Testing GPG EMail encryption

Thu May 24 17:55:59 CEST 2012

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On 24/05/12 13:55, Mark H. Wood wrote:
> On Wed, May 23, 2012 at 09:39:04PM +0100, david at gbenet.com wrote:
> 
>> I ran the debugging programme with Openpgp debugging options to
>> console and I got the message that with gpg2 installed one was not
>> able to digitally sign an e-mail whilst encrypting to their public
>> key which in all the named distros it encrypted to my private key -
>> fact.
> 
> I have no idea how a debugger would know that you couldn't sign an email.
> 
>> It is a fact that Openpgp will only work if BOTH gpg 1.4.11 and the
>> widget gpg2 is then added. Fact. Most Linux users have BOTH by
>> default. Fact. That's why no one's reporting aany problems. Fact. If
>> you remove from your system gpg 1.4.11 then you have real problems
>> with open Openpgp - even Kleopatra. Fact
> 
> On my Gentoo system, there is no gpg v1 installed:
> 
> mwood at mhw ~ $ dir /usr/bin/gpg*
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root      4 Sep 15  2011 /usr/bin/gpg -> gpg2
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 699072 Jun 29  2011 /usr/bin/gpg2
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 268352 Jun 29  2011 /usr/bin/gpg-agent
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 130720 Jun 29  2011 /usr/bin/gpgconf
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 142736 Jun 29  2011 /usr/bin/gpg-connect-agent
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  50627 Apr  2 15:28 /usr/bin/gpgdir
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    205 Jun 30  2011 /usr/bin/gpgen
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  18448 Sep 21  2011 /usr/bin/gpg-error
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   1804 Sep 21  2011 /usr/bin/gpg-error-config
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   8990 Apr  2 15:28 /usr/bin/gpg-key2ps
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  39320 Jun 29  2011 /usr/bin/gpgkey2ssh
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   4005 Apr  2 15:28 /usr/bin/gpglist
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   2750 Apr  2 15:28 /usr/bin/gpg-mailkeys
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   3521 Jan 11 09:14 /usr/bin/gpgme-config
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  26864 Jun 29  2011 /usr/bin/gpgparsemail
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   1708 Apr  2 15:28 /usr/bin/gpgparticipants
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  13830 Apr  2 15:28 /usr/bin/gpgsigs
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 382016 Jun 29  2011 /usr/bin/gpgsm
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   4635 Jun 29  2011 /usr/bin/gpgsm-gencert.sh
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root      5 Sep 15  2011 /usr/bin/gpgv -> gpgv2
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 327504 Jun 29  2011 /usr/bin/gpgv2
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  22760 Apr  2 15:28 /usr/bin/gpgwrap
> mwood at mhw ~ $ gpg --version
> gpg (GnuPG) 2.0.17
> libgcrypt 1.4.6
> Copyright (C) 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
> License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
> <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
> This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
> There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
> 
> As you can see, 'gpg' and 'gpgv' are symlinks to the v2 programs.
> 
> Nevertheless, I just sent a signed message to myself at another
> address, from Thunderbird, using Enigmail.  It arrived signed, with a
> valid signature.  Thunderbird + Enigmail + gpg2 works.  You should
> consider the possibility that you have a different problem.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> Gnupg-users at gnupg.org
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- From tests carried out - Mandrava Linux was ok. I suspect that other Linux distros have no
real problems - just because your works - does not mean that every other Linux distro works.
I stated I only ran tests on a few Linux Distros - I too have 5 e-mail accounts and could do
multiple testing - with surprising results. We all think that at the core all Linux distros
are the same - they are not. Heavily branded distros where the core of every programme is
re-written is bad news for the user.

I case in point. Seahorse. You are supposed to set how long a passphrase will exist for. In
Ubuntu and opensuse this feature has been removed. Such programmes as "apt" are not
installed - and do not appear on opensuse's list of "approved" apps.

But it's not all about re-writing all the code for hard-wired branding. A women wrote to the
enigmail list and said that her Fedora-16 64 bit had failed to initialise gpg2 - she ven
whent as far as going to Mozilla and downloading and installing Thunderbird. She even went
to the enigmail's home page and downloaded and installed the correct version of enigmail for
Thunderbird. The result? Openpgp caused her system to freeze.

I was the only person who answered her - I was the only person to conduct tests on Fedora-16
KDE/Gnome/LXDE 32/64 bit. I stated the results of my tests. Further in opensuse gpg2 is
installed by default - a user-agent is installed by default - but in all versions of
opensuse tested no user-agent was ever running. As stated the Seahorse was the default
daemon - but had the ability to set how long a passphase would last had been programmed out.

With branded versions (not all) of popular Linux distros the term "open source" means
"closed source." But we are still faced with the problems of GPG4WIN and the problem of
directly installing from source. We are still faced with the fact that Openpgp does not
support gpg2.

Now I'm  running Mint Linux LXDE 32 bit - the Seahorse as provided has no way of controlling
the length in minutes your passphrase stays around. Linux Mint uses Ubuntu software sources
and that function has been written out.

I am trying to install Seahorse directly - I have to google for all its dependences - which
are not installed - though I've got a "Seahorse!" You either get the original open source
software or a pre-packaged look-a-like. I suspect that when you install a branded Linux -
you install Thunderbird and Enigmail all these open source packages are re-written to be a
closed shop.

But it still does not answer why direct installs have the same problem. Or why Windows XP
with Thunderbird and Enigmail have problems.

David

- -- 
“See the sanity of the man! No gods, no angels, no demons, no body. Nothing of the
kind.Stern, sane,every brain-cell perfect and complete even at the moment of death. No
delusion.” https://linuxcounter.net/user/512854.html - http://gbenet.com
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