X-Git-Url: http://git.chise.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=README;h=2627eb6a2d448b1ca831b8ed67bc8c3c19a33e5e;hb=1e72feccfd861a57c5f86b154f1fb42af731c853;hp=d56f6df0e48b41477654e0f17f1f3d28a7b54ce2;hpb=9959124798b862332baed742cf607e495144a583;p=elisp%2Fepg.git diff --git a/README b/README index d56f6df..2627eb6 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -1,53 +1,55 @@ * What's this? -EasyPG is yet another GnuPG interface for Emacs. It consists of two -parts: transparent file encryption utility and easy-to-use elisp -library to interact with GnuPG. +EasyPG is yet another GnuPG interface for Emacs. It consists of two parts: -* Requirements +- "The EasyPG Assistant" which provides basic GUI of GnuPG +- "The EasyPG Library" which enables use of various features of GnuPG + +NOTE: EasyPG is neither a fork nor a re-implementation of Gnus/PGG. -** GNU Emacs 21.4 or later +* Requirements -** XEmacs 21.4 or later +** GNU Emacs 21.4 or XEmacs 21.4 -** GnuPG 1.4.3 or later +** GnuPG 1.4.3 * Quick start -(0) Put (require 'epg-file) in your ~/.emacs.el +** Installation -(1) Restart emacs + $ ./configure + $ sudo make install -(2) C-x C-f ~/test.gpg +Add the following line to your ~/.emacs -* Advantages over other competitors + (require 'epa-setup) -There are many competitors of EasyPG such as Mailcrypt, PGG, gpg.el, -etc. EasyPG has some advantages over them. +Then you can browse your keyring by M-x epa-list-keys. In addition, +you can do some cryptographic operations on dired. -** EasyPG avoides potential security flaws of Emacs. + M-x dired + (mark some files) + : e (or M-x epg-dired-do-encrypt) + (select recipients and click [OK]) -*** `call-process-region' writes data in region to temporary files. +* Security consideration -`call-process-region' writes data in region to temporary files. PGG -and gpg.el use `call-process-region' to communicate with a gpg -subprocess. Your passphrases leak to the filesystem! +** `call-process-region' writes data in region to a temporary file -*** There is no way to clear strings safely. +`call-process-region' writes data in region to a temporary file. +EasyPG does *not* use `call-process-region' to communicate with a gpg +subprocess. -If Emacs crashed and dumps core, passphrase strings in memory are also +** `(fillarray string 0)' is not enough to clear passphrases + +If Emacs crashes and dumps core, Lisp strings in memory are also dumped within the core file. `read-passwd' function clears passphrase strings by `(fillarray string 0)'. However, Emacs performs compaction in gc_sweep phase. If GC happens before `fillarray', passphrase -strings may be moved elsewhere in memory. It is recommended that as -soon as you are done with passphrase you should clear it manually. -However, PGG and gpg.el can keep passphrase strings in cache for a -while and this behavior is their default! - -** GnuPG features are directly accessible from Emacs - -Other competitors provide only specific features of GnuPG since they -still support PGP 2.*, 5.*, 6.*. As the name indicates, EasyPG is -inspired by GPGME (GnuPG Made Easy), and the library interface is -close to GPGME. With EasyPG you can benefit from a lot of features of -GnuPG. +strings may be moved elsewhere in memory. Therefore, passphrase +caching in Elisp is generally a bad idea. + +The EasyPG Library dares to disable passphrase caching. Fortunately, +there is more secure way to cache passphrases - use gpg-agent. Elisp +programs can set `epg-context-passphrase-callback' to cache user's +passphrases, it is not recommended though.