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Re: Delegate

Let me be extremely crass and suggest, that if it is at all a close 
question, you should clearly go for an integer.  Why?  Because there may 
be some real use in managability of long chains and to avoid other 
systems boasting of having a simple feature you are "missing".  People 
who want a boolean can use the field to get that effetc.

Donald

On 17 Dec 1996, Derek Atkins wrote: 

> Date: 17 Dec 1996 11:13:47 -0500
> From: Derek Atkins <warlord@mit.edu>
> To: Carl Ellison <cme@cybercash.com>
> Cc: spki@c2.net
> Subject: Re: Delegate
> 
> I'm not sure it makes much of a difference.  I think it's mostly how
> you define the semantics.  I think a boolean is probably better
> semantics.  If I allow you to delegate your authority, I don't
> necessarily know how you are going to delegate it, nor how your
> delegations might further delegate it.  Since I trust you with the
> authority to delegate in the first place, that means I trust that you
> will use that authority properly.
> 
> One benefit of using an integer is to limit the number of recursions
> of delegation.  If it gets 20 hops away, I might not trust that chain.
> However if someone needs to delegate to get their job done, they will
> do so no matter how the technology limits them, even if it means
> letting someone else use their credentials.
> 
> So, yes, I think boolean is a better choice.  But I'm willing to go
> either direction right now.
> 
> -derek
> 
> Carl Ellison <cme@cybercash.com> writes:
> 
> > 
> > At 05:49 PM 12/16/96 -0500, Derek Atkins wrote:
> > >On the other hand, if Alice trusts Bob to delegate to Charlie, there
> > >is nothing stopping Charlie from allowing Doug to use his (Charlie's)
> > >credentials.  So, a boolean has the same effect.
> > 
> > So, does that mean you vote for boolean?
> > 
> >  - Carl
> > 
> > 
> > +------------------------------------------------------------------+
> > |Carl M. Ellison  cme@cybercash.com   http://www.clark.net/pub/cme |
> > |CyberCash, Inc.                      http://www.cybercash.com/    |
> > |207 Grindall Street   PGP 2.6.2: 61E2DE7FCB9D7984E9C8048BA63221A2 |
> > |Baltimore MD 21230-4103  T:(410) 727-4288  F:(410)727-4293        |
> > +------------------------------------------------------------------+
> > 
> 
> -- 
>        Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
>        Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board (SIPB)
>     Home page: http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/warlord/home_page.html
>        warlord@MIT.EDU    PP-ASEL     N1NWH    PGP key available
> 

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