[Announce] GnuPG 2.1.2 released

Werner Koch wk at gnupg.org
Wed Feb 11 20:40:39 CET 2015


Hello!

The GnuPG Project is pleased to announce the availability of the
third release of GnuPG modern: Version 2.1.2.

The GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG) is a complete and free implementation of
the OpenPGP standard as defined by RFC-4880 and better known as PGP.

GnuPG, also known as GPG, allows to encrypt and sign data and
communication, features a versatile key management system as well as
access modules for public key directories.  GnuPG itself is a command
line tool with features for easy integration with other applications.
A wealth of frontend applications and libraries making use of GnuPG
are available.  Since version 2 GnuPG provides support for S/MIME and
Secure Shell in addition to OpenPGP.

GnuPG is Free Software (meaning that it respects your freedom). It can
be freely used, modified and distributed under the terms of the GNU
General Public License.

Three different versions of GnuPG are actively maintained:

- GnuPG "modern" (2.1) is the latest development with a lot of new
  features.  This announcement is about the first release of this
  version.

- GnuPG "stable" (2.0) is the current stable version for general use.
  This is what most users are currently using.

- GnuPG "classic" (1.4) is the old standalone version which is most
  suitable for older or embedded platforms.

You may not install "modern" (2.1) and "stable" (2.0) at the same
time.  However, it is possible to install "classic" (1.4) along with
any of the other versions.


What's New in GnuPG-2.1
=======================

 * gpg: The parameter 'Passphrase' for batch key generation works
   again.

 * gpg: Using a passphrase option in batch mode now has the expected
   effect on --quick-gen-key.

 * gpg: Improved reporting of unsupported PGP-2 keys.

 * gpg: Added support for algo names when generating keys using
   --command-fd.

 * gpg: Fixed DoS based on bogus and overlong key packets.

 * agent: When setting --default-cache-ttl the value
   for --max-cache-ttl is adjusted to be not lower than the former.

 * agent: Fixed problems with the new --extra-socket.

 * agent: Made --allow-loopback-pinentry changeable with gpgconf.

 * agent: Fixed importing of unprotected openpgp keys.

 * agent: Now tries to use a fallback pinentry if the standard
   pinentry is not installed.

 * scd: Added support for ECDH.

 * Fixed several bugs related to bogus keyrings and improved some
   other code.

A detailed description of the changes found in 2.1 can be found at
https://gnupg.org/faq/whats-new-in-2.1.html .


Getting the Software
====================

Please follow the instructions found at https://gnupg.org/download/ or
read on:

GnuPG 2.1.2 may be downloaded from one of the GnuPG mirror sites or
direct from its primary FTP server.  The list of mirrors can be found
at https://gnupg.org/mirrors.html .  Note that GnuPG is not available
at ftp.gnu.org.

On ftp.gnupg.org you find these files:

 ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/gnupg/gnupg-2.1.2.tar.bz2  (4720k)
 ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/gnupg/gnupg-2.1.2.tar.bz2.sig

This is the GnuPG 2.1 source code compressed using BZIP2 and its
OpenPGP signature.

A Windows installer is not available for this version because we are
currently reworking some parts of it.

This version fixes a lot of bugs found after the release of 2.1.0 but
there are still known bugs which we are working on.  Please check the
mailing list archives and https://wiki.gnupg.org for known problems and
workaround.


Checking the Integrity
======================

In order to check that the version of GnuPG which you are going to
install is an original and unmodified one, you can do it in one of
the following ways:

 * If you already have a version of GnuPG installed, you can simply
   verify the supplied signature.  For example to verify the signature
   of the file gnupg-2.1.2.tar.bz2 you would use this command:

     gpg --verify gnupg-2.1.2.tar.bz2.sig gnupg-2.1.2.tar.bz2

   This checks whether the signature file matches the source file.
   You should see a message indicating that the signature is good and
   made by one or more of the release signing keys.  Make sure that
   this is a valid key, either by matching the shown fingerprint
   against a trustworthy list of valid release signing keys or by
   checking that the key has been signed by trustworthy other keys.
   See below for information on the signing keys.

