ietf-openpgp
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Re: Back-signatures proposal

2003-10-28 14:57:02

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I like the general proposal, for all of the reasons that David
listed.

My only question is about the encoding of the cross-signature
subpacket contents.  It could be anything from:
    a full Signature packet (including packet header); to,
    just the Signature packet contents; to,
    a leaner form with just the required fields (hash algorithm
     and signature MPIs), with the rest being assumed for the
     hash computation in order to reuse that.

I could live with any of these, but I lean toward the middle one.
We may uncover a need for subpackets in the cross-signature itself,
but it's hard to imagine wanting to use a different packet type
(as opposed to signature *version*), and the length is absolutely
redundant.  [Note that the signature computation hashes a canonical
header, not the actual one.]

If we do use a regular Signature packet (with or without header),
then
I'd like to see a recommendation on what subpackets it should
contain.
The usual rules don't apply: for example, the issuer is known.  I
don't see a *need* for any subpackets, even creation time (but I'm
open to arguments).




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