Subject: Protocol design: the Gemini project

From: Stephane Bortzmeyer <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 2020 18:37:14 +0100

This is not an IETF project but it's an interesting attempt to create
a very simple protocol for distributing information (like the Web was
at its beginning).

Protocol designers will notice that Gemini is *not* extensible and it
is a feature, not a bug, to stay simple and to make more difficult to
add surveillance features in it.

Home page :
https://gemini.circumlunar.space/

IETFers will certainly prefer to read the specification:
https://gemini.circumlunar.space/docs/specification.html

If you want to jump on your keyboard to criticize, I suggest to read
the FAQ first, it may addresses your criticism:
https://gemini.circumlunar.space/docs/faq.html

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From: Joseph Touch <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 2020 10:36:46 -0800

My primary criticism:

- port 1965 is already assigned
- new system ports are advised against, per RFC7605

I already let them know.

As to whether the rest is useful, I sincerely hope they’ve studied previous protocols they think are too complex. The protocol design space is littered with examples of “I think I can do better by doing simpler”, only to end up reinventing the wheel (the most infamous example being HTTP vs using FTP).

Joe

> On Nov 30, 2020, at 9:37 AM, Stephane Bortzmeyer <[email-masked]> wrote:
>

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From: Joseph Touch <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 2020 10:39:40 -0800

PS - it might be useful to also keep in mind that the IETF note-well doesn’t apply to this work or their mailing list.

Joe

> On Nov 30, 2020, at 10:36 AM, Joseph Touch <[email-masked]> wrote:
> 
> My primary criticism:
>