From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.emacs.gnus.general/58369 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Ulf Stegemann Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.gnus.general Subject: S/MIME support Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 23:36:59 +0200 Organization: zeitform Internet Dienste Sender: ding-owner@lists.math.uh.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1094013700 25729 80.91.224.253 (1 Sep 2004 04:41:40 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2004 04:41:40 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: ding-owner+M6910@lists.math.uh.edu Wed Sep 01 06:41:34 2004 Return-path: Original-Received: from malifon.math.uh.edu ([129.7.128.13]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1C2MwA-0005EM-00 for ; Wed, 01 Sep 2004 06:41:34 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.math.uh.edu ident=lists) by malifon.math.uh.edu with smtp (Exim 3.20 #1) id 1C2Mvz-0002VR-00; Tue, 31 Aug 2004 23:41:23 -0500 Original-Received: from util2.math.uh.edu ([129.7.128.23]) by malifon.math.uh.edu with esmtp (Exim 3.20 #1) id 1C1tsn-0007Do-00 for ding@lists.math.uh.edu; Mon, 30 Aug 2004 16:40:09 -0500 Original-Received: from justine.libertine.org ([66.139.78.221] ident=postfix) by util2.math.uh.edu with esmtp (Exim 4.30) id 1C1tsn-0008Td-9g for ding@lists.math.uh.edu; Mon, 30 Aug 2004 16:40:09 -0500 Original-Received: from quimby.gnus.org (quimby.gnus.org [80.91.224.244]) by justine.libertine.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AD42C3A004B for ; Mon, 30 Aug 2004 16:40:07 -0500 (CDT) Original-Received: from news by quimby.gnus.org with local (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1C1tsk-0002Q3-00 for ; Mon, 30 Aug 2004 23:40:06 +0200 Original-To: ding@gnus.org Original-Path: not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnus.ding Original-Lines: 47 Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: pd95f21e6.dip.t-dialin.net Original-X-Trace: quimby.gnus.org 1093902006 7300 217.95.33.230 (30 Aug 2004 21:40:06 GMT) Original-X-Complaints-To: usenet@quimby.gnus.org Original-NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 21:40:06 +0000 (UTC) X-Draft-From: ("nntp+news.gnus.org:gnus.ding" "") Face: iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAADAAAAAwBAMAAAClLOS0AAAAGFBMVEVDQ0MTExMPDw8LCwu8 vLwoKCgaGhoGBgb8JSJYAAACVElEQVR4nF2TMY/bMAyFeUXcXSrizpQQ7xEHrzlA19kpTp6r oNIPqAf//T5KzrU4BQEMfn58pEiTa2fen8fr47Y7+gzcjOdNDuA/4nsI3xUE+iTYA/t93kQU BPkIb5vjPIvIBuDlH9g3ruYRZNZU0H2kEuGaqpcAcwi6RjM4N5ZlfXgPID7ARzRqHJuSaFi/ OUdeA8ZYQMt5qikRlUcHDJDxN3WtEBAlBRKCGetx1pIWotPQgHSQ+tF4HKz3TYF46XHSeBy8 qMKbpwCvN/Di3FkBjw0s+n4jXxTs4gLqybUsdJxbVrBtAW2pfXkK3lxXBO+4ZqCF4oB08SU7 f1GAC8qZR9R0W4b0HukuCubwCOd6d5zqMlAyv2NcvZ9UUZ2CpAC/9xjvDewh22rWKa3rQmlI McYHcyXMfcwoCb3X5UTDggZtyr8A5IyStPGaTigXiimhdoBLHlMHdNM+bu7KBuYydbBqI6p4 M1dnCcvFtoOiAJlep1EBRlsVUCI1xnkZx66Qs44DpSKu6CuP9kG6S1OTpAJfBauZHIBA4q5t gnTSMd0rT5pKc4mMfYB4/2asYcxcU+FwUaDWr9Ziy4S6QAJupDTJvS8fyfwEagJFNg5oohn3 HkSau1rfsK5YSiZpqf5wObxjA3Yi6Wd8LlsDji9dEbhvcweOuS2cNjh20NsAsBddarnaY88V sGE29tw8JlNTOTp/gwePrBMMUvGBlcP9Bzzs+VIoYHcV9F0/xRf0YMu5aKprB72qrFXdiyr+ A7Bo4CeAC+GKj+C4qLg+THbTvdi/whMEPeeFWTEAAAAASUVORK5CYII= User-Agent: Gnus/5.1006 (Gnus v5.10.6) XEmacs/21.4 (Rational FORTRAN, linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:4X0yXi9O0S3UstM2l7Obbq4gADQ= Precedence: bulk Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.gnus.general:58369 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.gnus.general:58369 Hi, since S/MIME seems to spread more and more (at least among the people I communicate with) I'd like to ask if there are any plans to enhance Gnus' S/MIME support. I haven't been able to follow the Gnus development very closely since the release of 5.10.6 nor have I tried any of the development releases for a long time. Thus, my observations refer to 5.10.6. A quick look at the relevant newsgroups did not reveal any messages on that topic lately. Furthermore smime.el and mml-smime.el haven't changed very much since 5.10.6. First of all: S/MIME works, i.e. signing/encrypting and verifying/decrypting does not pose a problem. However, compared to PGP S/MIME handling is rather clumsy. To me, the biggest problem when using S/MIME with Gnus is the key (certificate) management. This may not be Gnus' fault since an appropriate external tool for S/MIME certificate management (like GnuPG for PGP keys) seems to be missing. I've once seen a tool called smime-keys that comes with mutt but this one offers rather basic functions. Currently there's no auto-magical selection of recipient certificates and no 'encrypt-to-self' (although, macros could help here). The absence of appropriate S/MIME tools leaves the question if it's reasonable to build something using elisp or if it's better to wait for something like gpgsm to become more stable/usable and use such a tool with Gnus. Furthermore, LDAP support is a nice thing to have with S/MIME (especially for CRLs). Maybe, eudc could help here? To summerize it: Gnus' S/MIME support is rather rudimentary. Other user agents (especially those that come with browser suits) outdo Gnus regarding S/MIME. S/MIME seems to/may become more and more important. Regarding that, is it worth it to think about improving Gnus' S/MIME capabilities? Are there plans to do so? Or is it all a very bad idea and are there more important things to do? Regards, Ulf -- Obscure RFCs you may not be aware of, part v: RFC 2325 - Definitions of Managed Objects for Drip-Type Heated Beverage Hardware Devices using SMIv2