Default hash

[Robert J. Hansen]

> Given the release of v1.4.10, the SHA256 hashing algorithm is preferred
> over SHA1. Yet, after updating my default preferences with 'setpref' and
> signing some text, SHA1 is still used as the default hashing algorithm.
> Is there something else I need to do to ensure that I'm using SHA256 by
> default for the hash?

Add these two lines to your gpg.conf file:

enable-dsa2
personal-digest-preferences SHA256

(enable-dsa2 may no longer be necessary as of recent GnuPG versions, but it will certainly not harm anything.)