[Ssh] Re: I-D Action: draft-ietf-sshm-cert-00.txt

[Peter Gutmann <[e-mail]>]

Simon Tatham <[e-mail]> writes:

>This _has_ been deployed in practice for many years, and therefore it needs
>documenting.

Except that the draft never says this.  It's a -00 draft, and says:

   Abstract

   This document presents a simple certificate format that may be used
   in the context of the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol for user and host
   authentication.

   Introduction

   Secure Shell (SSH) is a protocol for secure remote connections and
   login over untrusted networks.  SSH uses public key signatures for
   host authentication and commonly uses them for user authentication.
   This document describes a lightweight certificate format for use in
   these contexts.  [...]

It doesn't say "this draft was created to document years-old existing practice
which until now was undocumented in any IETF publication".

>Your criticisms of it seem like the kind one would expect on seeing a first
>draft of a _proposed_ specification, before any implementations exist.

Yup, and that's exactly how a -00 draft that "presents a simple certificate
format" appears to the reader.

Peter.