serialization formats [formerly: Curve p25519 Replacements for GnuPG?...]

[decoy@iki.fi (Sampo Syreeni)]

On 2014-01-14, James A. Donald wrote:

> This specification does not address breaking the data into lines, nor 
> a line checksum, nor the handling of impermissible characters (such as 
> carriage return and line feed)

In general, why does anybody do anything but binary formats in crypto, 
anymore? They just invite all sorts of padding trouble and what the hell 
not. If you have a clean proof, even against an oracle model, in 
something as beautiful as GF(2^8), why the *fuck* do you have to mess it 
up by translating to those very linefeeds and shit you usually really 
don't understand nor mostly can do right in the first place?

Just goddamn dump the bits. Pretty much everything is 8-bit-clean 
nowadays. Nobody sends email anymore. TCP most _certainly_ is 
8-bit-clean. Fucking dump it down the socket, guarded by a proper MAC. 
How difficult is that to comprehend, really?
-- 
Sampo Syreeni, aka decoy - decoy@iki.fi, http://decoy.iki.fi/front
+358-40-3255353, 025E D175 ABE5 027C 9494 EEB0 E090 8BA9 0509 85C2