RFC 5228 · PROPOSED STANDARD · 2008

Sieve: An Email Filtering Language

Overview

RFC 5228, “Sieve: An Email Filtering Language”, is a Proposed Standard document published in January 2008 by P. Guenther, T. Showalter. It obsoletes RFC 3028. It has since been updated by RFC 5229, RFC 5429, RFC 6785, RFC 9042. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.

Abstract

This document describes a language for filtering email messages at time of final delivery. It is designed to be implementable on either a mail client or mail server. It is meant to be extensible, simple, and independent of access protocol, mail architecture, and operating system. It is suitable for running on a mail server where users may not be allowed to execute arbitrary programs, such as on black box Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) servers, as the base language has no variables, loops, or ability to shell out to external programs. [STANDARDS-TRACK]

Abstract as published in the RFC, via rfc-editor.org.

What “Proposed Standard” means

An entry-level standards-track specification: stable, peer-reviewed and a solid basis for implementation, though it may still evolve before becoming an Internet Standard.

Read this RFC

The canonical text of RFC 5228 is hosted at rfc-editor.org. Available in TXT,HTML.

Relationships to other RFCs
This RFC obsoletes
RFC 3028
Other RFCs from 2008

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