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IETF RFC 6121
Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP): Instant Messaging and Presence
Last modified on Wednesday, March 30th, 2011
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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) P. Saint-Andre
Request for Comments: 6121 Cisco
Obsoletes: 3921 March 2011
Category: Standards Track
ISSN: 2070-1721
Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP):
Instant Messaging and Presence
 Abstract
This document defines extensions to core features of the Extensible
Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) that provide basic instant
messaging (IM) and presence functionality in conformance with the
requirements in RFC 2779. This document obsoletes RFC 3921.
Status of this Memo
This is an Internet Standards Track document.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by the
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on
Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 6121.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2011 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1. Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2. History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3. Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4. Functional Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.5. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2. Managing the Roster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1. Syntax and Semantics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.1. Ver Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.1.2. Roster Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.1.2.1. Approved Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.1.2.2. Ask Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.1.2.3. JID Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1.2.4. Name Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1.2.5. Subscription Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1.2.6. Group Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.1.3. Roster Get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.1.4. Roster Result . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.1.5. Roster Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.1.6. Roster Push . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.2. Retrieving the Roster on Login . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.3. Adding a Roster Item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3.1. Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3.2. Success Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3.3. Error Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.4. Updating a Roster Item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.4.1. Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.4.2. Success Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.4.3. Error Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.5. Deleting a Roster Item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.5.1. Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.5.2. Success Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.5.3. Error Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.6. Roster Versioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.6.1. Stream Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.6.2. Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.6.3. Success Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3. Managing Presence Subscriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.1. Requesting a Subscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.1.1. Client Generation of Outbound Subscription Request . 31
3.1.2. Server Processing of Outbound Subscription Request . 32
3.1.3. Server Processing of Inbound Subscription Request . . 34
3.1.4. Client Processing of Inbound Subscription Request . . 35
3.1.5. Server Processing of Outbound Subscription Approval . 36
3.1.6. Server Processing of Inbound Subscription Approval . 38
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3.2. Canceling a Subscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.2.1. Client Generation of Subscription Cancellation . . . 40
3.2.2. Server Processing of Outbound Subscription
Cancellation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.2.3. Server Processing of Inbound Subscription
Cancellation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.3. Unsubscribing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.3.1. Client Generation of Unsubscribe . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.3.2. Server Processing of Outbound Unsubscribe . . . . . . 43
3.3.3. Server Processing of Inbound Unsubscribe . . . . . . 44
3.4. Pre-Approving a Subscription Request . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.4.1. Client Generation of Subscription Pre-Approval . . . 46
3.4.2. Server Processing of Subscription Pre-Approval . . . 47
4. Exchanging Presence Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.1. Presence Fundamentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.2. Initial Presence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.2.1. Client Generation of Initial Presence . . . . . . . . 49
4.2.2. Server Processing of Outbound Initial Presence . . . 50
4.2.3. Server Processing of Inbound Initial Presence . . . . 50
4.2.4. Client Processing of Initial Presence . . . . . . . . 51
4.3. Presence Probes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.3.1. Server Generation of Outbound Presence Probe . . . . 52
4.3.2. Server Processing of Inbound Presence Probe . . . . . 53
4.3.2.1. Handling of the 'id' Attribute . . . . . . . . . 55
4.4. Subsequent Presence Broadcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.4.1. Client Generation of Subsequent Presence Broadcast . 57
4.4.2. Server Processing of Subsequent Outbound Presence . . 57
4.4.3. Server Processing of Subsequent Inbound Presence . . 58
4.4.4. Client Processing of Subsequent Presence . . . . . . 59
4.5. Unavailable Presence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.5.1. Client Generation of Unavailable Presence . . . . . . 59
4.5.2. Server Processing of Outbound Unavailable Presence . 59
4.5.3. Server Processing of Inbound Unavailable Presence . . 61
4.5.4. Client Processing of Unavailable Presence . . . . . . 62
4.6. Directed Presence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.6.1. General Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.6.2. Client Generation of Directed Presence . . . . . . . 63
4.6.3. Server Processing of Outbound Directed Presence . . . 63
4.6.4. Server Processing of Inbound Directed Presence . . . 64
4.6.5. Client Processing of Inbound Directed Presence . . . 64
4.6.6. Server Processing of Presence Probes . . . . . . . . 64
4.7. Presence Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.7.1. Type Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.7.2. Child Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4.7.2.1. Show Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4.7.2.2. Status Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.7.2.3. Priority Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4.7.3. Extended Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
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5. Exchanging Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.1. One-to-One Chat Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
5.2. Message Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.2.1. To Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
5.2.2. Type Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
5.2.3. Body Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
5.2.4. Subject Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
5.2.5. Thread Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
5.3. Extended Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
6. Exchanging IQ Stanzas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
7. A Sample Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
8. Server Rules for Processing XML Stanzas . . . . . . . . . . . 84
8.1. General Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
8.2. No 'to' Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
8.3. Remote Domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
8.4. Local Domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
8.5. Local User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
8.5.1. No Such User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
8.5.2. localpart@domainpart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
8.5.2.1. Available or Connected Resources . . . . . . . . 87
8.5.2.2. No Available or Connected Resources . . . . . . . 89
8.5.3. localpart@domainpart/resourcepart . . . . . . . . . . 90
8.5.3.1. Resource Matches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
8.5.3.2. No Resource Matches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
8.5.4. Summary of Message Delivery Rules . . . . . . . . . . 92
9. Handling of URIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
10. Internationalization Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
11. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
12. Conformance Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
13. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
13.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
13.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Appendix A. Subscription States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
A.1. Defined States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
A.2. Server Processing of Outbound Presence Subscription
Stanzas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
A.2.1. Subscribe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
A.2.2. Unsubscribe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
A.2.3. Subscribed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
A.2.4. Unsubscribed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
A.3. Server Processing of Inbound Presence Subscription
Stanzas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
A.3.1. Subscribe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
A.3.2. Unsubscribe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
A.3.3. Subscribed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
A.3.4. Unsubscribed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Appendix B. Blocking Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Appendix C. vCards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
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Appendix D. XML Schema for jabber:iq:roster . . . . . . . . . . 110
Appendix E. Differences From RFC 3921 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Appendix F. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
1. Introduction
1.1. Overview
The Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) is an
application profile of the Extensible Markup Language [XML] that
enables the near-real-time exchange of structured yet extensible data
between any two or more network entities. The core features of XMPP
defined in [XMPP-CORE] provide the building blocks for many types of
near-real-time applications, which can be layered on top of the core
by sending application-specific data qualified by particular XML
namespaces (refer to [XML-NAMES]). This document defines XMPP
extensions that provide the basic functionality expected of an
instant messaging (IM) and presence application as described in
[IMP-REQS].
1.2. History
The basic syntax and semantics of XMPP were developed originally
within the Jabber open-source community, mainly in 1999. In late
2002, the XMPP Working Group was chartered with developing an
adaptation of the core Jabber protocol that would be suitable as an
IETF IM and presence technology in accordance with [IMP-REQS]. In
October 2004, [RFC 3920] and [RFC 3921] were published, representing
the most complete definition of XMPP at that time.
Since 2004 the Internet community has gained extensive implementation
and deployment experience with XMPP, including formal
interoperability testing carried out under the auspices of the XMPP
Standards Foundation (XSF). This document incorporates comprehensive
feedback from software developers and service providers, including a
number of backward-compatible modifications summarized under
Appendix E. As a result, this document reflects the rough consensus
of the Internet community regarding the IM and presence features of
XMPP 1.0, thus obsoleting RFC 3921.
1.3. Requirements
Traditionally, IM applications have combined the following factors:
1. The central point of focus is a list of one's contacts or
"buddies" (in XMPP this list is called a "roster").
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
2. The purpose of using such an application is to exchange
relatively brief text messages with particular contacts in close
to real time -- often relatively large numbers of such messages
in rapid succession, in the form of a one-to-one "chat session"
as described under Section 5.1.
3. The catalyst for exchanging messages is "presence" -- i.e.,
information about the network availability of particular contacts
(thus knowing who is online and available for a one-to-one chat
session).
4. Presence information is provided only to contacts that one has
authorized by means of an explicit agreement called a "presence
subscription".
Thus at a high level this document assumes that a user needs to be
able to complete the following use cases:
o Manage items in one's contact list
o Exchange messages with one's contacts
o Exchange presence information with one's contacts
o Manage presence subscriptions to and from one's contacts
Detailed definitions of these functionality areas are contained in
RFC 2779 [IMP-REQS], and the interested reader is referred to that
document regarding in-depth requirements. Although the XMPP IM and
presence extensions specified herein meet the requirements of RFC
2779, they were not designed explicitly with that specification in
mind, since the base protocol evolved through an open development
process within the Jabber open-source community before RFC 2779 was
written. Although XMPP protocol extensions addressing many other
functionality areas have been defined in the XMPP Standards
Foundation's XEP series (e.g., multi-user text chat as specified in
[XEP-0045]), such extensions are not specified in this document
because they are not mandated by RFC 2779.
Implementation Note: RFC 2779 stipulates that presence services
must be separable from IM services and vice-versa; i.e., it must
be possible to use the protocol to provide a presence service, a
messaging service, or both. Although the text of this document
assumes that implementations and deployments will want to offer a
unified IM and presence service, it is not mandatory for an XMPP
service to offer both a presence service and a messaging service,
and the protocol makes it possible to offer separate and distinct
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services for presence and for messaging. (For example, a
presence-only service could return a <service-unavailable/> stanza
error if a client attempts to send a <message/> stanza.)
1.4. Functional Summary
This non-normative section provides a developer-friendly, functional
summary of XMPP-based IM and presence features; consult the sections
that follow for a normative definition of these features.
[XMPP-CORE] specifies how an XMPP client connects to an XMPP server.
In particular, it specifies the preconditions that need to be
fulfilled before a client is allowed to send XML stanzas (the basic
unit of meaning in XMPP) to other entities on an XMPP network. These
preconditions comprise negotiation of the XML stream and include
exchange of XML stream headers, optional channel encryption via
Transport Layer Security [TLS], mandatory authentication via Simple
Authentication and Security Layer [SASL], and binding of a resource
to the stream for client addressing. The reader is referred to
[XMPP-CORE] for details regarding these preconditions, and knowledge
of [XMPP-CORE] is assumed herein.
Interoperability Note: [RFC 3921] specified one additional
precondition: formal establishment of an instant messaging and
presence session. Implementation and deployment experience has
shown that this additional step is unnecessary. However, for
backward compatibility an implementation MAY still offer that
feature. This enables older software to connect while letting
newer software save a round trip.
Upon fulfillment of the preconditions specified in [XMPP-CORE], an
XMPP client has a long-lived XML stream with an XMPP server, which
enables the user controlling that client to send and receive a
potentially unlimited number of XML stanzas over the stream. Such a
stream can be used to exchange messages, share presence information,
and engage in structured request-response interactions in close to
real time. After negotiation of the XML stream, the typical flow for
an instant messaging and presence session is as follows:
1. Retrieve one's roster. (See Section 2.2.)
2. Send initial presence to the server for broadcast to all
subscribed contacts, thus "going online" from the perspective of
XMPP communication. (See Section 4.2.)
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
3. Exchange messages, manage presence subscriptions, perform roster
updates, and in general process and generate other XML stanzas
with particular semantics throughout the life of the session.
(See Sections 5, 3, 2, and 6.)
4. Terminate the session when desired by sending unavailable
presence and closing the underlying XML stream. (See
Section 4.5.)
1.5. Terminology
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 RFC
2119 [KEYWORDS].
This document inherits the terminology defined in [XMPP-CORE].
The terms "automated client" and "interactive client" are to be
understood in the sense defined in [TLS-CERTS].
For convenience, this document employs the term "user" to refer to
the owner of an XMPP account; however, account owners need not be
humans and can be bots, devices, or other automated applications.
Several other terms, such as "interested resource", are defined
within the body of this document.
Following the "XML Notation" used in [IRI] to represent characters
that cannot be rendered in ASCII-only documents, some examples in
this document use the form "&#x...." as a notational device to
represent [UNICODE] characters (e.g., the string "ř" stands
for the Unicode character LATIN SMALL LETTER R WITH CARON); this form
is definitely not to be sent over the wire in XMPP systems.
In examples, lines have been wrapped for improved readability,
"[...]" means elision, and the following prepended strings are used
(these prepended strings are not to be sent over the wire):
o C: = client
o CC: = contact's client
o CS: = contact's server
o S: = server
o UC: = user's client
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o US: = user's server
Readers need to be aware that the examples are not exhaustive and
that, in examples for some protocol flows, the alternate steps shown
would not necessarily be triggered by the exact data sent in the
previous step; in all cases, the protocol definitions specified in
this document or in normatively referenced documents rule over any
examples provided here. All examples are fictional and the
information exchanged (e.g., usernames and passwords) does not
represent any existing users or servers.
2. Managing the Roster
In XMPP, a user's roster contains any number of specific contacts. A
user's roster is stored by the user's server on the user's behalf so
that the user can access roster information from any device. When
the user adds items to the roster or modifies existing items, if an
error does not occur then the server SHOULD store that data
unmodified if at all possible and MUST return the data it has stored
when an authorized client requests the roster.
Security Warning: Because the user's roster can contain
confidential data, the server MUST restrict access to this data so
that only authorized entities (typically limited to the account
owner) are able to retrieve, modify, or delete it.
RFC 3921 assumed that the only place where a user stores their roster
is the server where the user's account is registered and at which the
user authenticates for access to the XMPP network. This
specification removes that strict coupling of roster storage to
account registration and network authentication, with the result that
a user could store their roster at another location, or could have
multiple rosters that are stored in multiple locations. However, in
the absence of implementation and deployment experience with a more
flexible roster storage model, this specification retains the
terminology of RFC 3921 by using the terms "client" and "server" (and
"the roster" instead of "a roster"), rather than coining a new term
for "a place where a user stores a roster". Future documents might
provide normative rules for non-server roster storage or for the
management of multiple rosters, but such rules are out of scope for
this document.
2.1. Syntax and Semantics
Rosters are managed using <iq/> stanzas (see Section 8.2.3 of
[XMPP-CORE]), specifically by means of a <query/> child element
qualified by the 'jabber:iq:roster' namespace. The detailed syntax
and semantics are defined in the following sections.
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2.1.1. Ver Attribute
The 'ver' attribute is a string that identifies a particular version
of the roster information. The value MUST be generated only by the
server and MUST be treated by the client as opaque. The server can
use any appropriate method for generating the version ID, such as a
hash of the roster data or a strictly increasing sequence number.
Inclusion of the 'ver' attribute is RECOMMENDED.
Use of the 'ver' attribute is described more fully under Section 2.6.
Interoperability Note: The 'ver' attribute of the <query/> element
was not defined in RFC 3921 and is newly defined in this
specification.
2.1.2. Roster Items
The <query/> element inside a roster set (Section 2.1.5) contains one
<item/> child, and a roster result (Section 2.1.4) typically contains
multiple <item/> children. Each <item/> element describes a unique
"roster item" (sometimes also called a "contact").
The syntax of the <item/> element is described in the following
sections.
2.1.2.1. Approved Attribute
The boolean 'approved' attribute with a value of "true" is used to
signal subscription pre-approval as described under Section 3.4 (the
default is "false", in accordance with [XML-DATATYPES]).
A server SHOULD include the 'approved' attribute to inform the client
of subscription pre-approvals. A client MUST NOT include the
'approved' attribute in the roster sets it sends to the server, but
instead MUST use presence stanzas of type "subscribed" and
"unsubscribed" to manage pre-approvals as described under
Section 3.4.
Interoperability Note: The 'approved' attribute of the <item/>
element was not defined in RFC 3921 and is newly defined in this
specification.
2.1.2.2. Ask Attribute
The 'ask' attribute of the <item/> element with a value of
"subscribe" is used to signal various subscription sub-states that
include a "Pending Out" aspect as described under Section 3.1.2.
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A server SHOULD include the 'ask' attribute to inform the client of
"Pending Out" sub-states. A client MUST NOT include the 'ask'
attribute in the roster sets it sends to the server, but instead MUST
use presence stanzas of type "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" to manage
such sub-states as described under Section 3.1.2.
2.1.2.3. JID Attribute
The 'jid' attribute of the <item/> element specifies the Jabber
Identifier (JID) that uniquely identifies the roster item.
The 'jid' attribute is REQUIRED whenever a client or server adds,
updates, deletes, or returns a roster item.
2.1.2.4. Name Attribute
The 'name' attribute of the <item/> element specifies the "handle" to
be associated with the JID, as determined by the user (not the
contact). Although the value of the 'name' attribute MAY have
meaning to a human user, it is opaque to the server. However, the
'name' attribute MAY be used by the server for matching purposes
within the context of various XMPP extensions (one possible
comparison method is that described for XMPP resourceparts in
[XMPP-ADDR]).
It is OPTIONAL for a client to include the 'name' attribute when
adding or updating a roster item.
2.1.2.5. Subscription Attribute
The state of the presence subscription is captured in the
'subscription' attribute of the <item/> element. The defined
subscription-related values are:
none: the user does not have a subscription to the contact's
presence, and the contact does not have a subscription to the
user's presence; this is the default value, so if the subscription
attribute is not included then the state is to be understood as
"none"
to: the user has a subscription to the contact's presence, but the
contact does not have a subscription to the user's presence
from: the contact has a subscription to the user's presence, but the
user does not have a subscription to the contact's presence
both: the user and the contact have subscriptions to each other's
presence (also called a "mutual subscription")
Saint-Andre Standards Track PAGE 11
RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
In a roster result (Section 2.1.4), the client MUST ignore values of
the 'subscription' attribute other than "none", "to", "from", or
"both".
In a roster push (Section 2.1.6), the client MUST ignore values of
the 'subscription' attribute other than "none", "to", "from", "both",
or "remove".
In a roster set (Section 2.1.5), the 'subscription' attribute MAY be
included with a value of "remove", which indicates that the item is
to be removed from the roster; in a roster set the server MUST ignore
all values of the 'subscription' attribute other than "remove".
Inclusion of the 'subscription' attribute is OPTIONAL.
2.1.2.6. Group Element
The <group/> child element specifies a category or "bucket" into
which the roster item is to be grouped by a client. An <item/>
element MAY contain more than one <group/> element, which means that
roster groups are not exclusive. Although the XML character data of
the <group/> element MAY have meaning to a human user, it is opaque
to the server. However, the <group/> element MAY be used by the
server for matching purposes within the context of various XMPP
extensions (one possible comparison method is that described for XMPP
resourceparts in [XMPP-ADDR]).
It is OPTIONAL for a client to include the <group/> element when
adding or updating a roster item. If a roster set (Section 2.1.5)
includes no <group/> element, then the item is to be interpreted as
being affiliated with no group.
2.1.3. Roster Get
A "roster get" is a client's request for the server to return the
roster; syntactically it is an IQ stanza of type "get" sent from
client to server and containing a <query/> element qualified by the
'jabber:iq:roster' namespace, where the <query/> element MUST NOT
contain any <item/> child elements.
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='bv1bs71f'
type='get'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'/>
</iq>
The expected outcome of sending a roster get is for the server to
return a roster result.
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
2.1.4. Roster Result
A "roster result" is the server's response to a roster get;
syntactically it is an IQ stanza of type "result" sent from server to
client and containing a <query/> element qualified by the 'jabber:iq:
roster' namespace.
The <query/> element in a roster result contains one <item/> element
for each contact and therefore can contain more than one <item/>
element.
S: <iq id='bv1bs71f'
to='juliet@example.com/chamber'
type='result'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster' ver='ver7'>
<item jid='nurse@example.com'/>
<item jid='romeo@example.net'/>
</query>
</iq>
If the roster exists but there are no contacts in the roster, then
the server MUST return an IQ-result containing a child <query/>
element that in turn contains no <item/> children (i.e., the server
MUST NOT return an empty <iq/> stanza of type "error").
S: <iq id='bv1bs71f'
to='juliet@example.com/chamber'
type='result'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster' ver='ver9'/>
</iq>
If the roster does not exist, then the server MUST return a stanza
error with a condition of <item-not-found/>.
S: <iq id='bv1bs71f'
to='juliet@example.com/chamber'
type='error'>
<error type='cancel'>
<item-not-found
xmlns='urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:xmpp-stanzas'/>
</error>
</iq>
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
2.1.5. Roster Set
A "roster set" is a client's request for the server to modify (i.e.,
create, update, or delete) a roster item; syntactically it is an IQ
stanza of type "set" sent from client to server and containing a
<query/> element qualified by the 'jabber:iq:roster' namespace.
