Bug: Unusable key

Steve Butler sbutler at fchn.com
Mon Feb 9 10:41:28 CET 2004


There are so many different reasons why a Public key might not be usable.
Trying to address them in an elegant error message will lead to frustration
for both the developers and the consumers.  It's that odd time when none of
the "suggestions" apply that will lead to further calls to refine the error
message (make it more verbose).

Perhaps the appropriate solution is to dedicate a web page to "What makes a
Public Key Unusable" and include a reference to that page in the error
message.  Or put it in the FAQ.

In any event, thank you for your kind words.  

Now, this next suggestion may be a little far out, but if the web page or
FAQ numbered the different conditions, then the error message could say:

Public Key Unusable -- Found:
a) 20 occurrences of condition 1455;
b) 15 occurrences of 2822;
c) 1,459 occurrences of 1299

<<big grin>>

-----Original Message-----
From: gabriel rosenkoetter [mailto:gr at eclipsed.net]
Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 10:24 AM


Your suggestion isn't actually *enough* better from my point of view
(nor from David's, I don't think, which was probably the kernel of
truth in his tongue-in-cheek response), but it *is* better.

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