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+
+This package contains a program to exercise Botan's path validation
+algorithm, as contained in the X509_Store object. The data used is
+NIST's X.509v3 certificate path validation testing data, as found on
+NIST's web site (version 1.0.7 of the testing data is currently
+used). The PKCS #7 and PKCS #12 data files have been removed, as they
+are not used in this test.
+
+Currently, some tests fail or are not be run for various reasons (in
+particular, we don't have support policy extensions yet, so that
+excludes running a good number of the tests). Even if all of the tests
+DO pass, that does not imply that Botan's path validation and
+certificate processing code is bug free, as there are many (*very
+many*) possible options in X.509 which this testing data does not make
+use of at all. However, it is helpful for implementation testing and
+assurance (I have found a good number of bugs using these tests).
+
+Currently, we do not make use of the S/MIME or PKCS #12 testing data
+contained in these tests, because Botan does not support either of
+these standards.
+
+To use this, compile x509test.cpp, and run the resulting
+executable. The results are written to standard output. Your system
+must have a POSIX.1 dirent.h, and the code assumes Unix-style paths.
+
+Email me with any questions or comments about these tests.