X-Git-Url: http://git.chise.org/gitweb/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=README;h=9fdf6d79baa5ea1ab9c28e271c4829f29bc2bc0e;hb=93ea9862c87f44d904ed46c383f6f395afcb082d;hp=91cb7cd3c9a8c25195f9e77740c35bab526b3dd5;hpb=dc250f34d9659836694d49f782b57607b35a2276;p=elisp%2Fepg.git diff --git a/README b/README index 91cb7cd..9fdf6d7 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -1,75 +1,57 @@ * What's this? -EasyPG is yet another GnuPG interface for Emacs. It consists of three -parts: transparent file encryption utility, Gnus/PGG backend, and -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, 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 ** Installation -$ ./configure -$ sudo make install - -** Transparent file encryption utility - -EasyPG provides transparent file encryption utility similar to -crypt++, alpaca.el, hedgehog. To try this, add the following line to -your ~/.emacs and C-x C-f ~/test.txt.gpg. - -(require 'epf) - -** Gnus/PGG backend + $ ./configure + $ sudo make install -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. +Add the following line to your ~/.emacs -(setq pgg-scheme 'epg) + (require 'epa-setup) -* Advantages over other competitors +Then you can browse your keyring by `M-x epa-list-keys'. In addition, +you can do some cryptographic operations on dired. -There are many competitors of EasyPG such as Mailcrypt, Gnus/PGG, -gpg.el, etc. EasyPG has some advantages over them. - -** EasyPG avoides potential security flaws of Emacs - -See "Security consideration" section. - -** 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. + M-x dired + (mark some files) + : e (or M-x epg-dired-do-encrypt) + (select recipients and click [OK]) * Security consideration -** `call-process-region' writes data in region to a temporary file +There are security pitfalls around Emacs. + +** Passphrase may leak to a temporary file. `call-process-region' writes data in region to a temporary file. -EasyPG does *not* use `call-process-region' to communicate with a gpg +The EasyPG Library does not use `call-process-region' to communicate with a gpg subprocess. -** `(fillarray string 0)' is not enough to clear passphrases +** 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. - -Fortunately, there is gpg-agent to cache passphrases in more secure -way, so the EasyPG library dares *not* to cache passphrase by itself. -Elisp programs can set `epg-context-passphrase-callback' to cache -user's passphrases. +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.