DSA default algorithm for keytool -genkeypair. Bad choice?

[Sean Mullan]

I think if we all really think we are better off in the long run not 
having defaults, we probably want to do this over 2 releases and give an 
advance warning that the change is coming. In JDK 12, we could emit a 
warning, ex:

$ keytool -genkeypair ...
Warning: the default keypair alg (DSA) is a legacy algorithm and is no 
longer recommended. In the next release of the JDK, defaults will be 
removed and the -keyalg option must be specified.

(that's a bit wordy, but you get the idea)

--Sean

On 10/11/18 9:30 AM, Adam Petcher wrote:
> On 10/10/2018 5:05 PM, Anthony Scarpino wrote:
> 
>> On 10/10/2018 07:42 AM, Weijun Wang wrote:
>>>
>>> If not DSA, should RSA be the new default? Or maybe RSASSA-PSS (I 
>>> wonder if RSASSA-PSS signature can always use legacy RSA keys) or EC? 
>>> We don't have an option to specify ECCurve in keytool yet (a string 
>>> -keysize).
>>>
>>> --Max
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> I would rather get rid of the default completely.
> 
> +1
> 
> In addition to the usual problems with defaults, there is also the issue 
> that the user doesn't specify how the key pair can be used. The current 
> default produces a key that can only be used with signatures, but if we 
> change the default, then the key may also be used for encryption (RSA) 
> or key agreement (EC). I worry about the problems that can arise if we 
> change the default in a way that increases the capability of the key 
> pair that is produced.