The following rules apply to roster sets:
1. The <query/> element MUST contain one and only one <item/>
element.
2. The server MUST ignore any value of the 'subscription' attribute
other than "remove" (see Section 2.1.2.5).
Security Warning: Traditionally, the IQ stanza of the roster set
included no 'to' address, with the result that all roster sets
were sent from an authenticated resource (full JID) of the account
whose roster was being updated. Furthermore, RFC 3921 required a
server to perform special-case checking of roster sets to ignore
the 'to' address; however, this specification has removed that
special-casing, which means that a roster set might include a 'to'
address other than that of the sender. Therefore, the entity that
processes a roster set MUST verify that the sender of the roster
set is authorized to update the roster, and if not return a
<forbidden/> error.
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='rs1'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='nurse@example.com'/>
</query>
</iq>
2.1.6. Roster Push
A "roster push" is a newly created, updated, or deleted roster item
that is sent from the server to the client; syntactically it is an IQ
stanza of type "set" sent from server to client and containing a
<query/> element qualified by the 'jabber:iq:roster' namespace.
The following rules apply to roster pushes:
1. The <query/> element in a roster push MUST contain one and only
one <item/> element.
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
2. A receiving client MUST ignore the stanza unless it has no 'from'
attribute (i.e., implicitly from the bare JID of the user's
account) or it has a 'from' attribute whose value matches the
user's bare JID <user@domainpart>.
S: <iq id='a78b4q6ha463'
to='juliet@example.com/chamber'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='nurse@example.com'/>
</query>
</iq>
As mandated by the semantics of the IQ stanza as defined in
[XMPP-CORE], each resource that receives a roster push from the
server is supposed to reply with an IQ stanza of type "result" or
"error" (however, it is known that many existing clients do not reply
to roster pushes).
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='a78b4q6ha463'
type='result'/>
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/chamber'
id='a78b4q6ha463'
type='result'/>
Security Warning: Traditionally, a roster push included no 'from'
address, with the result that all roster pushes were sent
implicitly from the bare JID of the account itself. However, this
specification allows entities other than the user's server to
maintain roster information, which means that a roster push might
include a 'from' address other than the bare JID of the user's
account. Therefore, the client MUST check the 'from' address to
verify that the sender of the roster push is authorized to update
the roster. If the client receives a roster push from an
unauthorized entity, it MUST NOT process the pushed data; in
addition, the client can either return a stanza error of <service-
unavailable/> error or refuse to return a stanza error at all (the
latter behavior overrides a MUST-level requirement from
[XMPP-CORE] for the purpose of preventing a presence leak).
Implementation Note: There is no error case for client processing
of roster pushes; if the server receives an IQ of type "error" in
response to a roster push then it SHOULD ignore the error.
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
2.2. Retrieving the Roster on Login
Upon authenticating with a server and binding a resource (thus
becoming a connected resource as defined in [XMPP-CORE]), a client
SHOULD request the roster before sending initial presence (however,
because receiving the roster is not necessarily desirable for all
resources, e.g., a connection with limited bandwidth, the client's
request for the roster is not mandatory). After a connected resource
sends initial presence (see Section 4.2), it is referred to as an
"available resource". If a connected resource or available resource
requests the roster, it is referred to as an "interested resource".
The server MUST send roster pushes to all interested resources.
Implementation Note: Presence subscription requests are sent to
available resources, whereas the roster pushes associated with
subscription state changes are sent to interested resources.
Therefore, if a resource wishes to receive both subscription
requests and roster pushes, it MUST both send initial presence and
request the roster.
A client requests the roster by sending a roster get over its stream
with the server.
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='hu2bac18'
type='get'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'/>
</iq>
S: <iq id='hu2bac18'
to='juliet@example.com/balcony'
type='result'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster' ver='ver11'>
<item jid='romeo@example.net'
name='Romeo'
subscription='both'>
<group>Friends</group>
</item>
<item jid='mercutio@example.com'
name='Mercutio'
subscription='from'/>
<item jid='benvolio@example.net'
name='Benvolio'
subscription='both'/>
</query>
</iq>
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If the server cannot process the roster get, it MUST return an
appropriate stanza error as described in [XMPP-CORE] (such as
<service-unavailable/> if the roster namespace is not supported or
<internal-server-error/> if the server experiences trouble processing
or returning the roster).
2.3. Adding a Roster Item
2.3.1. Request
At any time, a client can add an item to the roster. This is done by
sending a roster set containing a new item.
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='ph1xaz53'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='nurse@example.com'
name='Nurse'>
<group>Servants</group>
</item>
</query>
</iq>
2.3.2. Success Case
If the server can successfully process the roster set for the new
item (i.e., if no error occurs), it MUST create the item in the
user's roster and proceed as follows.
The server MUST return an IQ stanza of type "result" to the connected
resource that sent the roster set.
S: <iq id='ph1xaz53'
to='juliet@example.com/balcony'
type='result'/>
The server MUST also send a roster push containing the new roster
item to all of the user's interested resources, including the
resource that generated the roster set.
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
S: <iq to='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='a78b4q6ha463'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster' ver='ver13'>
<item jid='nurse@example.com'
name='Nurse'
subscription='none'>
<group>Servants</group>
</item>
</query>
</iq>
S: <iq to='juliet@example.com/chamber'
id='x81g3bdy4n19'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster' ver='ver13'>
<item jid='nurse@example.com'
name='Nurse'
subscription='none'>
<group>Servants</group>
</item>
</query>
</iq>
As mandated by the semantics of the IQ stanza as defined in
[XMPP-CORE], each resource that receives a roster push from the
server is supposed to reply with an IQ stanza of type "result" or
"error" (however, it is known that many existing clients do not reply
to roster pushes).
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='a78b4q6ha463'
type='result'/>
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/chamber'
id='x81g3bdy4n19'
type='result'/>
2.3.3. Error Cases
If the server cannot successfully process the roster set, it MUST
return a stanza error. The following error cases are defined.
Naturally, other stanza errors can occur, such as <internal-server-
error/> if the server experiences an internal problem with processing
the roster get, or even <not-allowed/> if the server only allows
roster modifications by means of a non-XMPP method such as a web
interface.
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
The server MUST return a <forbidden/> stanza error to the client if
the sender of the roster set is not authorized to update the roster
(where typically only an authenticated resource of the account itself
is authorized).
The server MUST return a <bad-request/> stanza error to the client if
the roster set contains any of the following violations:
1. The <query/> element contains more than one <item/> child
element.
2. The <item/> element contains more than one <group/> element, but
there are duplicate groups (one possible comparison method for
determining duplicates is that described for XMPP resourceparts
in [XMPP-ADDR]).
The server MUST return a <not-acceptable/> stanza error to the client
if the roster set contains any of the following violations:
1. The length of the 'name' attribute is greater than a server-
configured limit.
2. The XML character data of the <group/> element is of zero length
(to remove an item from all groups, the client instead needs to
exclude any <group/> element from the roster set).
3. The XML character data of the <group/> element is larger than a
server-configured limit.
Error: Roster set initiated by unauthorized entity
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='ix7s53v2'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='nurse@example.com'/>
</query>
</iq>
S: <iq id='ix7s53v2'
to='juliet@example.com/balcony'
type='error'>
<error type='auth'>
<forbidden xmlns='urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:xmpp-stanzas'/>
</error>
</iq>
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
Error: Roster set contains more than one item
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='nw83vcj4'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='nurse@example.com'
name='Nurse'>
<group>Servants</group>
</item>
<item jid='mother@example.com'
name='Mom'>
<group>Family</group>
</item>
</query>
</iq>
S: <iq id='nw83vcj4'
to='juliet@example.com/balcony'
type='error'>
<error type='modify'>
<bad-request xmlns='urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:xmpp-stanzas'/>
</error>
</iq>
Error: Roster set contains item with oversized handle
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='yl491b3d'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='nurse@example.com'
name='[ ... some-very-long-handle ... ]'>
<group>Servants</group>
</item>
</query>
</iq>
S: <iq id='yl491b3d'
to='juliet@example.com/balcony'
type='error'>
<error type='modify'>
<not-acceptable xmlns='urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:xmpp-stanzas'/>
</error>
</iq>
Error: Roster set contains duplicate groups
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='tk3va749'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='nurse@example.com'
name='Nurse'>
<group>Servants</group>
<group>Servants</group>
</item>
</query>
</iq>
S: <iq id='tk3va749'
to='juliet@example.com/balcony'
type='error'>
<error type='modify'>
<bad-request xmlns='urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:xmpp-stanzas'/>
</error>
</iq>
Error: Roster set contains empty group
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='fl3b486u'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='nurse@example.com'
name='Nurse'>
<group></group>
</item>
</query>
</iq>
S: <iq id='fl3b486u'
to='juliet@example.com/balcony'
type='error'>
<error type='modify'>
<not-acceptable xmlns='urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:xmpp-stanzas'/>
</error>
</iq>
Error: Roster set contains oversized group name
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='qh3b4v19'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='nurse@example.com'
name='Nurse'>
<group>[ ... some-very-long-group-name ... ]</group>
</item>
</query>
</iq>
S: <iq id='qh3b4v19'
to='juliet@example.com/balcony'
type='error'>
<error type='modify'>
<not-acceptable xmlns='urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:xmpp-stanzas'/>
</error>
</iq>
Interoperability Note: Some servers return a <not-allowed/> stanza
error to the client if the value of the <item/> element's 'jid'
attribute matches the bare JID <localpart@domainpart> of the
user's account.
2.4. Updating a Roster Item
2.4.1. Request
Updating an existing roster item is done in the same way as adding a
new roster item, i.e., by sending a roster set to the server.
Because a roster item is atomic, the item MUST be updated exactly as
provided in the roster set.
There are several reasons why a client might update a roster item:
1. Adding a group
2. Deleting a group
3. Changing the handle
4. Deleting the handle
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
Consider a roster item that is defined as follows:
<item jid='romeo@example.net'
name='Romeo'>
<group>Friends</group>
</item>
The user who has this item in her roster might want to add the item
to another group.
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='di43b2x9'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='romeo@example.net'
name='Romeo'>
<group>Friends</group>
<group>Lovers</group>
</item>
</query>
</iq>
Sometime later, the user might want to remove the item from the
original group.
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='lf72v157'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='romeo@example.net'
name='Romeo'>
<group>Lovers</group>
</item>
</query>
</iq>
The user might want to remove the item from all groups.
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='ju4b62a5'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='romeo@example.net'/>
</query>
</iq>
The user might also want to change the handle for the item.
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='gb3sv487'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='romeo@example.net'
name='MyRomeo'/>
</query>
</iq>
The user might then want to remove the handle altogether.
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='o3bx66s5'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='romeo@example.net'
name=''/>
</query>
</iq>
Implementation Note: Including an empty 'name' attribute is
equivalent to including no 'name' attribute; both actions set the
name to the empty string.
2.4.2. Success Case
As with adding a roster item, if the roster item can be successfully
processed then the server MUST update the item in the user's roster,
send a roster push to all of the user's interested resources, and
send an IQ result to the initiating resource; details are provided
under Section 2.3.
2.4.3. Error Cases
The error cases described under Section 2.3.3 also apply to updating
a roster item.
2.5. Deleting a Roster Item
2.5.1. Request
At any time, a client can delete an item from his or her roster by
sending a roster set and specifying a value of "remove" for the
'subscription' attribute.
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='hm4hs97y'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='nurse@example.com'
subscription='remove'/>
</query>
</iq>
2.5.2. Success Case
As with adding a roster item, if the server can successfully process
the roster set then it MUST update the item in the user's roster,
send a roster push to all of the user's interested resources (with
the 'subscription' attribute set to a value of "remove"), and send an
IQ result to the initiating resource; details are provided under
Section 2.3.
In addition, the user's server might need to generate one or more
subscription-related presence stanzas, as follows:
1. If the user has a presence subscription to the contact, then the
user's server MUST send a presence stanza of type "unsubscribe"
to the contact (in order to unsubscribe from the contact's
presence).
2. If the contact has a presence subscription to the user, then the
user's server MUST send a presence stanza of type "unsubscribed"
to the contact (in order to cancel the contact's subscription to
the user).
3. If the presence subscription is mutual, then the user's server
MUST send both a presence stanza of type "unsubscribe" and a
presence stanza of type "unsubscribed" to the contact.
S: <presence from='juliet@example.com'
id='lm3ba81g'
to='nurse@example.com'
type='unsubscribe'/>
S: <presence from='juliet@example.com'
id='xb2c1v4k'
to='nurse@example.com'
type='unsubscribed'/>
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
2.5.3. Error Cases
If the value of the 'jid' attribute specifies an item that is not in
the roster, then the server MUST return an <item-not-found/> stanza
error.
Error: Roster item not found
C: <iq from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='uj4b1ca8'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='[ ... non-existent-jid ... ]'
subscription='remove'/>
</query>
</iq>
S: <iq id='uj4b1ca8'
to='juliet@example.com/balcony'
type='error'>
<error type='modify'>
<item-not-found
xmlns='urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:xmpp-stanzas'/>
</error>
</iq>
2.6. Roster Versioning
2.6.1. Stream Feature
If a server supports roster versioning, then it MUST advertise the
following stream feature during stream negotiation.
<ver xmlns='urn:xmpp:features:rosterver'/>
The roster versioning stream feature is merely informative and
therefore is never mandatory-to-negotiate.
2.6.2. Request
If a client supports roster versioning and the server to which it has
connected advertises support for roster versioning as described in
the foregoing section, then the client SHOULD include the 'ver'
element in its request for the roster. If the server does not
advertise support for roster versioning, the client MUST NOT include
the 'ver' attribute. If the client includes the 'ver' attribute in
its roster get, it sets the attribute's value to the version ID
associated with its last cache of the roster.
Saint-Andre Standards Track PAGE 26
RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
C: <iq from='romeo@example.net/home'
id='r1h3vzp7'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='get'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster' ver='ver14'/>
</iq>
If the client has not yet cached the roster or the cache is lost or
corrupted, but the client wishes to bootstrap the use of roster
versioning, it MUST set the 'ver' attribute to the empty string
(i.e., ver="").
Naturally, if the client does not support roster versioning or does
not wish to bootstrap the use of roster versioning, it will not
include the 'ver' attribute.
2.6.3. Success Case
Whether or not the roster has been modified since the version ID
enumerated by the client, the server MUST either return the complete
roster as described under Section 2.1.4 (including a 'ver' attribute
that signals the latest version) or return an empty IQ-result (thus
indicating that any roster modifications will be sent via roster
pushes, as described below). In general, unless returning the
complete roster would (1) use less bandwidth than sending individual
roster pushes to the client (e.g., if the roster contains only a few
items) or (2) the server cannot associate the version ID with any
previous version it has on file, the server SHOULD send an empty IQ-
result and then send the modifications (if any) via roster pushes.
S: <iq from='romeo@example.net'
id='r1h3vzp7'
to='romeo@example.net/home'
type='result'/>
Implementation Note: This empty IQ-result is different from an
empty <query/> element, thus disambiguating this usage from an
empty roster.
If roster versioning is enabled and the roster has not been modified
since the version ID enumerated by the client, the server will simply
not send any roster pushes to the client (until and unless some
relevant event triggers a roster push during the lifetime of the
client's session).
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
If the roster has been modified since the version ID enumerated by
the client, the server MUST then send one roster push to the client
for each roster item that has been modified since the version ID
enumerated by the client. (We call a roster push that is sent for
purposes of roster version synchronization an "interim roster push".)
Definition: A "roster modification" is any change to the roster
data that would result in a roster push to a connected client.
Therefore, internal states related to roster processing within the
server that would not result in a roster push to a connected
client do not necessitate a change to the version.
S: <iq from='romeo@example.net'
id='ah382g67'
to='romeo@example.net/home'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster' ver='ver34'>
<item jid='tybalt@example.org' subscription='remove'/>
</query>
</iq>
S: <iq from='romeo@example.net'
id='b2gs90j5'
to='romeo@example.net/home'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster' ver='ver42'>
<item jid='bill@example.org' subscription='both'/>
</query>
</iq>
S: <iq from='romeo@example.net'
id='c73gs419'
to='romeo@example.net/home'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster' ver='ver72'>
<item jid='nurse@example.org'
name='Nurse'
subscription='to'>
<group>Servants</group>
</item>
</query>
</iq>
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
S: <iq from='romeo@example.net'
id='dh361f35'
to='romeo@example.net/home'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster' ver='ver96'>
<item jid='juliet@example.org'
name='Juliet'
subscription='both'>
<group>VIPs</group>
</item>
</query>
</iq>
These "interim roster pushes" can be understood as follows:
1. Imagine that the client had an active presence session for the
entire time between its cached roster version (say, "ver14") and
the new roster version (say, "ver96").
2. During that time, the client might have received roster pushes
related to various roster versions (which might have been, say,
"ver51" and "ver79"). However, some of those roster pushes might
have contained intermediate updates to the same roster item
(e.g., modifications to the subscription state for
bill@example.org from "none" to "to" and from "to" to "both").
3. The interim roster pushes would not include all of the
intermediate steps, only the final result of all modifications
applied to each item while the client was in fact offline (which
might have been, say, "ver34", "ver42", "ver72", and "ver96").
The client MUST handle an "interim roster push" in the same way it
handles any roster push (indeed, from the client's perspective it
cannot tell the difference between an "interim" roster push and a
"live" roster push and therefore it has no way of knowing when it has
received all of the interim roster pushes). When requesting the
roster after reconnection, the client SHOULD request the version
associated with the last roster push it received during its previous
session, not the version associated with the roster result it
received at the start of its previous session.
When roster versioning is enabled, the server MUST include the
updated roster version with each roster push. Roster pushes MUST
occur in order of modification and the version contained in a roster
push MUST be unique. Even if the client has not included the 'ver'
attribute in its roster gets or sets, the server SHOULD include the
'ver' attribute on all roster pushes and results that it sends to the
client.
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Implementation Note: Guidelines and more detailed examples for
roster versioning are provided in [XEP-0237].
3. Managing Presence Subscriptions
In order to protect the privacy of XMPP users, presence information
is disclosed only to other entities that a user has approved. When a
user has agreed that another entity is allowed to view its presence,
the entity is said to have a "subscription" to the user's presence.
An entity that has a subscription to a user's presence or to which a
user has a presence subscription is called a "contact" (in this
document the term "contact" is also used in a less strict sense to
refer to a potential contact or any item in a user's roster).
In XMPP, a subscription lasts across presence sessions; indeed, it
lasts until the contact unsubscribes or the user cancels the
previously granted subscription. (This model is different from that
used for presence subscriptions in the Session Initiation Protocol
(SIP), as defined in [SIP-PRES].)
Subscriptions are managed within XMPP by sending presence stanzas
containing specially defined attributes ("subscribe", "unsubscribe",
"subscribed", and "unsubscribed").
Implementation Note: When a server processes or generates an
outbound presence stanza of type "subscribe", "subscribed",
"unsubscribe", or "unsubscribed", the server MUST stamp the
outgoing presence stanza with the bare JID <localpart@domainpart>
of the sending entity, not the full JID
<localpart@domainpart/resourcepart>. Enforcement of this rule
simplifies the presence subscription model and helps to prevent
presence leaks; for information about presence leaks, refer to the
security considerations of [XMPP-CORE].
Subscription states are reflected in the rosters of both the user and
the contact. This section does not cover every possible case related
to presence subscriptions, and mainly narrates the protocol flows for
bootstrapping a mutual subscription between a user and a contact.
Complete details regarding subscription states can be found under
Appendix A.
3.1. Requesting a Subscription
A "subscription request" is a request from a user for authorization
to permanently subscribe to a contact's presence information;
syntactically it is a presence stanza whose 'type' attribute has a
value of "subscribe". A subscription request is generated by a
Saint-Andre Standards Track PAGE 30
RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
user's client, processed by the (potential) contact's server, and
acted on by the contact via the contact's client. The workflow is
described in the following sections.
