Mark Crispin
Encyclopedia
Mark Crispin is best known as the father of the IMAP protocol, having invented it in 1985 during his time at the Stanford Knowledge Systems Laboratory. He is the author or co-author of numerous RFC
s; and is the principal author of UW IMAP
, one of the reference implementations of the IMAP4rev1 protocol described in RFC 3501. He also designed the mix
mail storage format.
Mark earned a B.S. in Technology and Society from Stevens Institute of Technology
in 1977.
From 1977 to 1988, he was a Systems Programmer at Stanford University
. He developed the first production PDP-10
32-bit address ARPAnet
NCP
for the WAITS
operating system, and wrote or rewrote most of the WAITS ARPAnet protocol suite. Prior to that time most systems only supported the original 8-bit addresses. During that time, he wrote the infamous RFC 748, the only document specifically marked in the RFC index with note date of issue; and a series of Telnet
implementations for the Incompatible Timesharing System
, WAITS
, and TOPS-20
operating systems whose escape behavior was playfully immortalized by Guy Steele in the April 1984 Communications of the ACM as The Telnet Song.
In the early 1980s, shortly after becoming the Systems Programmer for the Stanford Computer Science Department's TOPS-20
system, he became interested in electronic mail software and systems; ever since that has been his primary focus. He became the principal developer of the TOPS-20
mailsystem, and reportedly still runs TOPS-20 systems at his residence. It was at Stanford, in the 1985-1988 period, that IMAP was first developed.
From 1988 to 2008, he was a Software Engineer at the University of Washington
, where much of the work in developing and popularizing IMAP and building what became UW IMAP
was done. He forked UW IMAP into Panda IMAP in May 2008.
In 2005, he wrote RFC 4042, his second April Fools' Day RFC
describing UTF-9 and UTF-18
, encodings of Unicode optimized for the PDP-10.
In August 2008, Mark Crispin joined Messaging Architects
as a Senior Software Engineer. At Messaging Architects, he wrote an entirely new IMAP server based upon a distributed mail store, and extended the mix format
to support stubbing (via a mechanism called virtual mailboxes) and metadata.
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...
s; and is the principal author of UW IMAP
UW IMAP
The UW IMAP server is the reference server implementation of the IMAP protocol. Unlike other server implementations, it is designed to be aggressively compatible with existing legacy mail stores and systems, and to be "plug-and-play" installable without requiring any site-specific configuration.UW...
, one of the reference implementations of the IMAP4rev1 protocol described in RFC 3501. He also designed the mix
MIX (Email)
MIX is a high-performance, indexed, on-disk email storage system that is designed for use with the IMAP protocol. MIX was designed by Mark Crispin, the author of the IMAP protocol. Server support for it has been included in releases of UW IMAP since 2006, Panda IMAP, and Messaging Architects...
mail storage format.
Mark earned a B.S. in Technology and Society from Stevens Institute of Technology
Stevens Institute of Technology
Stevens Institute of Technology is a technological university located on a campus in Hoboken, New Jersey, USA – founded in 1870 with an 1868 bequest from Edwin A. Stevens. It is known for its engineering, science, and technological management curricula.The institute has produced leading...
in 1977.
From 1977 to 1988, he was a Systems Programmer at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
. He developed the first production PDP-10
PDP-10
The PDP-10 was a mainframe computer family manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation from the late 1960s on; the name stands for "Programmed Data Processor model 10". The first model was delivered in 1966...
32-bit address ARPAnet
ARPANET
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network , was the world's first operational packet switching network and the core network of a set that came to compose the global Internet...
