Application Configuration Access Protocol
Encyclopedia
The Application Configuration Access Protocol (ACAP) is a protocol for storing and synchronizing general configuration and preference data. It was originally developed so that IMAP
clients can easily access address book
s, user options, and other data on a central server and be kept in synch across all clients.
Two International ACAP Conferences were held, one in Pittsburgh, PA, USA, in 1997, and the other at Qualcomm Incorporated, San Diego, CA, USA, in February, 1998.
ACAP grew to encompass several other areas, including bookmark management for web browsers -- it's effectively a roaming protocol for Internet
applications. ACAP is in use by at least four clients and three servers to varying degrees, but it has never gained the mindshare of Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
or SyncML
. It's a deceptively simple protocol, but the combination of three key features, hierarchical data, fine-grained access control, and "contexts" or saved searches with notification, has caused serious problems for server implementors.
Unlike LDAP, ACAP was designed for frequent writes, disconnected mode access (meaning clients can go offline and then resynchronize later), and so on. It also handles data inheritance, sometimes known as stacking, which provides easy creation of defaults.
The IETF ACAP Working Group ceased activity in April 2004,http://www1.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/ietf-announce/current/msg00091.html having released two RFCs
, RFC 2244 ("ACAP — Application Configuration Access Protocol") and RFC 2245 ("Anonymous SASL Mechanism").
Internet Message Access Protocol
Internet message access protocol is one of the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval, the other being the Post Office Protocol...
clients can easily access address book
Address book
An address book or a name and address book is a book or a database used for storing entries called contacts. Each contact entry usually consists of a few standard fields...
s, user options, and other data on a central server and be kept in synch across all clients.
Two International ACAP Conferences were held, one in Pittsburgh, PA, USA, in 1997, and the other at Qualcomm Incorporated, San Diego, CA, USA, in February, 1998.
ACAP grew to encompass several other areas, including bookmark management for web browsers -- it's effectively a roaming protocol for Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
applications. ACAP is in use by at least four clients and three servers to varying degrees, but it has never gained the mindshare of Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is an application protocol for accessing and maintaining distributed directory information services over an Internet Protocol network...
or SyncML
SyncML
SyncML is the former name for a platform-independent information synchronization standard. The project is currently referred to as Open Mobile Alliance Data Synchronization and Device Management...
. It's a deceptively simple protocol, but the combination of three key features, hierarchical data, fine-grained access control, and "contexts" or saved searches with notification, has caused serious problems for server implementors.
Unlike LDAP, ACAP was designed for frequent writes, disconnected mode access (meaning clients can go offline and then resynchronize later), and so on. It also handles data inheritance, sometimes known as stacking, which provides easy creation of defaults.
The IETF ACAP Working Group ceased activity in April 2004,http://www1.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/ietf-announce/current/msg00091.html having released two RFCs
Request for Comments
In computer network engineering, a Request for Comments is a memorandum published by the Internet Engineering Task Force describing methods, behaviors, research, or innovations applicable to the working of the Internet and Internet-connected systems.Through the Internet Society, engineers and...
, RFC 2244 ("ACAP — Application Configuration Access Protocol") and RFC 2245 ("Anonymous SASL Mechanism").
See also
- KolabKolabKolab is an open source groupware suite. It consists of the Kolab server and a wide variety of Kolab clients, including KDE PIM-Suite Kontact, Horde Webfrontend, Mozilla Thunderbird and Mozilla Lightning with SyncKolab extension and Microsoft Outlook with proprietary Kolab-Connector PlugIns.-Basic...
- LDAPLightweight Directory Access ProtocolThe Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is an application protocol for accessing and maintaining distributed directory information services over an Internet Protocol network...
- iCalendarICalendariCalendar is a computer file format which allows Internet users to send meeting requests and tasks to other Internet users, via email, or sharing files with an extension of .ics...
- WebDAVWebDAVWeb-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning is a set of methods based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol that facilitates collaboration between users in editing and managing documents and files stored on World Wide Web servers...
- CalDAVCalDAVCalendaring Extensions to WebDAV, or CalDAV, is an Internet standard allowing a client to access scheduling information on a remote server. It extends WebDAV specification and uses iCalendar format for the data. The protocol is defined by RFC 4791...
- IMSPIMSPIMSP is Internet Message Support Protocol. Defined in a 1995 , which carries this abstract:Work on standardizing IMSP was never completed because development of the ACAP protocol, which has a superset of IMSP's functionality.- Implementations :...
- SyncMLSyncMLSyncML is the former name for a platform-independent information synchronization standard. The project is currently referred to as Open Mobile Alliance Data Synchronization and Device Management...