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How can you get an irrevocable ledger without solving the "no trust" problem?
by elzr 10y ago
How can you get an irrevocable ledger without solving the "no trust" problem?
- skybrian 10y agoYou have a lot of people watching the trusted source to make sure that it's append-only and follows the rules for appends. It's a reputation thing; not impossible but it will be detected.
- davrosthedalek 10y agoIsn't reputation trust-by-historical-evidence?
- ajross 10y agoThe same way you know your copy of the kernel tree is authentic.
- kobeya 10y agoBecause my distro signed it? That is pure centralized trust.
- skybrian 10y agoThis is about tracking the source code using git. The specific thing being guaranteed is that they won't rewrite history; if they rebase you (and many others) will detect it. Of course you're still trusting them in other ways.
- ajross 10y agoActually I meant the source tree, and it's because Linus signed the git commit, and thus the tree and all its history. But yeah, the distro works too, which is the whole point: centralized trust does work without a solution to the "no trust" problem. And it works because you build an identity that is consistent over time. I can trust the 4.10 tree because it's signed by the same keys that have been signing kernel keys for years, which are themselves cross-signed by a bunch of trusted identities who have similarly built histories. So yeah, we trust Linus. And it works.
- kobeya 10y agoOnly if you're okay with benevolent dictators for life..
- pg_is_a_butt 10y agobecause you trust yourself, moron. don't you? you're all idiots.