signing algorithms - was: RE: Looking for Elgamal sign+encrypt key information

[Atom 'Smasher']

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> Personally, I use RSA v4 sign+encrypt keys for my own use.  I am not at
> all fond of DSA, primarily because of its small key size.
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* regarding DSS/DSA:
 since you bring this up, i'd be curious to ask what's going on with
variations of DSS/DSA that allows for larger hashes & larger keys... i
guess i'm asking what the progress is being made within the cryptographic
community, and when that will bear fruit for "end users" of PGP/GPG.

* regarding ElGamal
 i've also been curious what exactly makes ElGamal signing so tough...
based on my very limited understanding of the math involved, and reading
through applied cryptography, i guess i need a dumbed-down explanation.

* regarding Diffie-Hellman
 it's my understanding that both ElGamal and DSS are variations of
Diffie-Hellman, and one of the advertised advantages of a DH based system
rather than an RSA system is that the primes used in a key are publicly
accessible for review (to verify that they're "good" primes)... in a
practical sense, how would one go about checking to see if whether or not
the primes are "good"?


        ...atom

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