X-Git-Url: http://git.chise.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=README;h=6456734dfda9958eea1934ea99803c0dff75f8c3;hb=e79b8c70d2ba7ddeb2cac2cbf147ccfca2ab5e64;hp=1072f4d39fa7bc4539309c0255e5753524687ee5;hpb=3196c5138136a3c3a24e04a4ee6e45268ffe42a4;p=elisp%2Fepg.git diff --git a/README b/README index 1072f4d..6456734 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -1,63 +1,59 @@ * 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" + A GUI frontend of GnuPG +- "The EasyPG Library" + A library to interact with GnuPG -** GNU Emacs 21.4 or later +NOTE: EasyPG is neither a fork nor a re-implementation of PGG. -** XEmacs 21.4 or later +* Requirements -** GnuPG 1.4.3 or later +** GNU Emacs 21.4 or XEmacs 21.4 -** Gnus 5.10.8 or later (optional) +** GnuPG 1.4.3 * Quick start -** Transparent file encryption +** Installation -EasyPG provides transparent file encryption similar to crypt++, -alpaca.el, hedgehog. To enable this feature, put (require 'epg-file) -in your ~/.emacs.el, C-x C-f ~/test.txt.gpg. + $ ./configure + $ sudo make install -** Using with Gnus/PGG +Add the following line to your ~/.emacs -EasyPG provides an implementation of the backend interface of -Gnus/PGG. To use EasyPG instead of pgg-gpg, install pgg-epg.el and -add the following line to your ~/.gnus + (require 'epa-setup) -(setq pgg-scheme 'epg) +Then you can browse your keyring by `M-x epa-list-keys'. In addition, +you can do some cryptographic operations on dired. -* Advantages over other competitors + M-x dired + (mark some files) + : e (or M-x epg-dired-do-encrypt) + (select recipients and click [OK]) -There are many competitors of EasyPG such as Mailcrypt, PGG, gpg.el, -etc. EasyPG has some advantages over them. +* Security -** EasyPG avoides potential security flaws of Emacs. +There are security pitfalls around Emacs. -*** `call-process-region' writes data in region to temporary files. +** Passphrase may leak to a temporary file. -`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. +The EasyPG Library does not use `call-process-region' to communicate with a gpg +subprocess. -*** There is no way to clear strings safely. +** Passphrase may be stolen from a core file. -If Emacs crashed and dumps core, passphrase strings in memory are also +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.