Being able to validate consistency of a repository without needing additional files is a worthwhile goal. We also validate MD5 sums of hashes when downloading,

Being able to validate consistency of a repository without needing additional files is a worthwhile goal. We also validate MD5 sums of hashes when downloading, despite them not being trusted (so they can only reject on failure). If there is an invalid signature, it should fail verification whether we trust it or not. The other goal of the design - with the subkeys - is to be able to start signing repositories with a new subkey, without having to distribute the new subkey to users out-of-band. The talk is unfortunately not understandable due to inadequate audio quality. It's also not the right medium to bring this across, you'd want to have a paper of up to 3 pages. gpg has the same distinction between valid signatures and good signatures, though you need to distribute the key out of band there. I don't see how this can confuse people. Nobody else should be implementing this specification.