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Naming and Authentication

• The main advantage of distributing the repository is to allow the software to be maintained by those in the best position to keep it up-to-date.

• Copies of popular software packages may be transparently mirrored to increase availability, improve response time, and prevent bottlenecks.

Research Issues

• Assignment of unique identifiers to retrievable assets
• Collection and merging of cataloging information, so that, verification of the authenticity, integrity of retrieved assets, and tracking can take place

NHSE's approach to these issues

• Implement a location-independent naming architecture that unambiguously associates a unique name with the byte contents of a published asset and that includes mechanisms for authentication and integrity checking.

• Publishing tools will be made available to assist publishers with naming and cryptographically signing published assets, and with exporting asset descriptions to an NHSE search service.

• Authentication of assets will be handled by an asymmetric public-private key encryption system.

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