Re: Should PKIX protocols support XML well

[Stephen Kent <kent@xxxxxxx>]

Ambarish,

XML has various benefits for representing certain kinds of data, but 
none of those seem especially relevant to the encoding of certs or 
CRLs. Moreover, at a time when people in various quarters (e.g., 
wireless folks) complain about the size of certs, it would not seem 
especially appropriate to adopt an XML encoding, which would increase 
the size of these data items.

I am not persuaded by comments that allude only to the "trendiness" 
of XML vs. ASN.1 encoding, as several others have pointed out. PKIX 
was started as a profiler of X.509 protocols, and we have expanded 
our charter to create new protocols that support X.509 certs and 
which seem appropriate to PKI use in the Internet. That makes it hard 
to justify developing new syntax for existing data structures, as 
noted above.  However, as Russ pointed out, standards for carriage of 
certs and CRLs (ASN.1 encoded) in an XML context are not out of the 
question.

Steve