stewarts(_at_)ix(_dot_)netcom(_dot_)com wrote:
(stego stuff cut, this is too much for V1 IMHO)
On the other hand, if OPGP does support the 0s mode,
it'll have to successively try each secret key it has
until it either finds one that works or finds that
none of them work; an alternative is to have an external
preprocessor program that drives it, by trying each KeyID in succession.
This requires that the driver know what KeyIDs are available
(either reading directly from the keyring or
just from a list), and that the OPGP implementation
have some easily-parsed response that lets the driver
decide whether or not the decryption worked.
Hmmm. True, a very good point, a test would be needed. Maybe it should
only be supported in text mode ('t' flag on?), or maybe there should be
a magic number within. If it was only in test mode, then binaries could
be done by armouring (or whatever) inside.
Another option is to only check the "default" key,
though default key really an artifact of the user interface
rather than something OPGP needs to know about.
Another problem is that most PGP implementations will treat the keys on
the rings in a simple fashion, so the first implementations of the
Zeroes feature are likely to ask the user for *all* the keys in
succession ... <blech>.
Internal support is more efficient, but non-critical,
so I'd recommend against making it a MUST, but it'd be
nice to have it as a SHOULD.
I doubt it could be a MUST as it is not used anywhere yet, and it is too
adventurous of us to mandate anything that is not yet in use.
I wouldn't even make it SHOULD as it will be quite difficult to get
right, from the comments above. MAY is fine by me.
As a side-effect, would we add "An implementation SHOULD treat KeyID of
all zeroes as a reserved and/or bad key?" What is the source and
semantics of a KeyID of zero? Presumably it must happen as keyservers
are worried about clashes, so should a key that generates with this be
considered a bad key?
--
iang systemics.com
FP: 1189 4417 F202 5DBD 5DF3 4FCD 3685 FDDE on pgp.com