David Shaw wrote:
Allow me to suggest that overloading the user ID field in such a
drastic manner may not be the best way to go here. If you make it too
machine parsable, then it's not very human readable, and vice versa.
The user ID field has been a RFC-(2)822 for more or less forever, and
a key (even a key intended for special non-common purposes) that
doesn't have such a user ID will cause confusion.
If used for server purposes I doubt it will cause confusion, and such
keys should not be used for email.
Instead, however, I recommend you define a new User Attribute type.
This is a user ID alternative that is part of the OpenPGP spec but is
not restricted to text, or indeed, any particular format. Up til now
the only defined user attribute has been "image" (used to attach a
picture to a key), but if you define a "TLS" or "server" type, you can
have exactly the semantics you desire without interfering with the
regular user ID.
Is there any problem with defining several types, ie town/city,
state/province, country etc?
Of course there would be a definite need for a 'DNS' or hostname type.
This would of course be more computer friendly, and there should be no
reason for any user id at all to be on these keys.
--
Best regards,
Duane