ietf-openpgp
[Top] [All Lists]

New 'User Attribute Packet' subpacket - Named Attribute Subpacket (type 0)

2005-08-11 05:19:44
Hello,

In my humble opinion this is the most important attribute of all. That's why I suggest assigning it the special type 0. This attribute is supposed to be used for any user specific, program specific or experimental data. It is similar to the mail X- headers - it allows users to store identifiable information, which is not suitable for standardization or is not standardized yet.


Named Attribute Subpacket (type 0)
----------------------------------
Subpacket specific data:
   datatype - identifier - eg. 4 - UTF8 string
   name - UTF8 string - eg. "ICQ#"
   data - depends on datatype - eg. "123-456-789"

NB: size of data is given by the size of subpacket minus the size of datatype identifier and the size of the name.

Datatypes:
   0 - reserved
   1 - no data (it is just named flag)
   2 - boolean
   3 - integer
   4 - UTF8 string
   5 - URL
   6 - image
   7 - binary
   8 - binary file
   100-110 - private or experimental use

NB: Binary type holds just some unspecified binary data. On the other hand, binary file type holds file that can be saved to disk and the name of the attribute represents its filename (including path???).


I believe that this attribute would allow the user to store anything he wants in his public key. It does not matter what it is, the important thing is that is would be possible. Let the users and developers be creative!


Regards,
David Srbecky

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: OpenPGP digital signature

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>