Date: Mon, 8 Jun 92 22:18:34 PDT
From: Steve Dusse <spock(_at_)rsa(_dot_)com>
To: ietf-822(_at_)dimacs(_dot_)rutgers(_dot_)edu, pem-dev(_at_)tis(_dot_)com
Subject: HELP !
Gentle e-mail recipients,
I have a few questions about the wiley T.61 String ASN.1 type.
(Apologies to those who are on both e-mail lists.)
1. I have a copy of the 1984 X.208 which (in table 6, page 44) lists
the T61 String registration numbers as 87, 102, 103, 106, 107 SPACE
and DELETE. Does anyone have a 1988 or 1992 version of X.208 ? Are
there changes to this list ?
1988:
TeletexString Universal 20 Registration (ISO2375) Note 2
(T61) (Same as 1984)
Note 2 - The entries corresponding to these registration numbers
reference CCITT Reccomendation T.61 for rules concerning
their use.
2. Does anyone have a mapping from the ISO IR numbers (87, 102,...) to
the pertinent ISO standards (ISO 646 ?, ISO 6937 ?, ISO 8859 ?) ?? ???
I presume ISO 2375 ?
3. Is anyone working on (...is there a need for...) implementor's
agreements for the use of T.61 String in PEM certificates and MIME
messages ? This is an area of great ambiguity IMHO. E.g. Do ESC
sequences that change character sets apply to whole distinguished
names or just to the AVA in which they appear ? Can I change a
character set in the middle of an AVA (mail message, whatever) ?
Since DNs allow T.61 strings without reservation, I assume that
the value can consist of any legal T.61 string. Since each
AVA contains a specific type, there should be no confusion
about whether a previous AVA should affect the one under
consideration. Each AVA should be evaluated in isolation
from the others.
4. Is there anyone that has a good grasp of all of the relevant issues
surrounding T.61 ? Should I wait for ISO 10646 and Unicode ? (somewhat
rhetorical)
I punted. If it isn't "displayable" as a single character then
it get represented in octal. Any other solution becomes platform
and system specific and loses all portability. If you come
up with something "universal" then please let me know ...
Any clues are appreciated.
Cheers,
Steve Dusse
RSA
Havin' fun,
John Lowry