X-Git-Url: http://git.chise.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=README;h=460448360b4d19a5309c12b82cc7454c91c0e672;hb=b1d05ceee17137266c8a4729bb0180fe265baae4;hp=f9466ca305ea3a0f507fe1c8db94a654ccdd8bf8;hpb=a1e7cd13bfc9fa14fb80be961892d727ed4bd347;p=elisp%2Fepg.git diff --git a/README b/README index f9466ca..4604483 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -1,8 +1,16 @@ * What's this? -EasyPG is yet another GnuPG interface for Emacs. It consists of a -transparent file encryption application and easy-to-use elisp library -to interact with GnuPG. +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. + +* Requirements + +** GNU Emacs 21.4 or later + +** XEmacs 21.4 or later + +** GnuPG 1.4.3 or later * Quick start @@ -14,16 +22,28 @@ to interact with GnuPG. * Advantages over other competitors +There are many competitors of EasyPG such as Mailcrypt, PGG, gpg.el, +etc. EasyPG has some advantages over them. + ** EasyPG avoides potential security flaws of Emacs. *** `call-process-region' writes data in region to a temporary file. -PGG and gpg.el use `call-process-region' to communicate with a -subprocess "gpg". So, your passphrases may leak to the filesystem. + +PGG and gpg.el use `call-process-region' to communicate with a gpg +subprocess. Your passphrases may leak to the filesystem. *** There is no way to clear strings safely. -To prevent passphrases from been stealing from cores, `read-passwd' -function clears passphrase strings by `(fillarray string 0)'. -However, it is not enough. Emacs does compaction of small strings in -GC sweep phase. If GC happens before `fillarray', passphrase strings -may be copied elsewhere in the memory. PGG and gpg.el enables + +If Emacs crashed and dumps core, passphrase strings in memory are also +dumped with the core file. `read-passwd' function clears passphrase +strings by `(fillarray string 0)'. However, it is not perfect. Emacs +does compaction of small strings in gc_sweep phase. If GC happens +before `fillarray', passphrase strings may be copied elsewhere in +memory. So, it is recommended that if you are done with passphrase +you should clear it manually. However, PGG and gpg.el enables passphrase caching by default. + +** Most GnuPG features are accessible from Emacs + +As the name indicates, EasyPG is inspired by GPGME (GnuPG Made Easy), +and the library interface is close to GPGME.