I'm curious about the vigor with which you seem to be denying the utility of
hash functions in integrity checking when you write:

hash attribute values MUST be considered to be strictly advisory and
cannot be used reliably as an end-to-end integrity check.

I am, of course, aware of the limitations of both hash functions and
end-to-end links, but it seems to me that the real risk here is limited to
false-negatives. (i.e. If hash values don't match, I can't really be sure
that I haven't linked to the correct resource.) However, it seems like the
risk of false-positives is no greater than in any other hash-based system.
(i.e. if the hash values do match, then I've can be reasonably, but not
completely, assured of integrity.)
I think I understand the standard issues. Is there something more exotic
that I'm missing?

bob wyman


On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 3:47 PM, James Snell <[email protected]> wrote:

> Ok, draft is updated with the new syntax for the hash attribute.
>
>  http://www.ietf.org/staging/draft-snell-atompub-link-extensions-05.txt
>
> There is also one additional 'media' attribute added. I wanted to wait
> to add it until after I was sure the other three attributes were fine.
> The 'media' attribute serves the same purpose as the 'media' attribute
> on HTML5 links... the value is a media query. For example:
>
>  <link href="foo" media="handheld and (min-width = 20cm)" />
>
> The use case is to be able to provide multiple links targeted at
> specific types of media... e.g. screen, print, mobile devices, etc.
>
> Another change that I am contemplating making is introducing a new
> child element for the atom:link element that would allow it to serve
> the same basic purpose as the GData feedLink and entryLink elements
> except with greater flexibility... specifically, it would allow a
> representation of the linked resource to be dropped directly into the
> link element, e.g.
>
> <link rel="alternate" href="foo" type="text/plain">
>  <data type="text">this is a representation of the data</data>
> </link>
>
> <link rel="alternate" href="foo" type="image/jpeg">
>  <data type="encoded">abc...def==</data> <!-- base64 -->
> </link>
>
> <link rel="alternate" href="foo" type="application/atom+xml">
>  <data type="markup">
>    <feed>...</feed>
>  </data>
> </link>
>
> Or something along those lines.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> - James
>
> On Sun, May 16, 2010 at 10:44 PM, Peter Keane <[email protected]>
> wrote:
> > On Sun, May 16, 2010 at 11:00 PM, Sam Johnston <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> Are the commas earning their keep? If they're unnecessary then remove
> them,
> >> otherwise LGTM.
> >> Sam
> >
> > I was going to ask the same question. (re: the commas)
> >
> > --peter
> >
> >>
> >> On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 7:36 AM, Bob Wyman <[email protected]> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> +1 LGTM
> >>>
> >>> On May 16, 2010 11:29 PM, "James Snell" <[email protected]> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Ok, although I seriously dislike having to do additional parsing on
> >>> attribute values, the arguments made so far are valid and parsing hex
> >>> encoded hash digests is -- fortunately -- quite simple to do. So let's
> >>> go with the following syntax...
> >>>
> >>>  hash = attribute hash { hash-list }
> >>>  hash-list = # ( token ":" 1*HEX )
> >>>
> >>> The token and HEX productions are defined by RFC2616...
> >>>
> >>> The spec would defer to the existing IANA registry for hash functions
> >>> to define the "tokens"
> >>>
> >>> This would result in a syntax of...
> >>>
> >>>  hash="md5:abc...xyz, sha-1:123...567, sha-512:xyz...abc"
> >>>
> >>> This seem acceptable to everyone?
> >>>
> >>> - James
> >>>
> >>> On Sat, May 15, 2010 at 11:46 PM, Sam Johnston <[email protected]> wrote:
> >>> > James,
> >>> > In consideration o...
> >>
> >
>
>
>
> --
> - James Snell
>  http://www.snellspace.com
>  [email protected]
>

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