RFC 1779 (rfc1779) - Page 2 of 8

A String Representation of Distinguished Names

RFC 1779                   DN Representation                  March 1995


1.  Why a notation is needed

   Many OSI Applications make use of Distinguished Names (DN) as defined
   in the OSI Directory, commonly known as X.500 [1].  This
   specification assumes familiarity with X.500, and the concept of
   Distinguished Name.  It is important to have a common format to be
   able to unambiguously represent a distinguished name.  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.  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.  (The OSF Syntax uses "/" as a separator, and forms
   names in a manner intended to resemble UNIX filenames).

2.  A notation for Distinguished Name

2.1  Goals

   The following goals are laid out:

    o  To provide an unambiguous representation of a distinguished name

    o  To be an intuitive format for the majority of names

    o  To be fully general, and able to represent any distinguished name

    o  To be amenable to a number of different layouts to achieve an
       attractive representation.

    o  To give a clear representation of the contents of the
       distinguished name

2.2  Informal definition

   This notation is designed to be convenient for common forms of name.
   Some examples are given.  The author's directory distinguished name
   would be written:

   CN=Steve Kille,
   O=ISODE Consortium, C=GB








Kille