[rstuart4133]

> TLS certs can be a hassle for peer-to-peer type stuff.

From my perspective that's very generous. All the flags and extensions in x509 certs seem to have one use: provide a way for the companies who run the PKI infrastructure to extract more money. I am perhaps to being a little harsh here, as some like the ability to sign sub-certs are absolutely necessary to PKI.

However, outside of PKI, almost none of it adds any security. But they do add enormous amounts of complexity. To take but one example from StrongSwan:

> In addition to serverAuth the 'IP Security IKE Intermediate' EKU with OID 1.3.6.1.5.5.8.2.2 does not hurt either and will allow you to use the certificate with older Mac OS X releases too.

How much does 1.3.6.1.5.5.8.2.2 or indeed any of the extensions add to IPSec security: none. Yet woe betide you if you miss it and someone attempt to use your IPSec implementation from an older OSx. But if you try to work around that by providing every extension under the sun, Windows will reject it. So you end up walking this tightrope of trying to find the magic combination that works with everything.

The option to use TLS without the x509 baggage would be a breath of fresh air.