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first attempt of documentation added...

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<!doctype linuxdoc system>
<article>
<title>XCA <!-- insert your title here -->
<author>Christian Hohnstädt, <tt/christian@hohnstaedt.de/ <!-- insert your name here -->
<date>$Date$ <!-- always have a version number and a date -->
<abstract> <!-- the abstract: a short and precise description -->
<nidx>(your index root)</nidx> <!-- add indexing keywords as you go along -->
<!-- nidx means the indexed word is not in output of main text, only in the index -->
This application is intended for creating and managing X.509 certificates
and RSA keys (DSA keys maybe supported in a later release
since they are not wideley used in PKI cryptography).
Everything that is needed for a CA is implemented.
All CAs can sign sub-CAs rekursively. These certificate chains are shown clearly in a list-view.
For an easy company-wide use there are customiseable templates that can be used for certificate or request generation.
All crypto data is stored in a local Berkeley database.
</abstract>
<!-- Table of contents -->
<toc>
<!-- Begin the document -->
<sect>Introduction
<p>
<nidx>(your index root)!introduction</nidx> <!-- here introduction is a sub entry of template, exclamationmark is separator -->
This application is intended as Certificate and Keystore and as
signing application issuing certificates.
<p>
All datastructures (keys, Certificate signing requests, Certificates, Templates) can be imported
and exported in several formats (DER, PEM).
Import means reading a file from the filesystem and storing the datastructure
into the databasefile, while exporting means to write the datastructure
from the databasefile to the filesystem to be e.g imported to an other application.
<p>
When starting the application the first time, it needs a password to encrypt the
private keys in the database.
After starting the application all RSA-keys are hold <bf>unencrypted</bf> in RAM.
<p>
The different parts are divided over 3 Tabs: Keys, Requests, Certificates.
All items can be manipulated either by a context-menu available by
right clicking on the item.
<sect1>File formats
<p>
There are several widely known file-formats to exchange the data with
other applications.
<itemize>
<item><bf>DER</bf> is the ASN.1 encoding of the data, ASN.1 is an international standard.
<item><bf>PEM</bf> is the base64 encoded version of the <bf>DER</bf> formatted data
with additional header and footer lines to be transported via e.g. E-mail
<item><bf>PKCS #X</bf> stands for Public Key Cryptographic Standard
<sect1>Further reading
<p>
<url url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/SSL-Certificates-HOWTO/" name="SSL Certificates HOWTO">
<url url="http://ospkibook.sourceforge.net/" name="OS-PKI book">
<sect1>Copyright
<p>
<tscreen><verb>
/*
* Copyright (C) 2001 Christian Hohnstaedt.
*
* All rights reserved.
*
*
* Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
* modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
*
* - Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice,
* this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
* - Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
* this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
* and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
* - Neither the name of the author nor the names of its contributors may be
* used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without
* specific prior written permission.
*
*
* THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS"
* AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
* THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
* PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR
* CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,
* EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
* PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS;
* OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY,
* WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR
* OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF
* ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
*
*
* This program links to software with different licenses from:
*
* http://www.openssl.org which includes cryptographic software
* written by Eric Young (eay@cryptsoft.com)"
*
* http://www.sleepycat.com
*
* http://www.trolltech.com
*
*
*
* http://www.hohnstaedt.de/xca
* email: christian@hohnstaedt.de
*
*/
</verb></tscreen>
<sect1>Credits
<p>
In this version I have the pleasure of acknowledging
<tscreen><verb>
Kerstin Steinhauff &lt;tine (at) kerstine.de&gt;
Arts, graphics, testing, SuSE rpm building
Ilya Kozhevnikov &lt;ilya (at) ef.unn.ru&gt;
Compiling and testing the WIN32-port
</verb></tscreen>
Thank you very much.
<!--
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
-->
<sect>RSA Keys
<p>
For asynchronous encryption and signing there are keys needed. XCA only supports RSA keys
and no DSA keys. All keys are stored encrypted in the database using 3DES algorithm.
<sect1>Key export
<p>
Keys can be exported by either selecting the key and pressing <em>Export</em> or by
using the context-menu. This opens a Dialogbox where you can change the following settings:
<itemize>
<item>filename
<item>Outputformat
<item>Public or Private Key
<item>Encryption of the exported file (yes/no)
</itemize>
The filename is the internal name plus a <tt>pem</tt> suffix.
If the fileformat is not PEM it is your responsibility
to change the suffix to <tt>der</tt> or <tt>pk8</tt>.
Only PKCS8 or PEM files can be encrypted, because
the DER format (although it could be encryoted)
does not support a way to supply the <em>encryption algorithm</em>.
</article>