-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- To: "L. Todd Masco" <cactus@hks.net> cc: cypherpunks@toad.com Subject: Re: GUCAPI (Grand Unified Crypto API)
I've been thinking a lot recently about how to implement a generic API for crypto such that the interface could be independent of the cipher used. What I'm thinking of is something like:
Why do all this? There already exists a Generic Security System API, GSSAPI, which is an Internet standard (or there is at least an Internet Draft -- I'm not sure what the current status is right now, and given that the IETF is going on this week, it's status may change). Currently, the only GSSAPI bindings I know of are for Kerberos V5 and Kerberos V4, although there could easily be bindings for RSA, PGP, or whatever you want. I suggest you read up on GSSAPI, which provides much of the functionality that you want, plus a lot more. You would just have to write a PGP binding to get it to work, but that shouldn't be too difficult (I haven't looked at this). It'll be even easier when there is a PGP API. - -derek -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQBuAwUBLuTtwTh0K1zBsGrxAQH72wLEDRSmfcIj4ksSSTEUES48N82ZTLUXFTz3 cF8nCbQVkowjHQKkjeGmRZJV3eDTYVPaAMoDUZ+jIogsg2JnVDJxmseyDWmDPV86 Pgeljv/TbmbAwxAQu7bcbEY= =2mTL -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----