Conditional options directives

[Jerome Baum]

On Mon, May 2, 2011 at 20:49, Kevin Kammer <
Lists.gnupg at mephisto.fastmail.net> wrote:

> So, what I am thinking of is semantically a little like a pre-processor
> directive...
>
> #if (keyID == 123456)
>     /* Use these options */
> #elif (keyID == 789abc)
>     /* Use some different options */
> #else
>     /* Fall back to a default set of options */
> #endif
>
> Obviously it wouldn't look like that in the gpg.conf file, but the model of
> conditional compilation gets the point accross (I hope).
>
> Does anyone agree with me that this would be a good idea, or am I just
> crazy? Better yet, does anyone already implement some kind of conditional
> options parsing, using a technique which hasn't occured to me?


Sounds interesting. I would consider a kind of "lookup sequence" so you end
up with this:

.gnupg/
>   gnupg.conf
>   gnupg-key-01234567.conf
>   gnupg-key-0123456789abcdef.conf


etc.

That way, you can look at a single file to understand what will happen under
given circumstances, instead of having to parse through conditionals. I
don't think complicating the options format is a good idea. You end up with
stuff like this:

:(){ :|: & };:


Of course, you should *not* run this code. It will crash your system. I am
just demonstrating that when you allow obfuscated meaning in data or code,
Mallory will trick you into configuring your gnupg to send out all your
private keys to her.

-- 
Jerome Baum

Telefon: +49-1578-8434336
E-Mail: jerome at jeromebaum.com
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