Without breaking (formerly: The real crux... )

Please see below...

> ----------
> From: 	rhimes@nmcourt.fed.us[SMTP:rhimes@nmcourt.fed.us]
> Sent: 	Monday, November 29, 1999 3:27 PM
> To: 	w3c-ietf-xmldsig@w3.org
> Subject: 	Re[2]: The real crux... 
> 
> [ snip ]
> 
	...(the ability to
> move a document internal to/from external and external to external without
> breaking the signature).  Actually, this sounds like it should have been a basic
> requirement, not just for me but for the generic world of applications.
> 
I agree.  Have we missed something or have I missed something?  ;-)  Here's our situation.

We will likely have signed documents where the content and the signature reside in the same file, initially.  Later, we may want to store the documents in a bulk archive (some of these files are HUGE), and keep only a striped down "shell" in a secure repository for long-term storage (life of the airplane = 40+ years).  This "shell" might contain only a reference to the file in bulk storage and the original signature.  (The need for a manifest may not be apparent at the time the original document is signed.)  

How?  I'm not sure, but for us it will be a requirement that the signature not break just because we chose to later separate (or reassemble) the document content and its signature.

Thots?

Larry Bugbee, Digital Signatures, Boeing