PGP TO GPG key import problems

[Craig Stratton]

David Shaw, Wednesday, June 09, 2004 8:16 PM, responded:

> On Wed, Jun 09, 2004 at 04:03:30PM +0100, Craig Stratton wrote:
> > gpg: protection algorithm 1 (IDEA) is not supported
> > gpg: the IDEA cipher plugin is not present
> > gpg: please see http://www.gnupg.org/why-not-idea.html for more
information
> > gpg: no default secret key: unknown cipher algorithm
> > gpg: [stdin]: clearsign failed: unknown cipher algorithm
> >
> > But what can i do about this ?
> > The keys are RSA/IDEA combination. How can i convert them from within
gpg to
> > use something else ?
>
> Do "gpg --s2k-cipher-algo cast5 --edit-key xxxxxxx" and then "passwd"
> to change the passphrase.  It doesn't matter what you change it to,
> and can even change it to the same passphrase it has now.  This
> reencrypts the key using CAST5 so you won't need IDEA any longer.
>
> > I am sure that the entity that i send the signed mails can accept
different
> > ciphers, but is that dependent on their version of my public key ?
> > If i manage to use a different cipher, will they carry on working fine
> > without any intervention required ?
>
> Yes.  The cipher you are having a problem with is the cipher that
> encrypts your own secret key (to protect it in case it is stolen).
> This has no connection with the ciphers that may be used to encrypt a
> message.
>
> David

Many thanks David, that looks exactly like what i asked for. :-) Will try it
shortly.
Almost getting the hang of which cipher/mechanism goes with which process
now....

Regards,
Craig