Implementation Note: Presence subscription requests are sent to
available resources, whereas the roster pushes associated with
subscription state changes are sent to interested resources.
Therefore, if a resource wishes to receive both subscription
requests and roster pushes, it MUST both send initial presence and
request the roster.
3.1.1. Client Generation of Outbound Subscription Request
A user's client generates a subscription request by sending a
presence stanza of type "subscribe" and specifying a 'to' address of
the potential contact's bare JID <contact@domainpart>.
UC: <presence id='xk3h1v69'
to='juliet@example.com'
type='subscribe'/>
When a user sends a presence subscription request to a potential
instant messaging and presence contact, the value of the 'to'
attribute MUST be a bare JID <contact@domainpart> rather than a full
JID <contact@domainpart/resourcepart>, since the desired result is
for the user to receive presence from all of the contact's resources,
not merely the particular resource specified in the 'to' attribute.
Use of bare JIDs also simplifies subscription processing, presence
probes, and presence notifications by the user's server and the
contact's server.
For tracking purposes, a client SHOULD include an 'id' attribute in a
presence subscription request.
Implementation Note: Many XMPP clients prompt the user for
information about the potential contact (e.g., "handle" and
desired roster group) when generating an outbound presence
subscription request and therefore send a roster set before
sending the outbound presence subscription request. This behavior
is OPTIONAL, because a client MAY instead wait until receiving the
initial roster push from the server before uploading user-provided
information about the contact. A server MUST process a roster set
and outbound presence subscription request in either order (i.e.,
in whatever order generated by the client).
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
3.1.2. Server Processing of Outbound Subscription Request
Upon receiving the outbound presence subscription request, the user's
server MUST proceed as follows.
1. Before processing the request, the user's server MUST check the
syntax of the JID contained in the 'to' attribute (however, it is
known that some existing implementations do not perform this
check). If the JID is of the form
<contact@domainpart/resourcepart> instead of
<contact@domainpart>, the user's server SHOULD treat it as if the
request had been directed to the contact's bare JID and modify
the 'to' address accordingly. The server MAY also verify that
the JID adheres to the format defined in [XMPP-ADDR] and possibly
return a <jid-malformed/> stanza error.
2. If the potential contact is hosted on the same server as the
user, then the server MUST adhere to the rules specified under
Section 3.1.3 when processing the subscription request and
delivering it to the (local) contact.
3. If the potential contact is hosted on a remote server, subject to
local service policies the user's server MUST then route the
stanza to that remote domain in accordance with core XMPP stanza
processing rules. (This can result in returning an appropriate
stanza error to the user, such as <remote-server-timeout/>.)
As mentioned, before locally delivering or remotely routing the
presence subscription request, the user's server MUST stamp the
outbound subscription request with the bare JID <user@domainpart> of
the user.
US: <presence from='romeo@example.net'
id='xk3h1v69'
to='juliet@example.com'
type='subscribe'/>
If the presence subscription request cannot be locally delivered or
remotely routed (e.g., because the request is malformed, the local
contact does not exist, the remote server does not exist, an attempt
to contact the remote server times out, or any other error is
determined or experienced by the user's server), then the user's
server MUST return an appropriate error stanza to the user. An
example follows.
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com'
id='xk3h1v69'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='error'>
<error type='modify'>
<remote-server-not-found
xmlns='urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:xmpp-stanzas'/>
</error>
</presence>
After locally delivering or remotely routing the presence
subscription request, the user's server MUST then send a roster push
to all of the user's interested resources, containing the potential
contact with a subscription state of "none" and with notation that
the subscription is pending (via an 'ask' attribute whose value is
"subscribe").
US: <iq id='b89c5r7ib574'
to='romeo@example.net/foo'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item ask='subscribe'
jid='juliet@example.com'
subscription='none'/>
</query>
</iq>
US: <iq id='b89c5r7ib575'
to='romeo@example.net/bar'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item ask='subscribe'
jid='juliet@example.com'
subscription='none'/>
</query>
</iq>
If a remote contact does not approve or deny the subscription request
within some configurable amount of time, the user's server SHOULD
resend the subscription request to the contact based on an
implementation-specific algorithm (e.g., whenever a new resource
becomes available for the user, or after a certain amount of time has
elapsed); this helps to recover from transient, silent errors that
might have occurred when the original subscription request was routed
to the remote domain. When doing so, it is RECOMMENDED for the
server to include an 'id' attribute so that it can track responses to
the resent subscription request.
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
3.1.3. Server Processing of Inbound Subscription Request
Before processing the inbound presence subscription request, the
contact's server SHOULD check the syntax of the JID contained in the
'to' attribute. If the JID is of the form
<contact@domainpart/resourcepart> instead of <contact@domainpart>,
the contact's server SHOULD treat it as if the request had been
directed to the contact's bare JID and modify the 'to' address
accordingly. The server MAY also verify that the JID adheres to the
format defined in [XMPP-ADDR] and possibly return a <jid-malformed/>
stanza error.
When processing the inbound presence subscription request, the
contact's server MUST adhere to the following rules:
1. Above all, the contact's server MUST NOT automatically approve
subscription requests on the contact's behalf -- unless the
contact has (a) pre-approved subscription requests from the user
as described under Section 3.4, (b) configured its account to
automatically approve subscription requests, or (c) accepted an
agreement with its service provider that allows automatic
approval (for instance, via an employment agreement within an
enterprise deployment). Instead, if a subscription request
requires approval then the contact's server MUST deliver that
request to the contact's available resource(s) for approval or
denial by the contact.
2. If the contact exists and the user already has a subscription to
the contact's presence, then the contact's server MUST auto-reply
on behalf of the contact by sending a presence stanza of type
"subscribed" from the contact's bare JID to the user's bare JID.
Likewise, if the contact previously sent a presence stanza of
type "subscribed" and the contact's server treated that as
indicating "pre-approval" for the user's presence subscription
(see Section 3.4), then the contact's server SHOULD also auto-
reply on behalf of the contact.
CS: <presence from='juliet@example.com'
id='xk3h1v69'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='subscribed'/>
3. Otherwise, if there is at least one available resource associated
with the contact when the subscription request is received by the
contact's server, then the contact's server MUST send that
subscription request to all available resources in accordance
with Section 8. As a way of acknowledging receipt of the
presence subscription request, the contact's server MAY send a
Saint-Andre Standards Track PAGE 34
RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
presence stanza of type "unavailable" from the bare JID of the
contact to the bare JID of the user (the user's client MUST NOT
assume that this acknowledgement provides presence information
about the contact, since it comes from the contact's bare JID and
is received before the subscription request has been approved).
4. Otherwise, if the contact has no available resources when the
subscription request is received by the contact's server, then
the contact's server MUST keep a record of the complete presence
stanza comprising the subscription request, including any
extended content contained therein (see Section 8.4 of
[XMPP-CORE]), and then deliver the request when the contact next
has an available resource. The contact's server MUST continue to
deliver the subscription request whenever the contact creates an
available resource, until the contact either approves or denies
the request. (The contact's server MUST NOT deliver more than
one subscription request from any given user when the contact
next has an available resource; e.g., if the user sends multiple
subscription requests to the contact while the contact is
offline, the contact's server SHOULD store only one of those
requests, such as the first request or last request, and MUST
deliver only one of the requests when the contact next has an
available resource; this helps to prevent "subscription request
spam".)
Security Warning: Until and unless the contact approves the
subscription request as described under Section 3.1.4, the
contact's server MUST NOT add an item for the user to the
contact's roster.
Security Warning: The mandate for the contact's server to store
the complete stanza of the presence subscription request
introduces the possibility of an application resource exhaustion
attack (see Section 2.1.2 of [DOS]), for example, by a rogue
server or a coordinated group of users (e.g., a botnet) against
the contact's server or particular contact. Server implementers
are advised to consider the possibility of such attacks and
provide tools for counteracting it, such as enabling service
administrators to set limits on the number or size of inbound
presence subscription requests that the server will store in
aggregate or for any given contact.
3.1.4. Client Processing of Inbound Subscription Request
When an interactive client receives a subscription request, it MUST
present the request to the natural person controlling the client
(i.e., the "contact") for approval, unless the contact has explicitly
configured the client to automatically approve or deny some or all
Saint-Andre Standards Track PAGE 35
RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
subscription requests as described above. An automated client that
is not controlled by a natural person will have its own application-
specific rules for approving or denying subscription requests.
A client approves a subscription request by sending a presence stanza
of type "subscribed", which is processed as described under
Section 3.1.5 for the contact's server and Section 3.1.6 for the
user's server.
CC: <presence id='h4v1c4kj'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='subscribed'/>
A client denies a subscription request by sending a presence stanza
of type "unsubscribed", which is processed as described under
Section 3.2 for both the contact's server and the user's server.
CC: <presence id='tb2m1b59'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='unsubscribed'/>
For tracking purposes, a client SHOULD include an 'id' attribute in a
subscription approval or subscription denial; this 'id' attribute
MUST NOT mirror the 'id' attribute of the subscription request.
3.1.5. Server Processing of Outbound Subscription Approval
When the contact's client sends the subscription approval, the
contact's server MUST stamp the outbound stanza with the bare JID
<contact@domainpart> of the contact and locally deliver or remotely
route the stanza to the user.
CS: <presence from='juliet@example.com'
id='h4v1c4kj'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='subscribed'/>
The contact's server then MUST send an updated roster push to all of
the contact's interested resources, with the 'subscription' attribute
set to a value of "from". (Here we assume that the contact does not
already have a subscription to the user; if that were the case, the
'subscription' attribute would be set to a value of "both", as
explained under Appendix A.)
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
CS: <iq id='a78b4q6ha463'
to='juliet@example.com/balcony'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='romeo@example.net'
subscription='from'/>
</query>
</iq>
CS: <iq id='x81g3bdy4n19'
to='juliet@example.com/chamber'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='romeo@example.net'
subscription='from'/>
</query>
</iq>
From the perspective of the contact, there now exists a subscription
from the user, which is why the 'subscription' attribute is set to a
value of "from". (Here we assume that the contact does not already
have a subscription to the user; if that were the case, the
'subscription' attribute would be set to a value of "both", as
explained under Appendix A.)
The contact's server MUST then also send current presence to the user
from each of the contact's available resources.
CS: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='pw72bc5j'
to='romeo@example.net'/>
CS: <presence from='juliet@example.com/chamber'
id='ux31da4q'
to='romeo@example.net'/>
In order to subscribe to the user's presence, the contact would then
need to send a subscription request to the user. (XMPP clients will
often automatically send the subscription request instead of
requiring the contact to initiate the subscription request, since it
is assumed that the desired end state is a mutual subscription.)
Naturally, when the contact sends a subscription request to the user,
the subscription states will be different from those shown in the
foregoing examples (see Appendix A) and the roles will be reversed.
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
3.1.6. Server Processing of Inbound Subscription Approval
When the user's server receives a subscription approval, it MUST
first check if the contact is in the user's roster with
subscription='none' or subscription='from' and the 'ask' flag set to
"subscribe" (i.e., a subscription state of "None + Pending Out",
"None + Pending Out+In", or "From + Pending Out"; see Appendix A).
If this check is successful, then the user's server MUST:
1. Deliver the inbound subscription approval to all of the user's
interested resources (this helps to give the user's client(s)
proper context regarding the subscription approval so that they
can differentiate between a roster push originated by another of
the user's resources and a subscription approval received from
the contact). This MUST occur before sending the roster push
described in the next step.
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com'
id='h4v1c4kj'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='subscribed'/>
2. Initiate a roster push to all of the user's interested resources,
containing an updated roster item for the contact with the
'subscription' attribute set to a value of "to" (if the
subscription state was "None + Pending Out" or "None + Pending
Out+In") or "both" (if the subscription state was "From + Pending
Out").
US: <iq id='b89c5r7ib576'
to='romeo@example.net/foo'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='juliet@example.com'
subscription='to'/>
</query>
</iq>
US: <iq id='b89c5r7ib577'
to='romeo@example.net/bar'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='juliet@example.com'
subscription='to'/>
</query>
</iq>
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
3. The user's server MUST also deliver the available presence stanza
received from each of the contact's available resources to each
of the user's available resources.
[ ... to resource1 ... ]
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='pw72bc5j'
to='romeo@example.net'/>
[ ... to resource2 ... ]
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='pw72bc5j'
to='romeo@example.net'/>
[ ... to resource1 ... ]
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com/chamber'
id='ux31da4q'
to='romeo@example.net'/>
[ ... to resource2 ... ]
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com/chamber'
id='ux31da4q'
to='romeo@example.net'/>
Implementation Note: If the user's account has no available
resources when the inbound subscription approval notification is
received, the user's server MAY keep a record of the notification
(ideally the complete presence stanza) and then deliver the
notification when the account next has an available resource.
This behavior provides more complete signaling to the user
regarding the reasons for the roster change that occurred while
the user was offline.
Otherwise -- that is, if the user does not exist, if the contact is
not in the user's roster, or if the contact is in the user's roster
with a subscription state other than those described in the foregoing
check -- then the user's server MUST silently ignore the subscription
approval notification by not delivering it to the user, not modifying
the user's roster, and not generating a roster push to the user's
interested resources.
From the perspective of the user, there now exists a subscription to
the contact's presence (which is why the 'subscription' attribute is
set to a value of "to").
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
3.2. Canceling a Subscription
3.2.1. Client Generation of Subscription Cancellation
If a contact would like to cancel a subscription that it has
previously granted to a user, to cancel a subscription pre-approval
(Section 3.4), or to deny a subscription request, it sends a presence
stanza of type "unsubscribed".
CC: <presence id='ij5b1v7g'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='unsubscribed'/>
3.2.2. Server Processing of Outbound Subscription Cancellation
Upon receiving the outbound subscription cancellation, the contact's
server MUST proceed as follows.
1. If the user's bare JID is not yet in the contact's roster or is
in the contact's roster with a state of "None", "None + Pending
Out", or "To", the contact's server SHOULD NOT route or deliver
the presence stanza of type "unsubscribed" to the user and MUST
NOT send presence notifications of type "unavailable" to the user
as described below.
2. If the user's bare JID is in the contact's roster with a state of
"None", "None + Pending Out", or "To" and the 'approved' flag is
set to "true" (thus signaling a subscription pre-approval as
described under Section 3.4), the contact's server MUST remove
the pre-approval and MUST NOT route or deliver the presence
stanza of type "unsubscribed" to the user.
3. Otherwise, as shown in the following examples, the contact's
server MUST route or deliver both presence notifications of type
"unavailable" and presence stanzas of type "unsubscribed" to the
user and MUST send a roster push to the contact.
While the user is still subscribed to the contact's presence (i.e.,
before the contact's server routes or delivers the presence stanza of
type "unsubscribed" to the user), the contact's server MUST send a
presence stanza of type "unavailable" from all of the contact's
online resources to the user.
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
CS: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='i8bsg3h3'
type='unavailable'/>
CS: <presence from='juliet@example.com/chamber'
id='bvx2c9mk'
type='unavailable'/>
Then the contact's server MUST route or deliver the presence stanza
of type "unsubscribed" to the user, making sure to stamp the outbound
subscription cancellation with the bare JID <contact@domainpart> of
the contact.
CS: <presence from='juliet@example.com'
id='ij5b1v7g'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='unsubscribed'/>
The contact's server then MUST send a roster push with the updated
roster item to all of the contact's interested resources, where the
subscription state is now either "none" or "to" (see Appendix A).
CS: <iq id='pw3f2v175b34'
to='juliet@example.com/balcony'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='romeo@example.net'
subscription='none'/>
</query>
</iq>
CS: <iq id='zu2y3f571v35'
to='juliet@example.com/chamber'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='romeo@example.net'
subscription='none'/>
</query>
</iq>
3.2.3. Server Processing of Inbound Subscription Cancellation
When the user's server receives the inbound subscription
cancellation, it MUST first check if the contact is in the user's
roster with subscription='to' or subscription='both' (see
Appendix A). If this check is successful, then the user's server
MUST:
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
1. Deliver the inbound subscription cancellation to all of the
user's interested resources (this helps to give the user's
client(s) proper context regarding the subscription cancellation
so that they can differentiate between a roster push originated
by another of the user's resources and a subscription
cancellation received from the contact). This MUST occur before
sending the roster push described in the next step.
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com'
id='ij5b1v7g'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='unsubscribed'/>
2. Initiate a roster push to all of the user's interested resources,
containing an updated roster item for the contact with the
'subscription' attribute set to a value of "none" (if the
subscription state was "To" or "To + Pending In") or "from" (if
the subscription state was "Both").
US: <iq id='h37h3u1bv400'
to='romeo@example.net/foo'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='juliet@example.com'
subscription='none'/>
</query>
</iq>
US: <iq id='h37h3u1bv401'
to='romeo@example.net/bar'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='juliet@example.com'
subscription='none'/>
</query>
</iq>
The user's server MUST also deliver the inbound presence stanzas of
type "unavailable".
Implementation Note: If the user's account has no available
resources when the inbound unsubscribed notification is received,
the user's server MAY keep a record of the notification (ideally
the complete presence stanza) and then deliver the notification
when the account next has an available resource. This behavior
provides more complete signaling to the user regarding the reasons
for the roster change that occurred while the user was offline.
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
Otherwise -- that is, if the user does not exist, if the contact is
not in the user's roster, or if the contact is in the user's roster
with a subscription state other than those described in the foregoing
check -- then the user's server MUST silently ignore the unsubscribed
notification by not delivering it to the user, not modifying the
user's roster, and not generating a roster push to the user's
interested resources.
3.3. Unsubscribing
3.3.1. Client Generation of Unsubscribe
If a user would like to unsubscribe from a contact's presence, it
sends a presence stanza of type "unsubscribe".
UC: <presence id='ul4bs71n'
to='juliet@example.com'
type='unsubscribe'/>
3.3.2. Server Processing of Outbound Unsubscribe
Upon receiving the outbound unsubscribe, the user's server MUST
proceed as follows.
1. If the contact is hosted on the same server as the user, then the
server MUST adhere to the rules specified under Section 3.3.3
when processing the subscription request.
2. If the contact is hosted on a remote server, subject to local
service policies the user's server MUST then route the stanza to
that remote domain in accordance with core XMPP stanza processing
rules. (This can result in returning an appropriate stanza error
to the user, such as <remote-server-timeout/>.)
As mentioned, before locally delivering or remotely routing the
unsubscribe, the user's server MUST stamp the stanza with the bare
JID <user@domainpart> of the user.
US: <presence from='romeo@example.net'
id='ul4bs71n'
to='juliet@example.com'
type='unsubscribe'/>
The user's server then MUST send a roster push with the updated
roster item to all of the user's interested resources, where the
subscription state is now either "none" or "from" (see Appendix A).
Saint-Andre Standards Track PAGE 43
RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
US: <iq id='h37h3u1bv402'
to='romeo@example.net/foo'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='juliet@example.com'
subscription='none'/>
</query>
</iq>
US: <iq to='romeo@example.net/bar'
type='set'
id='h37h3u1bv403'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='juliet@example.com'
subscription='none'/>
</query>
</iq>
3.3.3. Server Processing of Inbound Unsubscribe
When the contact's server receives the unsubscribe notification, it
MUST first check if the user's bare JID is in the contact's roster
with subscription='from' or subscription='both' (i.e., a subscription
state of "From", "From + Pending Out", or "Both"; see Appendix A).
If this check is successful, then the contact's server MUST:
1. Deliver the inbound unsubscribe to all of the contact's
interested resources (this helps to give the contact's client(s)
proper context regarding the unsubscribe so that they can
differentiate between a roster push originated by another of the
contact's resources and an unsubscribe received from the user).
This MUST occur before sending the roster push described in the
next step.
CS: <presence from='romeo@example.net'
id='ul4bs71n'
to='juliet@example.com'
type='unsubscribe'/>
2. Initiate a roster push to all of the contact's interested
resources, containing an updated roster item for the user with
the 'subscription' attribute set to a value of "none" (if the
subscription state was "From" or "From + Pending Out") or "to"
(if the subscription state was "Both").
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
CS: <iq id='tn2b5893g1s4'
to='juliet@example.com/balcony'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='romeo@example.net'
subscription='none'/>
</query>
</iq>
CS: <iq id='sp3b56n27hrp'
to='juliet@example.com/chamber'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='romeo@example.net'
subscription='none'/>
</query>
</iq>
3. Generate an outbound presence stanza of type "unavailable" from
each of the contact's available resources to the user.
