Re: [jose] Should we delete the "typ" header field

[Richard Barnes <[e-mail]>]

As I understand it, "typ" lets you look at an object and tell if it's a JWE
or JWS.  That seems handy enough to keep around.

Depending on how we do MIME types, it might even be necessary, namely if we
have a single application/jose type. I forget if that's the case in the
current docs.


On Wednesday, May 29, 2013, Jim Schaad wrote:

> In reading the documents, I am trying to understand the justification for
> having the “typ” header parameter in the JOSE documents.****
>
> ** **
>
> The purpose of the field is to hold the type of the object.  In the past,
> I believe that values which should now be placed in the cty field (such as
> “JWT”) were placed in this field as well.  However the parameter is
> optional and an implementation cannot rely on its being present.  This
> means that for all practical purposes all of the code to determine the
> value of the type field from the values of the alg and enc fields.  If the
> field was mandatory then this code would disappear at a fairly small space
> cost and I can understand why the parameter would be present.****
>
> ** **
>
> Can anybody justify why this field should be present in the document – or
> should it just disappear?****
>
> ** **
>
> Jim****
>
> ** **
>