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Re: [TLS] TLS grammar checker?

Nico Williams <nico@cryptonector.com> Tue, 18 June 2013 17:36 UTC

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Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:36:34 -0500
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From: Nico Williams <nico@cryptonector.com>
To: "Salz, Rich" <rsalz@akamai.com>
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Subject: Re: [TLS] TLS grammar checker?
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On Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 11:55 AM, Salz, Rich <rsalz@akamai.com> wrote:
>> (Having said that, I'd like to see it done.  The grammar used in the
>> SSL/TLS RFCs is pretty confusing in places).
>
> Any support for using a standard like, say, ASN.1 ?

If you want to use something like XDR or ASN.1 you'll need to provide
some open source tooling so that at least content of new TLS-related
I-Ds/RFCs can be syntax-validated.  Otherwise you'll probably get no
consensus.  Not that such tooling would be sufficient for consensus
either (but I'd support it).

Nico

PS: I've thought of defining my own ad-hoc ASN.1 encoding rules for
various purposes.  I'd like a JSON encoding rules for pretty-printing
things that will be encoded in or have been decoded from
BER/DER/PER/...  This would make it possible to use ASN.1 for
specifying JSON schemas too, but no one who doesn't already have to
use ASN.1 wants to use ASN.1, though I myself like ASN.1 -- I only
hate its TLV encodings.

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