file extension confusion: --clearsign makes binary .asc

[Philipp Schafft]

reflum.

On Mon, 2013-07-22 at 20:20 -0400, Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
> I'm sorting thru the GnuPG file extensions these days.  One thing I just
> noticed is that "gpg2 --clearsign icon.png" creates a binary file called
> "icon.png.asc".  The signature is ASCII but the rest is still the plain old
> binary.  Shouldn't that file be .gpg or .sig?

--clearsign just generates a signature that includes a
'clear' (readable) copy of the document (not a OpenPGP message with a
data block that may be compressed or otherwise made un-readable without
a OpenPGP implementation processing the message).

This is *only* for stuff that can be read anyway like plain text. This
is not designed for binary content. For binary content just use the
normal sign option or use a detached signature.

--clearsign is just a extention for *text* only. It will be as readable
as the source data. PNGs can't be read directly by a user without a
picture viewer so the clearsign result cann't be.

Hope this was of some help :). Have a good day!

-- 
Philipp.
 (Rah of PH2)
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 482 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part
URL: </pipermail/attachments/20130723/000e0023/attachment.sig>