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CA:FAQ: Difference between revisions
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→Why does Mozilla include a default set of CA certificates?
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If Mozilla or related software did not already have a copy of a given root CA certificate then it would be unable to automatically determine whether certificates issued by that root CA (or subordinate CAs) should be accepted or not, and would have to prompt the user as to what to do. Most users don't know what CAs are or don't possess the necessary information to properly decide what Mozilla should do. To prevent these typical Mozilla users from having to deal with this issue, Mozilla and related software includes a pre-loaded set of default root CA certificates, with the trust bits set appropriately. | If Mozilla or related software did not already have a copy of a given root CA certificate then it would be unable to automatically determine whether certificates issued by that root CA (or subordinate CAs) should be accepted or not, and would have to prompt the user as to what to do. Most users don't know what CAs are or don't possess the necessary information to properly decide what Mozilla should do. To prevent these typical Mozilla users from having to deal with this issue, Mozilla and related software includes a pre-loaded set of default root CA certificates, with the trust bits set appropriately. | ||
These pre-loaded root CA certificates are distributed with Mozilla and related software in the form of a shared library installed on users' systems along with the rest of the software executable code. They can therefore be updated when new versions of the software are | These pre-loaded root CA certificates are distributed with Mozilla and related software in the form of a shared library installed on users' systems along with the rest of the software executable code. They can therefore be updated when new versions of the software are released. | ||
The pre-loaded CA certificates are included in the following files: | The pre-loaded CA certificates are included in the following files: | ||