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Date:      Wed, 4 Aug 1999 09:36:36 -0700 (PDT)
From:      "Eric J. Schwertfeger" <ejs@bfd.com>
To:        Slawek Zak <zaks@prioris.im.pw.edu.pl>
Cc:        Doug <Doug@gorean.org>, Thomas Mullaney <thomas@pepperell.net>, Charles Randall <crandall@matchlogic.com>, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: ssh/ssh2
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.4.05.9908040919070.19100-100000@harlie.bfd.com>
In-Reply-To: <87iu6w4gyi.fsf@prioris.im.pw.edu.pl>

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On 4 Aug 1999, Slawek Zak wrote:

> ** "Eric J. Schwertfeger" <ejs@bfd.com> wrote:
> 
>     Eric> On Mon, 2 Aug 1999, Doug wrote:
>     >> You can search the archives for this list and bugtraq to get a
>     >> better idea. Put another way, ssh version 1 is well tested and
>     >> free, whereas version 2 is less well tested, new, costs money
>     >> to use, and has no features that version 1 doesn't have. So,
>     >> why use version 2?
> 
>     Eric> Version 1 uses the RSA encryption algorithm, which isn't
>     Eric> free for commercial use within the US.
> 
> prioris% ssh -v
> SSH Version 1.2.26 [.......]
> Standard version.  Does not use RSAREF.

From the SSH FAQ, section 2.5.1 SSH version 1.2.X

"...Encryption keys are exchanged using RSA, and data used in the key
exchange is destroyed every hour (keys are not saved anywhere). Every host
has an RSA key which is used to authenticate the host when RSA host
authentication is used...
...
RSA keys are also used to authenticate hosts."

Please note that no alternatives are used for Key exchange or host
authentication.  The v1 protocol doesn't allow for other key echange
encryption algorithms.

As I understand it, you can build it with or without RSAREF, but if you
build it without RSAREF, it includes its own RSA implementation.  The
legal issues were the main reason for the development of ssh2.

You can use RSAREF in noncommercial environments within the USA.  You can
license the technology, you can move outside the country, or you can break
the law.

I'm not a net laywer, but I do try to follow the legal issues involving
crypto.  This is also not a statement of endorsement of the RSA patent.

You can compile openSSL to not include RSA and other infringing
algorithms, but then you couldn't use that to compile against ssh.  You
could probably get SSLrsh to compile against it, however.  You could also
try the lsh implementation, which uses the SSH v2 protocol, though it is
still in development stage, and requires some special patches to
interoperate with ssh2.



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