The Jabber network has long included a wire protocol that enables trusted components to connect to Jabber servers. While this component protocol is minimal and will probably be superseded by a more comprehensive component protocol at some point, informational documentation of the existing protocol would be helpful for component and server developers. This specification provides such documentation.
Traditionally there have been two basic kinds of server-side components: "internal components" (which utilize the internal API of a server, in the past particularly the jabberd [1] server) and "external components" (which communicate with a server over a wire protocol and therefore are not tied to any particular server implementation). The wire component protocol in use today enables an external component to connect to a server (with proper configuration and authentication) and to send and receive XML stanzas through the server. There are two connection methods: "accept" and "connect". When the "accept" method is used, the server waits for connections from components and accepts them when they are initiated by a component. When the "connect" method is used, the server initiates the connection to a component. The "accept" method is by far the most common method, but both are documented herein. (In the past, there has been one other connection method for external components: "execute". However, this method is obsolete and is not documented herein.)
An external component is called "trusted" because it authenticates with a server using authentication credentials that include a shared secret. This secret is commonly specified in the configuration files used by the server and component, but could be provided at runtime on the command line or extracted from a database. An external component is commonly trusted to do things that clients cannot, such as write 'from' addresses for the server's domain(s). Some server may also allow components to send packets that are used by the server's internal protocol (e.g., <log/> and <xdb/> packets in the jabberd 1.x series); however, those internal protocols are out of scope for this document.
The main difference between the jabber:component:* namespaces and the 'jabber:client' or 'jabber:server' namespace is authentication. External components do not use the obsolete Non-SASL Authentication (XEP-0078) [2] protocol (i.e., the 'jabber:iq:auth' namespace), nor do they (yet) use SASL authentication as defined in XMPP Core [3] (although a future component protocol would most likely use SASL). Instead, they use a special <handshake/> element whose XML character data specifies credentials for the component's session with the server. The protocol flow for stream negotiation and authentication using jabber:component:accept is as follows:
<stream:stream
xmlns='jabber:component:accept'
xmlns:stream='http://etherx.jabber.org/streams'
to='plays.shakespeare.lit'>
Note: In the 'jabber:component:accept' namespace, the value of the 'to' address is the component name, not the server name; [4] this enables the server to determine whether it will service a component of that name (e.g., based on server configuration or some other implementation-specific mechanism). If so, the server MUST reply with a stream header.
<stream:stream
xmlns:stream='http://etherx.jabber.org/streams'
xmlns='jabber:component:accept'
from='plays.shakespeare.lit'
id='3BF96D32'>
If the server will not service the component name specified in the 'to' attribute of the stream header, it MUST return a stream error (e.g., <conflict/> or <host-unknown/>). If the server does not recognize or support the namespace specified in the stream header (e.g., it does not support streams qualified by the 'jabber:component:accept' namespace), it MUST return an <invalid-namespace/> stream error. For all errors related to the stream header, the server MUST follow the rules in Section 4.7.1 of XMPP Core by returning an opening stream tag, stream error element, and closing stream tag rather than merely a stream error element (refer to RFC 3920 for details).
After receiving the stream header reply from the server, the component MUST send a <handshake/> element with appropriate contents. [5]
<handshake>aaee83c26aeeafcbabeabfcbcd50df997e0a2a1e</handshake>
The XML character data of the handshake element is computed according to the following algorithm:
If the credentials supplied by the initiator are not valid, the receiver MUST close the stream and the underlying TCP connection, and SHOULD return a <not-authorized/> stream error.
If the credentials are acceptable, the receiving application (in this case the server) MUST return an empty <handshake/> element.
<handshake/>
Once authenticated, the component can send stanzas through the server and receive stanzas from the server. All stanzas sent to the server MUST possess a 'from' attribute and a 'to' attribute, as in the 'jabber:server' namespace. The domain identifier portion of the JID contained in the 'from' attribute MUST match the hostname of the component. However, this is the only restriction on 'from' addresses, and the component MAY send stanzas from any user at its hostname.