CS: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='o5v91w49'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='unavailable'/>
CS: <presence from='juliet@example.com/chamber'
id='n6b1c37k'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='unavailable'/>
Implementation Note: If the contact's account has no available
resources when the inbound unsubscribe notification is received,
the contact's server MAY keep a record of the notification
(ideally the complete presence stanza) and then deliver the
notification when the account next has an available resource.
This behavior provides more complete signaling to the user
regarding the reasons for the roster change that occurred while
the user was offline.
Otherwise -- that is, if the contact does not exist, if the user is
not in the contact's roster, or if the user's bare JID is in the
contact's roster with a subscription state other than those described
in the foregoing check -- then the contact's server MUST silently
ignore the unsubscribe stanza by not delivering it to the contact,
not modifying the contact's roster, and not generating a roster push
to the contact's interested resources. However, if the contact's
server is keeping track of an inbound presence subscription request
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
from the user to the contact but the user is not yet in the contact's
roster (functionally equivalent to a subscription state of "None +
Pending In" where the contact never added the user to the contact's
roster), then the contact's server MUST simply remove any record of
the inbound presence subscription request (it cannot remove the user
from the contact's roster because the user was never added to the
contact's roster).
Implementation Note: The user's client MUST NOT depend on
receiving the unavailable presence notification from the contact,
since it MUST consider its presence subscription to the contact,
and its presence information about the contact, to be null and
void when it sends the presence stanza of type "unsubscribe" or
when it receives the roster push triggered by the unsubscribe
request.
3.4. Pre-Approving a Subscription Request
If a user has not received a subscription request from a contact, the
user can "pre-approve" such a request so that it will be
automatically approved by the user's server.
Support for subscription pre-approvals is OPTIONAL on the part of
clients and servers. If a server supports subscription pre-
approvals, then it MUST advertise the following stream feature during
stream negotiation.
<sub xmlns='urn:xmpp:features:pre-approval'/>
The subscription pre-approval stream feature is merely informative
and therefore is never mandatory-to-negotiate.
3.4.1. Client Generation of Subscription Pre-Approval
If the server to which a client connects has advertised support for
subscription pre-approvals, the client MAY generate a subscription
pre-approval by sending a presence stanza of type "subscribed" to the
contact.
UC: <presence id='pg81vx64'
to='juliet@example.com'
type='subscribed'/>
If the server does not advertise support for subscription pre-
approvals, the client MUST NOT attempt to pre-approve subscription
requests from potential or actual contacts.
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
3.4.2. Server Processing of Subscription Pre-Approval
Upon receiving the presence stanza of type "subscribed", the user's
server MUST proceed as follows if it supports subscription pre-
approvals.
1. If the contact is in the user's roster with a state of "Both",
"From", or "From + Pending Out", the user's server MUST silently
ignore the stanza.
2. If the contact is in the user's roster with a state of "To +
Pending In", "None + Pending In", or "None + Pending Out+In", the
user's server MUST handle the stanza as a normal subscription
approval (see under Section 3.1.5) by updating the existing
roster item to a state of "Both", "From", or "From + Pending Out"
(respectively), pushing the modified roster item to all of the
user's interested resources, and routing the presence stanza of
type "subscribed" to the contact.
3. If the contact is in the user's roster with a state of "To",
"None", or "None + Pending Out", the user's server MUST note the
subscription pre-approval by setting the 'approved' flag to a
value of "true", then push the modified roster item to all of the
user's interested resources. However, the user's server MUST NOT
route the presence stanza of type "subscribed" to the contact.
4. If the contact is not yet in the user's roster, the user's server
MUST create a roster item for the contact with a state of "None"
and set the 'approved' flag to a value of "true", then push the
roster item to all of the user's interested resources. However,
the user's server MUST NOT route the presence stanza of type
"subscribed" to the contact.
An example of the roster push follows.
US: <iq id='h3bs81vs763f'
to='romeo@example.net/bar'
type='set'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item approved='true'
jid='juliet@example.com'
subscription='none'/>
</query>
</iq>
When the 'approved' flag is set to "true", the user's server MUST NOT
deliver a presence stanza of type "subscribe" from the contact to the
user, but instead MUST automatically respond to such a stanza on
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
behalf of the user by returning a presence stanza of type
"subscribed" from the bare JID of the user to the bare JID of the
contact.
Implementation Note: It is a matter of implementation or local
service policy whether the server maintains a record of the
subscription approval after it has received a presence
subscription request from the contact. If the server does not
maintain such a record, upon receiving the subscription request it
will not include the 'approved' attribute in the roster item for
the contact (i.e., in subsequent roster pushes and roster
results). If the server maintains such a record, it will always
include the 'approved' attribute (set to "true") in the roster
item for the contact, until and unless the user sends a presence
stanza of type "unsubscribed" to the contact (or removes the
contact from the roster entirely).
Implementation Note: A client can cancel a pre-approval by sending
a presence stanza of type "unsubscribed", as described more fully
under Section 3.2. In this case, the user's server would send a
roster push to all of the user's interested resources with the
'approved' attribute removed. (Alternatively, the client can
simply remove the roster item entirely.)
4. Exchanging Presence Information
4.1. Presence Fundamentals
The concept of presence refers to an entity's availability for
communication over a network. At the most basic level, presence is a
boolean "on/off" variable that signals whether an entity is available
or unavailable for communication (the terms "online" and "offline"
are also used). In XMPP, an entity's availability is signaled when
its client generates a <presence/> stanza with no 'type' attribute,
and an entity's lack of availability is signaled when its client
generates a <presence/> stanza whose 'type' attribute has a value of
"unavailable".
XMPP presence typically follows a "publish-subscribe" or "observer"
pattern, wherein an entity sends presence to its server, and its
server then broadcasts that information to all of the entity's
contacts who have a subscription to the entity's presence (in the
terminology of [IMP-MODEL], an entity that generates presence is a
"presentity" and the entities that receive presence are
"subscribers"). A client generates presence for broadcast to all
subscribed entities by sending a presence stanza to its server with
no 'to' address, where the presence stanza has either no 'type'
attribute or a 'type' attribute whose value is "unavailable". This
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
kind of presence is called "broadcast presence". (A client can also
send "directed presence", i.e., a presence stanza with a 'to'
address; this is less common but is sometimes used to send presence
to entities that are not subscribed to the user's presence; see
Section 4.6.)
After a client completes the preconditions specified in [XMPP-CORE],
it can establish a "presence session" at its server by sending
initial presence (Section 4.2), where the presence session is
terminated by sending unavailable presence (Section 4.5). For the
duration of its presence session, a connected resource (in the
terminology of [XMPP-CORE]) is said to be an "available resource".
In XMPP, applications that combine messaging and presence
functionality, the default type of communication for which presence
signals availability is messaging; however, it is not necessary for
XMPP applications to combine messaging and presence functionality,
and they can provide standalone presence features without messaging
(in addition, XMPP servers do not require information about network
availability in order to successfully route message and IQ stanzas).
Informational Note: In the examples that follow, the user is
<juliet@example.com>, she has two available resources ("balcony"
and "chamber"), and she has three contacts in her roster with a
subscription state of "from" or "both": <romeo@example.net>,
<mercutio@example.com>, and <benvolio@example.net>.
4.2. Initial Presence
4.2.1. Client Generation of Initial Presence
After completing the preconditions described in [XMPP-CORE]
(REQUIRED) and requesting the roster (RECOMMENDED), a client signals
its availability for communication by sending "initial presence" to
its server, i.e., a presence stanza with no 'to' address (indicating
that it is meant to be broadcast by the server on behalf of the
client) and no 'type' attribute (indicating the user's availability).
UC: <presence/>
The initial presence stanza MAY contain the <priority/> element, the
<show/> element, and one or more instances of the <status/> element,
as well as extended content; details are provided under Section 4.7.
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
4.2.2. Server Processing of Outbound Initial Presence
Upon receiving initial presence from a client, the user's server MUST
send the initial presence stanza from the full JID
<user@domainpart/resourcepart> of the user to all contacts that are
subscribed to the user's presence; such contacts are those for which
a JID is present in the user's roster with the 'subscription'
attribute set to a value of "from" or "both".
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='romeo@example.net'/>
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='mercutio@example.com'/>
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='benvolio@example.net'/>
The user's server MUST also broadcast initial presence from the
user's newly available resource to all of the user's available
resources, including the resource that generated the presence
notification in the first place (i.e., an entity is implicitly
subscribed to its own presence).
[... to the "balcony" resource ...]
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='juliet@example.com'/>
[... to the "chamber" resource ...]
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='juliet@example.com'/>
In the absence of presence information about the user's contacts, the
user's server MUST also send presence probes to the user's contacts
on behalf of the user as specified under Section 4.3.
4.2.3. Server Processing of Inbound Initial Presence
Upon receiving presence from the user, the contact's server MUST
deliver the user's presence stanza to all of the contact's available
resources.
[ ... to resource1 ... ]
CS: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='romeo@example.net'/>
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
[ ... to resource2 ... ]
CS: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='romeo@example.net'/>
4.2.4. Client Processing of Initial Presence
When the contact's client receives presence from the user, the
following behavior is suggested for interactive clients:
1. If the user's bare JID is in the contact's roster, display the
presence information in an appropriate roster interface.
2. If the user is not in the contact's roster but the contact and
the user are actively exchanging message or IQ stanzas, display
the presence information in the user interface for that
communication session (see also Section 4.6 and Section 5.1).
3. Otherwise, ignore the presence information and do not display it
to the contact.
4.3. Presence Probes
A "presence probe" is a request for a contact's current presence
information, sent on behalf of a user by the user's server;
syntactically it is a presence stanza whose 'type' attribute has a
value of "probe". In the context of presence subscriptions, the
value of the 'from' address MUST be the bare JID of the subscribed
user and the value of the 'to' address MUST be the bare JID of the
contact to which the user is subscribed, since presence subscriptions
are based on the bare JID.
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com'
id='ign291v5'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='probe'/>
Interoperability Note: RFC 3921 specified that probes are sent
from the full JID, not the bare JID (a rule that was changed
because subscriptions are based on the bare JID). Some existing
implementations send from the full JID instead of the bare JID.
Probes can also be sent by an entity that has received presence
outside the context of a presence subscription, typically when the
contact has sent directed presence as described under Section 4.6; in
this case the value of the 'from' or 'to' address can be a full JID
instead of a bare JID. See Section 4.6 for a complete discussion.
Saint-Andre Standards Track PAGE 51
RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
Presence probes SHOULD NOT be sent by a client, because in general a
client will not need to send them since the task of gathering
presence from a user's contacts is managed by the user's server.
However, if a user's client generates an outbound presence probe then
the user's server SHOULD route the probe (if the contact is at
another server) or process the probe (if the contact is at the same
server) and MUST NOT use its receipt of the presence probe from a
connected client as the sole cause for returning a stanza or stream
error to the client.
4.3.1. Server Generation of Outbound Presence Probe
When a server needs to discover the availability of a user's contact,
it sends a presence probe from the bare JID <user@domainpart> of the
user to the bare JID <contact@domainpart> of the contact.
Implementation Note: Although presence probes are intended for
sending to contacts (i.e., entities to which a user is
subscribed), a server MAY send a presence probe to the full JID of
an entity from which the user has received presence information
during the current session.
The user's server SHOULD send a presence probe whenever the user
starts a new presence session by sending initial presence; however,
the server MAY choose not to send the probe at that point if it has
what it deems to be reliable and up-to-date presence information
about the user's contacts (e.g., because the user has another
available resource or because the user briefly logged off and on
before the new presence session began). In addition, a server MAY
periodically send a presence probe to a contact if it has not
received presence information or other traffic from the contact in
some configurable amount of time; this can help to prevent "ghost"
contacts who appear to be online but in fact are not.
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com'
id='ign291v5'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='probe'/>
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com'
id='xv291f38'
to='mercutio@example.com'
type='probe'/>
Naturally, the user's server does not need to send a presence probe
to a contact if the contact's account resides on the same server as
the user, since the server possesses the contact's information
locally.
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
4.3.2. Server Processing of Inbound Presence Probe
Upon receiving a presence probe to the contact's bare JID from the
user's server on behalf of the user, the contact's server MUST reply
as follows:
1. If the contact account does not exist or the user's bare JID is
in the contact's roster with a subscription state other than
"From", "From + Pending Out", or "Both" (as explained under
Appendix A), then the contact's server SHOULD return a presence
stanza of type "unsubscribed" in response to the presence probe
(this will trigger a protocol flow for canceling the user's
subscription to the contact as described under Section 3.2;
however, this MUST NOT result in cancellation of a subscription
pre-approval as described under Section 3.4). Here the 'from'
address MUST be the bare JID of the contact, since specifying a
full JID would constitute a presence leak as described in
[XMPP-CORE].
CS: <presence from='mercutio@example.com'
id='xv291f38'
to='juliet@example.com'
type='unsubscribed'/>
However, if a server receives a presence probe from a configured
domain of the server itself or another such trusted service, it MAY
provide presence information about the user to that entity.
2. Else, if the contact has moved temporarily or permanently to
another address, then the server SHOULD return a presence stanza
of type "error" with a stanza error condition of <redirect/>
(temporary) or <gone/> (permanent) that includes the new address
of the contact.
CS: <presence from='mercutio@example.com'
id='xv291f38'
to='juliet@example.com'
type='error'>
<error type='modify'>
<gone xmlns='urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:xmpp-stanzas'>
xmpp:la-mer@example.com
</gone>
</error>
</presence>
3. Else, if the contact has no available resources, then the server
SHOULD reply to the presence probe by sending to the user a
presence stanza of type "unavailable" (although sending
Saint-Andre Standards Track PAGE 53
RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
unavailable presence here is preferable because it results in a
deterministic answer to the probe, it is not mandatory because it
can greatly increase the number of presence notifications
generated by the contact's server). Here the 'from' address is
the bare JID because there is no available resource associated
with the contact. If appropriate in accordance with local
security policies this presence notification MAY include the full
XML of the last unavailable presence stanza that the server
received from the contact (including the 'id' of the original
stanza), but if not then the presence notification SHOULD simply
indicate that the contact is unavailable without any of the
details originally provided. In any case, the presence
notification returned to the probing entity SHOULD include
information about the time when the last unavailable presence
stanza was generated (formatted using the XMPP delayed delivery
extension [DELAY]).
CS: <presence from='mercutio@example.com'
id='xv291f38'
to='juliet@example.com'
type='unavailable'>
<delay xmlns='urn:xmpp:delay'
stamp='2002-09-10T23:41:07Z'/>
</presence>
4. Else, if the contact has at least one available resource, then
the server MUST reply to the presence probe by sending to the
user the full XML of the last presence stanza with no 'to'
attribute received by the server from each of the contact's
available resources. Here the 'from' addresses are the full JIDs
of each available resource.
CS: <presence from='romeo@example.net/foo'
id='hzf1v27k'
to='juliet@example.com'/>
CS: <presence from='romeo@example.net/bar'
id='ps6t1fu3'
to='juliet@example.com'>
<show>away</show>
</presence>
Implementation Note: By "full XML" is meant the complete stanza
from the opening <presence> tag to the closing </presence> tag,
including all elements and attributes whether qualified by the
content namespace or extended namespaces; however, in accordance
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
with [XMPP-CORE], the contact's server will need to transform the
content namespace from 'jabber:client' to 'jabber:server' if it
sends the complete stanza over a server-to-server stream.
If the contact's server receives a presence probe addressed to a full
JID of the contact, the server MUST NOT return presence information
about any resource except the resource specified by the 'to' address
of the probe. Rules #1 and #2 for a bare JID probe apply equally to
the case of a full JID probe. If there is a resource matching the
full JID and the probing entity has authorization via a presence
subscription to see the contact's presence, then the server MUST
return an available presence notification, which SHOULD communicate
only the fact that the resource is available (not detailed
information such as the <show/>, <status/>, <priority/>, or presence
extensions).
CS: <presence from='romeo@example.net/bar'
to='lobby@chat.example.com'/>
Implementation Note: See Section 4.6 regarding rules that
supplement the foregoing for handling of directed presence.
4.3.2.1. Handling of the 'id' Attribute
The handling of the 'id' attribute in relation to presence probes was
unspecified in RFC 3921. Although the pattern of "send a probe and
receive a reply" might seem like a request-response protocol similar
to the XMPP <iq/> stanza, in fact it is not because the response to a
probe might consist of multiple presence stanzas (one for each
available resource currently active for the contact). For this
reason, if the contact currently has available resources then the
contact's server SHOULD preserve the 'id' attribute of the contact's
original presence stanza (if any) when sending those presence
notifications to the probing entity. By contrast, if the contact
currently has no available resources, the probing entity is not
authorized (via presence subscription) to see the contact's presence,
or an error occurs in relation to the probe, then the contact's
server SHOULD mirror the 'id' of the user's presence probe when
replying to the probing entity.
The following examples illustrate the difference.
In the first scenario, Juliet sends presence from her "chamber"
resource.
Saint-Andre Standards Track PAGE 55
RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
CC: <presence from='juliet@example.com/chamber' id='pres1'>
<show>dnd</show>
<status>busy!</status>
</presence>
She also sends presence from her "balcony" resource.
CC: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony' id='pres2'>
<show>away</show>
<status>stepped away</status>
</presence>
Romeo's server then sends a probe to Juliet.
US: <presence from='romeo@example.net' id='probe1' type='probe'/>
Juliet's server then sends both of her presence notifications to
Romeo, preserving the 'id' attributes included in the stanzas that
her client has sent.
CS: <presence from='juliet@example.com/chamber' id='pres1'>
<show>dnd</show>
<status>busy!</status>
</presence>
CS: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony' id='pres2'>
<show>away</show>
<status>stepped away</status>
</presence>
In the second scenario, Juliet is offline when Romeo's server sends a
probe.
US: <presence from='romeo@example.net'
id='probe2'
type='probe'/>
Juliet's server replies with an unavailable notification, mirroring
the 'id' of Rome's presence probe because there is no 'id' to
preserve from an available notification that her client has sent.
CS: <presence from='juliet@example.com'
id='probe2'
type='unavailable'/>
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
4.4. Subsequent Presence Broadcast
4.4.1. Client Generation of Subsequent Presence Broadcast
After sending initial presence, at any time during its session the
user's client can update its availability for broadcast by sending a
presence stanza with no 'to' address and no 'type' attribute.
UC: <presence>
<show>away</show>
</presence>
The presence broadcast MAY contain the <priority/> element, the
<show/> element, and one or more instances of the <status/> element,
as well as extended content; details are provided under Section 4.7.
However, a user SHOULD send a presence update only to broadcast
information that is relevant to the user's availability for
communication or the communication capabilities of the resource.
Information that is not relevant in this way might be of interest to
the user's contacts but SHOULD be sent via other means, such as the
"publish-subscribe" method described in [XEP-0163].
4.4.2. Server Processing of Subsequent Outbound Presence
Upon receiving a presence stanza expressing updated availability, the
user's server MUST broadcast the full XML of that presence stanza to
the contacts who are in the user's roster with a subscription type of
"from" or "both".
Interoperability Note: RFC 3921 specified that the user's server
would check to make sure that it had not received a presence error
from the contact before sending subsequent presence notifications.
That rule has been removed because this specification uses
presence stanzas of type "unsubscribe" (not "error") to solve
subscription synchronization problems, in part because such
stanzas change the contact's subscription state in the user's
roster to either "none" or "to" (see Section 3.3 and Appendix A),
thus obviating the need for the error check.
Interoperability Note: If the subscription type is "both", some
existing server implementations send subsequent presence
notifications to a contact only if the contact is online according
to the user's server (that is, if the user's server never received
a positive indication that the contact is online in response to
the presence probe it sent to the contact, the user's server does
not send subsequent presence notifications from the user to the
Saint-Andre Standards Track PAGE 57
RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
contact). This behavior is perceived to save bandwidth, since
most presence subscriptions are bidirectional and many contacts
will not be online at any given time.
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='romeo@example.net'>
<show>away</show>
</presence>
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='benvolio@example.net'>
<show>away</show>
</presence>
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='mercutio@example.com'>
<show>away</show>
</presence>
Implementation Note: See Section 4.6 regarding rules that
supplement the foregoing for handling of directed presence.
