At 01:58 PM 11/3/97 -0800, Paul Hoffman / IMC wrote:
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.
Noted. It probably won't get in immediately -- I want to get out a draft to
everyone at the end of the week, but it makes a lot of sense to make such
an appendix.
It seems to me that it makes sense for such a thing to be in OP-FORMAT (my
document), but if it should be in another one, someone suggest which one.
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.
There are. When I came to PGP, I sat down and wrote some PGP-compatible
software using only RFC 1991 and our original ZT article that described the
V5 formats. I'm intimately familiar with what all is left out, and
documenting those was the original purpose of OP.
OP-FORMAT is the replacement for RFC 1991. When I started, the WG chairs
wanted a reorganization of the document from 1991 and The July Draft. I was
working on that, but have dropped that. The next draft takes Lutz's trunk
and grafts on text from The July Draft, your armoring work, and a lot of
stuff from Hal Finney. That's four merged docs.
Jon
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