1 = imip-agent = 2 3 imip-agent is an extension for existing mail systems (such as 4 [[http://exim.org/|Exim]] and [[http://www.postfix.org/|Postfix]]) 5 providing extra support for calendaring and scheduling. 6 7 * It uses the [[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5545|iCalendar]], 8 [[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5546|iTIP]] and 9 [[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6047|iMIP]] Internet standards. 10 11 * It can inspect messages containing calendar objects and extract 12 availability information for sharing and publication. You and your users 13 decide exactly which kind of messages it will inspect, whose messages it 14 will inspect, and for whom no inspection or sharing will occur at all. 15 16 * It can provide a [[/CalendarManager|Web-based interface]] to calendar 17 information for users who cannot or choose not to use 18 [[/MailClients|mail software]] with calendaring support. This is optional 19 and your users can choose to adjust, ignore or disable this functionality. 20 21 * It supports autonomous entities such as meeting rooms and resources, 22 automatically accepting or declining invitations according to their 23 schedules. You can adjust this behaviour to implement your own policies. 24 25 * It is [[https://www.fsf.org/about/what-is-free-software|Free Software]], 26 giving you the freedom to see what the software does, as well as the freedom 27 to modify and share the software with others. 28 29 {{{#!graphviz 30 //format=svg 31 //transform=notugly 32 digraph architecture { 33 node [shape=box,fontsize="16.0",fontname="sans-serif",tooltip="The imip-agent architecture"]; 34 edge [tooltip="The imip-agent architecture"]; 35 rankdir=LR; 36 37 mail [label="Incoming mail",shape=folder,style=filled,fillcolor=cyan]; 38 MTA [label="MTA\n(Exim, Postfix, ...)",tooltip="MTA"]; 39 40 subgraph { 41 rank=same; 42 agent [label="imip-agent",style=filled,fillcolor=gold]; 43 scheduling [label="Scheduling",shape=ellipse,style=filled,fillcolor=gold]; 44 freebusy [label="Free/busy",shape=folder,style=filled,fillcolor=gold]; 45 manager [label="imip-manager",style=filled,fillcolor=gold]; 46 } 47 48 mailbox [label="Mailboxes\n(Cyrus, Dovecot, ...)",tooltip="Mailboxes"]; 49 webserver [label="Web server\n(Apache, ...)",tooltip="Web server"]; 50 client [label="Mail clients"]; 51 browser [label="Web browsers"]; 52 53 mail -> MTA -> agent -> mailbox -> client; 54 agent -> scheduling -> freebusy -> webserver -> client; 55 freebusy -> manager; 56 manager -> webserver [penwidth="3.0"]; 57 webserver -> browser [penwidth="3.0"]; 58 scheduling -> MTA -> mail [style=dashed]; 59 } 60 }}} 61 62 Unlike some monolithic groupware solutions... 63 64 * It does not require you to change your [[/MailIntegration|mail delivery]] 65 software or your [[/MailboxIntegration|mail storage]] software (subject to 66 existing support provided by imip-agent; support for other software can 67 always be added). 68 69 * It does not require your users to change their [[/MailClients|mail client]] 70 software. 71 72 * It does not insist that everybody must store their schedules on a single 73 server in order to collaboratively schedule events. 74 75 * Instead, imip-agent takes advantage of the decentralized nature of the 76 iCalendar and iMIP Internet standards. 77 78 * It allows people in your organisation to collaborate with people outside 79 your organisation without insisting that they join your infrastructure or 80 that everybody join some cloud service that keeps everyone's information 81 within a single, typically proprietary, remote service (that may also be 82 potentially vulnerable to intrusion and surveillance). 83 84 The role of imip-agent is to bridge the gap between plain e-mail and 85 "full-stack" groupware solutions, thus allowing organisations and individuals 86 to augment their existing infrastructure instead of being compelled to perform 87 costly and unnecessary migrations and infrastructure transformations. 88 89 == Adding Calendaring to E-Mail == 90 91 With just an e-mail system, users can already create and schedule calendar 92 events using any mail or groupware client software that supports calendars and 93 that already supports [[http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5545|iCalendar]] and 94 [[http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6047|iMIP]]. 95 96 Starting with an e-mail system, imip-agent can be used to add further support 97 for calendaring: 98 99 {{{#!table 100 '''Requirement''' || '''Solution''' 101 == 102 Your users probably want to know when other people are available and when they 103 are busy. 104 || 105 Although [[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6047|iMIP]] supports this, most mail 106 programs do not, so imip-agent will gather information about events and 107 [[/FreeBusyPublishing|publish it for retrieval via HTTP]]. It will also respond 108 to any iMIP requests for free/busy information via mail. 109 == 110 Organisations may want to coordinate access to resources using calendaring. 111 || 112 Here, imip-agent can provide [[/AgentPrograms|autonomous agents]] that can 113 respond to event invitations, allowing users to book resources and to see 114 published availability information for those resources. 115 == 116 Some users may not be using mail programs that understand calendars and 117 events. 118 || 119 Here, imip-agent can provide a [[/CalendarManager|Web interface]] to let 120 them respond to invitations and to create and schedule their own events. 121 }}} 122 123 According to your requirements, any or all of the above solutions can be 124 implemented, providing as much of a groupware solution as you need. 125 126 == Deployment Notes == 127 128 * [[/GettingStarted|Getting Started]] 129 * [[/Configuration|Configuration]] and [[/Preferences|Preferences]] 130 * [[/CalendarManager|Calendar Management Interface]] 131 * [[/FreeBusyPublishing|Free/Busy Publishing]] 132 133 == Design and Implementation Notes == 134 135 Details of the mechanisms employed by imip-agent are described in the 136 following documents: 137 138 * [[/CounterProposals|Counter-Proposals and Offers]] 139 * [[/CronIntegration|Cron Task Scheduler Integration]] 140 * [[/MailIntegration|E-Mail Integration]] 141 * [[/EventRecurrences|Event Recurrences]] 142 * [[/IncomingMessages|Incoming Messages]] 143 * [[/OutgoingMessages|Outgoing Messages]] 144 * [[/Testing|Testing]] 145 * [[/UseCases|Use Cases]] 146 * [[/WebServerIntegration|Web Server Integration]]