Signature, fingerprint or public key?

[Subba Rao]

Hi,

Sorry if this question is going to be too basic for some of you.

I have generated my set of keys and have also uploaded them to the
keyserver.net server. The very basic questions are,

1. What is the commonly used means of identification? This is for email
   identification and document/Web Pages authetication etc.? Is it public key,
   Signature or fingerprint?

2. How do you request Mutt to show if the email has a GPG/PGP authentication/
   identification key attached to it?

At this time I am more interested in authentication rather than encryption.

When I run the command,

	$ gpg -a --export

I get my public key listed. At the default key size (1024 bits), the output
is rather large. I would hesitate to add my public key as a means of
identification, for a 2 or 3 line email note.

Any advice as to what is the best method of identification is appreciated for
email and other documents.

Thank you in advance.
-- 

Subba Rao
subba9@home.com
http://members.home.net/subba9/