RFC 1781 (rfc1781) - Page 2 of 26

Using the OSI Directory to Achieve User Friendly Naming

RFC 1781                  User Friendly Naming                March 1995


   7.   Support of OSI Services ....................................  15
   8.   Experience .................................................  16
   9.   Relationship to other work .................................  17
   10.  Issues .....................................................  19
   11.  References .................................................  20
   12.  Security Considerations ....................................  21
   13.  Author's Address ...........................................  21
   A.   Pseudo-code for the matching algorithm .....................  22
   List of Figures
       1.     Example usage of User Friendly Naming ................  18
       2.     Matching Algorithm ...................................  22
   List of Tables
       1.     Local environment for private DUA ....................  10
       2.     Local environment for US Public DUA ..................  11

1.  Why a notation is needed

   Many OSI Applications make use of Distinguished Names (DN) as defined
   in the OSI Directory [1].  The main reason for having a notation for
   name format is to interact with a user interface.  This specification
   is coming dangerously close to the sin of standardising interfaces.
   However, there are aspects of presentation which it is desirable to
   standardise.

   It is important to have a common format to be able to conveniently
   refer to names.  This might be done to represent a directory name on
   a business card or in an email message.  There is a need for a format
   to support human to human communication, which must be string based
   (not ASN.1) and user oriented.

   In very many cases, a user will be required to input a name.  This
   notation is designed to allow this to happen in a uniform manner
   across many user interfaces.  The intention is that the name can just
   be typed in.  There should not be any need to engage in form filling
   or complex dialogue.  It should be possible to take the "human"
   description given at the meeting, and use it directly.  The means in
   which this happens will become clear later.

   This approach uses the syntax defined in [5] for representing
   distinguished names.  By relaxing some of the constraints on this
   specification, it is argued that a more user oriented specification
   is produced.  However, this syntax cannot be mapped algorithmically
   onto a distinguished name without the use of a directory.

   This notation is targeted towards a general user oriented system, and
   in particular to represent the names of humans.  Other syntaxes may
   be more appropriate for other uses of the directory.  For example,
   the OSF Syntax may be more appropriate for some system oriented uses.



Kille