On Mon, May 07, 2001 at 09:00:09AM -0500, Scott Gregory Miller wrote: > > * Storable.Document-header = DocHeadData zero padded to power of 2 > > * DocHeadData = <length of key: 2 bytes><key><length of data: number> > > <length of metadata: number> > > * The length of the key MUST equal the keysize of the cipher (e.g. 16 > > bytes for a 128-bit cipher) > > * DocHeadData number = <length of number: 2 bytes><number: big endian> > > where length is the smallest length that the number will fit into > > subject to: The minumum length is 2 AND The length may not be odd. > Why not make DocHeadData number an MPI so that people don't have to code > yet another number representation?
Part of the spec was that the unencrypted Document-header be a series of byte fields each beginning with a 2-byte byte-length marker, but the byte fields don't necessarily store numbers. So numeric values would still be stored with this 2-byte byte-length field. Starting from there, it seems more natural to me just to go ahead and read or write a big-endian number, than to mess with MPI representations that needlessly repeat the length information. We can't really say that all the fields will be MPIs either, since some fields may need to store leading zeroes (like the crypto key). -- # tavin cole # # "The process of scientific discovery is, in effect, # a continual flight from wonder." # - Albert Einstein _______________________________________________ Devl mailing list Devl at freenetproject.org http://lists.freenetproject.org/mailman/listinfo/devl
