hi lfern,
I was trying to run yoyr secclab component on Windows. It gives me the
error "CLABSignString not defined". am I doing something wrong? Or is
this component not meant for windows?

Rgds
Kohinoor

lfern <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> Emil Assarsson wrote:
> > Mathias Brossard wrote:
> > 
> >> This mail is my plea for the fastest possible integration into Mozilla
> >> of the patch made by kaie related to formsigning support.
> >> crypto.signText() is function that existed in Netscape Navigator 4.x
> >> that disappeared in Mozilla leaving only a short mail from Stephane Saux
> >> (http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/msg03023.html).
> >> There's a patch in bugzilla #29152 "[feature] Cannot do formsigning"
> >> (http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=29152). I tested it and as
> >> far as I can tell, it works.
> >>
> >> Why does this function and why do we need it ?
> >>
> >> This function allows to build applications with "non-repudiation",
> >> providing the user with a mean to sign information using a X509
> >> certificate. Without this function you'd need to have some kind of
> >> native plug-in or some Java applet with JNI which is a big task to
> >> create and maintain. Compared to Internet Explorer with CAPICOM,
> >> Mozilla support would look tremendously expensive and therefore most
> >> likely dropped.
> >>
> >> Should the Mozilla team care about integrating now a feature that
> >> might have limited use in the very short term ? I'll admit that secure
> >> web applications with digital signature are not common this days. But
> >> these solutions are being designed and developped today and if Mozilla
> >> isn't on the first train, I think it will be playing catch-up for a
> >> long time.
> >>
> >> signText() might look like a limited API, but it provides an atomic
> >> feature that is very difficult to obtain otherwise:
> >> - the user sees the text he is supposed to sign,
> >> - the signature can be provided by a hardware or software token,
> >> - the signature is a concrete proof of a user's intent.
> >>
> >> I'm not saying that after signText() is added all the problems will be
> >> solved. In fact it will probably spark the need for other new
> >> cryptographic features. I've looked at a lot of documentation and code
> >> about NSS and PSM, and I was frustrated to see that all these
> >> treasures were not accessible : not in Javascript and probably not in
> >> XUL either (I'm not totally sure about XUL, but I didn't find any
> >> documentation or code that would suggest it is possible). Changing
> >> that might take a long time to unfold, but in the mean time you'd
> >> still have signText() to rely on.
> >>
> >> Sincerely,
> >>
> > Agree!
> > It would also be nice to have a possibility to view this signed 
> > information in a reliable way. This type of viewer should be built-in or 
> > provided by a trusted component.
> > So maybe somekind of new fileformat based on text/plain (no active 
> > contents) that supports mutiple signatures. This could then be added to 
> > pages as <Object>?
> > The new fileformat could also support crypted messages...
> > S/MIME based forms? The viewer and the signer/encrypter is already 
> > there. BTW this could be an exelent method for web mail solutions!
> > 
> > Is anyone intrested in a more detailed RFC? (Promise I will spellcheck ;-)
> > 
> > -- 
> > Emil Assarsson
> > 
> > 
> Hi, I had the same need, so I have just developed the SecClab component 
> that lets you to sign text (http://secclab.mozdev.org). This component 
> can sign any string (text or binary) getting a PKCS7 detached signature 
> (really a CMS detached signature). But, it does not show the text you 
> are going to sign, as crypto.signText did. I do not think this have to 
> be a feature implemented into a PKI component. You are talking about 
> singing text/plain, but what about signing XML, or HTML. This way, you 
> would have to include into that component an XML viewer or an HTML 
> viewer, (or, perhaps, a PDF viewer!?). So, I think that a component that 
> implements signature feature must not to have viewing capability, this 
> would be implemented in a separately component.
> 
> About a webmail solution for sign/encrypt messages it is an excellent 
> idea. But I think that it is not so easy if you want to sign/encrypt (or 
> verify/decrypt) a message with attached files: you would have to build a 
> MIME message with the files attached and then, get the signature, or 
> multiple signature, and finally, encrypt for one or more people.I do not 
> know if a text-based codification of signature messages could make this 
> work easier, but, anyway, that format would have to be translated to 
> S/MIME, so it could be read and verified by others email clients. The 
> better way would be to develope a component that ensambles directly the 
> S/MIME packet, and that could open them. I have to think about it, but 
> it could be possible.
> 
> Lfern

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