Version

[Chris Wiegand]

On Mon, 12 Oct 1998, John A. Martin wrote:
>=0D
>    Robert> On 98.10.12 brian moore pressed the following keys:=0D
>    >> On Mon, Oct 12, 1998 at 11:52:23AM -0700, Ron Echeverri wrote:=0D
>    >> > Werner Koch writes:=0D
>    >> >   "John A. Martin" <jam at jamux.com> writes:=0D
>    >> >   > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----=0D
>    >> >   ASCII armors are depreciated - you should use MIME ;-)=0D
>    >> >=0D
>    >> > Forgive the digression, but what would the proper MIME type=0D
>    >> > be? :)=0D
>    >>=0D
>    >> Content-Type: application/pgp; format=3Dtext; x-action=3Dsign=0D
>=0D
>    Robert> And what is the RFC that describes this beast?=0D
>=0D
>    Robert> Reptile=0D
>=0D
>    Robert> PS. Yes, I am picky, because there is RFC about PGP=0D
>    Robert> encapsulated in MIME.  RFC2015.=0D
>=0D
>Why break peanuts with a sledge hammer.  Why use MIME for simple text?=0D
>=0D
>Recall that rfc2015 says=0D
>=0D
>   The ASCII armor output is the REQUIRED method for data transfer.=0D
>=0D
>Now what am I missing?=0D

Simple. There are detached signatures, which are easy to implement, there=
 is
the Application/PGP MIME type, which is supported by most PGP/MIME client=
s, and
there is a new PGP/MIME, which PGP5/Eudora/Outlook uses, which makes an
attachment called "Application/PGP", which only contains the text "Versio=
n: 1",
and then the *real* stuff is in another attachment called
Application/octet-stream. That last one, the "most recent version of PGP/=
MIME",
is difficult to implement in a non-GPLed mail program (I write pgp4pine, =
so I
know how hard it is, I still can't do that last one). I don't know of *an=
y*
mail client that doesn't support the inline pgp (the "ascii armor" mentio=
ned at
the top, I believe), and most support the PGP/Application if they support=
 PGP
at all. Just the last one is not really supported. <shrug> I don't even t=
hink
there's an RFC for it, although I could be wrong.

--

Chris Wiegand

'If Bill Gates had a dime for every time Windows crashed...
 ... Oh wait a minute, he already does...' - Anonymous

Linux \'lih-nucks\ n.: Antidote to the computer viri known as Windows.