Mac book Pro - MacGPG2 and Emacs - EasyPG

Fri Apr 12 11:52:24 CEST 2013

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Hello GNU Privacy Guard Users:

I typically only use GNU/Linux machines, but recently decided to go
pragmatic due to issues with interacting with data and tools that
other collaborators of mine tend to use.  So I broke down my stern
resolve and bought a MacBook Pro.  Nice machine, I really only use
GPL'd software on it for the most part however.  With a little futzing
around I got GNUPG working on it for e-mail thanks to the GNUPG.ORG
links and Thunderbird and the Enigmail Plugin.

However, on my computers I enjoy using Emacs and was delighted that I
could use that tool on the MacBook Pro as well.  I've been enjoying
using EasyPG on my GNU/Linux machines because of the ability to
encrypt/decrypt regions of text withing a document. Actually on one of
my systems it turned out that an upgrade removed the GPG functionality
from Nautilus and GEDIT to my frustration which prompted me to learn
to use Emacs to do the same thing - in the end even more convenient
for my purposes and I love ORG-MODE.

However, when I went to use the Encrypt/Decrypt functionality of my
Emacs installed on the MacBook Pro it was not finding GPG and was
unable to decrypt or encrypt.

I didn't panic however (well, not for long)...
Being a noob with guts to hack around and not afraid to break
things... ;-) I stumbled in the correct direction eventually.

I went into the Emacs settings/configuration editor (Under Emacs in
menu bar of GUI it is called "Preferences") and saw a search feature
so I entered in "GPG." I found entries for Easy GPG.

With a little bit of terminal hunting with the "cd" command I found
the location of GPG and thanks to an "ls -la" I discovered there were
links to MacGPG2.  So inside the EMACS preferences for EasyPG GPG, I
made the epg gpg home directory "default"

For the entry gpg home: /usr/local/bin/gpg

For the entry gpgsm I put in the MacGPG2 location of the gpgsm:
/usr/local/MacGPG2/bin/gpgsm

I ran into some issues which eventually were resolved by importing in
my private key(s) which weren't found initially.
I was then able to find the keys needed with a pop-up prompt to type
the password for the correct key needed to decrypt files containing
regions I had encrypted on another machine with that key.

I hope this information, which lacks some of the details about what I
did may be of help to someone else.

With all of the various internet sites, logins/passwords and other
data that are best when unique/random and kept secure I like to be
able to make an ORG file with encrypted regions containing important
information that is organized by outline format and description.

This is especially important with the rise in the use of cloud
services like dropbox that sync data on multiple computers automatically.

It is great to be able to use multiple machines of one's choice and
needs but to have full access to the shared files and data thanks to
tools that can keep data elements secure and private but continue to
have portability with similar workflows. GPG allows me to do that and
it is awesome to be able to use it in a controlled manner with
powerful tools as versatile as Emacs, and Thunderbird/Enigmail for
e-mail and calendaring on almost any machine!

Have a great day!

- -Steve
a.k.a. DrGNU
Free Software Foundation Contributing Member

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