Re: [TLS] PR#1091: Changes to provide middlebox robustness

["Salz, Rich" <[e-mail]>]

➢ Given that we're almost there, and that only really browsers are
    asking for these hacks, and that even some of those were almost ready
    to ship without these hacks, I don't think that this is entirely
    unrealistic as an aspiration.

The Internet is more than just a couple of browser executables.

Does nobody think of the servers?


  *   I do, but I don't really see how they're relevant for this question. Don't the servers control the middleboxes they are behind?

The smiley got lost.  But smiley isn’t quite the right emoticon either.  But to answer your question: no, the often don’t.  And it’s not just the middleboxes they are behind, but all those along the way.

To say that only browsers were asking for these hacks is also a little disingenuous.  It was a self-selected design group (to be charitable) that mostly worked by themselves without the whole WG being involved.  I’m glad we seem to be ending up with something that works, with the only thing being lost is some nerd esthetics, but let’s not forget the (to me, disappointing) way the whole thing went down: a collaboration among, and only among, Google, Mozilla, and Facebook.