moving user ID Comments to --expert mode

[Werner Koch]

On Thu,  3 Feb 2011 21:59, dkg at fifthhorseman.net said:

>  * new users see the prompt and think they need to enter something
> there, without understanding why or what to put there.  This leads to
> people either making a witticism (e.g. "No Comment"), repeating their

I have only seen a few of these comments; thus I don't think it is a
real problem.  I use the comment failed mainly to indicate a test key
and I have seen other sensible usages as well.  Many might nor know that
there is a help feature for every input field:

  GnuPG needs to construct a user ID to identify your key.
  
  Real name: ddddd
  Email address: dddd at dddd
  Comment: ?
  Please enter an optional comment.
  The characters "(" and ")" are not allowed.
  In general there is no need for a comment.
  Comment: 

but many more users are using a GUI for key generation and thus it is up
to the GUI to preset the comment field.  For example GPA uses in
non-advanced mode a wizard dialog for key generation and that one does
not ask for comment.

I don't have any strong feelings about this, however, here is my own
proposal:

  GnuPG needs to construct a user ID to identify your key.
  
  Real name: ddddd
  Email address: dddd at dddd
  You selected this USER-ID:
      "ddddd <dddd at dddd>"
  
  Change (N)ame, (C)omment, (E)mail or (O)kay/(Q)uit? c
  Comment: test key
  You selected this USER-ID:
      "ddddd (test key) <dddd at dddd>"
  
  Change (N)ame, (C)omment, (E)mail or (O)kay/(Q)uit? q

No expert option and no translation changes required, just one more key
stroke to enter a comment.  The drawback is as with the --expert option:
we will receive bug reports like "I can't enter a comment anymore" ;-).


Shalom-Salam,

   Werner

-- 
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