K-9: JMAP protocol support

[okias]

I'd like to create this issue for tracking of JMAP protocol support [1] progress/interest. I guess at some point JMAP protocol will be implemented by K9 Mail.

This time, JMAP is already implemented in few Mail servers, so wide adoption will probably follow soon.

Update: there is guide for client authors: https://jmap.io/client.html

[1] http://jmap.io/

[AvoidMastodonBlue]

IMAP is either the woefully inadequate original RFC3501, or it’s a messy set of incomplete implementations of some of the extensions

Why bother correctly implementing? Create new standard and magical compliance?

[okias]

As I understood, since numerous extensions on a top of really old protocol is really hard to make it work as it should. Otherwise I cannot explain, why there is so small number of (well)working emails clients. And even clients as Thunderbird slowly going into maintenance mode, since no-one wants develop something more sophisticated a top of IMAP protocol.

[ghost]

Recently this was published:

https://fastmail.blog/2018/12/27/jmap-is-on-the-home-straight/
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18766709

I think JMAP is an eventual evolution. It has a lot to offer particularly on mobile devices which IMAP was not designed for. It would be a suitable investment in time for K-9 to be the first JMAP client. I do see this being eventually baked into Android however as a complete replacement for IMAP.

[marclaporte]

This request (which I strongly support) is now listed at: https://jmap.io/software.html

[marclaporte]

It was considered:
https://github.com/k9mail/k-9/wiki/Google-Summer-of-Code-2017

[ghost]

It was considered:
https://github.com/k9mail/k-9/wiki/Google-Summer-of-Code-2017

Ah.

If they ever have another GSOC I think sending email with format=flowed would be good. Sad to see it's unwanted #2302 I really like how Thunderbird does it. Note quoted-printable is still used for pgp signed email.

[iNPUTmice]

Just as a quick FYI there is a Java / Android library available here: https://github.com/iNPUTmice/jmap

The jmap-mua part of the library makes a lot of assumptions about the mail client, its work flow and how it stores it's data and might not be a good fit for k9. However the lower level jmap-client module would still take a lot of work of the shoulders of anyone wanting to implement JMAP in k9.

[yoshimo]

How well is this supported by providers these days?

[cketti]

This is an issue tracker to support the development of the app. Please use the mailing list for general discussions.

[cketti]

I'm happy to report that the Prototype Fund has "pre-selected" my project to add JMAP support to K-9 Mail for funding. I still have to complete the formal application and then the project will probably start in September.

[bortzmeyer]

The standard has just been published: RFC 8621 https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8621

[cketti]

Short update: The project funding was approved and I'll be working on this for the next 6 months.

[Pete879739]

K-9 Mail has not been reliably syncing new emails with FastMail (via IMAP) ever since FastMail turned on the JMAP protocol. Sometimes I have to manually refresh K-9 Mail. Maybe it's just a coincidence though.

[marclaporte]

@cketti The great news was published here: https://jmap.io/news.html#k-9-mail-is-working-on-adding-jmap-support

If you have any updates, we are very interested :-)

Thanks!

[cketti]

The 6 months are up. The repository now contains a module called k9mail-jmap that is a version of the K-9 Mail app with rudimentary support for JMAP. The usability is not great and I don't plan on making APKs of it available. People interested in the current state will have to build the app themselves.

I created a JMAP milestone in the issue tracker with things that have to be implemented before I feel comfortable to include the JMAP code in the main app.

I plan to continue working on JMAP support, but I don't consider it a blocker for the next stable version of K-9 Mail. So it might be a while before I'll get back to it.

[okias]

Almost one year passed. Except funded work, I assume there is no motivation to implement it into usable form?

Leaving out JMAP leave us with stagnation or implementing Microsoft Exchange protocol?