Subject: motivation for eval draft

From: "Scott G. Kelly" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 08:35:56 -0700

A question has been raised as to whether this draft constitutes useful
work within the context of the ipsra wg, so I thought I'd explain my
aims in writing the draft.

It seems clear that we haven't reached strong consensus regarding the
best way to solve the legacy authentication problem in ipsec. Bernard
pointed out some time ago that moving a protocol forward without
establishing such consensus would set a dangerous precedent. I agree.

It seems to me that we are intelligent people, capable of effective
collective reasoning when we set our minds to it. Many of us have
strongly held opinions that we've carried for a long time, but I believe
that, given persuasive evidence to the contrary, most of us would be
willing to re-examine these opinions, and perhaps change them.

The purpose of writing the draft is to provide a discussion tool, one
which documents the path leading to the choice of a solution. Obviously,
the first pass at the draft reflects my personal, current view, and some
folks disagree rather strongly with me. My view is malleable, and in
fact, has changed significantly since I began working on the draft. Once
all mechanisms were held up to the requirements, it became clear to me
that there aren't all that many differences, although there certainly
are a few.

I released the draft prior to completing my own analysis, largely
because I believed it was taking too long. I promised the draft 2 months
ago, but have been consumed by other commitments at work. As a result, I
wrote the draft entirely in my "spare" time at home, mostly on weekends.
The subject matter turned out to be more complex than I expected in the
beginning, and the work dragged on as I stopped repeatedly to ponder
various things. Last week, I decided that it had been long enough, and
that while the draft is incomplete, folks here would offer insights
which would move the process forward. That is occurring now, to some
extent.

We must reach some semblance of consensus, and in the process, one would
hope that we will select the best solution available to us.

Scott