Subject: Defining terms in -msg and -cert

From: Paul Hoffman / IMC <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1998 10:25:46 -0800

Greetings again. It was pointed out by an implementor that the -msg and
-cert draft use at least five different terms for S/MIME software:
"receiving agent"
"sending agent"
"S/MIME agent"
"processing software"
"user agent"
Since some of these are used in SHOULD and MUST statements, we need to
clarify them. I think the best thing to do to eliminate the last two, and
define the first three. In the cases where we use "user agent" to mean
generic "mail user agent", we can spell that out.

How do these definitions sound?

A receving agent is software that interprets and processes S/MIME CMS
objects, MIME body parts that contain CMS objects, or both.

A sending agent is software that creates S/MIME CMS objects, MIME body
parts that contain CMS objects, or both.

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

--Paul Hoffman, Director
--Internet Mail Consortium

---

From: "Flanigan, Bill" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1998 17:42:03 -0500

Paul,

	Recommend deleting the last three.  "S/MIME agent" appears (from
your definition of it) to be a superclass of receiving agent and sending
agent.  Knowing what a "receiving agent" and a "sending agent" are would
seem to cover theWaterFront.  Also, suggest inserting "user" in front of
"software" in your two proposed definitions of "receiving agent" and
"sending agent".  

Bill

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
William F. Flanigan, Jr., Ph.D.       Voice:           (703) 681-2318
Defense Information Systems Agency      Fax:           (703) 681-2814 
Information Assurance Office (JED)      DSN:                      761      
5600 Columbia Pike, Room 632     Voice Mail:           (703) 681-2318   
Falls Church, VA 22041-2717        Internet:  <[email-masked]>
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Paul Hoffman / IMC [SMTP:[email-masked]]
> Sent:	Sunday, November 22, 1998 1:26 PM
> To:	[email-masked]
> Subject:	Defining terms in -msg and -cert
>