calext
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) R. Stepanek
Internet-Draft
Request for Comments: 9982 Fastmail
Updates: 9555 (if approved) 19 November 2025
Intended status: Standards Track
Expires: 23 May 2026
Category: Standards Track
ISSN: 2070-1721
JSContact Version 2.0: A JSON Representation of Contact Data
draft-ietf-calext-jscontact-uid-07
Abstract
This document defines version "2.0" of JSContact. It defines the uid
property of a Card object to be optional, rather than mandatory mandatory, as
defined previously in previous version "1.0". All other definitions of
JSContact version "1.0" remain as defined in RFC 9553. This document
updates RFC 9555 by redefining how to convert the now optional uid
property from and to vCard. It also registers the vCard JSCOMPS
parameter at IANA, which was defined but not registered in RFC 9555.
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This Internet-Draft will expire on 23 May 2026.
https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9982.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Notational Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3. JSContact Version 2.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4. Redefined uid Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
5. Redefined Conversion Rule for the uid Property . . . . . . . 4
6. Other Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
7. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
7.1. Update to the JSContact Version Registry . . . . . . . . 5
7.2. Update to the JSContact Properties Registry . . . . . . . 5
7.3. Update to the vCard Parameters Registry . . . . . . . . . 5
8. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
9. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
9.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
9.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1. Notational Conventions
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
capitals, as shown here.
The ABNF definitions in this document use the notations of [RFC5234].
ABNF rules not defined in this document are defined in either
[RFC5234] (such as the ABNF for CRLF, WSP, DQUOTE, VCHAR, ALPHA, and
DIGIT) or [RFC6350].
2. Introduction
JSContact [RFC9553] defines the Card object uid property, a mandatory
property which that contains a unique identifier for the entity represented
by that contact card. For the same purpose, the vCard [RFC6350]
contact format defines the UID property, an optional property of a
vCard instance. Throughout the rest of this document, the term uid
(all lowercase) denotes the JSContact uid property, and the term UID
(all uppercase) denotes the vCard UID property.
That the
The uid property was being defined to be as mandatory in JSContact has shown to
be applicable for some use cases, cases but turned out to be an issue in
other contexts: contexts.
For example, the CardDAV protocol [RFC6352] requires the UID property
of a vCard object [RFC6350] to be set. Accordingly, an internet
server that implements both CardDAV and JMAP JSON Meta Application
Protocol (JMAP) for Contacts [RFC9610] requires the uid property of a
JSContact Card to be set. In contrast, protocols such as RDAP
Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) [RFC9083] have no use for
the uid property, either because they use different identifiers, identifiers or
they prefer to not include any unique identifier in the contact data
at all. JSContact should not require them to generate unique
identifiers that are irrelevant to their use case.
Also, one of the stated goals of JSContact is to be compatible with
the semantics of the vCard data format (Section 1 of [RFC9553]). But
[RFC6350] defines the UID property of a vCard to be optional, and
consequently
consequently, the semantics of JSContact and vCard differ for such a
crucial common element.
In case of vCards without a UID property [RFC6350] (Section 6.7.6) 6.7.6 of [RFC6350])
being converted to JSContact, requiring unique identifiers is
especially problematic: the The Card uid property is mandatory mandatory, and
accordingly
accordingly, Section 2.1.1 of [RFC9555] requires implementations to
generate some unique identifier for it during conversion, but it does
not guarantee it to be the same across implementations or even one
implementation converting the same Card multiple times. A recipient
being unaware that the uid property value of such a Card object is
ephemeral might refer to it in the members property or relatedTo
property of another Card object, introducing invalid relations
between contact cards.
2. Notational Conventions
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
capitals, as shown here.
The ABNF definitions in this document use the notations of [RFC5234].
ABNF rules not defined in this document are defined in either
[RFC5234] (such as the ABNF for CRLF, WSP, DQUOTE, VCHAR, ALPHA, and
DIGIT) or [RFC6350].
3. JSContact Version 2.0
This document redefines the uid property of a Card object to become
optional. Other than that, the property definition is left
unchanged. This change requires the major version of JSContact to
change, so this document defines the JSContact version to become
"2.0". For further information about versioning JSContact data, see
Section 1.9 of [RFC9553].
Implementations MUST create JSContact data that complies with the
definitions of version "2.0" (or some later registered version) and
MUST set the version property of the JSContact Card object to that
version. They MUST NOT reject a Card object without the uid property
as invalid unless specified differently in another document, document or unless
the Card version property has value "1.0". As any valid version
"1.0" JSContact Card also is also valid according to version "2.0", there
is no need to migrate existing JSContact data.
