2023-11-01 Aries Working Group Call

Summary:

• Unqualified DIDs
• Reasons for DIDComm v2 move

Date

01 Nov 2023 (7AM Los Angeles, 10AM New York, 3PM London, 4PM CET, 18H Moscow)

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Attendees                 

• Sam Curren  (Indicio) <sam@indicio.tech>
• Kim Ebert (Indicio) <kim@indicio.tech>
• Warren Gallagher (AffinitiQuest) <warren@affinitiquest.io>
• Alex Metcalf (BC Gov) <alex.metcalf@gov.bc.ca>
• Kimmo Hovi (FindyNet) <ext.kimmo.hovi@findy.fi>
• bruce_conrad@byu.edu (Pico Labs) <picolabs@sanbachs.com>
• Steve McCown (Anonyome Labs) <smccown@anonyome.com>
• Stephen Curran  (BC Gov / Cloud Compass Computing Inc.) <swcurran@cloudcompass.ca>
• Frostyfrog (Indicio) <colton@indicio.tech>
• Daniel Bluhm (Indicio PBC) <daniel@indicio.tech>

Welcome / Introductions

Announcements

Release Status and Work Updates

• Aries Agent Test Harness -- https://aries-interop.info
• Aries Shared Components - Indy SDK replacements
  • Indy Verifiable Date Registry - Ledger Interface https://github.com/hyperledger/indy-vdr
    • Release 0.4.0-dev16
    • Release 0.5.0 will have breaking changes, including did:indy branch merged into main.
  • Aries Askar secure storage - https://github.com/bcgov/aries-askar
    • Release 0.2.9
  • AnonCreds Rust - https://github.com/hyperledger/anoncreds-rs
    • Release 0.1.0
  • Shared Rust Library/CredX (AnonCreds) https://github.com/hyperledger/indy-shared-rs - being replaced by AnonCreds Rust
    • Release 0.3.3 Bugfix (bug was in the python wrapper)
      
    • Release 1.0.0 Embeds new AnonCreds CL Signatures library with fixes, performance improvements
• Frameworks:
  • Aries-CloudAgent-Python https://github.com/hyperledger/aries-cloudagent-python, Meetings: ACA-Pug Meetings, Documentation: https://aca-py.org
    • 0.10.4 Release – patch to address an interop issue with ACA-Py mediator and aries-framework-kotlin
    • 0.11 RC 1 on deck (maybe with did rotate and did:peer:4)
    • next release will be a breaking change for ledger agnositic anoncreds support
  • Aries-Framework-JavaScript https://github.com/hyperledger/aries-framework-javascript, Meetings: Framework JS Meetings
    
    • OWF - shared in OWF list and discord, giving more time for feedback.
    • 0.5 in the works
      • Dropping IndySDK
      • AnonCreds Revocation
      • Dropping Node 16 support (EOL)
  • Aries VCX (https://github.com/hyperledger/aries-vcx, Meetings: Aries-VCX Meetings
    
    • Release 0.59.1 https://github.com/hyperledger/aries-vcx/releases/tag/0.56.0
    • Ongoing refactoring
    • finished migration to IndyVDR
    • Indy CredX up soon
    • issue and present v2 on deck
  • Picos as of pico-engine version 1.3.0 natively use DIDComm v2 (https://github.com/Picolab/pico-engine/blob/master/packages/pico-engine/README.md)
    • replacing ACA-Pico agents (https://github.com/Picolab/aries-cloudagent-pico) which are now deprecated
    • protocols implemented so far: oob invitation, trust-ping, basicmessage (more to be added https://github.com/Picolab/DIDComm-V2)
    • based on the SICPA didcomm NodeJS module
  • Aries-Framework-Go (Troy) #aries-go (https://github.com/hyperledger/aries-framework-go, Meetings: aries-framework-go) 
• Mobile:
  • Aries Mobile Agent React Native, aka Aries Bifold https://github.com/hyperledger/aries-mobile-agent-react-native, Meetings: Aries Bifold User Group Meetings
    • 0.4.0 in Bifold – including the shared components
  • Aries-MobileAgent-Xamarin aka Aries MAX (https://github.com/hyperledger/aries-mobileagent-xamarin)
• aries-mediator-service – a DIDComm Mediator in a Box
  • Update to use SocketDock?
• aries-endorser-service – an Indy Endorser in a Box (in development)

Discussion Topics

• Aries marketing update - Helen Garneau Alex Metcalf  
  • Logo concepts are on Discord for an informal vote
  • Join our marketing working group meeting, last Tuesday of every month: Aries Marketing Working Group
• Aries Akrida - https://github.com/Indicio-tech/aries-akrida
  • Load Testing Framework
  • Supports testing Issuance and Verifications
  • Migrate to Hyperledger?
  • Continues work from https://github.com/hyperledger/aries-mediator-service/tree/main/load-testing
  • AATH Backchannels https://github.com/hyperledger/aries-agent-test-harness/tree/main/aries-backchannels
• Unqualified DIDs
  • DID Rotation
    • https://github.com/hyperledger/aries-rfcs/pull/794
    • Implementation Updates?
  • did:peer:4
    • https://identity.foundation/peer-did-method-spec/index.html#method-4-short-form-and-long-form
    • Browser Resolver Demo
  • DID Exchange with no DID Document / Signature
    • https://github.com/hyperledger/aries-rfcs/pull/795
    • Version Bump for DID Exchange included
  • Community Coordinated Update
    • https://github.com/hyperledger/aries-rfcs/pull/793
    • Dates?
      • Implementation Completion
        • ACA-Py end of December is reasonable
        • AFJ? did:peer:2 tweak, did rotation, did:peer:4
        • VCX? 
        • Bifold (inherits AFJ, but also may need minor associated UI work)
      • 'Understand New' Deployment
        • 4-6 weeks?
      • 'Default to New' Deployment
        • Begins immediately after 'Understand New' Deployment
        • 4-6 weeks
  • Aries Agent Test Harness update for testing support
• Why Move to DIDComm v2?
  • Aligns with demos, tools, and presentations

    • Example/demo using DIDComm V2 & did:peer:2 (there are plans to move this to did:peer:4 instead)

    • DIDComm Book
  • Adopts handshakeless interactions (no anticipating of going back)
  • Eliminates criticism of protocol choice - DIDComm v2 was not created within the HL Aries project.
  • Cleans up historical issues with Aries.
  • Aligns with expanded DIDComm adoption
    • Example: Veramo
• Please Ack question – is a ~please_ack (OUTCOME) 
• Open Tasks
  • LTS Policy
    • Fabric starting point: (https://hyperledger.github.io/fabric-rfcs/text/0005-lts-release-strategy.html)
• Open Discussion

Other Business

Future Topics

• Niels Klomp offered a deeper dive into the openid4vc related flows

• State-of-union of Aries projects
• decorator for redirection after proofs. - existing?
• in the Aug 9 call there was talk about EUDI compatibility. Maybe tracking the progress every now and then in these calls? Has there been any discussion about adding SD-JWT and OID4VC stuff to Aries Interop test suite?

Action items

Call Recording: