rxgk CombineTokens and enctypes (was Re: [AFS3-std] Re: afs3-rxgk-updates for 03)

Jeffrey Hutzelman jhutz@cmu.edu
Fri, 02 Nov 2012 20:37:04 -0400


Benjamin Kaduk <kaduk@mit.edu> wrote:

>It's not clear what reading to apply to a "combined combined token",
>that 
>is, a Tn where one of the source T0 or T1 was already the result of a 
>CombineTokens() operation.


>"list of identities is the union of those in the original tokens" would
>
>seem to imply that there is not a concept of nested list/pairs, just a 
>flat space.  Actually, "union" would seem to imply a set-theoretic 
>concept, *without* order.  So given your above interpretation, that
>would 
>be a bug in the spec.

Yes, I would say that "union" is not the right word.  I think you end up having these options:

1) accept a list of tokens, instead of just two
2) define how things get composed when you combine combined tokens.  For example, say that tokens contain a flat list of identities, and combining results in (@id1, @id2).
3) disallow combining of combined tokens
4) leave the identity/authz meaning up to the application, including the question of what multiple combination means.

I prefer option 4.  Well, I prefer options 1 and 4 together, but that would be a change which I don't intend to push for.

>Okay.  I would pick (1) from that, and prefer that the client indicates
>
>its preferences.

Sounds good to me.