The user's server MUST also send the presence stanza to all of the
user's available resources (including the resource that generated the
presence notification in the first place).
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='juliet@example.com/chamber'>
<show>away</show>
</presence>
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='juliet@example.com/balcony'>
<show>away</show>
</presence>
4.4.3. Server Processing of Subsequent Inbound Presence
Upon receiving presence from the user, the contact's server MUST
deliver the user's presence stanza to all of the contact's available
resources.
[ ... to resource1 ... ]
CS: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='romeo@example.net'>
<show>away</show>
</presence>
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[ ... to resource2 ... ]
CS: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='romeo@example.net'>
<show>away</show>
</presence>
4.4.4. Client Processing of Subsequent Presence
From the perspective of the contact's client, there is no significant
difference between initial presence broadcast and subsequent
presence, so the contact's client follows the rules for processing of
inbound presence defined under Section 4.4.3.
4.5. Unavailable Presence
4.5.1. Client Generation of Unavailable Presence
Before ending its presence session with a server, the user's client
SHOULD gracefully become unavailable by sending "unavailable
presence", i.e., a presence stanza that possesses no 'to' attribute
and that possesses a 'type' attribute whose value is "unavailable".
UC: <presence type='unavailable'/>
Optionally, the unavailable presence stanza MAY contain one or more
<status/> elements specifying the reason why the user is no longer
available.
UC: <presence type='unavailable'>
<status>going on vacation</status>
</presence>
However, the unavailable presence stanza MUST NOT contain the
<priority/> element or the <show/> element, since these elements
apply only to available resources.
4.5.2. Server Processing of Outbound Unavailable Presence
The user's server MUST NOT depend on receiving unavailable presence
from an available resource, since the resource might become
unavailable ungracefully (e.g., the resource's XML stream might be
closed with or without a stream error for any of the reasons
described in [XMPP-CORE]).
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If an available resource becomes unavailable for any reason (either
gracefully or ungracefully), the user's server MUST broadcast
unavailable presence to all contacts that are in the user's roster
with a subscription type of "from" or "both".
Interoperability Note: RFC 3921 specified that the user's server
would check to make sure that it had not received a presence error
from the contact before sending unavailable presence
notifications. That rule has been removed because this
specification uses presence stanzas of type "unsubscribe" (not
"error") to solve subscription synchronization problems, in part
because such stanzas change the contact's subscription state in
the user's roster to either "none" or "to" (see Section 3.3 and
Appendix A), thus obviating the need for the error check.
Implementation Note: Even if the user's server does not broadcast
the user's subsequent presence notifications to contacts who are
offline (as described under Section 4.4.2), it MUST broadcast the
user's unavailable presence notification; if it did not do so, the
last presence received by the contact's server would be the user's
initial presence for the presence session, with the result that
the contact would consider the user to be online.
Implementation Note: See Section 4.6 regarding rules that
supplement the foregoing for handling of directed presence.
If the unavailable notification was gracefully received from the
client, then the server MUST broadcast the full XML of the presence
stanza.
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='unavailable'>
<status>going on vacation</status>
</presence>
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='benvolio@example.net'
type='unavailable'>
<status>going on vacation</status>
</presence>
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='mercutio@example.com'
type='unavailable'>
<status>going on vacation</status>
</presence>
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The user's server MUST also send the unavailable notification to all
of the user's available resources (as well as to the resource that
generated the unavailable presence in the first place).
US: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='juliet@example.com/chamber'
type='unavailable'>
<status>going on vacation</status>
</presence>
If the server detects that the user has gone offline ungracefully,
then the server MUST generate the unavailable presence broadcast on
the user's behalf.
Implementation Note: Any presence stanza with no 'type' attribute
and no 'to' attribute that the client sends after the server
broadcasts or generates an unavailable presence notification MUST
be routed or delivered by the user's server to all subscribers
(i.e., MUST be treated as equivalent to initial presence for a new
presence session).
4.5.3. Server Processing of Inbound Unavailable Presence
Upon receiving an unavailable notification from the user, the
contact's server MUST deliver the user's presence stanza to all of
the contact's available resources.
[ ... to resource1 ... ]
CS: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='unavailable'>
<status>going on vacation</status>
</presence>
[ ... to resource2 ... ]
CS: <presence from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='unavailable'>
<status>going on vacation</status>
</presence>
Implementation Note: If the contact's server does not broadcast
subsequent presence notifications to users who are offline (as
described under Section 4.4.2), it MUST also update its internal
representation of which entities are online by noting that the
user is unavailable.
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4.5.4. Client Processing of Unavailable Presence
From the perspective of the contact's client, there is no significant
difference between available presence broadcast and unavailable
presence broadcast, so in general the contact's client follows the
rules for processing of inbound presence defined under Section 4.4.3.
However, if the contact receives an unavailable notification from the
bare JID of the user (rather than the full JID of a particular
available resource), the contact's client SHOULD treat the
unavailable notification as applying to all resources.
4.6. Directed Presence
This section supplements the rules for client and server processing
of presence notifications and presence probes, but only for the
special case of directed presence.
4.6.1. General Considerations
In general, a client sends directed presence when it wishes to share
availability information with an entity that is not subscribed to its
presence, typically on a temporary basis. Common uses of directed
presence include casual one-to-one chat sessions as described under
Section 5.1 and multi-user chat rooms as described in [XEP-0045].
The temporary relationship established by sharing directed presence
with another entity is secondary to the permanent relationship
established through a presence subscription. Therefore, the acts of
creating, modifying, or canceling a presence subscription MUST take
precedence over the rules specified in the following subsections.
For example, if a user shares directed presence with a contact but
then adds the contact to the user's roster by completing the presence
subscription "handshake", the user's server MUST treat the contact
just as it would any normal subscriber as described under Section 3,
for example, by sending subsequent presence broadcasts to the
contact. As another example, if the user then cancels the contact's
subscription to the user's presence, the user's server MUST handle
the cancellation just as it normally would as described under
Section 3.2, which includes sending unavailable presence to the
contact even if the user has sent directed presence to the contact.
XMPP servers typically implement directed presence by keeping a list
of the entities (bare JIDs or full JIDs) to which a user has sent
directed presence during the user's current session for a given
resource (full JID), then clearing the list when the user goes
offline (e.g., by sending a broadcast presence stanza of type
"unavailable"). The server MUST remove from the directed presence
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list (or its functional equivalent) any entity to which the user
sends directed unavailable presence and SHOULD remove any entity that
sends unavailable presence to the user.
4.6.2. Client Generation of Directed Presence
As noted, directed presence is a client-generated presence stanza
with a 'to' attribute whose value is the bare JID or full JID of the
other entity and with either no 'type' attribute (indicating
availability) or a 'type' attribute whose value is "unavailable".
4.6.3. Server Processing of Outbound Directed Presence
When the user's server receives a directed presence stanza, it SHOULD
process it according to the following rules.
1. If the user sends directed available or unavailable presence to a
contact that is in the user's roster with a subscription type of
"from" or "both" after having sent initial presence and before
sending unavailable presence broadcast (i.e., during the user's
presence session), the user's server MUST locally deliver or
remotely route the full XML of that presence stanza but SHOULD
NOT otherwise modify the contact's status regarding presence
broadcast (i.e., it SHOULD include the contact's JID in any
subsequent presence broadcasts initiated by the user).
2. If the user sends directed presence to an entity that is not in
the user's roster with a subscription type of "from" or "both"
after having sent initial presence and before sending unavailable
presence broadcast (i.e., during the user's presence session),
the user's server MUST locally deliver or remotely route the full
XML of that presence stanza to the entity but MUST NOT modify the
contact's status regarding available presence broadcast (i.e., it
MUST NOT include the entity's JID in any subsequent broadcasts of
available presence initiated by the user); however, if the
available resource from which the user sent the directed presence
becomes unavailable, the user's server MUST route that
unavailable presence to the entity (if the user has not yet sent
directed unavailable presence to that entity).
3. If the user sends directed presence without first sending initial
presence or after having sent unavailable presence broadcast
(i.e., the resource is connected but not available), the user's
server MUST treat the entity to which the user sends directed
presence as in case #2 above.
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4.6.4. Server Processing of Inbound Directed Presence
From the perspective of the contact's server, there is no significant
difference between presence broadcast and directed presence, so the
contact's server follows the rules for processing of inbound presence
defined under Sections 4.3.2, 4.4.3, and 4.5.3.
4.6.5. Client Processing of Inbound Directed Presence
From the perspective of the contact's client, there is no significant
difference between presence broadcast and directed presence, so the
contact's client follows the rules for processing of inbound presence
defined under Section 4.4.3.
4.6.6. Server Processing of Presence Probes
If a user's client has sent directed presence to another entity
(e.g., a one-to-one chat partner or a multi-user chat room), after
some time the entity or its server might want to know if the client
is still online. This scenario is especially common in the case of
multi-user chat rooms, in which the user might be a participant for a
long period of time. If the user's client goes offline without the
chat room being informed (either by the client or the client's
server), the user's representation in the room might become a "ghost"
that appears to be participating but that in fact is no longer
present in the room. To detect such "ghosts", some multi-user chat
room implementations send presence probes to users that have joined
the room.
In the case of directed presence, the probing entity SHOULD send the
probe from the JID that received directed presence (whether a full
JID or a bare JID). The probe SHOULD be sent to the user's full JID,
not the user's bare JID without a resourcepart, because the temporary
"authorization" involved with directed presence is based on the full
JID from which the user sent directed presence to the probing entity.
When the user's server receives a probe, it MUST first apply any
logic associated with presence subscriptions as described under
Section 4.3.2. If the probing entity does not have a subscription to
the user's presence, then the server MUST check if the user has sent
directed presence to the entity during its current session; if so,
the server SHOULD answer the probe with only mere presence of type
"available" or "unavailable" (i.e., not including child elements) and
only for that full JID (i.e., not for any other resources that might
be currently associated with the user's bare JID).
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4.7. Presence Syntax
4.7.1. Type Attribute
The absence of a 'type' attribute signals that the relevant entity is
available for communication (see Section 4.2 and Section 4.4).
A 'type' attribute with a value of "unavailable" signals that the
relevant entity is not available for communication (see Section 4.5).
The XMPP presence stanza is also used to negotiate and manage
subscriptions to the presence of other entities. These tasks are
completed via presence stanzas of type "subscribe", "unsubscribe",
"subscribed", and "unsubscribed" as described under Section 3.
If a user and contact are associated with different XMPP servers,
those servers also use a special presence stanza of type "probe" in
order to determine the availability of the entity on the peer server;
details are provided under Section 4.3. Clients SHOULD NOT send
presence stanzas of type "probe".
The values of the 'type' attribute can be summarized as follows:
o error -- An error has occurred regarding processing of a
previously sent presence stanza; if the presence stanza is of type
"error", it MUST include an <error/> child element (refer to
[XMPP-CORE]).
o probe -- A request for an entity's current presence; SHOULD be
generated only by a server on behalf of a user.
o subscribe -- The sender wishes to subscribe to the recipient's
presence.
o subscribed -- The sender has allowed the recipient to receive
their presence.
o unavailable -- The sender is no longer available for
communication.
o unsubscribe -- The sender is unsubscribing from the receiver's
presence.
o unsubscribed -- The subscription request has been denied or a
previously granted subscription has been canceled.
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If the value of the 'type' attribute is not one of the foregoing
values, the recipient or an intermediate router SHOULD return a
stanza error of <bad-request/>.
Implementation Note: There is no default value for the 'type'
attribute of the <presence/> element.
Implementation Note: There is no value of "available" for the
'type' attribute of the <presence/> element.
4.7.2. Child Elements
In accordance with the default namespace declaration, a presence
stanza is qualified by the 'jabber:client' or 'jabber:server'
namespace, which defines certain child elements of presence stanzas,
in particular the <show/>, <status/>, and <priority/> elements.
These child elements are used to provide more detailed information
about an entity's availability. Typically these child elements are
included only if the presence stanza possesses no 'type' attribute,
although exceptions are noted in the text that follows.
4.7.2.1. Show Element
The OPTIONAL <show/> element specifies the particular availability
sub-state of an entity or a specific resource thereof. A presence
stanza MUST NOT contain more than one <show/> element. There are no
attributes defined for the <show/> element. The <show/> element MUST
NOT contain mixed content (as defined in Section 3.2.2 of [XML]).
The XML character data of the <show/> element is not meant for
presentation to a human user. The XML character data MUST be one of
the following (additional availability states could be defined
through extended content elements):
o away -- The entity or resource is temporarily away.
o chat -- The entity or resource is actively interested in chatting.
o dnd -- The entity or resource is busy (dnd = "Do Not Disturb").
o xa -- The entity or resource is away for an extended period (xa =
"eXtended Away").
If no <show/> element is provided, the entity is assumed to be online
and available.
Any specialized processing of availability states by recipients and
intermediate routers is up to the implementation (e.g., incorporation
of availability states into stanza routing and delivery logic).
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4.7.2.2. Status Element
The OPTIONAL <status/> element contains human-readable XML character
data specifying a natural-language description of an entity's
availability. It is normally used in conjunction with the show
element to provide a detailed description of an availability state
(e.g., "In a meeting") when the presence stanza has no 'type'
attribute.
<presence from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
xml:lang='en'>
<show>dnd</show>
<status>Wooing Juliet</status>
</presence>
There are no attributes defined for the <status/> element, with the
exception of the 'xml:lang' attribute inherited from [XML]. The
<status/> element MUST NOT contain mixed content (as defined in
Section 3.2.2 of [XML]). Multiple instances of the <status/> element
MAY be included, but only if each instance possesses an 'xml:lang'
attribute with a distinct language value (either explicitly or by
inheritance from the 'xml:lang' value of an element farther up in the
XML hierarchy, which from the sender's perspective can include the
XML stream header as described in [XMPP-CORE]).
<presence from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
id='jx62vs97'
xml:lang='en'>
<show>dnd</show>
<status>Wooing Juliet</status>
<status xml:lang='cs'>Dvořím se Julii</status>
</presence>
A presence stanza of type "unavailable" MAY also include a <status/>
element to provide detailed information about why the entity is going
offline.
<presence from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
id='oy6sb241'
type='unavailable'
xml:lang='en'>
<status>Busy IRL</status>
</presence>
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The <status/> child MAY also be sent in a subscription-related
presence stanza (i.e., type "subscribe", "subscribed", "unsubscribe",
or "unsubscribed") to provide a description of the action. An
interactive client MAY present this <status/> information to a human
user (see Section 11).
<presence from='romeo@example.net'
id='uc51xs63'
to='nurse@example.com'
type='subscribe'>
<status>Hi, Juliet told me to add you to my buddy list.</status>
</presence>
4.7.2.3. Priority Element
The OPTIONAL <priority/> element contains non-human-readable XML
character data that specifies the priority level of the resource.
The value MUST be an integer between -128 and +127. A presence
stanza MUST NOT contain more than one <priority/> element. There are
no attributes defined for the <priority/> element. The <priority/>
element MUST NOT contain mixed content (as defined in Section 3.2.2
of [XML]).
<presence xml:lang='en'>
<show>dnd</show>
<status>Wooing Juliet</status>
<status xml:lang='cs'>Dvořím se Julii</status>
<priority>1</priority>
</presence>
If no priority is provided, the processing server or client MUST
consider the priority to be zero ("0").
The client's server MAY override the priority value provided by the
client (e.g., in order to impose a message handling rule of
delivering a message intended for the account's bare JID to all of
the account's available resources). If the server does so, it MUST
communicate the modified priority value when it echoes the client's
presence back to itself and sends the presence notification to the
user's contacts (because this modified priority value is typically
the default value of zero, communicating the modified priority value
can be done by not including the <priority/> child element).
For information regarding the semantics of priority values in stanza
processing within instant messaging and presence applications, refer
to Section 8.
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4.7.3. Extended Content
As described in [XMPP-CORE], an XML stanza MAY contain any child
element that is qualified by a namespace other than the default
namespace; this applies to the presence stanza as well.
(In the following example, the presence stanza includes entity
capabilities information as defined in [XEP-0115].)
<presence from='romeo@example.net'>
<c xmlns='http://jabber.org/protocol/caps'
hash='sha-1'
node='http://psi-im.org'
ver='q07IKJEyjvHSyhy//CH0CxmKi8w='/>
</presence>
Any extended content included in a presence stanza SHOULD represent
aspects of an entity's availability for communication or provide
information about communication-related capabilities.
5. Exchanging Messages
Once a client has authenticated with a server and bound a resource to
an XML stream as described in [XMPP-CORE], an XMPP server will route
XML stanzas to and from that client. One kind of stanza that can be
exchanged is <message/> (if, that is, messaging functionality is
enabled on the server). Exchanging messages is a basic use of XMPP
and occurs when a user generates a message stanza that is addressed
to another entity. As defined under Section 8, the sender's server
is responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient
(if the recipient is on the same local server) or for routing the
message to the recipient's server (if the recipient is on a remote
server). Thus a message stanza is used to "push" information to
another entity.
5.1. One-to-One Chat Sessions
In practice, instant messaging activity between human users tends to
occur in the form of a conversational burst that we call a "chat
session": the exchange of multiple messages between two parties in
relatively rapid succession within a relatively brief period of time.
When a human user intends to engage in such a chat session with a
contact (rather than sending a single message to which no reply is
expected), the message type generated by the user's client SHOULD be
"chat" and the contact's client SHOULD preserve that message type in
subsequent replies. The user's client also SHOULD include a
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<thread/> element with its initial message, which the contact's
client SHOULD also preserve during the life of the chat session (see
Section 5.2.5).
The user's client SHOULD address the initial message in a chat
session to the bare JID <contact@domainpart> of the contact (rather
than attempting to guess an appropriate full JID
<contact@domainpart/resourcepart> based on the <show/>, <status/>, or
<priority/> value of any presence notifications it might have
received from the contact). Until and unless the user's client
receives a reply from the contact, it SHOULD send any further
messages to the contact's bare JID. The contact's client SHOULD
address its replies to the user's full JID
<user@domainpart/resourcepart> as provided in the 'from' address of
the initial message. Once the user's client receives a reply from
the contact's full JID, it SHOULD address its subsequent messages to
the contact's full JID as provided in the 'from' address of the
contact's replies, thus "locking in" on that full JID. A client
SHOULD "unlock" after having received a <message/> or <presence/>
stanza from any other resource controlled by the peer (or a presence
stanza from the locked resource); as a result, it SHOULD address its
next message(s) in the chat session to the bare JID of the peer (thus
"unlocking" the previous "lock") until it receives a message from one
of the peer's full JIDs.
When two parties engage in a chat session but do not share presence
with each other based on a presence subscription, they SHOULD send
directed presence to each other so that either party can easily
discover if the peer goes offline during the course of the chat
session. However, a client MUST provide a way for a user to disable
such presence sharing globally or to enable it only with particular
entities. Furthermore, a party SHOULD send directed unavailable
presence to the peer when it has reason to believe that the chat
session is over (e.g., if, after some reasonable amount of time, no
subsequent messages have been exchanged between the parties).
An example of a chat session is provided under Section 7.
5.2. Message Syntax
The following sections describe the syntax of the <message/> stanza.
5.2.1. To Attribute
An instant messaging client specifies an intended recipient for a
message by providing the JID of the intended recipient in the 'to'
attribute of the <message/> stanza.
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If the message is being sent outside the context of any existing chat
session or received message, the value of the 'to' address SHOULD be
of the form <localpart@domainpart> rather than of the form
<localpart@domainpart/resourcepart> (see Section 5.1).
<message
from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='ktx72v49'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='chat'
xml:lang='en'>
<body>Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?</body>
</message>
If the message is being sent in reply to a message previously
received from an address of the form
<localpart@domainpart/resourcepart> (e.g., within the context of a
one-to-one chat session as described under Section 5.1), the value of
the 'to' address SHOULD be of the form
<localpart@domainpart/resourcepart> rather than of the form
<localpart@domainpart> unless the sender has knowledge (e.g., via
presence) that the intended recipient's resource is no longer
available.
