<abstract>This specification defines a Jingle application type for transferring files between two entities. The protocol provides a modular framework that enables the exchange of information about the file to be transferred as well as the negotiation of parameters such as the transport to be used.</abstract>
<remark><p>Initial published version.</p></remark>
</revision>
<revision>
<version>0.0.3</version>
<date>2008-02-29</date>
<initials>psa</initials>
<remark><p>Corrected use of content-replace action; specified that the In-Band Bytestreams transport method is mandatory-to-implement but must have the lowest preference order.</p></remark>
</revision>
<revision>
<version>0.0.2</version>
<date>2008-02-28</date>
<initials>psa</initials>
<remark>Modified negotiation flow to use new content-replace action.</remark>
</revision>
<revision>
<version>0.0.1</version>
<date>2008-01-29</date>
<initials>psa</initials>
<remark>First draft.</remark>
</revision>
</header>
<section1topic='Introduction'anchor='intro'>
<p>&xep0096; defines the current XMPP protocol extension for file transfer. However, that protocol has several drawbacks, most related to the &xep0095; protocol on which it depends:</p>
<li>It does not enable a true, bidirectional negotiation; instead, the initiator sets the terms for the file transfer and the responder either accepts the terms or cancels the negotiation.</li>
<li>It is the only technology in the Jabber/XMPP protocol "stack" that uses <cite>XEP-095: Stream Initiation</cite>. More modern technologies such as voice and video session negotiation use &xep0166;, and it would be helpful if implementors could use the same code for all negotiation use cases.</li>
</ol>
<p>To overcome these drawbacks, this specification defines a file transfer negotiation method that meets the following requirements:</p>
<ul>
<li>Reuse the session negotiation semantics from <cite>XEP-0166</cite>.</li>
<li>Reuse the file description format from <cite>XEP-0096</cite>.</li>
<li>Define a clear upgrade path from <cite>XEP-0096</cite> to this specification.</li>
<p>Jingle file transfer is only as reliable as the transports on which it depends. In particular, SOCKS5 Bytestreams ("S5B") does not always result in NAT or firewall traversal. To work around that problem, this specification requires all implementations to support In-Band Bytestreams ("IBB"), which tends to result in a successful (if slow) file transfer. A future version of this specification will also recommend implementation of a Jingle transport method that emulates the IETF's ICE-TCP technology, which is currently a work in progress (see &ice-tcp;).</p>
<p>First, the party that wishes to initiate the file transfer determines the responder's capabilities (via &xep0030; or &xep0115;). Here we assume that the responder supports the following service discovery features (note: these features may not reflect final namespace assignments):</p>
<li>An application type of "urn:xmpp:tmp:jingle:apps:file-transfer" &NSNOTE;. In particular, the <description/> element contains an <offer/> or <request/> element that in turn contains a <file/> element qualified by the existing 'http://jabber.org/protocol/si/profile/file-transfer' namespace from <cite>XEP-0096</cite>.</li>
<li>An appropriate transport method. Because the existing transport methods used in <cite>XEP-0096</cite> (i.e., &xep0065; and &xep0047;) are not yet defined as Jingle transport methods, this specification registers those definitions (if this specification is approved, those definitions will be moved to <cite>XEP-0047</cite> and <cite>XEP-0065</cite>).</li>
<p>In this example, the initiator is <kingclaudius@shakespeare.lit>, the responder is <laertes@shakespeare.lit>, and the initiation request specifies a file offer and a transport method of bytestreams (i.e., XEP-0065).</p>
<p>If the responder is willing to accept the bytestream, it MUST attempt to open a standard TCP socket on the network address of the StreamHost communicated by the initiator. If the initiator provides more than one StreamHost, the responder SHOULD try to connect to them in the order they occur.</p>
<p>If the responder is able to open a TCP socket on a StreamHost, it MUST utilize the SOCKS5 protocol specified in &rfc1928; to establish the connection with the StreamHost.</p>
<examplecaption='Responder Connects to StreamHost'><