Defined schema for stream feature; adjusted some wording for improved clarity.
Although XMPP rosters can become quite large, they change infrequently. Therefore it can be inefficient for the server to send the roster to the client during session establishment if the roster has not changed. This document defines a small modification to the XMPP roster protocol specified in &xmppim; that enables "versioning" of roster information; when the client requests the roster it specifies its latest version, and the server will simply inform the client that it is up to date if the roster has not changed.
-The basic model is that if the client request the roster and specifies a version number, the server returns an empty IQ-result. If the roster has changed, the server sends numbered roster pushes for each roster item that has been touched in any way since the version specified by the client. The client processes each roster push as it normally would, incrementing its local version number with each roster push.
+Although XMPP rosters can become quite large, they change infrequently. Therefore it can be inefficient for the server to send the roster to the client during session establishment if the roster has not changed. This document defines a small modification to the XMPP roster protocol specified in &xmppim; that enables "versioning" of roster information.
+The basic model is that if the client specifies a version number when it requests the roster, the server returns an empty IQ-result. If the roster has changed, the server sends numbered roster pushes for each roster item that has been touched in any way since the version specified by the client. The client processes each roster push as it normally would, incrementing its local version number with each roster push. Therefore the client can receive only the items that have been modified, not the entire roster.
&RFC3921BISNOTE;This document adds a new 'ver' attribute to the &QUERY; element qualified by the 'jabber:iq:roster' namespace, defined as follows:
-Definition: The 'ver' attribute is a strictly increasing sequence number that is increased (but not necessarily incremented-by-one) with any modification to the roster data. The value of the attribute MUST be a non-negative 64-bit integer, MUST be changed only by the server, and MUST be treated by the client as opaque. The server MUST ensure that each change to the roster data will result in a different sequence number and that the sequence number associated with a given roster modification will be greater than the sequence number associated with any previous roster modification. (Note: This rule effectively disallows the use of the system clock as a sequence number, since if the system time changes, e.g. because of an adjustment based on an NTP &rfc0958; update, the next generated value might be less than the previous one.)
-For purposes of this specification, a "roster modification" is any change to the roster data that would result in a roster push to a connected client. Therefore internal states related to roster processing within the server that do not result in a roster push do not necessitate a change to the sequence number. If a series of roster modifications result in a roster item that does not differ from the version cached by the client (e.g., a change to the item's 'name' attribute and then a change back to the original value), the server MUST consider the item to have been changed and MUST send the item to the client (typically via a roster push).
+This document adds a new 'ver' attribute to the &QUERY; element qualified by the 'jabber:iq:roster' namespace, defined as follows.
+Definition: The 'ver' attribute is a strictly increasing sequence number that is increased (but not necessarily incremented-by-one) with any modification to the roster data. The value of the attribute MUST be a non-negative 64-bit integer, MUST be changed only by the server, and MUST be treated by the client as opaque. The server MUST ensure that each change to the roster data will result in a different sequence number and that the sequence number associated with a given roster modification will be greater than the sequence number associated with any previous roster modification. (Note: This rule effectively disallows the use of the system clock as a sequence number, since if the system time changes, e.g. because of an adjustment based on an NTP update (see &rfc0958;), the next generated value might be less than the previous one.)
+For purposes of this specification, a "roster modification" is any change to the roster data that would result in a roster push to a connected client. Therefore internal states related to roster processing within the server that do not result in a roster push do not necessitate a increase in the sequence number. If a series of roster modifications result in a roster item that does not differ from the version cached by the client (e.g., a change to the item's 'name' attribute and then a change back to the original value), the server MUST consider the item to have been changed and MUST send the item to the client (typically via a roster push).
If a client supports roster versioning, it SHOULD include the 'ver' element in its request for the roster, where the 'ver' attribute is set to the sequence number associated with its last cache of the roster.
