Subject: Document Action: 'ASN.1 Translation' to Informational RFC

From: The IESG <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:24:43 -0700

The IESG has approved the following document:
- 'ASN.1 Translation'
  <draft-ietf-pkix-asn1-translation-03.txt> as an Informational RFC

This document is the product of the Public-Key Infrastructure (X.509)
Working Group.

The IESG contact persons are Tim Polk and Sean Turner.

A URL of this Internet Draft is:
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-pkix-asn1-translation/

Technical Summary

This document is intended to provide guidance to specification authors
and to implementers converting ASN.1 modules written using one version of
ASN.1 to another version, without causing changes to the "bits on the
wire". This document does not provide a comprehensive tutorial of any
version of ASN.1.  Instead, it addresses ASN.1 features that are used in
IETF security area specifications with focus on items that vary between
the
two ASN.1 versions of interest (1988 and 2002).

Working Group Summary

The document was produced per working group request following debate
focused on the draft-ietf-pkix-new-asn1 draft.  Some working group members
voiced concern that not all ASN.1 compilers currently in use support the
2002 syntax.  The document aims to explain the differences between ASN.1
versions, allowing specification authors and implementers to target the
desired version of ASN.1.

Document Quality

The document does not define a protocol, so there are no implementations
per se.  Steps described in the document are consistent with those used by
the authors of draft-ietf-pkix-new-asn1 to migrate from older syntax to
new syntax.  

Personnel

Steve Kent is the Document Shepherd; Tim Polk is the 
Responsible Area Director.