10.0 Other Services

10.1 Mail

Initially, the AIM client requests a new service of type 0x0005, advertisements. This is pseudo-required, as the service redirect for advertisements is the way we currently know when we're "online". However, there are a few other services of note.

AOL users (those of you with SN@aol.com mail accounts, mainly) can make use of service type 0x0018, which is how the newer AIM clients notify you of new mail. This is *not* POP-3, but an actual service extension. All other accounts added to the AIM client use POP-3.

Before anything happens, the normal service handshake must occur; this consists of essentially the same thing you do when signing on to the BOS - wait for the connection acknowledge, send your cookie, wait for "host ready", send a rate request, receive a rate response (and stare at it, wondering what it means :)), ack the response, and, finally, send a "client ready" command:

SNAC Information:

• Family 0x0001
• SubType 0x0002
• Flags {0x00, 0x00}

* Optional: Client/server version information is also swapped, but it doesn't appear to be necessary. These are swapped before sending the initial rate request, and seem to always be swapped when establishing connections with services other than the BOS. It's probably a good idea to send this data. SNAC type 0x0001/0x0017 is the client version, and 0x0001/0x0018 is the server's response. These packets look like:

Adam sends: {1, 3}, {2, 1}, {3, 1}, {4, 1}, {6, 1}, {8, 1}, {9, 1}, {a, 1}, {b, 2}, {c, 1}, {15, 1}. This is all in the same packet (continuous), and your mileage may vary, depending on how much of the AIM protocol you choose to support.

10.2 Check for mail

This is sent to check for mail. Past the 0x0001 word, I'm not sure what the rest is. I had initially thought it to be a random ID (ala the ICBM cookies), but it stayed the same on multiple mail checks from multiple screen names, so I'm not sure.

SNAC Information:

• Family 0x0018
• SubType 0x0006
• Flags {0x00, 0x00}

10.3 "You've got mail!"

This is sent to you by the AIM server in response to a mail request.

SNAC Information:

• Family 0x0018
• SubType 0x0007
• Flags {0x00, 0x00}