Core protocol and core conformance requirements

["Nick Pope" <pope@secstan.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Nick Pope [mailto:pope@secstan.com]
Sent: 04 November 2003 10:35
To: OASIS DSS TC; Ed Shallow
Subject: Core protocol and core conformance requirements


Ed et al,

Following on from yesterday's discussion on what is in the Core and what are
conformance requirements I give below what is my understanding of the
current situation.

The DSS Signing includes request response syntax and basic processing rules
in 3.1 to 3.3.  I would expect all conformant implementations of DSS
supporting signing to support this basic syntax and rules.  In 3.4 there are
optional elements that can be included in the options field.  Which, if any,
of these elements are required is a question for the profile.  A profile may
also define other elements which it can require for conformance.  A profile
may identify other elements as being optional.

Similarly, 4.1 to 4.3 defines basic syntax and processing rules for all DSS
implementations supporting verify, and 4.4 defines options which may be
required by profiles.

Does this match the views and expectations of others?

I would also suggest that there is a 3.5 & 4.5 to define some "generally
useful" outputs for sign & verify that may be used in profiles in a similar
way to the options.


Nick