<message
from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
id='sl3nx51f'
to='juliet@example.com/balcony'
type='chat'
xml:lang='en'>
<body>Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike.</body>
</message>
5.2.2. Type Attribute
Common uses of the message stanza in instant messaging applications
include: single messages; messages sent in the context of a one-to-
one chat session; messages sent in the context of a multi-user chat
room; alerts, notifications, or other information to which no reply
is expected; and errors. These uses are differentiated via the
'type' attribute. Inclusion of the 'type' attribute is RECOMMENDED.
If included, the 'type' attribute MUST have one of the following
values:
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o chat -- The message is sent in the context of a one-to-one chat
session. Typically an interactive client will present a message
of type "chat" in an interface that enables one-to-one chat
between the two parties, including an appropriate conversation
history. Detailed recommendations regarding one-to-one chat
sessions are provided under Section 5.1.
o error -- The message is generated by an entity that experiences an
error when processing a message received from another entity (for
details regarding stanza error syntax, refer to [XMPP-CORE]). A
client that receives a message of type "error" SHOULD present an
appropriate interface informing the original sender regarding the
nature of the error.
o groupchat -- The message is sent in the context of a multi-user
chat environment (similar to that of [IRC]). Typically a
receiving client will present a message of type "groupchat" in an
interface that enables many-to-many chat between the parties,
including a roster of parties in the chatroom and an appropriate
conversation history. For detailed information about XMPP-based
groupchat, refer to [XEP-0045].
o headline -- The message provides an alert, a notification, or
other transient information to which no reply is expected (e.g.,
news headlines, sports updates, near-real-time market data, or
syndicated content). Because no reply to the message is expected,
typically a receiving client will present a message of type
"headline" in an interface that appropriately differentiates the
message from standalone messages, chat messages, and groupchat
messages (e.g., by not providing the recipient with the ability to
reply). If the 'to' address is the bare JID, the receiving server
SHOULD deliver the message to all of the recipient's available
resources with non-negative presence priority and MUST deliver the
message to at least one of those resources; if the 'to' address is
a full JID and there is a matching resource, the server MUST
deliver the message to that resource; otherwise the server MUST
either silently ignore the message or return an error (see
Section 8).
o normal -- The message is a standalone message that is sent outside
the context of a one-to-one conversation or groupchat, and to
which it is expected that the recipient will reply. Typically a
receiving client will present a message of type "normal" in an
interface that enables the recipient to reply, but without a
conversation history. The default value of the 'type' attribute
is "normal".
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An IM application SHOULD support all of the foregoing message types.
If an application receives a message with no 'type' attribute or the
application does not understand the value of the 'type' attribute
provided, it MUST consider the message to be of type "normal" (i.e.,
"normal" is the default).
Guidelines for server handling of different message types is provided
under Section 8.
Although the 'type' attribute is OPTIONAL, it is considered polite to
mirror the type in any replies to a message; furthermore, some
specialized applications (e.g., a multi-user chat service) MAY at
their discretion enforce the use of a particular message type (e.g.,
type='groupchat').
5.2.3. Body Element
The <body/> element contains human-readable XML character data that
specifies the textual contents of the message; this child element is
normally included but is OPTIONAL.
<message
from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='b4vs9km4'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='chat'
xml:lang='en'>
<body>Wherefore art thou, Romeo?</body>
</message>
There are no attributes defined for the <body/> element, with the
exception of the 'xml:lang' attribute. Multiple instances of the
<body/> element MAY be included in a message stanza for the purpose
of providing alternate versions of the same body, but only if each
instance possesses an 'xml:lang' attribute with a distinct language
value (either explicitly or by inheritance from the 'xml:lang' value
of an element farther up in the XML hierarchy, which from the
sender's perspective can include the XML stream header as described
in [XMPP-CORE]).
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<message
from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='z94nb37h'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='chat'
xml:lang='en'>
<body>Wherefore art thou, Romeo?</body>
<body xml:lang='cs'>
PročeŽ jsi ty, Romeo?
</body>
</message>
The <body/> element MUST NOT contain mixed content (as defined in
Section 3.2.2 of [XML]).
5.2.4. Subject Element
The <subject/> element contains human-readable XML character data
that specifies the topic of the message.
<message
from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='c8xg3nf8'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='chat'
xml:lang='en'>
<subject>I implore you!</subject>
<body>Wherefore art thou, Romeo?</body>
</message>
There are no attributes defined for the <subject/> element, with the
exception of the 'xml:lang' attribute inherited from [XML]. Multiple
instances of the <subject/> element MAY be included for the purpose
of providing alternate versions of the same subject, but only if each
instance possesses an 'xml:lang' attribute with a distinct language
value (either explicitly or by inheritance from the 'xml:lang' value
of an element farther up in the XML hierarchy, which from the
sender's perspective can include the XML stream header as described
in [XMPP-CORE]).
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<message
from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
id='jk3v47gw'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='chat'
xml:lang='en'>
<subject>I implore you!</subject>
<subject xml:lang='cs'>
Úpěnlivě prosím!
</subject>
<body>Wherefore art thou, Romeo?</body>
<body xml:lang='cs'>
Pročež jsi ty, Romeo?
</body>
</message>
The <subject/> element MUST NOT contain mixed content (as defined in
Section 3.2.2 of [XML]).
5.2.5. Thread Element
The primary use of the XMPP <thread/> element is to uniquely identify
a conversation thread or "chat session" between two entities
instantiated by <message/> stanzas of type 'chat'. However, the XMPP
<thread/> element MAY also be used to uniquely identify an analogous
thread between two entities instantiated by <message/> stanzas of
type 'headline' or 'normal', or among multiple entities in the
context of a multi-user chat room instantiated by <message/> stanzas
of type 'groupchat'. It MAY also be used for <message/> stanzas not
related to a human conversation, such as a game session or an
interaction between plugins. The <thread/> element is not used to
identify individual messages, only conversations or messaging
sessions.
The inclusion of the <thread/> element is OPTIONAL. Because the
<thread/> element identifies the particular conversation thread to
which a message belongs, a message stanza MUST NOT contain more than
one <thread/> element.
The <thread/> element MAY possess a 'parent' attribute that
identifies another thread of which the current thread is an offshoot
or child. The 'parent' attribute MUST conform to the syntax of the
<thread/> element itself and its value MUST be different from the XML
character data of the <thread/> element on which the 'parent'
attribute is included.
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Implementation Note: The ability to specify both a parent thread
and a child thread introduces the possibility of conflicts between
thread identifiers for overlapping threads. For example, one
<thread/> element might contain XML character data of "foo" and a
'parent' attribute whose value is "bar", a second <thread/>
element might contain XML character data of "bar" and a 'parent'
attribute whose value is "baz", and a third <thread/> element
might contain XML character data of "baz" and a 'parent' attribute
whose value is once again "foo". It is up to the implementation
how it will treat conflicts between such overlapping thread
identifiers (e.g., whether it will "chain together" thread
identifiers by showing "foo" as both a parent and grandchild of
"baz" in a multi-level user interface, or whether it will show
only one level of dependency at a time).
The value of the <thread/> element is not human-readable and MUST be
treated as opaque by entities; no semantic meaning can be derived
from it, and only exact comparisons can be made against it. The
value of the <thread/> element MUST uniquely identify the
conversation thread either between the conversation partners or more
generally (one way to ensure uniqueness is by generating a
universally unique identifier (UUID) as described in [UUID]).
Security Warning: An application that generates a ThreadID MUST
ensure that it does not reveal identifying information about the
entity (e.g., the MAC address of the device on which the XMPP
application is running).
The <thread/> element MUST NOT contain mixed content (as defined in
Section 3.2.2 of [XML]).
<message
from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='chat'
xml:lang='en'>
<subject>I implore you!</subject>
<subject xml:lang='cs'>
Úpěnlivě prosím!
</subject>
<body>Wherefore art thou, Romeo?</body>
<body xml:lang='cs'>
Pročež jsi ty, Romeo?
</body>
<thread parent='e0ffe42b28561960c6b12b944a092794b9683a38'>
0e3141cd80894871a68e6fe6b1ec56fa
</thread>
</message>
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For detailed recommendations regarding use of the <thread/> element,
refer to [XEP-0201].
5.3. Extended Content
As described in [XMPP-CORE], an XML stanza MAY contain any child
element that is qualified by a namespace other than the default
namespace; this applies to the message stanza as well. Guidelines
for handling extended content on the part of both routing servers and
end recipients are provided in Section 8.4 of [XMPP-CORE].
(In the following example, the message stanza includes an XHTML-
formatted version of the message as defined in [XEP-0071]).)
<message
from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='chat'
xml:lang='en'>
<body>Wherefore art thou, Romeo?</body>
<html xmlns='http://jabber.org/protocol/xhtml-im'>
<body xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<p>Wherefore <span style='font-style: italic'>art</span>
thou, <span style='color:red'>Romeo</span>?</p>
</body>
</html>
</message>
6. Exchanging IQ Stanzas
As described in [XMPP-CORE], IQ stanzas provide a structured request-
response mechanism. The basic semantics of that mechanism (e.g.,
that the 'id' attribute is mandatory) are defined in [XMPP-CORE],
whereas the specific semantics needed to complete particular use
cases are defined in all instances by the extended namespace that
qualifies the direct child element of an IQ stanza of type "get" or
"set". The 'jabber:client' and 'jabber:server' namespaces do not
define any children of IQ stanzas other than the <error/> element
common to all stanza types. This document defines one such extended
namespace, for Managing the Roster (Section 2). However, an IQ
stanza MAY contain structured information qualified by any extended
namespace.
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7. A Sample Session
The examples in this section illustrate a possible instant messaging
and presence session. The user is <romeo@example.net>, he has an
available resource whose resourcepart is "orchard", and he has the
following individuals in his roster:
o <juliet@example.com> (subscription="both" and she has two
available resources, "chamber" and "balcony")
o <benvolio@example.net> (subscription="to")
o <mercutio@example.org> (subscription="from")
First, the user completes the preconditions (stream establishment,
TLS and SASL negotiation, and resource binding) described in
[XMPP-CORE]; those protocol flows are not reproduced here.
Next, the user requests his roster.
Example 1: User requests current roster from server
UC: <iq from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
id='hf61v3n7'
type='get'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'/>
</iq>
Example 2: User receives roster from server
US: <iq id='hf61v3n7'
to='romeo@example.net/orchard'
type='result'>
<query xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'>
<item jid='juliet@example.com'
name='Juliet'
subscription='both'>
<group>Friends</group>
</item>
<item jid='benvolio@example.org'
name='Benvolio'
subscription='to'/>
<item jid='mercutio@example.org'
name='Mercutio'
subscription='from'/>
</query>
</iq>
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Now the user begins a presence session.
Example 3: User sends initial presence
UC: <presence/>
Example 4: User's server sends presence probes to contacts with
subscription="to" and subscription="both" on behalf of the user
US: <presence
from='romeo@example.net'
to='juliet@example.com'
type='probe'/>
US: <presence
from='romeo@example.net'
to='benvolio@example.org'
type='probe'/>
Example 5: User's server sends initial presence to contacts with
subscription="from" and subscription="both" on behalf of the user's
available resource, as well as to user
US: <presence
from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
to='juliet@example.com'/>
US: <presence
from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
to='mercutio@example.org'/>
US: <presence
from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
to='romeo@example.net'/>
Example 6: Contacts' servers reply to presence probe on behalf of all
available resources
CS: <presence
from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='romeo@example.net'
xml:lang='en'>
<show>away</show>
<status>be right back</status>
<priority>0</priority>
</presence>
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CS: <presence
from='juliet@example.com/chamber'
to='romeo@example.net'>
<priority>1</priority>
</presence>
CS: <presence
from='benvolio@example.org/pda'
to='romeo@example.net'
xml:lang='en'>
<show>dnd</show>
<status>gallivanting</status>
</presence>
Example 7: Contacts' servers deliver user's initial presence to all
available resources
CS: <presence
from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
to='juliet@example.com'/>
CS: <presence
from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
to='juliet@example.com'/>
CS: <presence
from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
to='mercutio@example.org'/>
Example 8: User sends directed presence to another user not in his
roster
UC: <presence
from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
to='nurse@example.com'
xml:lang='en'>
<show>dnd</show>
<status>courting Juliet</status>
<priority>0</priority>
</presence>
Now the user engages in a chat session with one of his contacts.
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Example 9: A threaded conversation
CC: <message
from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='chat'
xml:lang='en'>
<body>My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words</body>
<thread>e0ffe42b28561960c6b12b944a092794b9683a38</thread>
</message>
CC: <message
from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='chat'
xml:lang='en'>
<body>Of that tongue's utterance, yet I know the sound:</body>
<thread>e0ffe42b28561960c6b12b944a092794b9683a38</thread>
</message>
CC: <message
from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='chat'
xml:lang='en'>
<body>Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?</body>
<thread>e0ffe42b28561960c6b12b944a092794b9683a38</thread>
</message>
UC: <message
from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
to='juliet@example.com/balcony'
type='chat'
xml:lang='en'>
<body>Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike.</body>
<thread>e0ffe42b28561960c6b12b944a092794b9683a38</thread>
</message>
CC: <message
from='juliet@example.com/balcony'
to='romeo@example.net/orchard'
type='chat'
xml:lang='en'>
<body>How cam'st thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?</body>
<thread>e0ffe42b28561960c6b12b944a092794b9683a38</thread>
</message>
And so on.
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The user can also send subsequent presence broadcast.
Example 10: User sends updated available presence for broadcast
UC: <presence xml:lang='en'>
<show>away</show>
<status>I shall return!</status>
<priority>1</priority>
</presence>
Example 11: User's server broadcasts updated presence to the contacts
who have a subscription of type "both" or "from" (but not to the
entity to which the user sent directed presence)
US: <presence
from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
to='juliet@example.com'
xml:lang='en'>
<show>away</show>
<status>I shall return!</status>
<priority>1</priority>
</presence>
US: <presence
from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
to='mercutio@example.org'
xml:lang='en'>
<show>away</show>
<status>I shall return!</status>
<priority>1</priority>
</presence>
Example 12: Contacts' servers deliver updated presence
CS: <presence
from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
to='juliet@example.com'
xml:lang='en'>
<show>away</show>
<status>I shall return!</status>
<priority>1</priority>
</presence>
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CS: <presence
from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
to='juliet@example.com'
xml:lang='en'>
<show>away</show>
<status>I shall return!</status>
<priority>1</priority>
</presence>
CS: <presence
from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
to='mercutio@example.org'
xml:lang='en'>
<show>away</show>
<status>I shall return!</status>
<priority>1</priority>
</presence>
Example 13: One of the contact's resources broadcasts unavailable
notification
CC: <presence from='juliet@example.com/chamber' type='unavailable'/>
Example 14: Contact's server sends unavailable notification to user
CS: <presence
from='juliet@example.com/chamber'
to='romeo@example.net'
type='unavailable'/>
Now the user ends his presence session.
Example 15: User sends unavailable notification
UC: <presence type='unavailable' xml:lang='en'>
<status>gone home</status>
</presence>
Example 16: User's server broadcasts unavailable notification to
contacts as well as to the entity to whom the user sent directed
presence
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US: <presence
from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
to='juliet@example.com'
type='unavailable'
xml:lang='en'>
<status>gone home</status>
</presence>
US: <presence
from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
to='mercutio@example.org'
type='unavailable'
xml:lang='en'>
<status>gone home</status>
</presence>
US: <presence
from='romeo@example.net/orchard'
to='nurse@example.com'
type='unavailable'
xml:lang='en'>
<status>gone home</status>
</presence>
Finally the user closes his stream and the server responds in kind.
Example 17: User closes stream
UC: </stream:stream>
Example 18: User's server closes stream
US: </stream:stream>
THE END
8. Server Rules for Processing XML Stanzas
Basic server rules for processing XML stanzas are defined in
[XMPP-CORE], and the reader is referred to that specification for
underlying rules and security implications. This section defines
supplementary rules for XMPP instant messaging and presence servers.
Some delivery rules defined in this section specify the use of
"offline storage", i.e., the server's act of storing a message stanza
on behalf of the user and then delivering it when the user next
becomes available. For recommendations regarding offline message
storage, refer to [XEP-0160].
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8.1. General Considerations
[XMPP-CORE] discusses general considerations for stanza delivery, in
particular the tradeoffs between (i) providing an acceptable level of
service regarding stanza delivery and (ii) preventing directory
harvesting attacks and presence leaks. However, the concept of a
directory harvesting attack does not apply if a contact is known to
and trusted by a user (because the contact is in the user's roster as
described under Section 2). Similarly, the concept of a presence
leak does not apply if a contact is authorized to know a user's
presence (by means of a presence subscription as described under
Section 3) or if the user has voluntarily sent presence to an entity
(by means of directed presence as described under Section 4.6).
Therefore, in cases where the following sections guard against
directory harvesting attacks and presence leaks by providing an
alternative of (a) silently ignoring a stanza or (b) returning an
error, a server SHOULD return an error if the originating entity is
in the user's roster (when the error would reveal whether the user's
account exists) or is authorized to receive presence from the user or
has received directed presence from the user (when the error would
reveal the presence of a user's resource).
Security Warning: All of the stanza processing rules described
below are defined with the understanding that they will be applied
subject to enforcement of relevant privacy and security policies,
such as those deployed by means of [XEP-0016] or [XEP-0191]. The
conformance language (MUST, SHOULD, etc.) in the following
sections is not meant to override any such local service policies.
8.2. No 'to' Address
If the stanza possesses no 'to' attribute, the rules defined in
[XMPP-CORE] apply.
8.3. Remote Domain
If the domainpart of the address contained in the 'to' attribute of
an outbound stanza does not match a configured domain of the server
itself, then the rules provided in Section 10.4 of [XMPP-CORE] apply.
Interoperability Note: RFC 3921 specified how to use the _im._xmpp
and _pres._xmpp SRV records [IMP-SRV] as a fallback method for
discovering whether a remote instant messaging and presence
service communicates via XMPP. Because those SRV records have not
been widely deployed, this document no longer specifies their use,
and new implementations are not encouraged.
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8.4. Local Domain
If the domainpart of the JID contained in the 'to' attribute matches
one of the configured domains of the server, the domain is serviced
by the server itself (not by a specialized local service), and the
JID is of the form <domainpart> or <domainpart/resourcepart>, the
rules defined in [XMPP-CORE] apply.
8.5. Local User
If the 'to' address specifies a bare JID <localpart@domainpart> or
full JID <localpart@domainpart/resourcepart> where the domainpart of
the JID matches a configured domain that is serviced by the server
itself, the server MUST proceed as follows.
8.5.1. No Such User
If the user account identified by the 'to' attribute does not exist,
how the stanza is processed depends on the stanza type.
o For an IQ stanza, the server MUST return a <service-unavailable/>
stanza error to the sender.
o For a message stanza, the server MUST either (a) silently ignore
the message or (b) return a <service-unavailable/> stanza error to
the sender.
o For a presence stanza with no 'type' attribute or a 'type'
attribute of "unavailable", the server MUST silently ignore the
stanza.
o For a presence stanza of type "subscribe", "subscribed",
"unsubscribe", or "unsubscribed", the server MUST silently ignore
the stanza.
o For a presence stanza of type "probe", the server MUST either (a)
silently ignore the stanza or (b) return a presence stanza of type
"unsubscribed".
8.5.2. localpart@domainpart
If the JID contained in the 'to' attribute is of the form
<localpart@domainpart>, then the server MUST adhere to the following
rules.
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8.5.2.1. Available or Connected Resources
If there is at least one available resource or connected resource,
how the stanza is processed depends on the stanza type.
8.5.2.1.1. Message
For a message stanza of type "normal":
o If all of the available resources have a negative presence
priority then the server SHOULD either (a) store the message
offline for later delivery or (b) return a stanza error to the
sender, which SHOULD be <service-unavailable/>.
o If there is one available resource with a non-negative presence
priority then the server MUST deliver the message to that
resource.
o If there is more than one resource with a non-negative presence
priority then the server MUST either (a) deliver the message to
the "most available" resource or resources (according to the
server's implementation-specific algorithm, e.g., treating the
resource or resources with the highest presence priority as "most
available") or (b) deliver the message to all of the non-negative
resources.
