Gavin Andresen - 2012-09-29 15:31:03

Microsoft/authenticode assumes one trusted master key (I think? Can a binary be signed by multiple keys?)

That is contrary to the no-central-authority idea, and it would be nice to avoid that.

However, given that Apple and Microsoft are both going in the direction of "thou shalt be a registered developer to distribute software for our OS" a central signing process for at least the initial install seems inevitable.

This is one of those "interact with existing systems that do not consider the possibility of radically decentralized solutions" hurdles that the Foundation can help jump; I expect the Foundation will soon be a registered Apple and Microsoft developer, and downloads will be signed with certificates owned by the Foundation.

The alternative is downloads only geeks can use (because only geeks know how to turn off cert checks) or binaries signed by me personally. And I don't want to be a single point of failure; having an organization that will hopefully outlive me is a better solution.

The best solution would be multi-signed binaries and a decentralized web of trust system, but we're not there yet.