RFC 1781 (rfc1781) - Page 2 of 26
Using the OSI Directory to Achieve User Friendly Naming
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
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