Re: Gopher over TLS

I like the idea of using a simpler encryption. A huge advantage of 
Gopher is that a server can be set up in a few lines of code.

@klez sent a XKCD with the current stiuation.
If that's the case would anyone be interested in co-authoring an RFC?
I personally never wrote an RFC. The only standardization document I 
wrote was BIP 179.
Having a RFC is the first steps for a general standardization.

Cheers,
Emil

Am 14.03.20 um 13:06 schrieb Ciprian Dorin Craciun:
> On Sat, Mar 14, 2020 at 1:36 PM Emil Engler <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Hi, I thought about writing a standard for a secure Gopher protocol
>> (short gophers).
>> Have there been any proposals for this yet and what's the general
>> consensus about this on this ML
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Side-note:  Apparently there is a new ("competing") protocol that is
> being developed by a group of Gopher enthusiast named Gemini, which
> basically adds MIME support, uses a Markdown-based syntax instead of
> Gopher maps and uses TLS by default.
> 
>    https://gemini.circumlunar.space/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> In that context, I made the proposal of replacing TLS with a simpler
> NaCL / libsodium alternative.  And by "simpler" I mean that given one
> has access to `libsodium`, or is able to copy-paste the 4
> cryptographic primitives (basically XSalsa20, Poly1305, Ed25519 and
> Curve25519), one should be able to implement this in a few lines of
> code.
> 
> Fortunately, that proposal (given it has nothing tied or specific to
> Gemini) can be re-used for Gopher (or any other message based
> protocol).
> 
> 
> Bellow is the thread and my proof-of-concept Python-based
> implementation, together with a diagram, analysis and description:
> 
> * proposal document --
> https://github.com/cipriancraciun/gemini-experiments/blob/master/nacl/documentation/protocol-v1.md
> * proof-of-concept code --
> https://github.com/cipriancraciun/gemini-experiments/tree/master/nacl/sources
> * mailing list thread --
> https://lists.orbitalfox.eu/archives/gemini/2020/000457.html
> 
> (Full disclaimer:  I am not a cryptographer;  I am aware of "not
> implementing your own crypto";  I have not "invented" new
> cryptographic primitives but instead reused existing ones the way they
> were meant;  I have studied the Noise Protocol a few other proposals;
> and tried my best.  See the thread for a lengthy take on this.)
> 
> (If there are any cryptographers out there, please take a look if you
> want.  Thanks!)
> 
> Hope this is useful,
> Ciprian.
>