@@ -107,12 +113,12 @@ C:Whether or not the roster has changed since the version enumerated by the client, the server MUST either return the complete roster as described in RFC 3921 or return an empty IQ-result (thus indicating that roster changes will be sent via roster pushes, as described below). In general, unless returning the complete roster would use less bandwidth than sending individual roster pushes to the client (e.g., if the roster contains only a few items), the server SHOULD send an empty IQ-result and then send the modifications via roster pushes.
+Whether or not the roster has changed since the version enumerated by the client, the server MUST either return the complete roster as described in RFC 3921 or return an empty IQ-result (thus indicating that any roster modifications will be sent via roster pushes, as described below). In general, unless returning the complete roster would use less bandwidth than sending individual roster pushes to the client (e.g., if the roster contains only a few items), the server SHOULD send an empty IQ-result and then send the modifications (if any) via roster pushes.
Note: This empty IQ-result is different from an empty &QUERY;, thus disambiguating this usage from an empty roster.
-If the roster has not changed since the version enumerated by the client, the server will simply not send any roster pushes to the client (until and unless some relevant event triggers a push during the lifetime of the client's session).
+If the roster has not changed since the version enumerated by the client, the server will simply not send any roster pushes to the client (until and unless some relevant event triggers a roster push during the lifetime of the client's session).
If the roster has changed since the version enumerated by the client, the server MUST then send one roster push to the client for each roster item that has been modified since the version enumerated by the client.
The client MUST handle an "interim roster push" in the same way it handles any roster push (indeed, from the client's perspective it cannot tell the difference between an "interim" roster push and a "live" roster push). If the client's session ends before it receives all of the interim roster pushes, when requesting the roster after reconnection it SHOULD request the version associated with the last roster push it received, not the version associated with the last roster result it received.
-When roster versioning is enabled, the server MUST include the updated roster version number with each roster push. Roster pushes MUST occur in sequence order and the version number contained in a roster push MUST be unique.
+The client MUST handle an "interim roster push" in the same way it handles any roster push (indeed, from the client's perspective it cannot tell the difference between an "interim" roster push and a "live" roster push). If the client's session ends before it receives all of the interim roster pushes, when requesting the roster after reconnection it SHOULD request the version associated with the last roster push it received during the session that was disconnected, not the version associated with the roster result it received at the start of the session that was disconnected.
+When roster versioning is enabled, the server MUST include the updated roster sequence number with each roster push. Roster pushes MUST occur in sequence order and the sequence number contained in a roster push MUST be unique.
This section provides a detailed scenario that illustrates the use of roster versioning. In this example the client gets disconnected before it the server has had a chance to send all of its roster pushes, but this is immaterial to the synchronization process.
+This section provides a detailed scenario that illustrates the use of roster versioning. In this example the client gets disconnected before the server has had a chance to send all of its roster pushes, but this is immaterial to the synchronization process.
It is possible that client-side caching of roster information (rather than holding them in memory only for the life of the session) could introduce new vulnerabilities, such as misuse by malware. Implementations are advised to appropriately protect cached roster data.
+It is possible that client-side caching of roster information across sessions (rather than holding them in memory only for the life of a session) could introduce new vulnerabilities, such as misuse by malware. Implementations are advised to appropriately protect cached roster data.
Until this specification advances to a status of Draft, the associated namespace for its stream feature shall be "urn:xmpp:features:rosterver". Upon advancement of this specification, the ®ISTRAR; shall issue a permanent namespace in accordance with the process defined in Section 4 of &xep0053;; the requested namespace is "urn:xmpp:seq", which is thought to be unique per the XMPP Registrar's requirements.
+This specification defines the following XML namespace:
+Upon advancement of this specification from a status of Experimental to a status of Draft, the ®ISTRAR; shall add the foregoing namespace to the registry located at &STREAMFEATURES;, as described in Section 4 of &xep0053;.
This specification proposes addition of the 'ver' attribute to the schema for the 'jabber:iq:roster' namespace.
+ +This specification proposes addition of the 'ver' attribute to the schema for the 'jabber:iq:roster' namespace.
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