Given that an external component is trusted to write 'from' addresses for any user at the component's hostname, server administrators SHOULD make sure that they in fact do trust the component software.
This document requires no interaction with the the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) [6]
The XMPP Registrar [7] includes 'jabber:component:accept' and 'jabber:component:connect' in its registry of protocol namespaces.
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<xs:schema
xmlns:xs='http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema'
xmlns:xml='http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace'
targetNamespace='jabber:component:accept'
xmlns='jabber:component:accept'
elementFormDefault='qualified'>
<xs:annotation>
<xs:documentation>
The protocol documented by this schema is defined in
XEP-0114: http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0114.html
</xs:documentation>
</xs:annotation>
<xs:import namespace='urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:xmpp-stanzas'
schemaLocation='http://xmpp.org/schemas/stanzaerror.xsd'/>
<xs:import namespace='http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace'
schemaLocation='http://www.w3.org/2001/03/xml.xsd'/>
<xs:element name='handshake' type='xs:string'/>
<xs:element name='message'>
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:choice minOccurs='0' maxOccurs='unbounded'>
<xs:element ref='subject'/>
<xs:element ref='body'/>
<xs:element ref='thread'/>
</xs:choice>
<xs:any namespace='##other'
minOccurs='0'
maxOccurs='unbounded'/>
<xs:element ref='error'
minOccurs='0'/>
</xs:sequence>
<xs:attribute name='from'
type='xs:string'
use='required'/>
<xs:attribute name='id'
type='xs:NMTOKEN'
use='optional'/>
<xs:attribute name='to'
type='xs:string'
use='required'/>
<xs:attribute name='type' use='optional' default='normal'>
<xs:simpleType>
<xs:restriction base='xs:NCName'>
<xs:enumeration value='chat'/>
<xs:enumeration value='error'/>
<xs:enumeration value='groupchat'/>
<xs:enumeration value='headline'/>
<xs:enumeration value='normal'/>
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
</xs:attribute>
<xs:attribute ref='xml:lang' use='optional'/>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name='body'>
<xs:complexType>
<xs:simpleContent>
<xs:extension base='xs:string'>
<xs:attribute ref='xml:lang' use='optional'/>
</xs:extension>
</xs:simpleContent>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name='subject'>
<xs:complexType>
<xs:simpleContent>
<xs:extension base='xs:string'>
<xs:attribute ref='xml:lang' use='optional'/>
</xs:extension>
</xs:simpleContent>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name='thread' type='xs:NMTOKEN'/>
<xs:element name='presence'>
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:choice minOccurs='0' maxOccurs='unbounded'>
<xs:element ref='show'/>
<xs:element ref='status'/>
<xs:element ref='priority'/>
</xs:choice>
<xs:any namespace='##other'
minOccurs='0'
maxOccurs='unbounded'/>
<xs:element ref='error'
minOccurs='0'/>
</xs:sequence>
<xs:attribute name='from'
type='xs:string'
use='required'/>
<xs:attribute name='id'
type='xs:NMTOKEN'
use='optional'/>
<xs:attribute name='to'
type='xs:string'
use='required'/>
<xs:attribute name='type' use='optional'>
<xs:simpleType>
<xs:restriction base='xs:NCName'>
<xs:enumeration value='subscribe'/>
<xs:enumeration value='subscribed'/>
<xs:enumeration value='unsubscribe'/>
<xs:enumeration value='unsubscribed'/>
<xs:enumeration value='unavailable'/>
<xs:enumeration value='probe'/>
<xs:enumeration value='error'/>
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
</xs:attribute>
<xs:attribute ref='xml:lang' use='optional'/>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name='show'>
<xs:simpleType>
<xs:restriction base='xs:NCName'>
<xs:enumeration value='away'/>
<xs:enumeration value='chat'/>
<xs:enumeration value='dnd'/>
<xs:enumeration value='xa'/>
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name='status'>
<xs:complexType>
<xs:simpleContent>
<xs:extension base='xs:string'>
<xs:attribute ref='xml:lang' use='optional'/>
</xs:extension>
</xs:simpleContent>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name='priority' type='xs:byte'/>
<xs:element name='iq'>
