RFC - 3798

Message Disposition Notification

Original:	ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc3798.txt
Authors:	T. Hansen [AT&T Laboratories], G. Vaudreuil [Lucent Technologies]
Date:	May 2004
Category:	Draft Standard

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Obsoletes:
RFC-2298	An Extensible Message Format for Message Disposition Notifications (Obsoleted by RFC-3798draft)

Updates:
RFC-3461draft	Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) Service Extension for Delivery Status Notifications (DSNs) (Updated by RFC-3798draft, RFC-3885prop)
RFC-2046draft	Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types (Updated by RFC-3798draft, RFC-2646)

Referred by:	13 RFC
Refers to:	12 RFC

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Status

This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

This memo defines a MIME content-type that may be used by a mail user agent (MUA) or electronic mail gateway to report the disposition of a message after it has been successfully delivered to a recipient. This content-type is intended to be machine-processable. Additional message headers are also defined to permit Message Disposition Notifications (MDNs) to be requested by the sender of a message. The purpose is to extend Internet Mail to support functionality often found in other messaging systems, such as X.400 and the proprietary "LAN-based" systems, and often referred to as "read receipts," "acknowledgements", or "receipt notifications." The intention is to do this while respecting privacy concerns, which have often been expressed when such functions have been discussed in the past.

Because many messages are sent between the Internet and other messaging systems (such as X.400 or the proprietary "LAN-based" systems), the MDN protocol is designed to be useful in a multi- protocol messaging environment. To this end, the protocol described in this memo provides for the carriage of "foreign" addresses, in addition to those normally used in Internet Mail. Additional attributes may also be defined to support "tunneling" of foreign notifications through Internet Mail.

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