Re: [Evolution-hackers] S/MIME support

[Not Zed <notzed ximian com>]

FWIW, i would like to see this done via a plugin system, so a gpgme
backend might be a possibility.

The GPL thing isn't insurmountable, although inconvenient.  It could be
used via a daemon/pipe.

If gpgme can come up with a common frontend api (does it?) with
different backends, then so could camel.


On Fri, 2003-07-04 at 03:14, Jacob Perkins wrote:
> Why not use gpgme and gpgsm?  gpgme's abstraction works over gpgsm and
> gnupg (and maybe more in the future), so implementing s/mime with gpgme
> could also make the pgp code simpler.  There is a working plugin for KMail
> which uses gpgme/gpgsm, and balsa and sylpheed both use gpgme for pgp
> support.  The existing interfaces could still be kept, only the backend
> code would have to be changed.
> 
> > On Thu, 2003-07-03 at 11:41, Not Zed wrote:
> >> Hi Bernard,
> >>
> >> > I'm interested in adding support for S/MIME to Evolution and have seen
> >> a
> >> > number of requests/mentions of this feature.
> >> >
> >> > Is anyone currently working on it?  If not has anyone tried and given
> >> up (war
> >> > stories welcome!)?  Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get
> >> started
> >> > on such a task?  Where could I find the relevant documentation on how
> >> to get
> >> > started with hacking evolution?
> >>
> >> We're planning it for 1.6 i think.  Jeff will be working on it, he'll
> >> probably reply when he wakes up :)
> >>
> >> He's already done some (nontrivial) work on it in the past, but i'm not
> >> sure whether it managed to do anything or was just experimentation.
> >>
> >> There is no documentation, apart from the source.  There is a basic
> >> object and class structure for high-level
> >> encrypt/decrypt/signing/verification, and an implementation for gpg, but
> >> thats about it.  We want to keep similar api's and a common abstraction
> >> at least for these high-level operations for different backends (for
> >> plugins?).
> >>
> >> Source to look at (in an evolution tarball or on cvs.gnome.org in the
> >> evolution dir) ...
> >>
> >> Stuff in camel/*
> >>   camel-cipher-context.[ch]
> >> 	abstract high-level class for use by the mime classes
> >>   camel-gpg-context.[ch]
> >> 	implementation for gpg/pgp
> >>   camel-multipart-signed.[ch]
> >> 	handle reading/writing multipart/signed type (rfc3156)
> >> 	ignore most of my whiney comments :)
> >
> > (abstractly defined in rfc1847 - applies to both S/MIME and PGP/MIME)
> >
> >>   camel-multipart-encrypted.[ch]
> >> 	handle reading/writing multipart/encrypted type
> >
> > unfortunately not helpful for S/MIME, since it does encryption a
> > different way :-(
> >
> >>
> >> this stuff is there but doesn't work/isn't used
> >>   camel-cms-context.[ch]
> >> 	similar to cipher-context for s/mime
> >
> > right, altho ideally what should happen is that cms-context and
> > cipher-context get merged.
> >
> > A few things:
> >
> > CamelCipherValidity will have to become some sort of chain if it is
> > going to be used by the S/MIME code (since, as far as I understand, the
> > Mozilla nss verification code uses a chain that might not be easy to
> > flatten. or, even if it can be flattened - should it?)
> >
> >>   camel-smime-context.[ch]
> >> 	similar to gpg context
> >
> > the basics are there, nothing tested tho. I don't even completely recall
> > where exactly I left off.
> >
> >>   camel-pkcs7-context.[ch]
> >> 	pkcs7 for cipher-context implementation?
> >
> > this is garbage. When I originally started implementing S/MIME, the APIs
> > were different in nss.
> >
> >>
> >> There's also some utility stuff, but its mostly for identifying/etc.
> >> The frontend code just consists of calling *multipart* methods with the
> >> right context.
> >>
> >> The plan (i think a requirement?) is to use Mozilla's libNSS to
> >> implement it.
> >
> > right.
> >
> > --
> > Jeffrey Stedfast
> > Evolution Hacker - Ximian, Inc.
> > fejj ximian com  - www.ximian.com
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > evolution-hackers maillist  -  evolution-hackers lists ximian com
> > http://lists.ximian.com/mailman/listinfo/evolution-hackers
> >
> 
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