On Sun, May 17, 2026 at 11:20 PM Timo Gerke <[email protected]>
wrote:

> Hi Eric,
>
> To be clear: TLS was merely an illustrative example, not a specific
> protocol proposal for the TLS WG.
>

Well, when your example is bad, that suggests that perhaps the
idea is also not good.


>
> The goal of this discussion is the Policy and Architecture of the STD
> series as a whole. Whether it's TLS, IPsec, or BGP—the requirement for a
> modular, audit-ready structure remains the same.
>

> Let's focus on the Blueprint (Points 1–5) and how we prevent the
> namespace collapse, rather than getting lost in the implementation
> details of a single example.


As I said, i don't think this is addressing the primary problems with
mapping specifications onto RFCs, which are much more about
the ability to progressively revise than imposing some sort of
meta-structure.

-Ekr


>



> Regards,
>
> Timo
>
> Am 17.05.26 um 23:21 schrieb Eric Rescorla:
> > I agree with those who have observed that this is out of scope for RSWG.
> >
> > With that said, I also don't think that this proposal really addresses
> > the issues with mapping specifications onto RFCs. In particular,
> > the proposed restructuring of TLS 1.3 would not really be an
> > improvement.
> >
> >
> > On Sun, May 17, 2026 at 6:07 AM Timo Gerke <[email protected]
> > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >           Part 1: Core Specification (Algorithm-agnostic Handshake/State
> >                   Machine)
> >           Parts 2–5: Mandatory Crypto Modules (Key Exchange, Signatures,
> >     etc.)
> >
> >
> > I don't see how this would really work, for several reasons:
> >
> > 1. The vast majority of the complexity in 8446 is in what you're calling
> > the "core specification", with the actual algorithm specifications being
> > comparatively short.
> > 2. It's much easier to understand 8446 if you have some sense
> > of how the key establishment works.
> > 3. The distinction between Mandatory and Optional isn't really
> > that interesting from the perspective of understanding the
> > specification and we sometimes move algorithms from one
> > category to another.
> >
> >           Parts 6–8: Optional Extension Modules (ECH, SNI, etc.)
> >
> >
> > And what if there are > 3 modules?
> >
> >           Part 9: Strict Compliance Profile (SCP) (Test Vectors and
> >                   Environments for Parts 1 to 5, chapter-separated)
> >           Part 10: Extended Compliance Profile (ECP) (Test Vectors and
> >                    Environments for Parts 6 to , chapter-separated)
> >
> >           Parts 11-18 modules mot defined yet
> >           Part 19   Test Vektor and Environments for modules 11-18
> >
> >
> > Having the modules and test vectors interlaced like this seems
> > like a mess.
>
> --
> Timo Gerke
> Lohkoppelweg 40
> 22529 Hamburg
> Germany
> Fon: +49-40-24433033
> Fax: +49-40-22628453
>
> If you think technology can solve your security problems,
> then you don't understand the problems and you don't
> understand the technology.
>      Bruce Schneier, amerikanischer Kryptograph
>
>
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