Re: S/MIME MUA

["J.H.M. Dassen \(Ray\)" <jhm@cistron.nl>]

On Tue, Jul 25, 2000 at 13:17:01 +1000, Brian May wrote:
>> I am actually using mutt but I just discovered that it handle PGP/MIME
>> (rfc2015) and not S/MIME (rfs2633-4).
> 
> What is the difference? I thought that there was only one standard...

The beauty of standards...

S/MIME is an older standard based on a hierarchical public key
infrastructure using certificate authorities (similar to, or perhaps the
same as for SSL). AFAIK it is not used much outside specific communities;
Netscape is the only Linux MUA I'm aware of that supports it.

PGP/MIME is based on PGP/GnuPG, with the familiar guerilla-style
non-hierarchical "web of trust". It is supported by mutt and others.

HTH,
Ray
-- 
LEADERSHIP  A form of self-preservation exhibited by people with auto-
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