All,
The draft charter for the proposed IETF S/MIME Working Group includes plans
for developing a new S/MIME v3 Message Specification as a separate document
from the 23 Sep 1997 Internet Draft S/MIME Message Specification (also known
as S/MIME v2 Message Specification). This message includes a proposal for
simplifying the future S/MIME v3 Message Specification.
The 23 Sep 97 S/MIME Message Specification, Section 2.4, General Syntax,
states: "The PKCS #7 defines six distinct content types: "data",
"signedData", "envelopedData", "signedAndEnvelopedData", "digestedData", and
"encryptedData". Receiving agents MUST support the "data", "signedData" and
"envelopedData" content types. Sending agents may or may not send out any of
the content types, depending on the services that the agent supports."
This paragraph implies that an agent SHOULD support receiving the
"digestedData", "encryptedData" and "signedAndEnvelopedData" content types.
If a sending agent were to send one of these content types to a receiving
agent that did not support that type, then that receiving agent would
encounter an error condition.
When the new S/MIME v3 Message Specification is written, we propose that
Section 2.4 should be replaced by the following: "The PKCS #7 v1.5
specification defines six distinct content types: "data", "signedData",
"envelopedData", "signedAndEnvelopedData", "digestedData", and
"encryptedData". Sending agents may send the "data", "signedData" and
"envelopedData" content types, depending on the services that the agent
supports. Receiving agents MUST support the "data", "signedData" and
"envelopedData" content types. The "digestedData", "encryptedData" and
"signedAndEnvelopedData" content types are not supported as part of the
S/MIME 3 set of specifications. Sending agents MUST NOT send the
"digestedData", "encryptedData" or "signedAndEnvelopedData" content types.
Receiving agents are not required to support the "digestedData",
"encryptedData" or "signedAndEnvelopedData" content types."
Does anybody object to removing support for sending and receiving the
"digestedData", "encryptedData" or "signedAndEnvelopedData" content types?
Please provide comments.
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John Pawling (301) 953-3600
J.G. Van Dyke & Associates, Inc. (410) 880-6095
141 National Business Pkwy, Suite 210 FAX: (301) 953-2901
Annapolis Junction, MD 20701 jsp(_at_)jgvandyke(_dot_)com