Setting the uid property is use-case use case specific. If an implementation
is able to consistently generate the exact same unique identifier for
a JSContact Card representing the same entity and no protocol-
specific concerns prevail, it is recommended to set the uid property.
This document does not redefine the vCard UID property.
4. Redefined uid Property
This document redefines the type signature of the uid property,
originally defined in Section 2.1.9 of [RFC9553]. The new type
signature is:
OLD:
| *uid: String (mandatory).*
NEW:
| *uid: String (optional).*
The remaining property definition is left unchanged, with the
following additional paragraph:
| A Card without an uid property can not cannot be referred to as a group
| member in the members property [RFC9553] (Section 2.1.6), 2.1.6 of [RFC9553]) or put
| in relation to another Card object in the relatedTo property
| [RFC9553] (Section 2.1.8). 2.1.8 of [RFC9553]).
5. Redefined Conversion Rule for the uid Property
This document redefines how to convert the Card uid property from
vCard, originally defined in Section 2.1.1 of [RFC9555]. The new
conversion rule is: is as follows:
Implementations that convert a vCard without a UID property [RFC6350]
(Section 6.7.6) 6.7.6 of [RFC6350]) to a Card of version "2.0" or higher
MUST NOT generate a unique identifier as a value for the uid property [RFC9553]
(Section 2.1.9). 2.1.9 of [RFC9553]).
When converting a vCard without a UID property to JSContact version
"1.0", implementations MUST generate a value for the uid property.
Generating unique identifiers is implementation-specific. implementation specific. An
implementation SHOULD generate the same value when generating the
same Card multiple times. Section 2 1 describes why this is
problematic. Consequently, implementations SHOULD NOT convert to
version "1.0" Card objects.
6. Other Changes
This document also registers the JSCOMPS parameter in the IANA "vCard
Parameters" registry. The parameter was defined in Section 3.3.1 of
[RFC9555] but mistakenly not registered at IANA.
7. IANA Considerations
7.1. Update to the JSContact Version Registry
IANA will update has updated the "JSContact Version" registry, originally created
in Section 3.4 of [RFC9553]. It will add [RFC9553], by adding the following record:
+===============+=======================+===============+
+===============+=======================+===========+
| Major Version | Highest Minor Version | Reference |
+===============+=======================+===============+
+===============+=======================+===========+
| 2 | 0 | This document RFC 9982 |
+---------------+-----------------------+---------------+
+---------------+-----------------------+-----------+
Table 1: JSContact Version Registry
7.2. Update to the JSContact Properties Registry
IANA will update has updated the "JSContact Properties" registry, originally
created in Section 3.5 of [RFC9553]: In the "Reference/Description"
column of the uid property, it will add a reference to Section 4 of this document. document
has been added.
7.3. Update to the vCard Parameters Registry
IANA will update has updated the "vCard Parameters" registry within the "vCard
Elements" registry. It will add registry group by adding the following entry:
+===========+===========+============================+
| Namespace | Parameter | Reference |
+===========+===========+============================+
| | JSCOMPS | Section 3.3.1 of [RFC9555] |
+-----------+-----------+----------------------------+
Table 2: vCard Parameters Registry
8. Security Considerations
This document does not provide new security considerations. The
security considerations of Section 4 of [RFC9553] apply.
9. References
9.1. Normative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.
[RFC5234] Crocker, D., Ed. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
Specifications: ABNF", STD 68, RFC 5234,
DOI 10.17487/RFC5234, January 2008,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5234>.
[RFC6350] Perreault, S., "vCard Format Specification", RFC 6350,
DOI 10.17487/RFC6350, August 2011,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6350>.
[RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.
[RFC9553] Stepanek, R. and M. Loffredo, "JSContact: A JSON
Representation of Contact Data", RFC 9553,
DOI 10.17487/RFC9553, May 2024,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9553>.
[RFC9555] Loffredo, M. and R. Stepanek, "JSContact: Converting from
and to vCard", RFC 9555, DOI 10.17487/RFC9555, May 2024,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9555>.
9.2. Informative References
[RFC6352] Daboo, C., "CardDAV: vCard Extensions to Web Distributed
Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)", RFC 6352,
DOI 10.17487/RFC6352, August 2011,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6352>.
[RFC9083] Hollenbeck, S. and A. Newton, "JSON Responses for the
Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP)", STD 95,
RFC 9083, DOI 10.17487/RFC9083, June 2021,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9083>.
[RFC9610] Jenkins, N., Ed., "JSON Meta Application Protocol (JMAP)
for Contacts", RFC 9610, DOI 10.17487/RFC9610, December
2024, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9610>.
Author's Address
Robert Stepanek
Fastmail
PO Box 234
Collins St. West
Melbourne VIC 8007
Australia
Email: rsto@fastmailteam.com