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> My original plan was to have a textual description of the algorithm since any choice of programming language or binary format might not be usable in 50-100 ye

> My original plan was to have a textual description of the algorithm since any choice of programming language or binary format might not be usable in 50-100 years time. I think any description of the algorithm at all would be better than the current "go to the website and download the latest version" situation. It should be enough to say which algorithms you use and the order. It looks like you've picked common enough ones that they shouldn't be lost to history. > Another thing to deal with is what if QR codes are no longer used in 50 years time? I'd imagine that many hundreds of years from now there will still be enough artifacts with QR codes on them that some historian will know what they are and how to decode them. They're far too common to be so easily forgotten, I think. Maybe down the road instead of hiring a locksmith to crack your grandpa's safe, you'll hire a cryptosmith to crack into their paper wallet.

cyphar 5y ago
> I think any description of the algorithm at all would be better than the current "go to the website and download the latest version" situation. It should be enough to say which algorithms you use and the order. It looks like you've picked common enough ones that they shouldn't be lost to history. I'm slightly more worried about encoding and the wire format of the various bits of data stored in the QR codes. You'd need slightly more detail than just the algorithms used. For the record, the entire design is actually outlined here[1] in lots of detail so really all that would be necessary would be encode that document as a PDF you can print and store with the backups. [1]: https://github.com/cyphar/paperback/blob/main/DESIGN.md https://github.com/cyphar/paperback/blob/main/DESIGN.md