1 = imip-agent = 2 3 {{{#!table 4 [[/Downloads|Downloads]] || [[/GettingStarted|Getting started]] || 5 [[#Deployment|Deployment]] || [[#Usage|Usage]] || 6 [[#Development|Development]] || 7 [[/CalendaringSupport|Support for Standards]] 8 }}} 9 10 imip-agent is an extension for existing mail systems (such as 11 [[http://exim.org/|Exim]] and [[http://www.postfix.org/|Postfix]]) 12 providing extra support for calendaring and scheduling. 13 14 * It uses the [[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5545|iCalendar]], 15 [[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5546|iTIP]] and 16 [[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6047|iMIP]] Internet standards. 17 18 * It can inspect messages containing calendar objects and extract 19 availability information for sharing and publication. You and your users 20 decide exactly which kind of messages it will inspect, whose messages it 21 will inspect, and for whom no inspection or sharing will occur at all. 22 23 * It can provide a [[/CalendarManager|Web-based interface]] to calendar 24 information for users who cannot or choose not to use 25 [[/MailClients|mail software]] with calendaring support. This is optional 26 and your users can choose to adjust, ignore or disable this functionality. 27 28 * It supports autonomous entities such as meeting rooms and [[/Resources|resources]], 29 automatically accepting or declining invitations according to their schedules. 30 You can adjust this behaviour to implement your own policies. 31 32 * It is [[https://www.fsf.org/about/what-is-free-software|Free Software]], 33 giving you the freedom to see what the software does, as well as the freedom 34 to modify and share the software with others. 35 36 {{{#!graphviz 37 //format=svg 38 //transform=notugly 39 digraph architecture { 40 node [shape=box,fontsize="13.0",fontname="Helvetica",tooltip="The imip-agent architecture"]; 41 edge [tooltip="The imip-agent architecture"]; 42 rankdir=LR; 43 44 mail [label="Incoming mail",shape=folder,style=filled,fillcolor=cyan]; 45 MTA [label="MTA\n(Exim, Postfix, ...)",tooltip="MTA"]; 46 47 subgraph { 48 rank=same; 49 agent [label="imip-agent",style=filled,fillcolor=gold]; 50 scheduling [label="Scheduling",shape=ellipse,style=filled,fillcolor=gold]; 51 freebusy [label="Free/busy",shape=folder,style=filled,fillcolor=gold]; 52 manager [label="imip-manager",style=filled,fillcolor=gold]; 53 } 54 55 mailbox [label="Mailboxes\n(Cyrus, Dovecot, ...)",tooltip="Mailboxes"]; 56 webserver [label="Web server\n(Apache, ...)",tooltip="Web server"]; 57 client [label="Mail clients"]; 58 browser [label="Web browsers"]; 59 60 mail -> MTA -> agent -> mailbox -> client; 61 agent -> scheduling -> freebusy -> webserver -> client; 62 freebusy -> manager; 63 manager -> webserver [penwidth="3.0"]; 64 webserver -> browser [penwidth="3.0"]; 65 scheduling -> MTA -> mail [style=dashed]; 66 } 67 }}} 68 69 Unlike some monolithic groupware solutions... 70 71 * It does not require you to change your [[/MailIntegration|mail delivery]] 72 software or your [[/MailboxIntegration|mail storage]] software (subject to 73 existing support provided by imip-agent; support for other software can 74 always be added). 75 76 * It does not require your users to change their [[/MailClients|mail client]] 77 software. 78 79 * It does not insist that everybody must store their schedules on a single 80 server in order to collaboratively schedule events. 81 82 * Instead, imip-agent takes advantage of the decentralized nature of the 83 iCalendar and iMIP Internet standards. 84 85 * It allows people in your organisation to collaborate with people outside 86 your organisation without insisting that they join your infrastructure or 87 that everybody join some cloud service that keeps everyone's information 88 within a single, typically proprietary, remote service (that may also be 89 potentially vulnerable to intrusion and surveillance). 90 91 The role of imip-agent is to bridge the gap between plain e-mail and 92 "full-stack" groupware solutions, thus allowing organisations and individuals 93 to augment their existing infrastructure instead of being compelled to perform 94 costly and unnecessary migrations and infrastructure transformations. 95 96 == Adding Calendaring to E-Mail == 97 98 With just an e-mail system, users can already create and schedule calendar 99 events using any mail or groupware client software that supports calendars and 100 that already supports [[http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5545|iCalendar]] and 101 [[http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6047|iMIP]]. 102 103 Starting with an e-mail system, imip-agent can be used to add further support 104 for calendaring: 105 106 {{{#!table 107 '''Requirement''' || '''Solution''' 108 == 109 Your users probably want to know when other people are available and when they 110 are busy. 111 || 112 Although [[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6047|iMIP]] supports this, most mail 113 programs do not, so imip-agent will gather information about events and 114 [[/FreeBusyPublishing|publish it for retrieval via HTTP]]. It will also respond 115 to any iMIP requests for free/busy information via mail. 116 == 117 Organisations may want to coordinate access to resources using calendaring. 118 || 119 Here, imip-agent can provide [[/AgentPrograms|autonomous agents]] that can 120 respond to event invitations, allowing users to book resources and to see 121 published availability information for those resources. 122 == 123 Some users may not be using mail programs that understand calendars and 124 events. 125 || 126 Here, imip-agent can provide a [[/CalendarManager|Web interface]] to let 127 them respond to invitations and to create and schedule their own events. 128 }}} 129 130 According to your requirements, any or all of the above solutions can be 131 implemented, providing as much of a groupware solution as you need. 132 133 <<Anchor(Deployment)>> 134 == Deploying the Software == 135 136 Initial activities: 137 138 * [[/Downloads|Downloads]] 139 * [[/GettingStarted|Getting Started]] 140 141 References: 142 143 * [[/Administration|Administering imip-agent]] 144 * [[/Changelog|Changelog]] 145 * [[/Configuration|Configuration]] and [[/Preferences|Preferences]] 146 * [[/CalendarManager|Calendar Management Interface]] 147 * [[/FreeBusyPublishing|Free/Busy Publishing]] 148 149 <<Anchor(Usage)>> 150 == Using the Software == 151 152 * [[/Usage|Using imip-agent]] 153 154 <<Anchor(Development)>> 155 == Development == 156 157 Some topics related to development: 158 159 * [[/Developing|Developing imip-agent]] 160 * [[/FuturePlans|Future Plans]] 161 162 Details of the mechanisms employed by imip-agent are described in the 163 following documents: 164 165 * [[/AgentPrograms|Agent Programs]] 166 * [[/CalendaringSupport|Calendaring Support]] 167 * [[/CounterProposals|Counter-Proposals and Offers]] 168 * [[/CronIntegration|Cron Task Scheduler Integration]] 169 * [[/DataStore|Data Store]] 170 * [[/EventRecurrences|Event Recurrences]] 171 * [[/FilesystemUsage|Filesystem Usage]] 172 * [[/IncomingMessages|Incoming Messages]] 173 * [[/OutgoingMessages|Outgoing Messages]] 174 * [[/MailIntegration|Mail Integration]] 175 * [[/MailboxIntegration|Mailbox Integration]] 176 * [[/Resources|Resources]] 177 * [[/Testing|Testing]] 178 * [[/UseCases|Use Cases]] 179 * [[/WebServerIntegration|Web Server Integration]]