[Q] Generating a key pair.

[David Shaw]

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On Sat, May 10, 2003 at 06:11:45PM -0400, Daniel Carrera wrote:
> Greetings all,
> 
> I want to create my key-pair.  I've done this before, but I have a couple 
> of questions:
> 
> 1) What key size should I pick for the asymmetric key?
> The OpenPGP FAQ (http://www.samsimpson.com/pgpfaq.html#SubKeySize)
> says that 2048 bits is best, but the GnuPG default is 1024.  Why is that?

"Best" is subjective.  You need to weigh speed (the bigger the key,
the slower the encryption), type of key (primary keys should be larger
in some key use schemes), the algorithm (RSA signing keys make large
signatures, and they get larger with the key size, DSA signing keys
are capped at 1024), and intended use.

This sounds far more complicated than it is, and lot of these factors
are of the "killing a fly with a sledgehammer" sort.  The question
becomes just how flat do you want to make the fly, because it's dead
either way.

David
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