Hal wrote on the ietf-openpgp(_at_)imc(_dot_)org list:
... We have had many complaints that the current variable-length
packet-length mechanism is somewhat over-engineered for the purpose.
Still, almost all subpackets are short enough that one byte is enough
for the length, so you do save a few bytes by using the compressed
length encoding.
Benefits from saving a few bytes in PGP sigs:
PGP users 4 M
(original business plan claim)
bytes saved per sig 3
sigs per user 100
---
total bytes saved 1.2 G
Costs of saving a few bytes in PGP sigs:
Cost of coding weird length field 1
Maintenance factor of complex code 5
Independant implementations 10
--
total hours spent 50
balance sheet
value of 1.6 G bytes
($200 IBM 20Gb drive, y2k) $12
value of 50 hours programming
($100 per hour, y2k) $5000
net gain (loss) to society
from the Zimm Buddism
("every byte is sacred"): ($4988)
The 2nd millenium is over. Save programmers, not bytes.
kryptoBunny