Dear List,
   
   
    
   
   
    I self-host my e-mail and run Dovecot since ever I do that. Dovecot
   
   
    version is 2.3.4.1 (f79e8e7e4), running on Debian testing.
   
   
    
   
   
    Now I am trying to configure Dovecot for client TLS certificates. I have
   
   
    a self-signed certificate whose private key resides on a smartcard
   
   
    (Yubikey, to be exact). I wanted Dovecot to accept that TLS client
   
   
    certificate instead of a password. So I searched and found this wiki
   
   
   
    
   
   
    But that Wiki page says:
   
   
    
   
   
    
     The CA file should contain the certificate(s) followed by the matching
    
    
     CRL(s). Note that the CRLs are required to exist.
    
   
   
    I have now messed three hours or so with OpenSSL to get a CRL generated
   
   
    for my self-signed certificate, but I can't get that to work (the
   
   
    problem appearently being that OpenSSL doesn't play well with private
   
   
    keys on smartcards). It doesn't make sense anyway, why does one need a
   
   
    CRL for a self-signed certificate? If the self-signed certificate's key
   
   
    gets compromised, the CRL does not help at all.
   
   
    
   
   
    So, here are my questions:
   
   
    
   
   
    1. Is a CRL really a hard requirement?
   
   
    2. If not: can I just use the self-signed certificate of my private key
   
   
    for the ssl_ca setting?
   
   
    3. If yes: any idea how I can generate a CRL for my smartcard-bound
   
   
    self-signed certificate?
   
   
    
   
   
    Marvin
   
   
    
   
   
    --
   
   
  
  
   You will save yourself from world of hurt if you use a dummy ca to sign you smartcard cert. You can try without generating a CRL.