> From: Jeffrey Hutzelman [mailto:jhutz@xxxxxxx] > It's a subset, in fact. All DER is valid BER. It is an illogical subset defined in a throwaway comment in an obscure part of the spec. A subset is not necessarily a reduction in complexity. Let us imagine that we have a spec that allows you to choose between three modes of transport to get to school: walk, bicycle or unicycle. The unicycle option does not create any real difficulty for you since you simply ignore it and use one of the sensible options. And it is no more complex to support since a bicycle track can also be used by unicyclists. Now the same derranged loons who wrote the DER encoding decide that your Distinguished transport option is going to be unicycle, that is all you are going to be allowed to do. Suddenly the option which you could ignore as illogical and irrelevant has become an obligation. And that is what DER encoding does. Since you don't appear to have coded DER encoding I suggest you try it before further pontification. If you have coded it and don't understand how so many people get it wrong then you are beyond hope. BTW its not just the use of definite length tags, there is also a requirement to sort the content of sets which is a real fun thing to do. Particularly when the spec fails to explain what is actually to be sorted. _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf