Programming Internet Email

Appendix E. Glossary

ACAP

Application Configuration Access Protocol. Extends IMAP so that data such as program option, configuration, and preference information may be stored and accessed remotely.

Attachment

A file that has been attached to an email message, as with MIME. Sometimes used as a synonym for “entity.”

Authentication

The process by which a user proves her identity.

Body

The content of an email message; that part of an email message that follows the headers and a separating blank line.

Encryption

The process of encoding data so as to make it unreadable by unauthorized people.

Entity

A MIME part; a section of the body of an email message that has been encoded with one of the MIME algorithms and associated with information in MIME headers.

ESMTP

Extended Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. Protocol extensions to SMTP from RFCs after RFC 821.

Header

A name/value pair at the beginning of an email message that provides control information. Headers are grouped at the top of an email message and separated from the message body by a blank line.

IANA

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. The Internet body that is responsible for registering changes to Internet standards.

IETF

Internet Engineering Task Force. The Internet body that approves and tracks Internet standards.

lMAP

Internet Message Access Protocol. A protocol for the retrieval and management of email on a remote server.

LDAP

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. A subset of the more complex X.500 directory protocol. Provides directory information, ...