Module-file format (DRAFT)

[Mark Reinhold]

> Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:54:12 -0500
> From: roger.riggs at sun.com

> It is a known problem with existing formats that breaking a download
> into multiple transfers introduces additional latency while the client
> has to make multiple requests to the server especially when the "first"
> section has to be downloaded and examined before additional segments
> can fetched.  An encoding that enables streaming would be useful.

That's one of the primary goals of this format.  It's not necessary to
read the first section (or two) before reading the rest -- you can just
read the entire thing in one pass.

> If the signatures were put into sections also they should precede the
> contents so that the certificates can be checked for validity before
> reading through the data.

Good point.  Or perhaps they should all just be at the front of the file,
right after the module-info section.

- Mark