1 = imip-agent = 2 3 {{{#!table 4 [[/Downloads|Downloads]] || [[/GettingStarted|Getting started]] || 5 [[#Deployment|Deployment]] || [[#Notes|Design/Implementation Notes]] || 6 [[/CalendaringSupport|Support for Standards]] 7 }}} 8 9 imip-agent is an extension for existing mail systems (such as 10 [[http://exim.org/|Exim]] and [[http://www.postfix.org/|Postfix]]) 11 providing extra support for calendaring and scheduling. 12 13 * It uses the [[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5545|iCalendar]], 14 [[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5546|iTIP]] and 15 [[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6047|iMIP]] Internet standards. 16 17 * It can inspect messages containing calendar objects and extract 18 availability information for sharing and publication. You and your users 19 decide exactly which kind of messages it will inspect, whose messages it 20 will inspect, and for whom no inspection or sharing will occur at all. 21 22 * It can provide a [[/CalendarManager|Web-based interface]] to calendar 23 information for users who cannot or choose not to use 24 [[/MailClients|mail software]] with calendaring support. This is optional 25 and your users can choose to adjust, ignore or disable this functionality. 26 27 * It supports autonomous entities such as meeting rooms and resources, 28 automatically accepting or declining invitations according to their 29 schedules. You can adjust this behaviour to implement your own policies. 30 31 * It is [[https://www.fsf.org/about/what-is-free-software|Free Software]], 32 giving you the freedom to see what the software does, as well as the freedom 33 to modify and share the software with others. 34 35 {{{#!graphviz 36 //format=svg 37 //transform=notugly 38 digraph architecture { 39 node [shape=box,fontsize="16.0",fontname="sans-serif",tooltip="The imip-agent architecture"]; 40 edge [tooltip="The imip-agent architecture"]; 41 rankdir=LR; 42 43 mail [label="Incoming mail",shape=folder,style=filled,fillcolor=cyan]; 44 MTA [label="MTA\n(Exim, Postfix, ...)",tooltip="MTA"]; 45 46 subgraph { 47 rank=same; 48 agent [label="imip-agent",style=filled,fillcolor=gold]; 49 scheduling [label="Scheduling",shape=ellipse,style=filled,fillcolor=gold]; 50 freebusy [label="Free/busy",shape=folder,style=filled,fillcolor=gold]; 51 manager [label="imip-manager",style=filled,fillcolor=gold]; 52 } 53 54 mailbox [label="Mailboxes\n(Cyrus, Dovecot, ...)",tooltip="Mailboxes"]; 55 webserver [label="Web server\n(Apache, ...)",tooltip="Web server"]; 56 client [label="Mail clients"]; 57 browser [label="Web browsers"]; 58 59 mail -> MTA -> agent -> mailbox -> client; 60 agent -> scheduling -> freebusy -> webserver -> client; 61 freebusy -> manager; 62 manager -> webserver [penwidth="3.0"]; 63 webserver -> browser [penwidth="3.0"]; 64 scheduling -> MTA -> mail [style=dashed]; 65 } 66 }}} 67 68 Unlike some monolithic groupware solutions... 69 70 * It does not require you to change your [[/MailIntegration|mail delivery]] 71 software or your [[/MailboxIntegration|mail storage]] software (subject to 72 existing support provided by imip-agent; support for other software can 73 always be added). 74 75 * It does not require your users to change their [[/MailClients|mail client]] 76 software. 77 78 * It does not insist that everybody must store their schedules on a single 79 server in order to collaboratively schedule events. 80 81 * Instead, imip-agent takes advantage of the decentralized nature of the 82 iCalendar and iMIP Internet standards. 83 84 * It allows people in your organisation to collaborate with people outside 85 your organisation without insisting that they join your infrastructure or 86 that everybody join some cloud service that keeps everyone's information 87 within a single, typically proprietary, remote service (that may also be 88 potentially vulnerable to intrusion and surveillance). 89 90 The role of imip-agent is to bridge the gap between plain e-mail and 91 "full-stack" groupware solutions, thus allowing organisations and individuals 92 to augment their existing infrastructure instead of being compelled to perform 93 costly and unnecessary migrations and infrastructure transformations. 94 95 == Adding Calendaring to E-Mail == 96 97 With just an e-mail system, users can already create and schedule calendar 98 events using any mail or groupware client software that supports calendars and 99 that already supports [[http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5545|iCalendar]] and 100 [[http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6047|iMIP]]. 101 102 Starting with an e-mail system, imip-agent can be used to add further support 103 for calendaring: 104 105 {{{#!table 106 '''Requirement''' || '''Solution''' 107 == 108 Your users probably want to know when other people are available and when they 109 are busy. 110 || 111 Although [[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6047|iMIP]] supports this, most mail 112 programs do not, so imip-agent will gather information about events and 113 [[/FreeBusyPublishing|publish it for retrieval via HTTP]]. It will also respond 114 to any iMIP requests for free/busy information via mail. 115 == 116 Organisations may want to coordinate access to resources using calendaring. 117 || 118 Here, imip-agent can provide [[/AgentPrograms|autonomous agents]] that can 119 respond to event invitations, allowing users to book resources and to see 120 published availability information for those resources. 121 == 122 Some users may not be using mail programs that understand calendars and 123 events. 124 || 125 Here, imip-agent can provide a [[/CalendarManager|Web interface]] to let 126 them respond to invitations and to create and schedule their own events. 127 }}} 128 129 According to your requirements, any or all of the above solutions can be 130 implemented, providing as much of a groupware solution as you need. 131 132 <<Anchor(Deployment)>> 133 == Deploying the Software == 134 135 Initial activities: 136 137 * [[/Downloads|Downloads]] 138 * [[/GettingStarted|Getting Started]] 139 140 References: 141 142 * [[/Administration|Administering imip-agent]] 143 * [[/Configuration|Configuration]] and [[/Preferences|Preferences]] 144 * [[/CalendarManager|Calendar Management Interface]] 145 * [[/FreeBusyPublishing|Free/Busy Publishing]] 146 147 <<Anchor(Notes)>> 148 == Design and Implementation Notes == 149 150 Details of the mechanisms employed by imip-agent are described in the 151 following documents: 152 153 * [[/AgentPrograms|Agent Programs]] 154 * [[/CalendaringSupport|Calendaring Support]] 155 * [[/CounterProposals|Counter-Proposals and Offers]] 156 * [[/CronIntegration|Cron Task Scheduler Integration]] 157 * [[/EventRecurrences|Event Recurrences]] 158 * [[/FilesystemUsage|Filesystem Usage]] 159 * [[/IncomingMessages|Incoming Messages]] 160 * [[/OutgoingMessages|Outgoing Messages]] 161 * [[/MailIntegration|Mail Integration]] 162 * [[/MailboxIntegration|Mailbox Integration]] 163 * [[/Testing|Testing]] 164 * [[/UseCases|Use Cases]] 165 * [[/WebServerIntegration|Web Server Integration]]