changing the subject ...
I have often pondered on the question of why PEM is not being used as
often as it could. One of several possible reasons is the lack of a
user-friendly interface which is easy to use, truly simple, and covers
all aspect of using PEM and retrieving needed information such as
certificates and CRLs.
I have written and gathered a number of scripts (ksh) which are meant
to make both installation and usage of PEM easier for users on UNIX
platforms. The goal is to provide a simple and unified interface to
the users to encourage and increase usage of PEM.
I would like to make these scripts available to a few groups out there
who are willing to collaborate on this effort by installing the scripts
on their environment and comment and/or contribute on it.
If you are seriously interested, please contact me at Bellcore.
A brief functional overview of this package called PEMToolkit follows:
o Automatically retrieves variuos packages for you from ftp sites
o Easy to run one-step installation of METAMAIL, TIS/PEM, MH
and various other supportive shell scripts.
o Configurable for your specific environment
o Simple menu driven interface for users and administrators
Uses "echo" and "/usr/ucb/clear" not curses (yes that simple)
o Solves the directory/retrieval of certificates and CRLs in two ways,
1) Use of email to request and receive information
2) Use of anonymous ftp to store, request and retrieve info
There has been considerable effort put into this but more can be done
to enhance the functionality as well.
Again, the primary goal of this effort is to overcome the obstacles
preventing the ordinary (maybe computer illiterate) users from using
PEM.
_______________________________________________________________________
Alireza Bahreman _/_/_/ _/_/
RRC-1K221, 444 Hoes Lane, _/ _/ _/_/ _/_/ _/__/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/_/
Piscataway, NJ 08854 _/_/_/ _/___/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/___/
bahreman(_at_)bellcore(_dot_)com _/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/
(908) 699-7398 __/_/_/ __/_/ _/_/ __/_/ _/_/ _/ __/_/
(908) 336-2943 FAX _________________________________________________