Given the lengthy discussion resulting from this posting, I feel the need to
register my strong opposition to the suggestion that the spec should be changed
to restrict the value of the key selector to being the public key. A public
key
value is generally not a suitable database index. When you build a product
which does proper key life cycle management, key identifiers (key selectors)
become very important for distinguishing between the many key pairs one user
may
have through time. These identifiers are typically assigned systematically to
optimize the database searching problem. I think the spec was fine as
originally presented.
Warwick
DESCRIPTION
Currently, with the exception of the use of certificates, the key
selector is an arbitrary value chosen by the owner of the public/private
key pair.
It has been asserted that this is unnecessarily complex and that the
value of the key selector should be restricted to being the public key.
POSITION
Leave the specification of the key selector as currently stated.
ACTION
If you disagree with this position you must send a message to the
pem-dev(_at_)tis(_dot_)com mailing list by 12am EST saturday, December 24.