XEP-XXXX: XMPP Compliance Suites 2023

Abstract
This document defines XMPP application categories for different use cases (Core, Web, IM, and Mobile), and specifies the required XEPs that client and server software needs to implement for compliance with the use cases.
Author
Georg Lukas
Copyright
© 2023 – 2023 XMPP Standards Foundation. SEE LEGAL NOTICES.
Status

ProtoXEP

WARNING: This document has not yet been accepted for consideration or approved in any official manner by the XMPP Standards Foundation, and this document is not yet an XMPP Extension Protocol (XEP). If this document is accepted as a XEP by the XMPP Council, it will be published at <https://xmpp.org/extensions/> and announced on the <standards@xmpp.org> mailing list.
Supersedes
XEP-0459
Type
Standards Track
Version
0.0.1 (2023-01-25)
Document Lifecycle
  1. Experimental
  2. Proposed
  3. Stable
  4. Final

1. Introduction

There is a growing number of XMPP Extension Protocols (XEPs) that provide different building blocks for XMPP-based applications. XMPP software developers are confronted with the challenge of finding the right combination of XEPs for a given application profile. Users need a way to compare applications without resorting to comparing for individual XEP numbers.

This document defines XMPP application Categories based on typical use cases (Core, Web, IM, Mobile) and Levels (Core, Advanced) based on functionality in the respective category. For each combination of those, the required XEPs are referenced. As the protocol landscape changes over time, this document is updated roughly once a year.

For developers, this document provides guidance on which specifications they need to consider when implementing an application of a certain kind. By completing a compliance test or performing a self-assessment, they can advertise their implementation as compliant with a given Category and Level.

For users, this provides an easy way to compare implementations based on their respective advertised compliance levels and year.

Unless explicitly noted, support for the listed specifications is REQUIRED for compliance purposes. A feature is considered supported if all comma separated feature providers listed in the "Providers" column are implemented (unless otherwise noted).

1.1 Changes since 2022

The following changes were made to the Compliance Suites since XMPP Compliance Suites 2022 (XEP-0459) [1]:

None.

1.2 Changes since 2021

The following changes were made to the Compliance Suites since XMPP Compliance Suites 2021 (XEP-0443) [2]:

1.3 Changes since 2020

The following changes were made to the Compliance Suites since XMPP Compliance Suites 2020 (XEP-0423) [5]:

1.4 Changes since 2019

The following changes were made to the Compliance Suites since XMPP Compliance Suites 2019 (XEP-0412) [10]:

2. Compliance Categories

2.1 Core Compliance Suite

Table 1: XMPP Core Compliance Levels
Feature Server Client Advanced Server Advanced Client Providers
Core features ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ RFC 6120 [22] [23]
TLS ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ RFC 7590 [25]
Direct TLS ✕ ✕ ✓ [26] ✓ SRV records for XMPP over TLS (XEP-0368) [27]
Feature discovery ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Service Discovery (XEP-0030) [28]
Feature broadcasts ✕ ✓ ✓ ✓ Entity Capabilities (XEP-0115) [29]
Server Extensibility ✓ N/A ✓ N/A Jabber Component Protocol (XEP-0114) [30]
Event publishing ✕ ✕ ✓ [31] ✓ Personal Eventing Protocol (XEP-0163) [32]

2.2 Web Compliance Suite

To be considered XMPP web compliant, all features from the core compliance category must be met, as well as all features in this suite.

Table 2: XMPP Web Compliance Levels
Feature Server Client Advanced Server Advanced Client Providers
Web Connection Mechanisms ✓ [33] ✓ [34] ✓ [33] ✓ [34] RFC 7395 [35], XMPP Over BOSH (XEP-0206) [36] (See also: BOSH (XEP-0124) [37])
Connection Mechanism Discovery ✕ ✓ N/A ✓ Discovering Alternative XMPP Connection Methods (XEP-0156) [21]

2.3 IM Compliance Suite

To be considered XMPP IM compliant, all features from the core compliance category must be met, as well as all features in this suite.

