC 1869 - SMTP Service Extensions (ESMTP), RFC 1893 - Enhanced Mail System Status Codes, RFC 1939 - Post Office Protocol (POP) - Version 3, RFC 2033 - Local Mail Transfer Protocol (LMTP), RFC 2045 - Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (, RFC 2046 - Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (, RFC 2047 - Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (, RFC 2048 - Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (
Client-Server Mail Protocols FAQ
A brief summary of POP3, SMTP, and IMAP, including pointers to sources and frequently-asked-questions sites.
Detailed Revision/Update of Message Standards
The charter of the DRUMS IETF working group. DRUMS works on clarifying, codifying, and extending existing Internet messaging standards.
Email Addressing FAQ
The user+box@host addressing FAQ. A discussion of what exactly is permissible and verifiable in an e-mail address.
Internet Mail Consortium
Information about IMC and its members, all the Internet mail standards, and links to several IMC-hosted mailing lists.
Message Access Paradigms and Protocols
Provides extensive background and compares the Post Office Protocol (POP) with the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP).
MIME Meta-FAQ
comp.mail.mime meta-FAQ: Help for MIME problems. Pointers to information about Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions and some answers to common problems with MIME.
Network Services and Applications
A series of lecture notes and slides from the Faculty of Informatics and Communication, Central Queensland University. Covers many mail protocols.
The IMAP Connection
University of Washington collection of IMAP documentation and resources.