Re: Line termination philosophy [Re: I-D ACTION:draft-ietf-secsh-publickeyfile-08.txt]

[Joseph Galbraith <galb-list%vandyke.com@localhost>]

> OK; this is starting to get out of hand.  We are debating a solution 
> without a clear or consistent view of the requirements.  So, let me ask 
> a question...
>
> Are we specifying a local storage format, or a portable interchange format?

portable interchange format.

> If we're specifying a portable interchange format, then it is 
> essentially a wire protocol, and we must specify the exact format of the 
> octet stream that will actually be exchanged, via whatever protocol 
> (http, ftp, scp, email).

Exactly.

> If it's going to be text-based, then we should 
> REQUIRE that lines be separated by the Internet-standard line 
> terminator, which is CRLF.

This is what I'm leaning towards doing.

> We should also RECOMMEND that implemenations
> be able to handle CR-only and LF-only line terminators, because doing so 
> will likely increase interoperability.

This seems reasonable... so basically, we are just relaxing the
requirement to be able to read all three formats to requiring
CRLF, but recommending the other two.

> We should probably also consider 
> registering a MIME type.  (application/ssh-public-key ?)

How do we do this?  Do I just add a note in the iana consideration
section, or is there other stuff that needs doing?

Thanks,

Joseph