Testing the list and confirming the delay

I'm told the imc-pfl (PKIX Freeware Library) mailing list is now
forwarding. This message will test that claim.

I also wanted to let people on the list know what's going on. We had some
last minute delays in preparing a first drop of the code. We had committed
to delivering to MIT by the end of August. It seems increasingly likely we
are not going to make that date :-)  We are now hoping to deliver it
tomorrow.

This first drop will be rougher than we had hoped, and increases the
chances there will be intermediate updates before the next committed drop
in December. The first drop will include source code for a CA, RA, and
End-user entity (certificate chain verification). It is built using CDSA
(Common Data Security Architecture), an API intended to make it easy to
change crypto libraries and certificate storage and retrieval mechanisms
independently (among other things). The CDSA implementation will be
included, though we are having trouble getting makefiles that will convert
the CDSA sources into binaries (we do it in a more elaborate build
environment). It also includes a wrapper between CDSA and the Cylink
Toolkit crypto package for doing DSS signatures. The Cylink toolkit is free
for experimental use under terms I don't understand and is (or will be)
posted on the MIT web site.

We will be sending the code to Jeff Schiller at MIT, who has said he will
post it at www.mit.edu/pfl . I don't know how long this will take.

RSA signatures will not be supported in the first drop. While we expect PFL
to be exportable, we have not yet applied for export permission and are
treating it as export controlled until we get it. It contains no crypto
code and no support for data confidentiality.

More details will follow in the near future.

     --Charlie Kaufman
     ([email protected])