Table 3: XMPP IM Compliance Levels
Feature Server Client Advanced Server Advanced Client Providers
Core features ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ RFC 6121 [38]
The /me Command N/A ✓ N/A ✓ The /me Command (XEP-0245) [11]
User Avatars N/A ✕ N/A ✓ [39] User Avatar (XEP-0084) [40]
User Avatar Compatibility ✕ ✕ ✓ ✓ [39] User Avatar to vCard-Based Avatars Conversion (XEP-0398) [41], vCard-Based Avatars (XEP-0153) [42]
vcard-temp ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ vcard-temp (XEP-0054) [43]
Outbound Message Synchronization ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Message Carbons (XEP-0280) [44]
User Blocking ✕ ✕ ✓ ✓ Blocking Command (XEP-0191) [45]
Group Chat ✓ [33] ✓ [46] ✓ [33] ✓ [46] Multi-User Chat (XEP-0045) [47] [48], Direct MUC Invitations (XEP-0249) [50]
Advanced Group Chat ✕ ✕ ✓ [33] ✓ Bookmark Storage (XEP-0048) [51], Message Archive Management (XEP-0313) [52] [53], PEP Native Bookmarks (XEP-0402) [4] [54], MUC Self-Ping (Schrödinger's Chat) (XEP-0410) [56]
Persistent Storage of Private Data via PubSub ✕ ✕ ✓ [33] ✓ Best Practices for Persistent Storage of Private Data via Publish-Subscribe (XEP-0223) [57]
Private XML Storage ✕ ✕ ✓ [33] ✓ Private XML Storage (XEP-0049) [54] (only recommended for legacy bookmarks support)
Stream Management ✕ ✕ ✓ ✓ Stream Management (XEP-0198) [58]
Message Acknowledgements N/A ✕ N/A ✓ Message Delivery Receipts (XEP-0184) [59]
History Storage / Retrieval ✕ ✕ ✓ ✓ Message Archive Management (XEP-0313) [52]
Chat States N/A ✕ N/A ✓ Chat State Notifications (XEP-0085) [60]
Message Correction N/A ✕ N/A ✓ Last Message Correction (XEP-0308) [61]
File Upload ✓ [33] ✓ ✓ [33] ✓ HTTP File Upload (XEP-0363) [12]
Direct File Transfer N/A ✕ N/A ✓ Jingle File Transfer (XEP-0234) [13], Jingle In-Band Bytestreams Transport Method (XEP-0261) [14]

Further specifications of note, which are not required for compliance:

2.4 Mobile Compliance Suite

To be considered XMPP mobile compliant, all features from the core compliance category must be met, as well as all features in this suite.

Table 4: XMPP Mobile Compliance Levels
Feature Server Client Advanced Server Advanced Client Providers
Stream Management ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Stream Management (XEP-0198) [58]
Client State Indication ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Client State Indication (XEP-0352) [62]
Third Party Push Notifications ✕ ✕ ✓ [33] ✓ [63] Push Notifications (XEP-0357) [64]

Further specifications of note, which are not required for compliance:

2.5 A/V Calling Compliance Suite

To be considered XMPP A/V calling compliant, all features from the core compliance category must be met, as well as all features in this suite.

Table 5: A/V Calling Compliance Levels
Feature Server Client Advanced Server Advanced Client Providers
Call Setup N/A ✓ N/A ✓ Jingle RTP Sessions (XEP-0167) [65], Jingle Message Initiation (XEP-0353) [66]
Transport N/A ✓ N/A ✓ Jingle ICE-UDP Transport Method (XEP-0176) [67]
Encryption N/A ✓ N/A ✓ Use of DTLS-SRTP in Jingle Sessions (XEP-0320) [68]
STUN/TURN server discovery ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ External Service Discovery (XEP-0215) [69]
Quality and Performance improvements N/A ✕ N/A ✓ Jingle RTP Feedback Negotiation (XEP-0293) [70], Jingle RTP Header Extensions Negotiation (XEP-0294) [71], Jingle Grouping Framework (XEP-0338) [72], Source-Specific Media Attributes in Jingle (XEP-0339) [73]

3. Future Development

This section outlines the protocol specifications that are relevant for developers, but are not ready yet to be required for Compliance. Developers are encouraged to implement those and to share their experience and feedback.