NCP
Network Control Program
The Network Control Program provided the middle layers of the protocol stack running on host computers of the ARPANET, the predecessor to the modern Internet...
for the WAITS
WAITS
WAITS was a heavily-modified variant of Digital Equipment Corporation's Monitor operating system for the PDP-6 and PDP-10 mainframe computers, used at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory up until 1990; the mainframe computer it ran on also went by the name of "SAIL".There was never an...
operating system, and wrote or rewrote most of the WAITS ARPAnet protocol suite. Prior to that time most systems only supported the original 8-bit addresses. During that time, he wrote the infamous RFC 748, the only document specifically marked in the RFC index with note date of issue; and a series of Telnet
TELNET
Telnet is a network protocol used on the Internet or local area networks to provide a bidirectional interactive text-oriented communications facility using a virtual terminal connection...
implementations for the Incompatible Timesharing System
Incompatible Timesharing System
ITS, the Incompatible Timesharing System , was an early, revolutionary, and influential time-sharing operating system from MIT; it was developed principally by the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT, with some help from Project MAC.In addition to being technically influential ITS, the...
, WAITS
WAITS
WAITS was a heavily-modified variant of Digital Equipment Corporation's Monitor operating system for the PDP-6 and PDP-10 mainframe computers, used at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory up until 1990; the mainframe computer it ran on also went by the name of "SAIL".There was never an...
, and TOPS-20
TOPS-20
The TOPS-20 operating system by Digital Equipment Corporation was the second proprietary OS for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. TOPS-20 began in 1969 as the TENEX operating system of Bolt, Beranek and Newman...
operating systems whose escape behavior was playfully immortalized by Guy Steele in the April 1984 Communications of the ACM as The Telnet Song.
In the early 1980s, shortly after becoming the Systems Programmer for the Stanford Computer Science Department's TOPS-20
TOPS-20
The TOPS-20 operating system by Digital Equipment Corporation was the second proprietary OS for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. TOPS-20 began in 1969 as the TENEX operating system of Bolt, Beranek and Newman...
system, he became interested in electronic mail software and systems; ever since that has been his primary focus. He became the principal developer of the TOPS-20
TOPS-20
The TOPS-20 operating system by Digital Equipment Corporation was the second proprietary OS for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. TOPS-20 began in 1969 as the TENEX operating system of Bolt, Beranek and Newman...
mailsystem, and reportedly still runs TOPS-20 systems at his residence. It was at Stanford, in the 1985-1988 period, that IMAP was first developed.
From 1988 to 2008, he was a Software Engineer at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
, where much of the work in developing and popularizing IMAP and building what became UW IMAP
UW IMAP
The UW IMAP server is the reference server implementation of the IMAP protocol. Unlike other server implementations, it is designed to be aggressively compatible with existing legacy mail stores and systems, and to be "plug-and-play" installable without requiring any site-specific configuration.UW...
was done. He forked UW IMAP into Panda IMAP in May 2008.
In 2005, he wrote RFC 4042, his second April Fools' Day RFC
April Fools' Day RFC
Almost every April Fools' Day since 1989, the Internet Engineering Task Force has published one or more humorous RFC documents, following in the path blazed by the June 1973 RFC 527 entitled ARPAWOCKY, which parodied Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem Jabberwocky...
describing UTF-9 and UTF-18
UTF-9 and UTF-18
UTF-9 and UTF-18 were two April Fools' Day RFC joke specifications for encoding Unicode on systems where the nonet is a better fit for the native word size than the octet, such as the 36-bit PDP-10...
, encodings of Unicode optimized for the PDP-10.
In August 2008, Mark Crispin joined Messaging Architects
Messaging Architects
Messaging Architects is a Canadian software company specializing in e-mail products. The flagship product is Netmail, an integrated email management platform. Netmail helps your organization manage the full lifecyle of email – from the moment a message is created through its end of life destruction...
as a Senior Software Engineer. At Messaging Architects, he wrote an entirely new IMAP server based upon a distributed mail store, and extended the mix format
MIX (Email)
MIX is a high-performance, indexed, on-disk email storage system that is designed for use with the IMAP protocol. MIX was designed by Mark Crispin, the author of the IMAP protocol. Server support for it has been included in releases of UW IMAP since 2006, Panda IMAP, and Messaging Architects...
to support stubbing (via a mechanism called virtual mailboxes) and metadata.