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Annotation of researchv10dc/cmd/sign/sign.1, revision 1.1.1.1

1.1       root        1: .TH SIGN 1 
                      2: .CT 1 comm_term sa_mortals secur
                      3: .SH NAME
                      4: sign, verify, enroll, resign \(mi document certification
                      5: .SH SYNOPSIS
                      6: .B sign
                      7: [
                      8: .B -n
                      9: .I name
                     10: ] [
                     11: .I file
                     12: ]
                     13: .PP
                     14: .B verify
                     15: [
                     16: .B -s
                     17: ] [
                     18: .I file
                     19: ]
                     20: .PP
                     21: .B enroll
                     22: .PP
                     23: .B resign
                     24: .SH DESCRIPTION
                     25: These routines
                     26: provide a document-certification service.
                     27: .PP
                     28: .I Sign
                     29: reads a document from the
                     30: .I file
                     31: or from the standard input, demands a signing password
                     32: for the current login id,
                     33: and places on standard 
                     34: output a signed and dated copy of the document,
                     35: with a cryptographic certificate attached.
                     36: The resulting document can be embedded in a larger one.
                     37: The option is
                     38: .TP
                     39: .BI -n " name
                     40: Set the signing name; its password will be demanded.
                     41: .PP
                     42: .I Verify
                     43: scans the
                     44: .I file
                     45: or the standard input for a certified document.
                     46: If the document and date are as they were when certified,
                     47: except possibly indented,
                     48: the verified document is placed on the standard output
                     49: with a statement of verification attached.
                     50: The option is
                     51: .TP
                     52: .B -s
                     53: Do not print the document; place only a statement of
                     54: verification on the standard output.
                     55: .PP
                     56: The signer of a document must be registered with the
                     57: certification service; the recipient need not be.
                     58: Two commands handle registration:
                     59: .PP
                     60: .I Enroll
                     61: demands a signing password and registers it for the current
                     62: login id.
                     63: It is unwise to use your login password.
                     64: .PP
                     65: .I Resign
                     66: demands the signing password and, if it is correct,
                     67: terminates the registration for the current login id.
                     68: .PP
                     69: A signed document and its date are tamperproof
                     70: and thus are good for ordinary business purposes.
                     71: The mere appearance of a certificate, however, is not proof
                     72: of authenticity.  That can be determined only by
                     73: .I verify.
                     74: The output of
                     75: .I verify
                     76: lacks a
                     77: certificate; its authenticity cannot be attested at a later date.
                     78: .PP
                     79: There is no notion of an `original' signed document;
                     80: all copies are equally good and may be reverified at will.
                     81: .PP
                     82: Signers must trust 
                     83: .I sign
                     84: and recipients must trust
                     85: .I verify
                     86: not to have been tampered with on their respective machines.
                     87: Both parties must trust the verification
                     88: service, which is on a separate secure machine,
                     89: and the communication channels to it.
                     90: .SH EXAMPLES
                     91: .TP
                     92: .B sign <doc.raw >doc.cert
                     93: .TP
                     94: .B verify <doc.suspect >doc.checked
                     95: .TP
                     96: .B sign <letter | mail whomever
                     97: The recipient can verify the letter from within
                     98: .IR mail (1)
                     99: by using
                    100: .I mail's
                    101: pipe command:
                    102: .LR |verify .
                    103: .SH SEE ALSO
                    104: .IR notary (8)
                    105: .SH DIAGNOSTICS
                    106: .I Verify
                    107: yields exit status 0 only on successful verification.
                    108: .PP
                    109: `Bogus' \- the document has been tampered with, or the
                    110: original password is no longer registered.
                    111: .SH BUGS
                    112: Only one user with a given login name may be registered;
                    113: thus the certification service cannot be extended too
                    114: far.
                    115: .br
                    116: To minimize dependence on the certification service,
                    117: no password check is made at signing.  A mistyped password
                    118: will not show up until verification.

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