Subject: ;binary option

From: Chris Harding <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 09 May 2002 10:15:11 +0100

Hi -

The two IETF ldapbis ;binary design teams have now reported, and it looks 
as though the conclusion may be to remove ;binary from the specification.

I've just looked through BLITS, and this does not mention the ;binary 
option. There are many tests that use certificates, but they all give the 
attiibute type as userCertificate, cACertificate, etc, rather than 
userCertificate;binary etc. So there would seem to be no impact on BLITS. 
Whether there is an impact on how far implementations can pass the BLITS 
tests may be another matter.

I don't personally see any interoperability issues, provided that it is 
clear that the requirement is always to use the ;binary encoding for 
certificates etc. (per section 6.5 of RFC 2252) and that RFC 1778 (LDAP 
v2), which defines a different encoding, is now officially dead. Kurt, this 
isn't completely clear from your mail - am I right that this is what is 
intended?

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>To: [email-masked]
>From: "Kurt D. Zeilenga" <[email-masked]>
>Subject: ;binary a/b design teams' summary / recommendation review
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>Priority: non-urgent
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>Two design teams were formed to consider how to clarify the
>specification of the ;binary (and other) transfer option
>features in the LDAP "core" technical specification.
>   http://www.openldap.org/lists/ietf-ldapbis/200204/msg00073.html
>
>This message provides a brief summary of the teams discussions,
>a combined recommendation, and initiates a 2-week WG discussion
>period to determine whether the WG consensus supports adopting
>the teams' recommendation.  Both design teams are now disbanded.
>
>While each team mission was to produce alternative text, both
>teams worked together to ensure each understood the issues
>and to determine the areas of contention.  One key area was
>the semantics of all user attribute search requests. One camp
>(a cross section of both teams), basically, thought that a
>server should choose between returning either the native
>encoding (if defined and supported) and the binary (if supported)
>encoding.  One camp thought that a server should only return
>values in their native encoding (to avoid interoperability caused
>by a server choice).  After much debate, it was found that both
>approaches are problematic.  In short, the first approach is
>problematic in that imperatives required to ensure
>interoperability caused by the server choice would limit the
>general usefulness of all user attribute search requests.
>The second approach is problematic because it requires
>redefinition of all user attributes requests in a manner
>inconsistent with the existing technical specification.
>
>It was clear that the camps were deadlocked and that it
>would be difficult for either camp to garner WG consensus.
>
>Removal of the ;binary feature (and all mention of transfer
>options) was then discussed.  The teams concluded that,
>given the known interoperability problems with ;binary,
>limitations of the ;binary features, and the unsuitability
>of proposed revisions of its technical specification, the
>;binary feature (and all mention of transfer options)
>should be removed from the technical specification.
>
>The teams recognized that removal of the ;binary feature
>would raise some backwards compatibility issues and is an
>area which subsequent work may be appropriate to pursue.
>
>The WG is to consider the teams' proposal to remove ;binary
>feature (and all mention of transfer options).  A two-week
>comment period is hereby initiated on this proposal
>ending 24 May 2002.  Based upon your comments, the WG chairs
>will gauge WG consensus and take appropriate actions.
>
>-- LDAPbis WG chairs

Regards,

Chris
+++++

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            Dr. Christopher J. Harding
   T H E    Executive Director for the Directory Interoperability Forum
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