Marc> On 03/29/2011 01:28 PM, Eric Burger wrote:
>> Would we not be better off just asking (mandating?) at least one
>> open source implementation? That effort would produce a de facto
>> API.
Marc> What you need is a reference implementation (i.e. an
Marc> inefficient but complete implementation, with a license that
Marc> permits at least to see the source and generate a binary) AND
Marc> a test suite.
Others have pointed out some of the issues with this approach. However,
having been involved in a fairly widely used reference implementation
(MIT Kerberos) for over 10 years and having watched it try and evolve
from a reference implementation to a platform component, I do not
believe that the sorts of things you want out of a reference
implementation are what you want out of a platform component.
A reference implementation focuses on demonstrating a protocol and being
able to develop and debug that protocol and understand it.
A platform component focuses on extensibly making the aspects of the
protocol that can be building blocks available to the platform.
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