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:any namespace='##other'
minOccurs='0'
maxOccurs='1'/>
<xs:element ref='error'
minOccurs='0'
maxOccurs='1'/>
</xs:sequence>
<xs:attribute name='from'
type='xs:string'
use='required'/>
<xs:attribute name='id'
type='xs:NMTOKEN'
use='required'/>
<xs:attribute name='to'
type='xs:string'
use='required'/>
<xs:attribute name='type' use='required'>
<xs:simpleType>
<xs:restriction base='xs:NCName'>
<xs:enumeration value='get'/>
<xs:enumeration value='set'/>
<xs:enumeration value='result'/>
<xs:enumeration value='error'/>
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
</xs:attribute>
<xs:attribute ref='xml:lang' use='optional'/>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name='error'>
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence xmlns:err='urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:xmpp-stanzas'>
<xs:group ref='err:stanzaErrorGroup'/>
<xs:element ref='err:text'
minOccurs='0'
maxOccurs='1'/>
</xs:sequence>
<xs:attribute name='by' type='xs:string' use='optional'/>
<xs:attribute name='type' use='required'>
<xs:simpleType>
<xs:restriction base='xs:NMTOKEN'>
<xs:enumeration value='cancel'/>
<xs:enumeration value='continue'/>
<xs:enumeration value='modify'/>
<xs:enumeration value='auth'/>
<xs:enumeration value='wait'/>
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
</xs:attribute>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
</xs:schema>
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<xs:schema
xmlns:xs='http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema'
xmlns:xml='http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace'
targetNamespace='jabber:component:connect'
xmlns='jabber:component:connect'
elementFormDefault='qualified'>
<xs:annotation>
<xs:documentation>
The protocol documented by this schema is defined in
XEP-0114: http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0114.html
</xs:documentation>
</xs:annotation>
<xs:import namespace='urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:xmpp-stanzas'
schemaLocation='http://xmpp.org/schemas/stanzaerror.xsd'/>
<xs:import namespace='http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace'
schemaLocation='http://www.w3.org/2001/03/xml.xsd'/>
<xs:element name='handshake' type='xs:string'/>
<xs:element name='message'>
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:choice minOccurs='0' maxOccurs='unbounded'>
<xs:element ref='subject'/>
<xs:element ref='body'/>
<xs:element ref='thread'/>
</xs:choice>
<xs:any namespace='##other'
minOccurs='0'
maxOccurs='unbounded'/>
<xs:element ref='error'
minOccurs='0'/>
</xs:sequence>
<xs:attribute name='from'
type='xs:string'
use='required'/>
<xs:attribute name='id'
type='xs:NMTOKEN'
use='optional'/>
<xs:attribute name='to'
type='xs:string'
use='required'/>
<xs:attribute name='type' use='optional' default='normal'>
<xs:simpleType>
<xs:restriction base='xs:NCName'>
<xs:enumeration value='chat'/>
<xs:enumeration value='error'/>
<xs:enumeration value='groupchat'/>
<xs:enumeration value='headline'/>
<xs:enumeration value='normal'/>
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
</xs:attribute>
<xs:attribute ref='xml:lang' use='optional'/>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name='body'>
<xs:complexType>
<xs:simpleContent>
<xs:extension base='xs:string'>
<xs:attribute ref='xml:lang' use='optional'/>
</xs:extension>
</xs:simpleContent>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name='subject'>
<xs:complexType>
<xs:simpleContent>
<xs:extension base='xs:string'>
<xs:attribute ref='xml:lang' use='optional'/>
</xs:extension>
</xs:simpleContent>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name='thread' type='xs:NMTOKEN'/>
<xs:element name='presence'>
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:choice minOccurs='0' maxOccurs='unbounded'>
<xs:element ref='show'/>
<xs:element ref='status'/>
<xs:element ref='priority'/>
</xs:choice>
<xs:any namespace='##other'
minOccurs='0'
maxOccurs='unbounded'/>
<xs:element ref='error'
minOccurs='0'/>
</xs:sequence>
<xs:attribute name='from'
type='xs:string'
use='required'/>
<xs:attribute name='id'
type='xs:NMTOKEN'
use='optional'/>
<xs:attribute name='to'
type='xs:string'
use='required'/>
<xs:attribute name='type' use='optional'>
<xs:simpleType>
<xs:restriction base='xs:NCName'>
