a healthy level of disbelief

["Daniel J. Bernstein" <[e-mail]>]

I strongly agree with Ran Atkinson's exhortation to the IETF: Please
maintain a healthy level of disbelief. Don't accept statements from me
which aren't backed up by enough documentation. Even better, let me know
what statements you find difficult to believe, and I'll be glad to find
documentation for you. I am not speaking to an audience of robots: I
want people to *listen* to what I say.

Of course, I would like the IETF to maintain the same attitude towards
Mike StJohns, Steve Crocker, et al. For instance, you (I speak here to a
typical IETF member, who has not been involved with port 113 before) may
have seen the Last Call for StJohns's document. ``Loose consensus and
working code'': you probably *assume* that StJohns has working code.

I would very much prefer, in this touchy situation, that you not make
any such assumptions, no matter who you're listening to. Instead ask:
Does StJohns have working code? IDENT is a client-server protocol; does
there exist a server implementation? Does there exist a client
implementation? Is there anyone at all in the community who uses it?

Here, I'll ask for you: Mike StJohns, can you please exhibit for the
IETF a client IDENT implementation? By definition of IDENT, current TAP
client implementations (my authuser library, and Wietse Venema's
log_tcp security package) don't do the job, because an IDENT client must
handle character sets (including OCTET). Could you point out the user
base for that implementation? The rfc931-users list has 150 subscribers;
do any of them use a client IDENT implementation? Who?

Back to you, the IETF member: If Mike answers ``yes'' without pointing
out where the client implementation is to be found, don't accept that
answer, any more than you'd accept an unjustified statement from me.
Press him for documentation. Don't assume anything. (Don't assume, for
instance, that any package named ``ident'' is an IDENT implementation:
TAP was named ``Ident'' between January and April.)

That's what I mean by a healthy level of disbelief. I hope that the IETF
holds everyone here---me, Steve Crocker, whoever---to the same standard
of justification.

---Dan