8Bit chars in --armor output? GnuPG Bug? (was: Re: [PATCH] use 7bit instead of base64 for application/pgp-keys)

[Werner Koch]

On Sat, 28 Jul 2001 01:27:54 +0200, Marc Mutz said:

> Ok. I see. Then this is a GnuPG-Bug. It should _not_ allow 8bit in 
> --armor output. If the user tries to shoot in his foot, gnupg should 
> issue a warning (or better: error and quit).

By default GNuPG does not put any non ASCII characters into a header
line. OTOH, OpenPGP does not forbid this.  Using the comment option
does only make sense in special cases and I can't see a reason to
issue a warning if someone chooses another character set.  GnuPG works
fine as along as the header lines are correct according to OpenPGP.

The preferred method to encapsulate messages is RFC2015 and not
OpenPGP armor.

BTW, remember that all the header lines are not part of the message
and thus not protected by the signature (give cleartext format).

  Werner

-- 
Werner Koch        Omnis enim res, quae dando non deficit, dum habetur
g10 Code GmbH      et non datur, nondum habetur, quomodo habenda est.
Privacy Solutions                                        -- Augustinus