[e-lang] E Distributed Programming Clarification

[Bill Frantz]

jwylie at uno.edu (Jimmy Wylie Jr.) on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 wrote:

>3. VatB authenticates correct VatA by verifying that this vat "candidate"
>knows the private key associated with VatA's public key.  Exactly how is
>this done? I don't really understand how VatB determines VatA's knowledge of
>the correct private key.  I know that here:
>http://www.waterken.com/dev/YURL/httpsy/ it says that servers are
>authenticated via verification of a constructed certificate chain.  I know
>httpsy, is related to E's CapTP,  but I remember reading elsewhere, that E
>rejects the use of certificates in its protocols.

See
<http://www.erights.org/elib/distrib/vattp/DataComm_startup.html>
for details on the authentication.
<http://www.erights.org/elib/distrib/vattp/index.html> gives a
broader overview of CapTP.

The long-range goal is to replace CapTP with a system using TLS.
Since TLS authentication techniques have greatly expanded over the
years, there may be a technique, which has been standardized via RFC,
and also directly supports E's technique of, "I know the hash of
your public key. Give me the public key and prove you have the
private key."

Cheers - Bill

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