4. Implementation Notes

Some of the protocol specifications referenced herein have their own dependencies; developers need to consult the relevant specifications for further information.

5. Security Considerations

This document introduces no additional security considerations above and beyond those defined in the documents on which it depends.

6. IANA Considerations

This document requires no interaction with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) [89].

7. XMPP Registrar Considerations

This document requires no interaction with the XMPP Registrar [90].

8. Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Guus der Kinderen, Dele Olajide, Marc Laporte, Dave Cridland, Daniel Gultsch, Florian Schmaus, Tobias Markmann, and Jonas Schäfer for their suggestions.

Appendices

Appendix A: Document Information

Series
XEP
Number
XXXX
Publisher
XMPP Standards Foundation
Status
ProtoXEP
Type
Standards Track
Version
0.0.1
Last Updated
2023-01-25
Approving Body
XMPP Council
Dependencies
RFC 6120, RFC 6121, RFC 7395, RFC 7590, RFC 7622, XEP-0030, XEP-0045, XEP-0048, XEP-0049, XEP-0084, XEP-0085, XEP-0114, XEP-0115, XEP-0124, XEP-0163, XEP-0191, XEP-0198, XEP-0206, XEP-0223, XEP-0249, XEP-0280, XEP-0313, XEP-0352, XEP-0368, XEP-0402
Supersedes
XEP-0459
Superseded By
None
Short Name
CS2023

This document in other formats: XML  PDF

Appendix B: Author Information

Georg Lukas
Email
georg@op-co.de
JabberID
georg@yax.im

Copyright

This XMPP Extension Protocol is copyright © 1999 – 2024 by the XMPP Standards Foundation (XSF).

Permissions

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this specification (the "Specification"), to make use of the Specification without restriction, including without limitation the rights to implement the Specification in a software program, deploy the Specification in a network service, and copy, modify, merge, publish, translate, distribute, sublicense, or sell copies of the Specification, and to permit persons to whom the Specification is furnished to do so, subject to the condition that the foregoing copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Specification. Unless separate permission is granted, modified works that are redistributed shall not contain misleading information regarding the authors, title, number, or publisher of the Specification, and shall not claim endorsement of the modified works by the authors, any organization or project to which the authors belong, or the XMPP Standards Foundation.

Disclaimer of Warranty

## NOTE WELL: This Specification is provided on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, express or implied, including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. ##

Limitation of Liability

In no event and under no legal theory, whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or otherwise, unless required by applicable law (such as deliberate and grossly negligent acts) or agreed to in writing, shall the XMPP Standards Foundation or any author of this Specification be liable for damages, including any direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages of any character arising from, out of, or in connection with the Specification or the implementation, deployment, or other use of the Specification (including but not limited to damages for loss of goodwill, work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or any and all other commercial damages or losses), even if the XMPP Standards Foundation or such author has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

IPR Conformance

This XMPP Extension Protocol has been contributed in full conformance with the XSF's Intellectual Property Rights Policy (a copy of which can be found at <https://xmpp.org/about/xsf/ipr-policy> or obtained by writing to XMPP Standards Foundation, P.O. Box 787, Parker, CO 80134 USA).

Visual Presentation

The HTML representation (you are looking at) is maintained by the XSF. It is based on the YAML CSS Framework, which is licensed under the terms of the CC-BY-SA 2.0 license.

Appendix D: Relation to XMPP

The Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) is defined in the XMPP Core (RFC 6120) and XMPP IM (RFC 6121) specifications contributed by the XMPP Standards Foundation to the Internet Standards Process, which is managed by the Internet Engineering Task Force in accordance with RFC 2026. Any protocol defined in this document has been developed outside the Internet Standards Process and is to be understood as an extension to XMPP rather than as an evolution, development, or modification of XMPP itself.

Appendix E: Discussion Venue

The primary venue for discussion of XMPP Extension Protocols is the <standards@xmpp.org> discussion list.

Discussion on other xmpp.org discussion lists might also be appropriate; see <https://xmpp.org/community/> for a complete list.

