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 mail software with 18 calendaring support. This is optional and your users can choose to adjust, 19 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 Unlike some monolithic groupware solutions... 30 31 * It does not require you to change your [[/MailIntegration|mail delivery]] 32 software or your [[/MailboxIntegration|mail storage]] software (subject to 33 existing support provided by imip-agent; support for other software can 34 always be added). 35 36 * It does not require your users to change their mail client software. 37 38 * It does not insist that everybody must store their schedules on a single 39 server in order to collaboratively schedule events. 40 41 * Instead, imip-agent takes advantage of the decentralized nature of the 42 iCalendar and iMIP Internet standards. 43 44 * It allows people in your organisation to collaborate with people outside 45 your organisation without insisting that they join your infrastructure or 46 that everybody join some cloud service that keeps everyone's information 47 within a single, typically proprietary, remote service (that may also be 48 potentially vulnerable to intrusion and surveillance). 49 50 The role of imip-agent is to bridge the gap between plain e-mail and 51 "full-stack" groupware solutions, thus allowing organisations and individuals 52 to augment their existing infrastructure instead of being compelled to perform 53 costly and unnecessary migrations and infrastructure transformations. 54 55 == Adding Calendaring to E-Mail == 56 57 With just an e-mail system, users can already create and schedule calendar 58 events using any mail or groupware client software that supports calendars and 59 that already supports [[http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5545|iCalendar]] and 60 [[http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6047|iMIP]]. 61 62 Starting with an e-mail system, imip-agent can be used to add further support 63 for calendaring: 64 65 {{{#!table 66 '''Requirement''' || '''Solution''' 67 == 68 Your users probably want to know when other people are available and when they 69 are busy. 70 || 71 Although [[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6047|iMIP]] supports this, most mail 72 programs do not, so imip-agent will gather information about events and 73 [[/FreeBusyPublishing|publish it for retrieval via HTTP]]. It will also respond 74 to any iMIP requests for free/busy information via mail. 75 == 76 Organisations may want to coordinate access to resources using calendaring. 77 || 78 Here, imip-agent can provide [[/AgentPrograms|autonomous agents]] that can 79 respond to event invitations, allowing users to book resources and to see 80 published availability information for those resources. 81 == 82 Some users may not be using mail programs that understand calendars and 83 events. 84 || 85 Here, imip-agent can provide a [[/CalendarManager|Web interface]] to let 86 them respond to invitations and to create and schedule their own events. 87 }}} 88 89 According to your requirements, any or all of the above solutions can be 90 implemented, providing as much of a groupware solution as you need. 91 92 == Deployment Notes == 93 94 * [[/GettingStarted|Getting Started]] 95 * [[/Configuration|Configuration]] and [[/Preferences|Preferences]] 96 * [[/CalendarManager|Calendar Management Interface]] 97 * [[/FreeBusyPublishing|Free/Busy Publishing]] 98 99 == Design and Implementation Notes == 100 101 Details of the mechanisms employed by imip-agent are described in the 102 following documents: 103 104 * [[/CounterProposals|Counter-Proposals and Offers]] 105 * [[/CronIntegration|Cron Task Scheduler Integration]] 106 * [[/MailIntegration|E-Mail Integration]] 107 * [[/EventRecurrences|Event Recurrences]] 108 * [[/IncomingMessages|Incoming Messages]] 109 * [[/OutgoingMessages|Outgoing Messages]] 110 * [[/Testing|Testing]] 111 * [[/UseCases|Use Cases]] 112 * [[/WebServerIntegration|Web Server Integration]]