RE: [security-services] Errata: SAML2 Attribute Profiles

["Scott Cantor" <cantor.2@osu.edu>]

> The URL given on line 1836, and again on line 1885, of SAML2Prof is
defunct:
> 
> http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-mealling-uuid-urn-05.txt
> 
> that is, the URL returns a "page not found" error.

I think there's an RFC now...4122. Jeff, can you take a look?

> Also, lines 2048--2049 are given as follows:
> 
> "Two <Attribute> elements refer to the same SAML attribute if and only
> if their Name XML attribute values are equal in a binary comparison."
> 
> but the Names themselves are URIs, so I would have expected URI
> equality ala RFC2396.

We have never done that in SAML. We use binary comparison because it's clear
and simple to implement and understand. We don't want URI normalization to
be an issue.

> (Admittedly, RFC2396 is a bit sparse with
> respect to equality of URIs, which is presumably why the above
> Internet Draft was written.)

That draft isn't about URI comparison, it's a URN namespace for UUIDs.

> In any event, I don't know what "binary
> comparison" means in the context of XACML attribute names.

I don't really know what I could say that would be any clearer. Binary
comparison means exactly that. Bit for bit (in whatever XML character
encoding is used).

-- Scott