gnupg windows installer

[Bernhard Reiter]

Hello Ernst,

On Thu, Jan 04, 2001 at 09:33:17PM +0100, ernst.molitor at uni-bonn.de wrote:
> as a happy user of GnuPG in an environment with very sensitive data,
> I'm happy about Werner Koch's position regarding the safety of
> "binary-only" software. IMHO, it's a most valuable advantage to have
> the sources available for public review - it shouldn't be sacrificed
> for some sort of easy installation in a certain environment.

I completly share your concerns about this issue.
The sources have to be open for public review and need to have
the freedom attached to fix bugs and redistribute the fix.

However the point we were discussion was lying somewhere else:

First: InnoSetup is Free Software and you can inspect the sources.

Secondly: The question then is, which tools are allowed to compile
and run the program.

I assume that you do not use a windows system for your very sensitiv
data, because you have no control over most part of your computer.
Especially the tools, the operation system kernel 
and the shared libraries will be binary only 
and build by somebody else.

The relative insecurity of this environment cannot be remedied.
In the discussion below my position was, that we do not gain any
additional security in not using windows standard tools, even when
they are precompiled on the windows platform.

It is like building a steel door to secure a house made out of paper.
And this of course only applies to the windows platform and other
proprietory platforms.

Best regards,
	Bernhard

> >> I won't sign any stuff which I have not compiled on one of my boxes.

> >> If it is not possible to compile InooSetup, it is not free software.

> >Even the FSF is not _that_ strict.=20
> >They have acctepted various Java components as free softare=20
> >which currently only work with proprietory libraries.
> >
> >> Someone has to fix it or we have to use something different.
> >
> >Our task is to replace a proprietary privacy program with a free one.
> >When it is not possible to replace all at once, we need to=20
> >replace them one by one.
> >
> >Therefore the free software product has to be usable in the
> >foreign einvironment. Yet it has to follow some rules there.

-- 
Professional Service around Free Software                (intevation.net)  
The FreeGIS Project                                         (freegis.org)
Association for a Free Informational Infrastructure            (ffii.org)
FSF Europe                                            (www.fsfeurope.org)
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 256 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : /pipermail/attachments/20010105/819d0df7/attachment.bin