For a message stanza of type "chat":
o If the only available resource has a negative presence priority
then the server SHOULD either (a) store the message offline for
later delivery or (b) return a stanza error to the sender, which
SHOULD be <service-unavailable/>.
o If the only available resource has a non-negative presence
priority then the server MUST deliver the message to that
resource.
o If there is more than one resource with a non-negative presence
priority then the server MUST either (a) deliver the message to
the "most available" resource or resources (according to the
server's implementation-specific algorithm, e.g., treating the
resource or resources with the highest presence priority as "most
available") or (b) deliver the message to all of the non-negative
resources that have opted in to receive chat messages.
For a message stanza of type "groupchat", the server MUST NOT deliver
the stanza to any of the available resources but instead MUST return
a stanza error to the sender, which SHOULD be <service-unavailable/>.
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For a message stanza of type "headline":
o If the only available resource has a negative presence priority
then the server MUST silently ignore the stanza.
o If the only available resource has a non-negative presence
priority then the server MUST deliver the message to that
resource.
o If there is more than one resource with a non-negative presence
priority then the server MUST deliver the message to all of the
non-negative resources.
For a message stanza of type "error", the server MUST silently ignore
the message.
However, for any message type the server MUST NOT deliver the stanza
to any available resource with a negative priority; if the only
available resource has a negative priority, the server SHOULD handle
the message as if there were no available resources or connected
resources as described under Section 8.5.2.2.
In all cases, the server MUST NOT rewrite the 'to' attribute (i.e.,
it MUST leave it as <localpart@domainpart> rather than change it to
<localpart@domainpart/resourcepart>).
8.5.2.1.2. Presence
For a presence stanza with no type or of type "unavailable", the
server MUST deliver it to all available resources.
For a presence stanza of type "subscribe", "subscribed",
"unsubscribe", or "unsubscribed", the server MUST adhere to the rules
defined under Section 3 and summarized under Appendix A.
For a presence stanza of type "probe", the server MUST handle it
directly as described under Section 4.3.
In all cases, the server MUST NOT rewrite the 'to' attribute (i.e.,
it MUST leave it as <localpart@domainpart> rather than change it to
<localpart@domainpart/resourcepart>).
8.5.2.1.3. IQ
For an IQ stanza, the server itself MUST reply on behalf of the user
with either an IQ result or an IQ error, and MUST NOT deliver the IQ
stanza to any of the user's available resources. Specifically, if
the semantics of the qualifying namespace define a reply that the
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server can provide on behalf of the user, then the server MUST reply
to the stanza on behalf of the user by returning either an IQ stanza
of type "result" or an IQ stanza of type "error" that is appropriate
to the original payload; if not, then the server MUST reply with a
<service-unavailable/> stanza error.
8.5.2.2. No Available or Connected Resources
If there are no available resources or connected resources associated
with the user, how the stanza is processed depends on the stanza
type.
8.5.2.2.1. Message
For a message stanza of type "normal" or "chat", the server SHOULD
either (a) add the message to offline storage or (b) return a stanza
error to the sender, which SHOULD be <service-unavailable/>.
For a message stanza of type "groupchat", the server MUST return an
error to the sender, which SHOULD be <service-unavailable/>.
For a message stanza of type "headline" or "error", the server MUST
silently ignore the message.
8.5.2.2.2. Presence
For a presence stanza with no type or of type "unavailable", the
server SHOULD silently ignore the stanza by not storing it for later
delivery and not replying to it on behalf of the user.
For a presence stanza of type "subscribe", "subscribed",
"unsubscribe", or "unsubscribed", the server MUST adhere to the rules
defined under Section 3 and summarized under Appendix A.
For a presence stanza of type "probe", the server MUST handle it
directly as described under Section 4.3.
8.5.2.2.3. IQ
For an IQ stanza, the server itself MUST reply on behalf of the user
with either an IQ result or an IQ error. Specifically, if the
semantics of the qualifying namespace define a reply that the server
can provide on behalf of the user, then the server MUST reply to the
stanza on behalf of the user by returning either an IQ stanza of type
"result" or an IQ stanza of type "error" that is appropriate to the
original payload; if not, then the server MUST reply with a <service-
unavailable/> stanza error.
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8.5.3. localpart@domainpart/resourcepart
If the domainpart of the JID contained in the 'to' attribute of an
inbound stanza matches one of the configured domains of the server
itself and the JID contained in the 'to' attribute is of the form
<localpart@domainpart/resourcepart>, then the server MUST adhere to
the following rules.
8.5.3.1. Resource Matches
If an available resource or connected resource exactly matches the
full JID, how the stanza is processed depends on the stanza type.
o For an IQ stanza of type "get" or "set", if the intended recipient
does not share presence with the requesting entity either by means
of a presence subscription of type "both" or "from" or by means of
directed presence, then the server SHOULD NOT deliver the IQ
stanza but instead SHOULD return a <service-unavailable/> stanza
error to the requesting entity. This policy helps to prevent
presence leaks (see Section 11).
o For an IQ stanza of type "result" or "error", the server MUST
deliver the stanza to the resource.
o For a message stanza, the server MUST deliver the stanza to the
resource.
o For a presence stanza with no 'type' attribute or a 'type'
attribute of "unavailable", the server MUST deliver the stanza to
the resource.
o For a presence stanza of type "subscribe", "subscribed",
"unsubscribe", or "unsubscribed", the server MUST follow the
guidelines provided under Section 3.
o For a presence stanza of type "probe", the server MUST follow the
guidelines provided under Section 4.3.
8.5.3.2. No Resource Matches
If no available resource or connected resource exactly matches the
full JID, how the stanza is processed depends on the stanza type.
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8.5.3.2.1. Message
For a message stanza of type "normal", "groupchat", or "headline",
the server MUST either (a) silently ignore the stanza or (b) return
an error stanza to the sender, which SHOULD be <service-
unavailable/>.
For a message stanza of type "chat":
o If there is no available or connected resource, the server MUST
either (a) store the message offline for later delivery or (b)
return an error stanza to the sender, which SHOULD be <service-
unavailable/>.
o If all of the available resources have a negative presence
priority then the server SHOULD (a) store the message offline for
later delivery or (b) return a stanza error to the sender, which
SHOULD be <service-unavailable/>.
o If there is one available resource with a non-negative presence
priority then the server MUST deliver the message to that
resource.
o If there is more than one resource with a non-negative presence
priority then the server MUST either (a) deliver the message to
the "most available" resource or resources (according to the
server's implementation-specific algorithm, e.g., treating the
resource or resources with the highest presence priority as "most
available") or (b) deliver the message to all of the non-negative
resources that have opted in to receive chat messages.
For a message stanza of type "error", the server MUST silently ignore
the stanza.
8.5.3.2.2. Presence
For a presence stanza with no 'type' attribute or a 'type' attribute
of "unavailable", the server MUST silently ignore the stanza.
For a presence stanza of type "subscribe", the server MUST follow the
guidelines provided under Section 3.1.3.
For a presence stanza of type "subscribed", "unsubscribe", or
"unsubscribed", the server MUST ignore the stanza.
For a presence stanza of type "probe", the server MUST follow the
guidelines provided under Section 4.3.
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8.5.3.2.3. IQ
For an IQ stanza, the server MUST return a <service-unavailable/>
stanza error to the sender.
8.5.4. Summary of Message Delivery Rules
The following table summarizes the message (not stanza) delivery
rules described earlier in this section. The left column shows
various combinations of conditions (non-existent account, no active
resources, only one resource and it has a negative presence priority,
only one resource and it has a non-negative presence priority, or
more than one resource and each one has a non-negative presence
priority) and 'to' addresses (bare JID, full JID matching an
available resource, or full JID matching no available resource). The
subsequent columns list the four primary message types (normal, chat,
groupchat, or headline) along with six possible delivery options:
storing the message offline (O), bouncing the message with a stanza
error (E), silently ignoring the message (S), delivering the message
to the resource specified in the 'to' address (D), delivering the
message to the "most available" resource or resources according to
the server's implementation-specific algorithm, e.g., treating the
resource or resources with the highest presence priority as "most
available" (M), or delivering the message to all resources with non-
negative presence priority (A -- where for chat messages "all
resources" can mean the set of resources that have explicitly opted
in to receiving every chat message). The '/' character stands for
"exclusive or". The server SHOULD observe the rules given in section
8.1 when choosing which action to take for a particular message.
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Table 1: Message Delivery Rules
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Condition | Normal | Chat | Groupchat | Headline |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| ACCOUNT DOES NOT EXIST |
| bare | S/E | S/E | E | S |
| full | S/E | S/E | S/E | S/E |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| ACCOUNT EXISTS, BUT NO ACTIVE RESOURCES |
| bare | O/E | O/E | E | S |
| full (no match) | S/E | O/E | S/E | S/E |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| 1+ NEGATIVE RESOURCES BUT ZERO NON-NEGATIVE RESOURCES |
| bare | O/E | O/E | E | S |
| full match | D | D | D | D |
| full no match | S/E | O/E | S/E | S/E |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| 1 NON-NEGATIVE RESOURCE |
| bare | D | D | E | D |
| full match | D | D | D | D |
| full no match | S/E | D | S/E | S/E |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| 1+ NON-NEGATIVE RESOURCES |
| bare | M/A | M/A* | E | A |
| full match | D | D/A* | D | D |
| full no match | S/E | M/A* | S/E | S/E |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
* For messages of type "chat", a server SHOULD NOT act in
accordance with option (A) unless clients can explicitly opt in to
receiving all chat messages; however, methods for opting in are
outside the scope of this specification.
9. Handling of URIs
The addresses of XMPP entities as used in communication over an XMPP
network (e.g., in the 'from' and 'to' addresses of an XML stanza)
MUST NOT be prepended with a Uniform Resource Identifier [URI]
scheme.
However, an application that is external to XMPP itself (e.g., a page
on the World Wide Web) might need to identify an XMPP entity either
as a URI or as an Internationalized Resource Identifier [IRI], and an
XMPP client might need to interact with such an external application
(for example, an XMPP client might be invoked by clicking a link
provided on a web page). In the context of such interactions, XMPP
clients are encouraged to handle addresses that are encoded as
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"xmpp:" URIs and IRIs as specified in [XMPP-URI] and further
described in [XEP-0147]. Although XMPP clients are also encouraged
to handle addresses that are encoded as "im:" URIs as specified in
[CPIM] and "pres:" URIs as specified in [CPP], they can do so by
removing the "im:" or "pres:" scheme and entrusting address
resolution to the server as specified under Section 8.3.
10. Internationalization Considerations
For internationalization considerations, refer to the relevant
section of [XMPP-CORE].
11. Security Considerations
Core security considerations for XMPP are provided in Section 13 of
[XMPP-CORE], including discussion of channel encryption,
authentication, information leaks, denial-of-service attacks, and
interdomain federation.
Section 13.1 of [XMPP-CORE] outlines the architectural roles of
clients and servers in typical deployments of XMPP, and discusses the
security properties associated with those roles. These roles have an
impact on the security of instant messages, presence subscriptions,
and presence notifications as described in this document. In
essence, an XMPP user registers (or has provisioned) an account on an
XMPP server and therefore places some level of trust in the server to
complete various tasks on the user's behalf, enforce security
policies, etc. Thus it is the server's responsibility to:
1. Preferably mandate the use of channel encryption for
communication with local clients and remote servers.
2. Authenticate any client that wishes to access the user's account.
3. Process XML stanzas to and from clients that have authenticated
as the user (specifically with regard to instant messaging and
presence functionality, store the user's roster, process inbound
and outbound subscription requests and responses, generate and
handle presence probes, broadcast outbound presence
notifications, route outbound messages, and deliver inbound
messages and presence notifications).
As discussed in Sections 13.1 and 13.4 of [XMPP-CORE], even if the
server fulfills the foregoing responsibilities, the client does not
have any assurance that stanzas it might exchange with other clients
(whether on the same server or a remote server) are protected for all
hops along the XMPP communication path, or within the server itself.
It is the responsibility of the client to use an appropriate
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technology for encryption and signing of XML stanzas if it wishes to
ensure end-to-end confidentiality and integrity of its
communications.
Additional considerations that apply only to instant messaging and
presence applications of XMPP are defined in several places within
this document; specifically:
o When a server processes an inbound presence stanza of type "probe"
whose intended recipient is a user associated with one of the
server's configured domains, the server MUST NOT reveal the user's
presence if the sender is an entity that is not authorized to
receive that information as determined by presence subscriptions
(see Section 4).
o A user's server MUST NOT leak the user's network availability to
entities who are not authorized to know the user's presence. In
XMPP itself, authorization takes the form of an explicit
subscription from a contact to the user (as described under
Section 3). However, some XMPP deployments might consider an
entity to be authorized if there is an existing trust relationship
between the entity and the user who is generating presence
information (as an example, a corporate deployment of XMPP might
automatically add the user's presence information to a private
directory of employees if the organization mandates the sharing of
presence information as part of an employment agreement).
o When a server processes an outbound presence stanza with no type
or of type "unavailable", it MUST follow the rules defined under
Section 4 in order to ensure that such presence information is not
sent to entities that are not authorized to know such information.
o A client MAY ignore the <status/> element when contained in a
presence stanza of type "subscribe", "unsubscribe", "subscribed",
or "unsubscribed"; this can help prevent "presence subscription
spam".
12. Conformance Requirements
This section describes a protocol feature set that summarizes the
conformance requirements of this specification. This feature set is
appropriate for use in software certification, interoperability
testing, and implementation reports. For each feature, this section
provides the following information:
o A human-readable name
o An informational description
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o A reference to the particular section of this document that
normatively defines the feature
o Whether the feature applies to the Client role, the Server role,
or both (where "N/A" signifies that the feature is not applicable
to the specified role)
o Whether the feature MUST or SHOULD be implemented, where the
capitalized terms are to be understood as described in [KEYWORDS]
The feature set specified here attempts to adhere to the concepts and
formats proposed by Larry Masinter within the IETF's NEWTRK Working
Group in 2005, as captured in [INTEROP]. Although this feature set
is more detailed than called for by [REPORTS], it provides a suitable
basis for the generation of implementation reports to be submitted in
support of advancing this specification from Proposed Standard to
Draft Standard in accordance with [PROCESS].
Feature: message-body
Description: Support the <body/> child element of the <message/>
stanza.
Section: Section 5.2.3
Roles: Client MUST, Server N/A.
Feature: message-subject
Description: Support the <subject/> child element of the <message/>
stanza.
Section: Section 5.2.4
Roles: Client SHOULD, Server N/A.
Feature: message-thread
Description: Support the <thread/> child element of the <message/>
stanza.
Section: Section 5.2.5
Roles: Client SHOULD, Server N/A.
Feature: message-type-support
Description: Support reception of messages of type "normal", "chat",
"groupchat", "headline", and "error".
Section: Section 5.2.2
Roles: Client SHOULD, Server N/A.
Feature: message-type-deliver
Description: Appropriately deliver messages of type "normal",
"chat", "groupchat", "headline", and "error".
Section: Section 8
Roles: Client N/A, Server SHOULD.
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Feature: presence-notype
Description: Treat a presence stanza with no 'type' attribute as
indicating availability.
Section: Section 4.7.1
Roles: Client MUST, Server MUST.
Feature: presence-probe
Description: Send and receive presence stanzas with a 'type'
attribute of "probe" for the discovery of presence information.
Section: Section 4.7.1
Roles: Client N/A, Server MUST.
Feature: presence-sub-approval
Description: Treat an outbound presence stanza of type "subscribed"
as the act of approving a presence subscription request previously
received from another entity, and treat an inbound presence stanza
of type "subscribed" as a subscription approval from another
entity.
Section: Section 3.1
Roles: Client MUST, Server MUST.
Feature: presence-sub-cancel
Description: Treat an outbound presence stanza of type
"unsubscribed" as the act of denying a subscription request
received from another entity or canceling a subscription approval
previously granted to another entity, and treat an inbound
presence stanza of type "unsubscribed" as an subscription denial
or cancellation from another entity.
Section: Section 3.2
Roles: Client MUST, Server MUST.
Feature: presence-sub-preapproval
Description: Treat an outbound presence stanza of type "subscribed"
in certain circumstances as the act of pre-approving a
subscription request received from another entity; this includes
support for the 'approved' attribute of the <item/> element within
the 'jabber:iq:roster' namespace.
Section: Section 3.4
Roles: Client MAY, Server MAY.
Feature: presence-sub-request
Description: Treat an outbound presence stanza of type "subscribe"
as the act of requesting a subscription to the presence
information of another entity, and treat an inbound presence
stanza of type "subscribe" as a presence subscription request from
another entity.
Section: Section 3.1
Roles: Client MUST, Server MUST.
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Feature: presence-sub-unsubscribe
Description: Treat an outbound presence stanza of type "unsubscribe"
as the act of unsubscribing from another entity, and treat an
inbound presence stanza of type "unsubscribe" as an unsubscribe
notification from another entity.
Section: Section 3.3
Roles: Client MUST, Server MUST.
Feature: presence-unavailable
Description: Treat a presence stanza with a 'type' attribute of
"unavailable" as indicating lack of availability.
Section: Section 4.7.1
Roles: Client MUST, Server MUST.
Feature: roster-get
Description: Treat an IQ stanza of type "get" containing an empty
<query/> element qualified by the 'jabber:iq:roster' namespace as
a request to retrieve the roster information associated with an
account on a server.
Section: Section 2.1.3
Roles: Client MUST, Server MUST.
Feature: roster-set
Description: Treat an IQ stanza of type "set" containing a <query/>
element qualified by the 'jabber:iq:roster' namespace as a request
to add or update the item contained in the <query/> element.
Section: Section 2.1.5
Roles: Client MUST, Server MUST.
Feature: roster-push
Description: Send a roster push to each interested resource whenever
the server-side representation of the roster information
materially changes, or handle such a push when received from the
server.
Section: Section 2.1.6
Roles: Client MUST, Server MUST.
Feature: roster-version
Description: Treat the 'ver' attribute of the <query/> element
qualified by the 'jabber:iq:roster' namespace as an identifier of
the particular version of roster information being sent or
received.
Section: Section 2.1.1
Roles: Client SHOULD, Server MUST.
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13. References
13.1. Normative References
[DELAY] Saint-Andre, P., "Delayed Delivery", XSF XEP 0203,
September 2009.
[KEYWORDS]
Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[XML] Maler, E., Yergeau, F., Sperberg-McQueen, C., Paoli, J.,
and T. Bray, "Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (Fifth
Edition)", World Wide Web Consortium
Recommendation REC-xml-20081126, November 2008,
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/REC-xml-20081126>.
[XML-NAMES]
Bray, T., Hollander, D., and A. Layman, "Namespaces in
XML", W3C REC-xml-names, January 1999,
<http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml-names>.
[XMPP-CORE]
Saint-Andre, P., "Extensible Messaging and Presence
Protocol (XMPP): Core", RFC 6120, March 2011.
13.2. Informative References
[CPIM] Peterson, J., "Common Profile for Instant Messaging
(CPIM)", RFC 3860, August 2004.
[CPP] Peterson, J., "Common Profile for Presence (CPP)",
RFC 3859, August 2004.
[DOS] Handley, M., Rescorla, E., and IAB, "Internet Denial-of-
Service Considerations", RFC 4732, December 2006.
[IMP-MODEL]
Day, M., Rosenberg, J., and H. Sugano, "A Model for
Presence and Instant Messaging", RFC 2778, February 2000.
[IMP-REQS]
Day, M., Aggarwal, S., and J. Vincent, "Instant Messaging
/ Presence Protocol Requirements", RFC 2779,
February 2000.
[IMP-SRV] Peterson, J., "Address Resolution for Instant Messaging
and Presence", RFC 3861, August 2004.
Saint-Andre Standards Track PAGE 99
RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
[INTEROP] Masinter, L., "Formalizing IETF Interoperability
Reporting", Work in Progress, October 2005.
[IRC] Kalt, C., "Internet Relay Chat: Architecture", RFC 2810,
April 2000.
[IRI] Duerst, M. and M. Suignard, "Internationalized Resource
Identifiers (IRIs)", RFC 3987, January 2005.
[PROCESS] Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision
3", BCP 9, RFC 2026, October 1996.
[REPORTS] Dusseault, L. and R. Sparks, "Guidance on Interoperation
and Implementation Reports for Advancement to Draft
Standard", BCP 9, RFC 5657, September 2009.
