Re: [openpgp] "OpenPGP Simple"

[ianG <[e-mail]>]

On 17/03/2015 02:10 am, Peter Gutmann wrote:
> David Shaw <[e-mail]> writes:
>> On Mar 16, 2015, at 5:15 PM, David Leon Gil <[e-mail]> wrote:
>>> Partial lengths are really a nuisance to parse.
>>
>> No argument there...
>
> The whole bizarro sort-of-fixed-point encoding of lengths is a pain (this is a
> cue for Jon to do his "every bit is sacred" dance).  If the format is revised,
> there should be only two lengths, a 16-bit one for almost everything (keyring
> data, signatures, etc), and a 32-bit one for payloads and partial lengths that
> are going to exceed 16-bit lengths.


Crazy * 2 :)

One int is good enough for anyone.  Just use an expanding 7 bit form, 
where the hi bit says, grab the following byte.


> Length-decoding shouldn't be any more
> complicated than:
>
> read tag;
> if( tag & length_32_flag )
>    length = read32();
> else
>    length = read16();
>
> While I'm venting, shall I get started on the MDC kludge?


Simplify!  Simplify!


iang