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Re: single-pass processing in MIME

1994-04-11 01:58:00
=> 
=> When receiving the message in a single pass, however, an application
=> needs to know the digest algorithm(s) for digesting the content.
=> Therefore, a signed message should have three parts: a declaration of
=> digest algorithms, the content, and the application/signature.  For example:
=> 
=>     To: ned(_at_)innosoft(_dot_)com
=>     Subject: example #1
=>     MIME-Version: 1.0
=>     Content-Type: multipart/security; boundary="----- =Signature Boundary"
=> 
=>     ------- =Signature Boundary
=>     Content-Type: application/digest-ids; protocol="pem"
=>     Digest-ID: RSA-MD5
=> 

Jeff,

The concern for one pass processing is very valid, but the implementation is
questionable. It seems to me that one could with little effort pass the
"md5" information as a subtype of "multipart/security". Or maybe just consider
that we really have two types of "multipart/security":

 1) multipart/signed, which is comprised of a plain text and
    a signature - maybe with subtypes identifying the hash algorithm
    (multipart/signed-md5?)

 2) multipart/encrypted, which is comprised of a key description and 
    a cryptogram.

Encrypted and signed may be achieved by encapsulating a "signed" multipart
within an "encrypted" multipart.

Christian Huitema

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