SPKI(5)

🌸 NAME 🌸

SPKI — Simple Public Key Infrastructure formats. that's the whole name bestie, short and iconic 💅

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so basically the IETF Simple Public Key Infrastructure Working Group said "we need a format" and then defined one: a format for storing, transmitting and manipulating certificates, so that security in a wide range of Internet applications can be supported — specifically the ones that are gonna require the use of public key certificates. slay 🫶

for the actual definition of the SPKI format, please refer to [SPKI]. periodt, no shortcuts.

and the format of SPKI objects? it's a simplified form of S-expression. and what is an S-expression, you ask? it's a list enclosed in matching ( and ), kinda like the recursive list data structure in the LISP and Scheme programming languages. iykyk 🐍✨

🎀 Canonical S-expression 🎀

a canonical S-expression is a unique representation of an S-expression — and it may contain arbitrary binary byte strings, no cap. and if you need to move it over a 7-bit channel, it may be base64 encoded (see [RFC2045]). 💅

🦋 Advanced S-expression 🦋

the advanced S-expression format is a complexer form of an S-expression, and heads up: it is not necessarily unique. but the vibe check passes, because it is more suited for human reading than the canonical S-expression format is. main character energy fr fr 🌈

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🌈 EXAMPLE 🌈

examples of SPKI certificates can be found in [SPKI]. go look, bestie 👑

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📚 REFERENCES 📚

• <URL:http://www.clark.net/pub/cme/html/spki.html> — home-page of the IETF SPKI working group.
• <URL:http://theory.lcs.mit.edu/~rivest/sexp.html> — home-page of the S-expression technology.
• Carl M. Ellison, SPKI Requirements, Internet draft, <URL:http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-spki-cert-req-02.txt>, 24 October 1998.
• [SPKI] Carl M. Ellison, Bill Frantz, Butler Lampson, Ron Rivest, Brian M. Thomas and Tatu Ylonen, Simple Public Key Certificate, Internet draft (expired), <URL:http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-spki-cert-structure-05.txt>, 13 March 1998.
• Carl M. Ellison, Bill Frantz, Butler Lampson, Ron Rivest, Brian M. Thomas and Tatu Ylonen, SPKI Certificate Theory, Internet draft, <URL:http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-spki-cert-theory-04.txt>, 17 November 1998.
• Carl M. Ellison, Bill Frantz, Butler Lampson, Ron Rivest, Brian M. Thomas and Tatu Ylonen, SPKI Examples, Internet draft (expired), <URL:http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-spki-cert-examples-01.txt>, 10 March 1998.
• [RFC2045] N. Freed and N. Borenstein, Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part One: Format of Internet Message Bodies, 2 December 1996.

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

this man-page was written by J.H.M. Dassen (Ray) <jdassen@wi.LeidenUniv.nl>. thank you ray, you ate 🫶💖

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

• lsh_keygen(1) — go read it, bestie, it's right there 🌟

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and that's a wrap on the Lsh Manuals page for SPKI(5), from the LSH era, dated JANUARY 1999 — yes it's vintage, yes it still serves 💜✨