Subject: RE: FIPS 186 and X9.42: One of these things is not like the other

From: "Don Johnson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 14:07:00 -0500

Russ,

Also, I am not suggesting it MUST be changed, just that it would be preferred to
be consistent, if at all possible,
Don Johnson

Russ Housley <[email-masked]> on 11/22/99 01:50:56 PM

To:   Don Johnson/Certicom@Certicom
cc:   "John C. Kennedy" <[email-masked]>, [email-masked],
      [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked],
      [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked],
      [email-masked], Elaine Barker <[email-masked]>, Sharon
      Keller <[email-masked]>, Simon Blake-Wilson/Certicom@Certicom, "Phil
      Griffin" <[email-masked]>

Subject:  RE: FIPS 186 and X9.42: One of these things is not like the  other

Don:

At 09:36 AM 11/22/99 -0500, Don Johnson wrote:
>2. The order of the parameters in the domain parameters should be made
>consistent with X9.30 DSA, I think.  If this is not the way it is, it
>should be
>changed in X9.42.

I find no ASN.1 in X9.30 part 1.

Russ

---

From: Russ Housley <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 14:56:30 -0500

Don:

The ASN.1 associated with DSA in X9.57 is completely aligned with PKIX (RFC 
2459).  The DSA parameters contain p, q, and g.

The ASN.1 associated with Diffie-Hellman in the draft X9.42 is completely 
aligned with PKIX (RFC 2459) and S/MIME (RFC 2631).  The D-H parameters 
contain p, g, q, j (optional), and validationParms (also optional).

Both of these parameter structures are included in RFC 2459.  Concerns 
about alignment of the two structures should have been raised many months ago.

While it might have been nice to have the two parameter definitions use the 
same order for p, q, and g, this is not a show stopper.  People have 
implemented with against the current specifications, and I am strongly 
opposed to changes at this late date.

Russ

At 02:06 PM 11/22/99 -0500, Don Johnson wrote:
>Russ,
>
>Yes, the ASN.1 for X9.30 is/was in X9.57 Certificate Management, DSA was the
>only public key ANSI X9 had at that time.
>Don Johnson
>
>
>
>
>