RFC 2632 (rfc2632) - Page 2 of 13

S/MIME Version 3 Certificate Handling

RFC 2632         S/MIME Version 3 Certificate Handling         June 1999


   BER: Basic Encoding Rules for ASN.1, as defined in ITU-T X.690.

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

   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, a list of certificate serial numbers
   and their associated revocation times, and extensions as defined in
   [KEYM]. 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 ITU-T
   X.690.

   Receiving agent: software that interprets and processes S/MIME CMS
   objects, MIME body parts that contain CMS objects, or both.

   Sending agent: software that creates S/MIME CMS objects, MIME body
   parts that contain CMS objects, or both.

   S/MIME agent: user software that is a receiving agent, a sending
   agent, or both.

1.2 Compatibility with Prior Practice of S/MIME

   S/MIME version 3 agents should attempt to have the greatest
   interoperability possible with S/MIME version 2 agents. S/MIME
   version 2 is described in RFC 2311 through RFC 2315, inclusive.  RFC
   2311 also has historical information about the development of S/MIME.

1.3 Terminology

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in [MUSTSHOULD].









Ramsdell                    Standards Track