v1.5 Enhanced SNACC Freeware Now Available

All,

DigitalNet (formerly Getronics Government Solutions) has delivered 
the v1.5 eSNACC Abstract Syntax Notation.1 (ASN.1) Compiler, C++ 
library and C library source code compilable for Linux, Sun Solaris
2.8 and Microsoft (MS) Windows NT/98/2000/XP.  The eSNACC software 
is freely available to everyone from:
<http://www.digitalnet.com/hot/snacc_home.htm>

The eSNACC ASN.1 software can be used to ASN.1 encode and decode
objects.  In past releases, DigitalNet improved the eSNACC C++ 
library to implement the Distinguished Encoding Rules (DER), 
support large ASN.1 INTEGERs, and improve memory usage.    

v1.5 eSNACC enhancements (compared to v1.4 release):

1) Updated compiler to automatically read in ASN.1 module files
listed in IMPORTS section of primary module.  Added option for
specifying directories to search when looking for imported ASN.1
modules.  Now only primary ASN.1 module needs to be passed to 
the compiler.

2) Enhanced compiler to support OCTET STRING CONTAINS DER ENCODING
feature.

3) Enhanced AsnBuf, ASNOcts, ASNAny class to expand as necessary
when encoding and to decode directly from a file.  CSM_Buffer
moved out of eSNACC.  

4) Enhanced C Library to use GenBuf to provide improved buffer
processing capabilities. 

We successfully tested the v1.5 eSNACC ASN.1 C++ and C libraries
using the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) v1 test
suite (18,000 test cases) developed by the University of Oulu.    

We tested the v1.5 eSNACC release with the v2.2 S/MIME
Freeware Library (SFL) available from 
<http://www.digitalnet.com/hot/sfl_home.htm> that 
uses the eSNACC ASN.1 software to encode and decode the IETF 
S/MIME v3 Cryptographic Message Syntax (RFC 3369) and Enhanced
Security Services for S/MIME (RFC 2634) security protocol.  

We tested the v1.5 eSNACC release with the freeware v2.2
Certificate Management Library (CML) available from
<http://www.digitalnet.com/hot/cml_home.htm> 
that uses the eSNACC ASN.1 software to encode and decode X.509 
certificates, attribute certificates and Certificate Revocation 
Lists as specified in the 2000 X.509 Recommendation.

We tested the v1.5 eSNACC release with the freeware v2.2 
Access Control Library (ACL) available from 
<http://www.digitalnet.com/hot/acl_home.htm>
that uses the eSNACC ASN.1 software to encode and decode security
labels and other objects (such as Security Policy Information 
Files) required to provide rule based automated access control 
as specified in SDN.801.

The eSNACC ASN.1 software implements the majority of the 
ASN.1 encoding/decoding rules as specified in the 1988 X.209 
Recommendation.  It implements the DER as specified in the 1997 
X.690 Recommendation.  It does not support all of the latest ASN.1
features, but there are strategies that allow it to be used to 
produce ASN.1 hex encodings that are identical to those produced by
ASN.1 libraries that do support the latest ASN.1 features.  Also note
that many of the PKIX specs, such as RFC 3280 and RFC 2630, include 
1988-compliant ASN.1 syntax modules which can be compiled using the
eSNACC compiler.

The eSNACC ASN.1 library is totally unencumbered as stated 
in the Enhanced SNACC Software Public License.  All source code
for the eSNACC software is being provided at no cost and with no
financial limitations regarding its use and distribution.  
Organizations can use the eSNACC software without paying
any royalties or licensing fees.  

The Internet Mail Consortium (IMC) has established an eSNACC
web page <http://www.imc.org/imc-snacc/>.  The IMC has established 
an eSNACC mail list which is used to: distribute information 
regarding eSNACC releases; discuss related issues; and 
provide a means for integrators to provide feedback, comments,
bug reports, etc.  Subscription information for the imc-snacc
mail list is at the IMC web site listed above.

We are still in the process of improving the eSNACC software.
We welcome all feedback regarding the eSNACC software.
If bugs are reported, then we will investigate each reported
bug and, if required, will produce a patch or an updated
release of the software to repair the bug. 

This release announcement was sent to several mail lists,
but please send all messages regarding the eSNACC 
software to the imc-snacc mail list ONLY.  Please do not send 
messages regarding the eSNACC software to any of the 
IETF mail lists.  We will respond to all messages sent to the
imc-snacc mail list.

===========================================
John Pawling, John.Pawling <at> DigitalNet.com
DigitalNet Government Solutions, LLC
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