<abstract>This document provides canonical documentation of the existing 'jabber:iq:time' namespace currently used within the Jabber community.</abstract>
<p>The Jabber protocols have long included a method for discovering the time at another entity's location. This method makes use of the 'jabber:iq:time' namespace and has been documented variously in Internet-Drafts and elsewhere. Because this protocol is not required by &rfc2779;, the 'jabber:iq:time' namespace was removed from &xmppim;. This specification fills the void for canonical documentation.</p>
<p>The 'jabber:iq:time' namespace provides a standard way for Jabber entities to exchange information about the local time (e.g., to "ping" another entity or check network latency). The information is communicated in a request/response pair using an &IQ; element that contains a &QUERY; scoped by the 'jabber:iq:time' namespace. The following children of the &QUERY; element are allowed in an IQ result:</p>
<ul>
<li><utc/> -- The time (in UTC) according to the responding entity. The format SHOULD be "CCYYMMDDThh:mm:ss" (see below). This element is REQUIRED in an IQ result.</li>
<li><tz/> -- The time zone in which the responding entity is located. This can be either a three-letter acronym or the full natural-language name of the timezone. <note>A list of time zone names and abbreviations is located at <<linkurl='http://www.timeanddate.com/library/abbreviations/timezones/'>http://www.timeanddate.com/library/abbreviations/timezones/</link>>.</note> This element is OPTIONAL in an IQ result.</li>
<li><display/> -- The time in a human-readable format. This element is OPTIONAL in an IQ result.</li>
</ul>
</section1>
<section1topic='Examples'>
<examplecaption='Querying Another Entity for the Time'><![CDATA[
<iqtype='get'
from='romeo@montague.net/orchard'
to='juliet@capulet.com/balcony'
id='time_1'>
<queryxmlns='jabber:iq:time'/>
</iq>
]]></example>
<examplecaption='A Response to the Query'><![CDATA[
<p>&xep0082; defines the lexical representation of dates, times, and datetimes in Jabber protocols. Unfortunately, the 'jabber:iq:time' namespace predates that definition, and uses a datetime format ("CCYYMMDDThh:mm:ss") that is inconsistent with XEP-0082 and &w3xmlschema2;. Because a large base of deployed software uses the old format, this document specifies that applications using 'jabber:iq:time' SHOULD use the old format, not the format defined in XEP-0082. In addition, note well that the datetime provided in the <utc/> element is explicitly UTC and therefore SHOULD NOT include the ending 'Z' character required by &iso8601;.</p>