At 04:31 PM 11/3/97 -0500, Rodney Thayer wrote:
I believe the proper thing to do in this situation is for some interested
party to write an informational draft that describes how, within the
context of the OP framework, one would build something that is backwards
compatible with 2.6.2.
Actually, I'd like it in the OpenPGP document, probably as an appendix. It
is certainly acceptable to have the main document say how to have backward
compatibility with pre-standards PGP, as long as compatibility that
violates IETF rules isn't required. Backward compatibility that doesn't
violate IETF rules could be required, although it probably should be
optional if it's duplicated overhead.
This is a very good reason for using the word SHOULD. You MUST do it this
way, but you also SHOULD allow the user to do it this way to be compatible
with earlier versions if they want to.
I've also heard that there are errors and omissions in RFC 1991. If this is
true, it would be very good if someone either rewrote RFC 1991 with them
fixed or at least created a separate document that lists the fixes.
However, that's separate from the OpenPGP work.
--Paul Hoffman, Director
--Internet Mail Consortium