Subject: DS RR presentation format algorithm field

From: Jelte Jansen <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 07 Aug 2007 11:17:08 +0200

Hi,

there seems to be a slight interoperability (through text representation
of zone data) problem between different implementations of DNSSECbis.

I think the problem is caused by a section from RFC3568:

2.5.  Presentation Format of the DS Record

   The presentation format of the DS record consists of three numbers
   (key tag, algorithm, and digest type) followed by the digest itself
   presented in hex:

However, RFC4034, which obsoletes 3568, states that:

5.3.  The DS RR Presentation Format

<snip>

  The Algorithm field MUST be represented either as an unsigned decimal
   integer or as an algorithm mnemonic specified in Appendix A.1.

Today, again, i had someone complain to me about a piece of software
from my hand outputting the mnemonic instead of the algorithm id.

For the sake of interoperability, and because using an id instead of a
mnemonic is considered better by some, i don't really mind updating it.
But that would not fix the deeper problem of having two different
specifications, even though one has been obsoleted.

Might it still be possible to change it to MUST be represented by the id
(and NOT the mnemonic)?

Perhaps through dnssec-bis-updates (in which, by the way, we are still
merrily singing our way through security data in section 2.1. nice.)?

It could also 'clarify' the text in 4034, but imho it can't be much
clearer than it already is...

Jelte Jansen
NLnet Labs

---

From: Sam Weiler <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2007 09:34:59 -0400 (EDT)

> of zone data) problem between different implementations of DNSSECbis.

Purely as a historical note, I suggest reading the thread from January 
2004 with Subject line "TMM (too many mnemonics)".  Summary: that 
change, while perhaps originally unintended, was separately called out 
to the WG.

-- Sam

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