Given that this XMPP Extension Protocol normatively references IETF technologies, discussion on the <xsf-ietf@xmpp.org> list might also be appropriate.

Errata can be sent to <editor@xmpp.org>.

Appendix F: Requirements Conformance

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.

Appendix G: Notes

1. XEP-0459: XMPP Compliance Suites 2022 <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0459.html>.

2. XEP-0443: XMPP Compliance Suites 2021 <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0443.html>.

3. XEP-0411: Bookmarks Conversion <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0411.html>.

4. XEP-0402: PEP Native Bookmarks <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0402.html>.

5. XEP-0423: XMPP Compliance Suites 2020 <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0423.html>.

6. XEP-0393: Message Styling <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0393.html>.

7. XEP-0433: Extended Channel Search <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0433.html>.

8. XEP-0424: Message Retraction <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0424.html>.

9. XEP-0425: Message Moderation <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0425.html>.

10. XEP-0412: XMPP Compliance Suites 2019 <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0412.html>.

11. XEP-0245: The /me Command <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0245.html>.

12. XEP-0363: HTTP File Upload <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0363.html>.

13. XEP-0234: Jingle File Transfer <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0234.html>.

14. XEP-0261: Jingle In-Band Bytestreams Transport Method <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0261.html>.

15. XEP-0077: In-Band Registration <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0077.html>.

16. XEP-0157: Contact Addresses for XMPP Services <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0157.html>.

17. XEP-0392: Consistent Color Generation <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0392.html>.

18. XEP-0066: Out of Band Data <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0066.html>.

19. XEP-0385: Stateless Inline Media Sharing (SIMS) <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0385.html>.

20. XEP-0286: Mobile Considerations on LTE Networks <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0286.html>.

21. XEP-0156: Discovering Alternative XMPP Connection Methods <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0156.html>.

22. RFC 6120: Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP): Core <http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6120>.

23. RFC 7622 [24] is not listed due to the unclear interoperability impact of using PRECIS and Stringprep in the same ecosystem.

24. RFC 7622: Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP): Address Format <http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7622>.

25. RFC 7590: Use of Transport Layer Security (TLS) in the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) <http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7590>.

26. Server support of XEP-0368 means having the ability to accept direct TLS connections.

27. XEP-0368: SRV records for XMPP over TLS <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0368.html>.

28. XEP-0030: Service Discovery <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0030.html>.

29. XEP-0115: Entity Capabilities <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0115.html>.

30. XEP-0114: Jabber Component Protocol <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0114.html>.

31. While 'Personal Eventing Protocol' does not require all the features of 'Publish-Subscribe' to be available on the users' JIDs, and nor does this suite, it is desirable for this to be the case and it is expected that this will a requirement of future Compliance Suites.

32. XEP-0163: Personal Eventing Protocol <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0163.html>.

33. Support can be enabled via an external component or an internal server module/plugin. If claiming compliance using such an addition, the necessary components/modules/plugins MUST be detailed.

34. Only one of the recommended providers must be implemented for compliance.

35. RFC 7395: An Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) Subprotocol for WebSocket <http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7395>.

36. XEP-0206: XMPP Over BOSH <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0206.html>.

37. XEP-0124: Bidirectional-streams Over Synchronous HTTP <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0124.html>.

38. RFC 6121: Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP): Instant Messaging and Presence <http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6121>.

39. Not required for command line or terminal based interfaces.

40. XEP-0084: User Avatar <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0084.html>.

41. XEP-0398: User Avatar to vCard-Based Avatars Conversion <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0398.html>.

42. XEP-0153: vCard-Based Avatars <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0153.html>.

43. XEP-0054: vcard-temp <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0054.html>.

44. XEP-0280: Message Carbons <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0280.html>.

45. XEP-0191: Blocking Command <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0191.html>.

46. Support for the Entity Use Cases and Occupant Use Cases is REQUIRED; support for the remaining use cases is RECOMMENDED.

47. XEP-0045: Multi-User Chat <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0045.html>.

48. Implementations should take note that future versions of these compliance suites may rely on Mediated Information eXchange (MIX) (XEP-0369) [49] instead.