 * If you are not able to use an existing version of GnuPG, you have
   to verify the SHA-1 checksum.  On Unix systems the command to do
   this is either "sha1sum" or "shasum".  Assuming you downloaded the
   file gnupg-2.1.1.tar.bz2, you would run the command like this:

     sha1sum gnupg-2.1.2.tar.bz2

   and check that the output matches the first line from the
   following list:

7e972cb9af47d9b8ce164dcf37fc4f32634d6cd6  gnupg-2.1.2.tar.bz2


Release Signing Keys
====================

To guarantee that a downloaded GnuPG version has not been tampered by
malicious entities we provide signature files for all tarballs and
binary versions.  The keys are also signed by the long term keys of
their respective owners.  Current releases are signed by one or more
of these four keys:

  2048R/4F25E3B6 2011-01-12 [expires: 2019-12-31]
  Key fingerprint = D869 2123 C406 5DEA 5E0F  3AB5 249B 39D2 4F25 E3B6
  Werner Koch (dist sig)

  rsa2048/E0856959 2014-10-29 [expires: 2019-12-31]
  Key fingerprint = 46CC 7308 65BB 5C78 EBAB  ADCF 0437 6F3E E085 6959
  David Shaw (GnuPG Release Signing Key) <dshaw 'at' jabberwocky.com>

  rsa2048/33BD3F06 2014-10-29 [expires: 2016-10-28]
  Key fingerprint = 031E C253 6E58 0D8E A286  A9F2 2071 B08A 33BD 3F06
  NIIBE Yutaka (GnuPG Release Key) <gniibe 'at' fsij.org>

  rsa2048/7EFD60D9 2014-10-19 [expires: 2020-12-31]
  Key fingerprint = D238 EA65 D64C 67ED 4C30  73F2 8A86 1B1C 7EFD 60D9
  Werner Koch (Release Signing Key)

You may retrieve these files from the keyservers using this command

  gpg --recv-keys 249B39D24F25E3B6 04376F3EE0856959 \
                  2071B08A33BD3F06 8A861B1C7EFD60D9

The keys are also available at https://gnupg.org/signature_key.html
and in the released GnuPG tarball in the file g10/distsigkey.gpg .
Note that this mail has been signed using my standard PGP key.


Internationalization
====================

This version of GnuPG has support for 26 languages with Chinese,
Czech, French, German, Japanese, Russian, and Ukrainian being almost
completely translated (2061 different strings).


Documentation
=============

If you used GnuPG in the past you should read the description of
changes and new features at doc/whats-new-in-2.1.txt or online at

  https://gnupg.org/faq/whats-new-in-2.1.html

The file gnupg.info has the complete user manual of the system.
Separate man pages are included as well but they have not all the
details available as are the manual.  It is also possible to read the
complete manual online in HTML format at

  https://gnupg.org/documentation/manuals/gnupg/

or in Portable Document Format at

  https://gnupg.org/documentation/manuals/gnupg.pdf .

The chapters on gpg-agent, gpg and gpgsm include information on how
to set up the whole thing.  You may also want search the GnuPG mailing
list archives or ask on the gnupg-users mailing lists for advise on
how to solve problems.  Many of the new features are around for
several years and thus enough public knowledge is already available.

You may also want to follow postings at https://gnupg.org/blob/.


Support
========

Please consult the archive of the gnupg-users mailing list before
reporting a bug <https://gnupg.org/documentation/mailing-lists.html>.
We suggest to send bug reports for a new release to this list in favor
of filing a bug at <https://bugs.gnupg.org>.  For commercial support
requests we keep a list of known service companies at:

  https://gnupg.org/service.html

If you are a developer and you may need a certain feature for your
project, please do not hesitate to bring it to the gnupg-devel mailing
list for discussion.


Thanks
======

We have to thank all the people who helped with this release, be it
testing, coding, translating, suggesting, auditing, administering the
servers, spreading the word, and answering questions on the mailing
lists.

Since the start of the funding campaign in December several thousand
people have been kind enough to donate a total of 250000 Euro to support
this project.  In addition the Linux Foundation gave a grant of $ 60000
for 2015, Stripe.com and Facebook.com each pledged $ 50000 per year.

I am amazed by this superb and unexpected support for the GnuPG project.
This will not only allow us to continue the project and hire at least a
second full time developer but gives us also the resources to improve
things which have been delayed for too long.

*Thank you all !*


Salam-Shalom,

   Werner


p.s.
This is a announcement only mailing list.  Please send replies only to
the gnupg-users at gnupg.org mailing lists.

-- 
Die Gedanken sind frei.  Ausnahmen regelt ein Bundesgesetz.
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