<xs:enumeration value='subscribe'/>
<xs:enumeration value='subscribed'/>
<xs:enumeration value='unsubscribe'/>
<xs:enumeration value='unsubscribed'/>
<xs:enumeration value='unavailable'/>
<xs:enumeration value='probe'/>
<xs:enumeration value='error'/>
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
</xs:attribute>
<xs:attribute ref='xml:lang' use='optional'/>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name='show'>
<xs:simpleType>
<xs:restriction base='xs:NCName'>
<xs:enumeration value='away'/>
<xs:enumeration value='chat'/>
<xs:enumeration value='dnd'/>
<xs:enumeration value='xa'/>
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name='status'>
<xs:complexType>
<xs:simpleContent>
<xs:extension base='xs:string'>
<xs:attribute ref='xml:lang' use='optional'/>
</xs:extension>
</xs:simpleContent>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name='priority' type='xs:byte'/>
<xs:element name='iq'>
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:any namespace='##other'
minOccurs='0'
maxOccurs='1'/>
<xs:element ref='error'
minOccurs='0'
maxOccurs='1'/>
</xs:sequence>
<xs:attribute name='from'
type='xs:string'
use='required'/>
<xs:attribute name='id'
type='xs:NMTOKEN'
use='required'/>
<xs:attribute name='to'
type='xs:string'
use='required'/>
<xs:attribute name='type' use='required'>
<xs:simpleType>
<xs:restriction base='xs:NCName'>
<xs:enumeration value='get'/>
<xs:enumeration value='set'/>
<xs:enumeration value='result'/>
<xs:enumeration value='error'/>
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
</xs:attribute>
<xs:attribute ref='xml:lang' use='optional'/>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name='error'>
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence xmlns:err='urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:xmpp-stanzas'>
<xs:group ref='err:streamErrorGroup'/>
<xs:element ref='err:text'
minOccurs='0'
maxOccurs='1'/>
</xs:sequence>
<xs:attribute name='by' type='xs:string' use='optional'/>
<xs:attribute name='type' use='required'>
<xs:simpleType>
<xs:restriction base='xs:NMTOKEN'>
<xs:enumeration value='cancel'/>
<xs:enumeration value='continue'/>
<xs:enumeration value='modify'/>
<xs:enumeration value='auth'/>
<xs:enumeration value='wait'/>
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
</xs:attribute>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
</xs:schema>
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This XMPP Extension Protocol is copyright © 1999 – 2020 by the XMPP Standards Foundation (XSF).
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.
## 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. ##
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.
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).
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.
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.
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 <http://xmpp.org/about/discuss.shtml> for a complete list.
Errata can be sent to <editor@xmpp.org>.
The following requirements keywords as used in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119: "MUST", "SHALL", "REQUIRED"; "MUST NOT", "SHALL NOT"; "SHOULD", "RECOMMENDED"; "SHOULD NOT", "NOT RECOMMENDED"; "MAY", "OPTIONAL".
1. The jabberd server is the original server implementation of the Jabber/XMPP protocols, first developed by Jeremie Miller, inventor of Jabber. For further information, see <http://jabberd.org/>.
2. XEP-0078: Non-SASL Authentication <https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0078.html>.
3. RFC 6120: Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP): Core <http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6120>.
4. In the 'jabber:component:connect' namespace, the server would set the 'from' attribute to the component name.
5. The handshake value is always supplied by the initiator. Thus for jabber:component:accept connections, the handshake value is provided by the component, whereas for jabber:component:connect connections, the handshake value is provided by the server.
6. 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/>.
7. 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/>.
Note: Older versions of this specification might be available at http://xmpp.org/extensions/attic/
END