Subject: RecipientInfo vs SignerInfo key identification

From: [email-masked] (Peter Gutmann)
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 03:10:40 (NZDT)

I've noticed that RecipientInfo identifies a key with a CHOICE between 
IssuerAndSerialNumber and SubjectKeyIdentifier, but SignerInfo only allows 
IssuerAndSerialNumber.  Presumably whatever reason requires the SKI in the 
RecipientInfo should also require it in the SignerInfo, could these be merged 
to create a unified identifier type (ie they both use a RecipientInfo-style 
CHOICE)?
 
Peter.

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From: Russ Housley <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 11:16:09 -0500

Peter:

The addition of SubjectKeyIdentifier to SignerInfo was considered.  Many
developers felt that backward compatibility with PKCS#7 v1.5 and S/MIME v2
was more important that the shorter certificate reference.

It woulf be very easy to add SubjectKeyIdentifier to SignerInfo if the
group concensus has changed.

Russ