[RFC 3920] Saint-Andre, P., Ed., "Extensible Messaging and Presence
Protocol (XMPP): Core", RFC 3920, October 2004.
[RFC 3921] Saint-Andre, P., Ed., "Extensible Messaging and Presence
Protocol (XMPP): Instant Messaging and Presence",
RFC 3921, October 2004.
[SASL] Melnikov, A. and K. Zeilenga, "Simple Authentication and
Security Layer (SASL)", RFC 4422, June 2006.
[SIP-PRES]
Rosenberg, J., "A Presence Event Package for the Session
Initiation Protocol (SIP)", RFC 3856, August 2004.
[TLS] Dierks, T. and E. Rescorla, "The Transport Layer Security
(TLS) Protocol Version 1.2", RFC 5246, August 2008.
[TLS-CERTS]
Saint-Andre, P. and J. Hodges, "Representation and
Verification of Domain-Based Application Service Identity
within Internet Public Key Infrastructure Using X.509
(PKIX) Certificates in the Context of Transport Layer
Security (TLS)", RFC 6125, March 2011.
[UNICODE] The Unicode Consortium, "The Unicode Standard, Version
6.0", 2010,
<http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode6.0.0/>.
[URI] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform
Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66,
RFC 3986, January 2005.
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
[UUID] Leach, P., Mealling, M., and R. Salz, "A Universally
Unique IDentifier (UUID) URN Namespace", RFC 4122,
July 2005.
[XEP-0016]
Millard, P. and P. Saint-Andre, "Privacy Lists", XSF
XEP 0016, February 2007.
[XEP-0045]
Saint-Andre, P., "Multi-User Chat", XSF XEP 0045,
July 2008.
[XEP-0054]
Saint-Andre, P., "vcard-temp", XSF XEP 0054, July 2008.
[XEP-0071]
Saint-Andre, P., "XHTML-IM", XSF XEP 0071, September 2008.
[XEP-0115]
Hildebrand, J., Saint-Andre, P., and R. Troncon, "Entity
Capabilities", XSF XEP 0115, February 2008.
[XEP-0147]
Saint-Andre, P., "XMPP URI Scheme Query Components", XSF
XEP 0147, September 2006.
[XEP-0160]
Saint-Andre, P., "Best Practices for Handling Offline
Messages", XSF XEP 0160, January 2006.
[XEP-0163]
Saint-Andre, P. and K. Smith, "Personal Eventing
Protocol", XSF XEP 0163, July 2010.
[XEP-0191]
Saint-Andre, P., "Simple Communications Blocking", XSF
XEP 0191, February 2007.
[XEP-0201]
Saint-Andre, P., Paterson, I., and K. Smith, "Best
Practices for Message Threads", XSF XEP 0201,
November 2010.
[XEP-0237]
Saint-Andre, P. and D. Cridland, "Roster Versioning", XSF
XEP 0237, March 2010.
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
[XML-DATATYPES]
Biron, P. and A. Malhotra, "XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes
Second Edition", W3C REC-xmlschema-2, October 2004,
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-xmlschema-2-20041028/>.
[XML-SCHEMA]
Thompson, H., Maloney, M., Mendelsohn, N., and D. Beech,
"XML Schema Part 1: Structures Second Edition", World Wide
Web Consortium Recommendation REC-xmlschema-1-20041028,
October 2004,
<http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-xmlschema-1-20041028>.
[XMPP-ADDR]
Saint-Andre, P., "Extensible Messaging and Presence
Protocol (XMPP): Address Format", RFC 6122, March 2011.
[XMPP-URI]
Saint-Andre, P., "Internationalized Resource Identifiers
(IRIs) and Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) for the
Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP)",
RFC 5122, February 2008.
[VCARD] Dawson, F. and T. Howes, "vCard MIME Directory Profile",
RFC 2426, September 1998.
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Appendix A. Subscription States
This section provides detailed information about subscription states
and server processing of subscription-related presence stanzas (i.e.,
presence stanzas of type "subscribe", "subscribed", "unsubscribe",
and "unsubscribed").
A.1. Defined States
There are four primary subscription states (these states are
described from the perspective of the user, not the contact):
None: The user does not have a subscription to the contact's
presence, and the contact does not have a subscription to the
user's presence.
To: The user has a subscription to the contact's presence, but the
contact does not have a subscription to the user's presence.
From: The contact has a subscription to the user's presence, but the
user does not have a subscription to the contact's presence.
Both: Both the user and the contact have subscriptions to each
other's presence (i.e., the union of 'from' and 'to').
Implementation Note: For the purpose of processing subscription-
related presence stanzas as described in the following sections, a
subscription state of "None" includes the case of the contact not
being in the user's roster at all, i.e., an unknown entity from
the perspective of the user's roster.
The foregoing states are supplemented by various sub-states related
to pending inbound and outbound subscriptions, thus yielding nine
possible subscription states:
1. "None" = Contact and user are not subscribed to each other, and
neither has requested a subscription from the other; this is
reflected in the user's roster by subscription='none'.
2. "None + Pending Out" = Contact and user are not subscribed to
each other, and user has sent contact a subscription request but
contact has not replied yet; this is reflected in the user's
roster by subscription='none' and ask='subscribe'.
3. "None + Pending In" = Contact and user are not subscribed to each
other, and contact has sent user a subscription request but user
has not replied yet. This state might or might not be reflected
in the user's roster, as follows: if the user has created a
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roster item for the contact then the server MUST maintain that
roster item and also note the existence of the inbound presence
subscription request, whereas if the user has not created a
roster item for the contact then the user's server MUST note the
existence of the inbound presence subscription request but MUST
NOT create a roster item for the contact (instead, the server
MUST wait until the user has approved the subscription request
before adding the contact to the user's roster).
4. "None + Pending Out+In" = Contact and user are not subscribed to
each other, contact has sent user a subscription request but user
has not replied yet, and user has sent contact a subscription
request but contact has not replied yet; this is reflected in the
user's roster by subscription='none' and ask='subscribe'.
5. "To" = User is subscribed to contact (one-way); this is reflected
in the user's roster by subscription='to'.
6. "To + Pending In" = User is subscribed to contact, and contact
has sent user a subscription request but user has not replied
yet; this is reflected in the user's roster by subscription='to'.
7. "From" = Contact is subscribed to user (one-way); this is
reflected in the user's roster by subscription='from'.
8. "From + Pending Out" = Contact is subscribed to user, and user
has sent contact a subscription request but contact has not
replied yet; this is reflected in the user's roster by
subscription='from' and ask='subscribe'.
9. "Both" = User and contact are subscribed to each other (two-way);
this is reflected in the user's roster by subscription='both'.
A.2. Server Processing of Outbound Presence Subscription Stanzas
Outbound presence subscription stanzas enable the user to manage his
or her subscription to the contact's presence (via the "subscribe"
and "unsubscribe" types), and to manage the contact's access to the
user's presence (via the "subscribed" and "unsubscribed" types).
The following rules apply to outbound routing of the stanza as well
as changes to the user's roster. (These rules are described from the
perspective of the user, not the contact. In addition, "S.N." stands
for SHOULD NOT and "M.N." stands for MUST NOT.)
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A.2.1. Subscribe
Table 2: Processing of outbound "subscribe" stanzas
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| EXISTING STATE | ROUTE? | NEW STATE |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| "None" | MUST [1] | "None + Pending Out" |
| "None + Pending Out" | MUST | no state change |
| "None + Pending In" | MUST [1] | "None + Pending Out+In" |
| "None + Pending Out+In" | MUST | no state change |
| "To" | MUST | no state change |
| "To + Pending In" | MUST | no state change |
| "From" | MUST [1] | "From + Pending Out" |
| "From + Pending Out" | MUST | no state change |
| "Both" | MUST | no state change |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
[1] A state change to "pending out" includes setting the 'ask'
flag to a value of "subscribe" in the user's roster.
A.2.2. Unsubscribe
Table 3: Processing of outbound "unsubscribe" stanzas
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| EXISTING STATE | ROUTE? | NEW STATE |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| "None" | MUST | no state change |
| "None + Pending Out" | MUST | "None" |
| "None + Pending In" | MUST | no state change |
| "None + Pending Out+In" | MUST | "None + Pending In" |
| "To" | MUST | "None" |
| "To + Pending In" | MUST | "None + Pending In" |
| "From" | MUST | no state change |
| "From + Pending Out" | MUST | "From" |
| "Both" | MUST | "From" |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
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A.2.3. Subscribed
Table 4: Processing of outbound "subscribed" stanzas
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| EXISTING STATE | ROUTE? | NEW STATE |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| "None" | M.N. | pre-approval [1] |
| "None + Pending Out" | M.N. | pre-approval [1] |
| "None + Pending In" | MUST | "From" |
| "None + Pending Out+In" | MUST | "From + Pending Out" |
| "To" | M.N. | pre-approval [1] |
| "To + Pending In" | MUST | "Both" |
| "From" | M.N. | no state change |
| "From + Pending Out" | M.N. | no state change |
| "Both" | M.N. | no state change |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
[1] Detailed information regarding subscription pre-approval is
provided under Section 3.4.
A.2.4. Unsubscribed
Table 5: Processing of outbound "unsubscribed" stanzas
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| EXISTING STATE | ROUTE? | NEW STATE |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| "None" | S.N. | no state change [1] |
| "None + Pending Out" | S.N. | no state change [1] |
| "None + Pending In" | MUST | "None" |
| "None + Pending Out+In" | MUST | "None + Pending Out" |
| "To" | S.N. | no state change [1] |
| "To + Pending In" | MUST | "To" |
| "From" | MUST | "None" |
| "From + Pending Out" | MUST | "None + Pending Out" |
| "Both" | MUST | "To" |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
[1] This event can result in cancellation of a subscription pre-
approval, as described under Section 3.4.
A.3. Server Processing of Inbound Presence Subscription Stanzas
Inbound presence subscription stanzas request a subscription-related
action from the user (via the "subscribe" type), inform the user of
subscription-related actions taken by the contact (via the
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
"unsubscribe" type), or enable the user to manage the contact's
access to the user's presence information (via the "subscribed" and
"unsubscribed" types).
The following rules apply to delivery of the inbound stanza as well
as changes to the user's roster. (These rules for server processing
of inbound presence subscription stanzas are described from the
perspective of the user, not the contact. In addition, "S.N." stands
for SHOULD NOT.)
A.3.1. Subscribe
Table 6: Processing of inbound "subscribe" stanzas
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| EXISTING STATE | DELIVER? | NEW STATE |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| "None" | MUST [1] | "None + Pending In" |
| "None + Pending Out" | MUST | "None + Pending Out+In" |
| "None + Pending In" | S.N. | no state change |
| "None + Pending Out+In" | S.N. | no state change |
| "To" | MUST | "To + Pending In" |
| "To + Pending In" | S.N. | no state change |
| "From" | S.N. [2] | no state change |
| "From + Pending Out" | S.N. [2] | no state change |
| "Both" | S.N. [2] | no state change |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
[1] If the user previously sent presence of type "subscribed" as
described under Appendix A.2.3 and Section 3.4, then the server
MAY auto-reply with "subscribed" and change the state to "From"
rather than "None + Pending In".
[2] Server SHOULD auto-reply with "subscribed".
A.3.2. Unsubscribe
When the user's server receives a presence stanza of type
"unsubscribe" for the user from the contact, if the stanza results in
a subscription state change from the user's perspective then the
user's server MUST change the state, MUST deliver the presence stanza
from the contact to the user, and SHOULD auto-reply by sending a
presence stanza of type "unsubscribed" to the contact on behalf of
the user. Otherwise the user's server MUST NOT change the state and
(because there is no state change) SHOULD NOT deliver the stanza.
These rules are summarized in the following table.
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Table 7: Processing of inbound "unsubscribe" stanzas
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| EXISTING STATE | DELIVER? | NEW STATE |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| "None" | S.N. | no state change |
| "None + Pending Out" | S.N. | no state change |
| "None + Pending In" | MUST [1] | "None" |
| "None + Pending Out+In" | MUST [1] | "None + Pending Out" |
| "To" | S.N. | no state change |
| "To + Pending In" | MUST [1] | "To" |
| "From" | MUST [1] | "None" |
| "From + Pending Out" | MUST [1] | "None + Pending Out" |
| "Both" | MUST [1] | "To" |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
[1] Server SHOULD auto-reply with "unsubscribed".
A.3.3. Subscribed
When the user's server receives a presence stanza of type
"subscribed" for the user from the contact, if there is no pending
outbound request for access to the contact's presence information,
then it MUST NOT change the subscription state and (because there is
no state change) SHOULD NOT deliver the stanza to the user. If there
is a pending outbound request for access to the contact's presence
information and the inbound presence stanza of type "subscribed"
results in a subscription state change, then the user's server MUST
change the subscription state and MUST deliver the stanza to the
user. If the user already is subscribed to the contact's presence
information, the inbound presence stanza of type "subscribed" does
not result in a subscription state change; therefore the user's
server MUST NOT change the subscription state and (because there is
no state change) SHOULD NOT deliver the stanza to the user. These
rules are summarized in the following table.
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RFC 6121 XMPP IM March 2011
Table 8: Processing of inbound "subscribed" stanzas
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| EXISTING STATE | DELIVER? | NEW STATE |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| "None" | S.N. | no state change |
| "None + Pending Out" | MUST | "To" |
| "None + Pending In" | S.N. | no state change |
| "None + Pending Out+In" | MUST | "To + Pending In" |
| "To" | S.N. | no state change |
| "To + Pending In" | S.N. | no state change |
| "From" | S.N. | no state change |
| "From + Pending Out" | MUST | "Both" |
| "Both" | S.N. | no state change |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
A.3.4. Unsubscribed
When the user's server receives a presence stanza of type
"unsubscribed" for the user from the contact, if there is a pending
outbound request for access to the contact's presence information or
if the user currently is subscribed to the contact's presence
information, then the user's server MUST change the subscription
state and MUST deliver the stanza to the user. Otherwise, the user's
server MUST NOT change the subscription state and (because there is
no state change) SHOULD NOT deliver the stanza. These rules are
summarized in the following table.
Table 9: Processing of inbound "unsubscribed" stanzas
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| EXISTING STATE | DELIVER? | NEW STATE |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
| "None" | S.N. | no state change |
| "None + Pending Out" | MUST | "None" |
| "None + Pending In" | S.N. | no state change |
| "None + Pending Out+In" | MUST | "None + Pending In" |
| "To" | MUST | "None" |
| "To + Pending In" | MUST | "None + Pending In" |
| "From" | S.N. | no state change |
| "From + Pending Out" | MUST | "From" |
| "Both" | MUST | "From" |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
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Appendix B. Blocking Communication
Sections 2.3.5 and 5.4.10 of [IMP-REQS] require that a compliant
instant messaging and presence technology needs to enable a user to
block communications from selected users. Protocols for doing so are
specified in [XEP-0016] and [XEP-0191].
Appendix C. vCards
Sections 3.1.3 and 4.1.4 of [IMP-REQS] require that it be possible to
retrieve out-of-band contact information for other users (e.g.,
telephone number or email address). An XML representation of the
vCard specification defined in RFC 2426 [VCARD] is in common use
within the XMPP community to provide such information but is out of
scope for this specification (documentation of this protocol is
contained in [XEP-0054]).
Appendix D. XML Schema for jabber:iq:roster
The following schema formally defines the 'jabber:iq:roster'
namespace used in this document, in conformance with [XML-SCHEMA].
Because validation of XML streams and stanzas is optional, this
schema is not normative and is provided for descriptive purposes
only. For schemas defining core XMPP namespaces, refer to
[XMPP-CORE].
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<xs:schema
xmlns:xs='http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema'
targetNamespace='jabber:iq:roster'
xmlns='jabber:iq:roster'
elementFormDefault='qualified'>
<xs:element name='query'>
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element ref='item'
minOccurs='0'
maxOccurs='unbounded'/>
</xs:sequence>
<xs:attribute name='ver'
type='xs:string'
use='optional'/>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
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<xs:element name='item'>
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element ref='group'
minOccurs='0'
maxOccurs='unbounded'/>
</xs:sequence>
<xs:attribute name='approved'
type='xs:boolean'
use='optional'/>
<xs:attribute name='ask'
use='optional'>
<xs:simpleType>
<xs:restriction base='xs:NMTOKEN'>
<xs:enumeration value='subscribe'/>
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
</xs:attribute>
<xs:attribute name='jid'
type='xs:string'
use='required'/>
<xs:attribute name='name'
type='xs:string'
use='optional'/>
<xs:attribute name='subscription'
use='optional'
default='none'>
<xs:simpleType>
<xs:restriction base='xs:NMTOKEN'>
<xs:enumeration value='both'/>
<xs:enumeration value='from'/>
<xs:enumeration value='none'/>
<xs:enumeration value='remove'/>
<xs:enumeration value='to'/>
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
</xs:attribute>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name='group' type='xs:string'/>
</xs:schema>
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Appendix E. Differences From RFC 3921
Based on consensus derived from implementation and deployment
experience as well as formal interoperability testing, the following
substantive modifications were made from [RFC 3921] (in addition to
numerous changes of an editorial nature).
o The protocol for session establishment was determined to be
unnecessary and therefore the content previously defined in
Section 3 of RFC 3921 was removed. However, for the sake of
backward-compatibility server implementations are encouraged to
advertise support for the feature, even though session
establishment is a "no-op".
o In order to more seamlessly repair lack of synchronization in
subscription states between rosters located at different servers,
clarified and modified error handling related to presence
subscription requests, presence probes and presence notifications.
o Changed the 'from' address for presence probes so that it is the
bare JID, not the full JID.
o Adjusted and clarified stanza delivery rules based on
implementation and deployment experience.
o Explicitly specified that a server is allowed to deliver a message
stanza of type "normal" or "chat" to all resources if it has a
method for allowing resources to opt in to such behavior.
o Allowed a server to use its own algorithm for determining the
"most available" resource for the purpose of message delivery, but
mentioned the recommended algorithm from RFC 3921 (based on
presence priority) as one possible algorithm.
o Added optional versioning of roster information to save bandwidth
in cases where the roster has not changed (or has changed very
little) between sessions; the relevant protocol interactions were
originally described in [XEP-0237].
o Added optional server support for pre-approved presence
subscriptions via presence stanzas of type "subscribed", including
a new 'approved' attribute that can be set to "true" (for a pre-
approved subscription) or "false" (the default).
o Added optional 'parent' attribute to <thread/> element.
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o Moved the protocol for communications blocking (specified in
Section 10 of RFC 3921) back to [XEP-0016], from which it was
originally taken.
o Recommended returning presence unavailable in response to probes.
o Clarified handling of presence probes sent to full JIDs.
o Explicitly specified that the default value for the presence
<priority/> element is zero.
o Removed recommendation to support the "_im" and "_pres" SRV
records.
Appendix F. Acknowledgements
This document is an update to, and derived from, RFC 3921. This
document would have been impossible without the work of the
contributors and commenters acknowledged there.
Hundreds of people have provided implementation feedback, bug
reports, requests for clarification, and suggestions for improvement
since publication of RFC 3921. Although the document editor has
endeavored to address all such feedback, he is solely responsible for
any remaining errors and ambiguities.
Some of the text about roster versioning was borrowed from
[XEP-0237], and some of the text about message threads was borrowed
from [XEP-0201].
Special thanks are due to Kevin Smith, Matthew Wild, Dave Cridland,
Waqas Hussain, Philipp Hancke, Florian Zeitz, Jonas Lindberg, Jehan
Pages, Tory Patnoe, and others for their comments during Working
Group Last Call.
Thanks also to Richard Barnes for his review on behalf of the
Security Directorate.
The Working Group chairs were Ben Campbell and Joe Hildebrand. The
responsible Area Director was Gonzalo Camarillo.
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Author's Address
Peter Saint-Andre
Cisco
1899 Wyknoop Street, Suite 600
Denver, CO 80202
USA
Phone: +1-303-308-3282
EMail: psaintan@cisco.com
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Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP): Instant Messaging and Presence
RFC TOTAL SIZE: 244800 bytes
PUBLICATION DATE: Wednesday, March 30th, 2011
LEGAL RIGHTS: The IETF Trust (see BCP 78)
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