RFC 2312 (rfc2312) - Page 2 of 20

S/MIME Version 2 Certificate Handling

RFC 2312        S/MIME Version 2 Certificate Handling         March 1998


   Please note: The information in this document is historical material
   being published for the public record. It is not an IETF standard.
   The use of the word "standard" in this document indicates a standard
   for adopters of S/MIME version 2, not an IETF standard.

1.1 Definitions

   For the purposes of this memo, the following definitions apply.

   ASN.1: Abstract Syntax Notation One, as defined in CCITT X.208.

   BER: Basic Encoding Rules for ASN.1, as defined in CCITT X.209.

   Certificate: A type that binds an entity's distinguished name to a
   public key with a digital signature. This type is defined in CCITT
   X.509 [X.509].  This type also contains the distinguished name of the
   certificate issuer (the signer), an issuer-specific serial number,
   the issuer's signature algorithm identifier, and a validity period.

   Certificate Revocation List (CRL): A type that contains information
   about certificates whose validity an issuer has prematurely revoked.
   The information consists of an issuer name, the time of issue, the
   next scheduled time of issue, and a list of certificate serial
   numbers and their associated revocation times. The CRL is signed by
   the issuer. The type intended by this specification is the one
   defined in [KEYM].

   DER: Distinguished Encoding Rules for ASN.1, as defined in CCITT
   X.509.

1.2 Compatibility with Prior Practice of S/MIME

   Appendix C contains important information about how S/MIME agents
   following this specification should act in order to have the greatest
   interoperability with earlier implementations of S/MIME.

1.3 Terminology

   Throughout this memo, the terms MUST, MUST NOT, SHOULD, and SHOULD
   NOT are used in capital letters. This conforms to the definitions in
   [MUSTSHOULD].  [MUSTSHOULD] defines the use of these key words to
   help make the intent of standards track documents as clear as
   possible. The same key words are used in this document to help
   implementors achieve interoperability.







Dusse, et. al.               Informational