[LEAPSECS] content of the NTP-aimed leap-seconds.list files

[Steve Allen]

On Wed 2015-02-11T15:05:26 +0100, Steffen Nurpmeso hath writ:
> "Steve Allen" <sla at ucolick.org> wrote:
>  |The IERS Paris bureau is also providing such a file.  That makes at
>  |least three separate sources for this information.  Each source has a
>  |different timestamp, a different expiration date, and different
>  |commentary text.

> The complete list of leap seconds only needs to be updated after
> a leap second occurred.

Yes, so long as NTP and things with related needs have relable access
to the next leap second.

>   The "security" of fetching PHK's bulletin-c is
> already "better" than the FTP based links above, since those offer
> no security at all, for more data.

The IERS Paris version of leap-seconds.list is actually available via
HTTPS, so there is that much security, but only for the direct
recipient.  I would much prefer something with a digital signature
that could be syndicated to many servers and still contain evidence of
its authenticity.  I think syndication is especially important for
IERS Paris because I fear their server CPU and network bandwidth
cannot support huge client loads (although that is probably true of
NIST and USNO as well).  That is why I have refrained from publishing
its location.

I am not convinced that any of the agencies who are providing
leap-seconds.list are in a position to publish an authenticated public
key that could be used to verify the authenticity of a file like this.
So I would like to see a format which can contain a digital signature
and which can be syndicated almost as broadly as DNS.

--
Steve Allen                 <sla at ucolick.org>                WGS-84 (GPS)
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