PKCS#11 support for gpg-agent

Alon Bar-Lev alon.barlev at gmail.com
Wed Aug 31 09:46:08 CEST 2005


Hi!

I still don't get it...

> Its is not about the protocol but about the licenses incompatibility
between Mozilla and GPL applications. 
> AFAIK, not everything in Mozilla has the option to be used under the GPL.

> Because pkcs#11 is a standard to let two proprietary applications work
together - that is the whole reason
> for that complex and very limited beast.

I still don't understand where is the licensing problem of using PKCS#11 in
a GPLed application.
You FAILED to answer this issue, and this is the key issue why you invent
your own card structure!!!
This makes gpg UNUSABLE with smartcards, and I regret this fact.

Opensc uses PKCS#11 and is release under LGPL 2.1, although it LGPL I don't
see any reason
why the "L" is PKCS#11 depended
(http://www.opensc.org/files/doc/opensc.html#opensc.license).

Again, you are using a lot of PKCS#* standards in your application, and I
don't understand why
you have a problem only with PKCS#11...

>> Can you please reconsider the PKCS#11 support, without
>> a new agent branch?

> Ask me for a quote.

I am only trying to help!
I don't think you understand how people use smartcards...
The situation where you have a dedicated smartcard for every application is
unacceptable.
Every application that is written is such approach will be replaced, and I
regret to see gpg be replaced.
When user buys it's email signature/encryption certificate he expects to be
able to use it in
all smartcard enable applications... PKCS#11 provides this ability, and is
free to use, and most commonly
Implemented.

Yes, I know that I can write my own agent... But I still think it will be a
mistake.

Best Regards,
Alon Bar-Lev.




More information about the Gnupg-users mailing list