OpenPGP compatibility in GnuPG 2.3

Vincent Breitmoser look at my.amazin.horse
Mon Dec 12 20:01:19 CET 2022


Hey Werner and list,

I had (semi-)recently asked a question on this commit at dev.gnupg.org, 
and was redirected by Werner to this list.

https://dev.gnupg.org/rG4583f4fe2e11b3dd070066628c3f16776cc74f72

If I understood this commit correctly, it turns the behavior that was 
formerly part of the `--rfc4880bis` flag into the default.
Specifically, that means that the packets from 
[draft-koch-openpgp-2015-rfc4880bis] are now used by default.
This commit was merged into master, so my understanding is that it is 
now in the GnuPG 2.3 release line.

The OpenPGP working group has decided on 2022-10-10 to base their 
revision of the OpenPGP standard
on the packet format from crypto-refresh, rather than 
draft-koch-openpgp-2015-rfc4880bis.
As such, the behavior that is made the default by this commit will 
produce certificates that will be
incompatible with the upcoming OpenPGP standard.

Given that this commit was merged roughly two weeks after the 
aforementioned decision, should this be
understood that GnuPG intends to focus on its own packet format instead 
of standardized OpenPGP?

It would be interesting to hear what the intent and roadmap of GnuPG are 
in this regard.

Thanks in advance

  - V

[draft-koch-openpgp-2015-rfc4880bis]: 
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-koch-openpgp-2015-rfc4880bis/
[decided]: 
https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/openpgp/yayGaIen3DW6ixwrJkP-QcAcFSQ/




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