RFC 1939 - Post Office Protocol - Version 3 (POP3)
Date: May 1996
Status: Standards Track (STD 53)
Authors: J. Myers (Carnegie Mellon), M. Rose (Dover Beach Consulting, Inc.)
Obsoletes: RFC 1725
Abstract
This document specifies the Post Office Protocol - Version 3 (POP3), an Internet Standard Track protocol. POP3 allows a workstation to dynamically access a maildrop on a server host in a useful fashion. Usually, this means that the POP3 protocol is used to allow a workstation to retrieve mail that the server is holding for it.
POP3 is not intended to provide extensive manipulation of messages on the server; normally, mail is downloaded and then deleted. A more advanced (and complex) protocol, IMAP4, is discussed in RFC 1730.
Status of this Memo
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.
Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. A Short Digression
- 3. Basic Operation
- 4. The AUTHORIZATION State
- QUIT Command
- 5. The TRANSACTION State
- STAT Command
- LIST Command
- RETR Command
- DELE Command
- NOOP Command
- RSET Command
- 6. The UPDATE State
- QUIT Command
- 7. Optional POP3 Commands
- TOP Command
- UIDL Command
- USER Command
- PASS Command
- APOP Command
- 8. Scaling and Operational Considerations
- 9. POP3 Command Summary
- 10. Example POP3 Session
- 11. Message Format
- 12. References
- 13. Security Considerations
- 14. Acknowledgements
- 15. Authors' Addresses
Appendices
Related Resources
- Official Text: RFC 1939
- Official Page: RFC 1939 DataTracker
- Errata: RFC Editor Errata
- Standard: STD 53
- Obsoletes: RFC 1725
- Related RFCs:
- RFC 5322 (Internet Message Format)
- RFC 3501 (IMAP4)
- RFC 5321 (SMTP)
- RFC 2449 (POP3 Extension Mechanism)