Frank Balluffi wrote:
> 
> What is the meaning of PKCS7's detached element? Is the detached element
> documented? The code suggests that detached should be set to 1 if
> pkcs7->d.sign->contents->d.ptr == NULL, where pkcs7 is a PKCS7 *? Is
> detached to be used as a shortcut for putting an ASN.1 NULL into the
> SignedData's contentInfo's content?
> 

Yes it should be set to 1 under those circumstances. It is used as an
indicator for various PKCS#7 utility functions that the data is detached
and the PKCS7 structure set up appropriately.

As far as the ASN1 PKCS#7 functions (i2d_PKCS7, d2i_PKCS7) are concerned
detached content is solely indicated by pkcs7->d.sign->contents->d.ptr
being NULL. Detached content is *absent* and not encoded as an ASN1.1
NULL BTW.

Steve.
-- 
Dr Stephen N. Henson.   http://www.drh-consultancy.demon.co.uk/
Personal Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Senior crypto engineer, Gemplus: http://www.gemplus.com/
Core developer of the   OpenSSL project: http://www.openssl.org/
Business Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] PGP key: via homepage.


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