Stefan Santesson wrote: > Unfortunately what you suggest would not be backwards compatible, > and can't be done within the present effort. I'm sorry, I can not follow your arguments. Adding 3 more OCSPResponseStatus error codes { no_authoritative_data(7), single_requests_only(8), unsupported_extension(8) } with well-defined and conflict-free semantics to the existing enum would be perfectly backwards compatible. Whether and when implementations of rfc5019 or its successor can make use of additional error codes with well-defined semantics is a seperate issue. Sending multiple entries in a requestList is a perfectly valid client option in rfc2560. rfc5019 has a requirement for single entries. What response does rfc5019 define in case that it receives an OCSP request with multiple entries in requestList. Keep in mind that OCSP responders are typically located through Authority Identifier Access "id-ad-ocsp", and that cert extension is specified to provide for the conventions of rfc2560 -- *NOT* the subset of rfc5019: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5280#page-51 The id-ad-ocsp OID is used when revocation information for the certificate containing this extension is available using the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) [RFC2560]. When id-ad-ocsp appears as accessMethod, the accessLocation field is the location of the OCSP responder, using the conventions defined in [RFC2560]. > > Responders using 5019 need to work in foreseeable time with legacy clients > that knows nothing about the update you suggest. > This group and the IETF made a decision when publishing 5019, that using > "unauthorized" in the present manner was a reasonable tradeoff. > > I still think it is. Could you point me to any kind of discussion of this "tradeoff"? I'm having difficulties finding that information. The first draft that became rfc5019 seems to have appeared here: http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/pkix/current/msg17432.html and it already contained the abuse of the "unauthorized(7)" error code. I see a first complaint on the mailing list about the error code abuse here on 02-Nov-2004: http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/pkix/current/msg17270.html but the reponse is -crickets-. In what way is the client going to treat "unauthorized(6)" special and different from other error codes, such as "internalError(2)" or "malformedRequest(3)", and where in rfc5019 is that special behaviour defined? -Martin