49. XEP-0369: Mediated Information eXchange (MIX) <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0369.html>.

50. XEP-0249: Direct MUC Invitations <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0249.html>.

51. XEP-0048: Bookmark Storage <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0048.html>.

52. XEP-0313: Message Archive Management <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0313.html>.

53. Support for requesting history from a MUC archive as opposed to from the user's account.

54. Usage of which should only happen when the 'urn:xmpp:bookmarks:1#compat' is exposed by the server, otherwise Private XML Storage (XEP-0049) [55] should be used instead.

55. XEP-0049: Private XML Storage <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0049.html>.

56. XEP-0410: MUC Self-Ping (Schrödinger's Chat) <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0410.html>.

57. XEP-0223: Best Practices for Persistent Storage of Private Data via Publish-Subscribe <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0223.html>.

58. XEP-0198: Stream Management <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0198.html>.

59. XEP-0184: Message Delivery Receipts <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0184.html>.

60. XEP-0085: Chat State Notifications <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0085.html>.

61. XEP-0308: Last Message Correction <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0308.html>.

62. XEP-0352: Client State Indication <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0352.html>.

63. Only on platforms that disallow long-lasting background connections.

64. XEP-0357: Push Notifications <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0357.html>.

65. XEP-0167: Jingle RTP Sessions <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0167.html>.

66. XEP-0353: Jingle Message Initiation <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0353.html>.

67. XEP-0176: Jingle ICE-UDP Transport Method <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0176.html>.

68. XEP-0320: Use of DTLS-SRTP in Jingle Sessions <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0320.html>.

69. XEP-0215: External Service Discovery <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0215.html>.

70. XEP-0293: Jingle RTP Feedback Negotiation<https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0293.html>.

71. XEP-0294: Jingle RTP Header Extensions Negotiation <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0294.html>.

72. XEP-0338: Jingle Grouping Framework <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0338.html>.

73. XEP-0339: Source-Specific Media Attributes in Jingle <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0339.html>.

74. XEP-0386: Bind 2.0 <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0386.html>.

75. XEP-0409: IM Routing-NG <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0409.html>.

76. XEP-0397: Instant Stream Resumption <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0397.html>.

77. XEP-0401: Easy User Onboarding <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0401.html>.

78. XEP-0379: Pre-Authenticated Roster Subscription <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0379.html>.

79. XEP-0445: Pre-Authenticated In-Band Registration <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0445.html>.

80. XEP-0333: Displayed Markers <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0333.html>.

81. XEP-0380: Explicit Message Encryption <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0380.html>.

82. XEP-0420: Stanza Content Encryption <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0420.html>.

83. XEP-0384: OMEMO Encryption <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0384.html>.

84. XEP-0396: Jingle Encrypted Transports - OMEMO <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0396.html>.

85. XEP-0374: OpenPGP for XMPP Instant Messaging <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0374.html>.

86. XEP-0225: Component Connections <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0225.html>.

87. XEP-0390: Entity Capabilities 2.0 <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0390.html>.

88. XEP-0455: Service Outage Status <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0455.html>.

89. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is the central coordinator for the assignment of unique parameter values for Internet protocols, such as port numbers and URI schemes. For further information, see <http://www.iana.org/>.

90. The XMPP Registrar maintains a list of reserved protocol namespaces as well as registries of parameters used in the context of XMPP extension protocols approved by the XMPP Standards Foundation. For further information, see <https://xmpp.org/registrar/>.

Appendix H: Revision History

Note: Older versions of this specification might be available at https://xmpp.org/extensions/attic/

  1. Version 0.0.1 (2023-01-25)

    First draft based on XEP-0459.

    gl

Appendix I: Bib(La)TeX Entry

@report{lukas2023cs2023,
  title = {XMPP Compliance Suites 2023},
  author = {Lukas, Georg},
  type = {XEP},
  number = {XXXX},
  version = {0.0.1},
  institution = {XMPP Standards Foundation},
  url = {https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-XXXX.html},
  date = {2023-01-25/2023-01-25},
}

END