a space case for transparent gemtext compression

[Francis Siefken]

Hi Christian, on Sa 19 jun 2021 11:48 you wrote:

> you can make suggestions to skyjake on Station or on the lagrange github
[..]
> compressed single files can absolutely be instantly decompressed by a
client that implements this.
>
> Also, if TLS 1.3 has compression (thanks for telling me that, I didn't
know that),
> then it makes supporting specific compressions in clients unnecessary,
because we
> are going to be switching to TLS 1.3 in the future, from what I've
gathered.

I am sorry I misinformed you, TLS 1.2 has compression (for example
deflate), but in TLS 1.3 it has been removed. But it introduces certificate
compression to save handshake time. Although it's understandable because of
the various exploits it's unfortunate as in my opinion there are use cases,
like SMTP or Gemini where it makes sense and where it's not a risk. I'll
make suggestions for browser handling of compressed individual Gemtexts.
Just like the TLS 1.3 design committee thinks about saving time with the
handshake, and compressing a certificate the size of Gemtext.  I dream
about saving time with optional zstandard or ppmd compression in the Gemini
protocol. Making it a user or browser choice is second best. Perhaps Gemini
can stay on TLS 1.2 forever?

Kind regards,
Francis Siefken (NL)
gemini://fsiefken.srht.site