Roadmap

This is the outline of the development roadmap for MIT Kerberos.

Timeline

Target 6 to 12 month cycle. (9 months plus/minus 3)

Remove krb4 (1.7)
Move toward test-driven development
Increase conformance to coding style
- "The Great Reindent"?
- Selective refactoring
Use safer library functions (ongoing)
- Avoids false positives
- Avoids need to (probably manually) evaluate "unsafe" calls
- Stop using strcpy, strcat, sprintf, etc.
  - Mostly done
  - New internal APIs for complex operations
Reduce commitment to "difficult" platforms
- See supported platforms
- Focuses resources more effectively

Crypto (1.8)
- Native (accelerated) crypto API support
- Performance optimizations (caching, etc.)
- New API design for encryption performance (1.8)
Support readily building subsets
- "Lite" client
- "Lite" server
- "GSS-API": separate context establishment from message protection functions, e.g. Solaris user/kernel space split
GSS-API mechanism glue
- At least rough form to enable NTLM support (1.7)
- Possible refinements later (1.8)
KDC Database (long-term)
- Does the existing DAL make sense?
- Make data model less "blobby"
- Track IETF data model work
- New API around 1.8
- New implementation around 1.9
Secure co-processor ("would be nice")

Enhanced error messages for GSS-API (done)
Referrals (1.7)
- DNS independence via referrals
Localization of static error strings (1.7+)
Credential management
- KIM API (done)
- Cross-platform CCAPI
  - Done for Mac & Windows
  - UNIX implementation (1.7+)

Incremental propagation (1.7)
- Integrated; needs cleanup
Improve key rollover
- Master key (1.7)
- Application service keys (1.8)
Decrease DNS-related fragility
- Investigate LHA/Apple proposal to store config information in ccache to signal when a realm supports referrals and thus the option to eschew reverse DNS resolution
Audit support (log all ticket requests) (1.7+)
Disable DES by default (1.8)
- Investigate doing this for 1.8 and removing single-DES completely by 1.9
- Add more versatile facilities for [[Projects/Enctype_config_enhancements|configuring cryptosystems}}
Lockout for repeated login failures (1.8)
Trace logging for easier troubleshooting (1.8)

Decrease DNS traffic (1.7)
- Stop trying to crawl up to the root
Replay cache ("rcache")
- Disable on KDC (1.7)
  - Avoids known false-positive issues
- Collision avoidance (1.7)
- Improve implementation (1.7+)
- Support disabling by service type name (1.7+)
New crypto API (1.8) facilitates optimizations
Enhancements to improve concurrency
- Explicit state
- Reduce mutex contention
- Support asynchronous APIs and frameworks such as Apple's Grand Central Dispatch; begin refactoring code to make this easier