Re: key usage - key encipherment or data encipherment

[pgut001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Peter Gutmann)]

wpolk@xxxxxxxx writes:

>This is a recurring problem with applications.  

If this is a recurring problem then it's a strong indicator that the wording
of the spec needs to be changed to address it.

>If your vendor is cooperative, that will make your choice easier.

They almost never are.  The standard flow for this sort of thing is:

  1. Vendor does something silly.

  2. Vendor uses ambiguous wording of spec to justify their silliness
     because they don't want to fix their code.

  3. User has the option of breaking their code to match the vendor 
     silliness, or going somewhere else (learning to flip burgers, for
     example).

Peter (who just last week went through an argument with a vendor who claimed
       that some open-ended wording in the X.509v3 spec (before sundry
       corrections and bugfixes are applied, and not counting X.509v4 updates
       or any bugfixes to that) allowed them to do something silly, and they 
       weren't going to change their code, and anyone who didn't like it could
       bugger off).