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authorRasmus Dahlberg <rasmus@mullvad.net>2022-04-07 16:05:05 +0200
committerRasmus Dahlberg <rasmus@mullvad.net>2022-04-07 16:06:07 +0200
commit44c187189c4e5ef36ff2d7930c44b7abef99e998 (patch)
tree710f788f79368fd6a70b574fc62fa51c3b2b6c6a
parent90bcf5d55829721ccc3c878ced781e7afdb7aa26 (diff)
add proposal to simplify ascii names
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+# Proposal
+
+Update the following names in Sigsum's ASCII parsing:
+
+ 1. s/preimage/message/
+ 2. s/verification_key/public_key/
+ 3. s/Error/error/
+
+# Motivation
+
+In the same order as above:
+
+ 1. Preimage is a mathematical term. When we talk about our design, we use the
+ term "message" and say that it is usually H(data). The original reason to
+ call it preimage was that a Sigsum log computes H(H(data)), making the
+ message that is sent on the wire a "preimage" for the log's hash operation.
+ This terminology is not helpful. Let's just call this "message" on the
+ wire. A log uses it to compute checksum<--H(message). Checksum is logged.
+ 2. Verification key is also a mathematical term. When we talk about our
+ design, we use the term "public key" because it is more easily relatable.
+ 3. No other key has any capital letters.