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author | Richard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.org> |
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date | Sat, 29 Apr 2006 18:52:23 +0000 |
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\input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*- @setfilename ../info/pgg @set VERSION 0.1 @copying This file describes PGG, an Emacs interface to various PGP implementations. Copyright @copyright{} 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Copyright @copyright{} 2001 Daiki Ueno. @quotation Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''. @end quotation @end copying @dircategory Emacs @direntry * PGG: (pgg). Emacs interface to various PGP implementations. @end direntry @settitle PGG @value{VERSION} @titlepage @title PGG @author by Daiki Ueno @page @vskip 0pt plus 1filll @insertcopying @end titlepage @page @node Top @top PGG This manual describes PGG. PGG is an interface library between Emacs and various tools for secure communication. PGG also provides a simple user interface to encrypt, decrypt, sign, and verify MIME messages. @menu * Overview:: What PGG is. * Prerequisites:: Complicated stuff you may have to do. * How to use:: Getting started quickly. * Architecture:: * Parsing OpenPGP packets:: * Function Index:: * Variable Index:: @end menu @node Overview @chapter Overview PGG is an interface library between Emacs and various tools for secure communication. Even though Mailcrypt has similar feature, it does not deal with detached PGP messages, normally used in PGP/MIME infrastructure. This was the main reason why I wrote the new library. PGP/MIME is an application of MIME Object Security Services (RFC1848). The standard is documented in RFC2015. @node Prerequisites @chapter Prerequisites PGG requires at least one implementation of privacy guard system. This document assumes that you have already obtained and installed them and that you are familiar with its basic functions. By default, PGG uses GnuPG, but Pretty Good Privacy version 2 or version 5 are also supported. If you are new to such a system, I recommend that you should look over the GNU Privacy Handbook (GPH) which is available at @uref{http://www.gnupg.org/gph/}. @node How to use @chapter How to use The toplevel interface of this library is quite simple, and only intended to use with public-key cryptographic operation. To use PGG, evaluate following expression at the beginning of your application program. @lisp (require 'pgg) @end lisp If you want to check existence of pgg.el at runtime, instead you can list autoload setting for desired functions as follows. @lisp (autoload 'pgg-encrypt-region "pgg" "Encrypt the current region." t) (autoload 'pgg-encrypt-symmetric-region "pgg" "Encrypt the current region with symmetric algorithm." t) (autoload 'pgg-decrypt-region "pgg" "Decrypt the current region." t) (autoload 'pgg-sign-region "pgg" "Sign the current region." t) (autoload 'pgg-verify-region "pgg" "Verify the current region." t) (autoload 'pgg-insert-key "pgg" "Insert the ASCII armored public key." t) (autoload 'pgg-snarf-keys-region "pgg" "Import public keys in the current region." t) @end lisp @menu * User Commands:: * Selecting an implementation:: * Caching passphrase:: * Default user identity:: @end menu @node User Commands @section User Commands At this time you can use some cryptographic commands. The behavior of these commands relies on a fashion of invocation because they are also intended to be used as library functions. In case you don't have the signer's public key, for example, the function @code{pgg-verify-region} fails immediately, but if the function had been called interactively, it would ask you to retrieve the signer's public key from the server. @deffn Command pgg-encrypt-region start end recipients &optional sign passphrase Encrypt the current region between @var{start} and @var{end} for @var{recipients}. When the function were called interactively, you would be asked about the recipients. If encryption is successful, it replaces the current region contents (in the accessible portion) with the resulting data. If optional argument @var{sign} is non-@code{nil}, the function is request to do a combined sign and encrypt. This currently is confirmed to work with GnuPG, but might not work with PGP or PGP5. If optional @var{passphrase} is @code{nil}, the passphrase will be obtained from the passphrase cache or user. @end deffn @deffn Command pgg-encrypt-symmetric-region &optional start end passphrase Encrypt the current region between @var{start} and @var{end} using a symmetric cipher. After invocation you are asked for a passphrase. If optional @var{passphrase} is @code{nil}, the passphrase will be obtained from the passphrase cache or user. symmetric-cipher encryption is currently only implemented for GnuPG. @end deffn @deffn Command pgg-decrypt-region start end &optional passphrase Decrypt the current region between @var{start} and @var{end}. If decryption is successful, it replaces the current region contents (in the accessible portion) with the resulting data. If optional @var{passphrase} is @code{nil}, the passphrase will be obtained from the passphrase cache or user. @end deffn @deffn Command pgg-sign-region start end &optional cleartext passphrase Make the signature from text between @var{start} and @var{end}. If the optional third argument @var{cleartext} is non-@code{nil}, or the function is called interactively, it does not create a detached signature. In such a case, it replaces the current region contents (in the accessible portion) with the resulting data. If optional @var{passphrase} is @code{nil}, the passphrase will be obtained from the passphrase cache or user. @end deffn @deffn Command pgg-verify-region start end &optional signature fetch Verify the current region between @var{start} and @var{end}. If the optional third argument @var{signature} is non-@code{nil}, it is treated as the detached signature file of the current region. If the optional 4th argument @var{fetch} is non-@code{nil}, or the function is called interactively, we attempt to fetch the signer's public key from the key server. @end deffn @deffn Command pgg-insert-key Retrieve the user's public key and insert it as ASCII-armored format. @end deffn @deffn Command pgg-snarf-keys-region start end Collect public keys in the current region between @var{start} and @var{end}, and add them into the user's keyring. @end deffn @node Selecting an implementation @section Selecting an implementation Since PGP has a long history and there are a number of PGP implementations available today, the function which each one has differs considerably. For example, if you are using GnuPG, you know you can select cipher algorithm from 3DES, CAST5, BLOWFISH, and so on, but on the other hand the version 2 of PGP only supports IDEA. Which implementation is used is controlled by the @code{pgg-scheme} variable. If it is @code{nil} (the default), the value of the @code{pgg-default-scheme} variable will be used instead. @defvar pgg-scheme Force specify the scheme of PGP implementation. The value can be set to @code{gpg}, @code{pgp}, and @code{pgp5}. The default is @code{nil}. @end defvar @defvar pgg-default-scheme The default scheme of PGP implementation. The value should be one of @code{gpg}, @code{pgp}, and @code{pgp5}. The default is @code{gpg}. @end defvar @node Caching passphrase @section Caching passphrase PGG provides a simple passphrase caching mechanism. If you want to arrange the interaction, set the variable @code{pgg-read-passphrase}. @defvar pgg-cache-passphrase If non-@code{nil}, store passphrases. The default value of this variable is @code{t}. If you are worried about security issues, however, you could stop the caching of passphrases by setting this variable to @code{nil}. @end defvar @defvar pgg-passphrase-cache-expiry Elapsed time for expiration in seconds. @end defvar @defvar pgg-gpg-use-agent When using GnuPG (gpg) as PGP scheme you can use @code{gpg-agent} for caching@footnote{Actually @code{gpg-agent} does not cache passphrases but private keys. On the other hand, from a users point of view this technical difference isn't visible.}. If non-@code{nil} try to use a running @code{gpg-agent}. It defaults to @code{nil}. @end defvar @node Default user identity @section Default user identity The PGP implementation is usually able to select the proper key to use for signing and decryption, but if you have more than one key, you may need to specify the key id to use. @defvar pgg-default-user-id User ID of your default identity. It defaults to the value returned by @samp{(user-login-name)}. You can customize this variable. @end defvar @defvar pgg-gpg-user-id User ID of the GnuPG default identity. It defaults to @samp{nil}. This overrides @samp{pgg-default-user-id}. You can customize this variable. @end defvar @defvar pgg-pgp-user-id User ID of the PGP 2.x/6.x default identity. It defaults to @samp{nil}. This overrides @samp{pgg-default-user-id}. You can customize this variable. @end defvar @defvar pgg-pgp5-user-id User ID of the PGP 5.x default identity. It defaults to @samp{nil}. This overrides @samp{pgg-default-user-id}. You can customize this variable. @end defvar @node Architecture @chapter Architecture PGG introduces the notion of a "scheme of PGP implementation" (used interchangeably with "scheme" in this document). This term refers to a singleton object wrapped with the luna object system. Since PGG was designed for accessing and developing PGP functionality, the architecture had to be designed not just for interoperability but also for extensiblity. In this chapter we explore the architecture while finding out how to write the PGG backend. @menu * Initializing:: * Backend methods:: * Getting output:: @end menu @node Initializing @section Initializing A scheme must be initialized before it is used. It had better guarantee to keep only one instance of a scheme. The following code is snipped out of @file{pgg-gpg.el}. Once an instance of @code{pgg-gpg} scheme is initialized, it's stored to the variable @code{pgg-scheme-gpg-instance} and will be reused from now on. @lisp (defvar pgg-scheme-gpg-instance nil) (defun pgg-make-scheme-gpg () (or pgg-scheme-gpg-instance (setq pgg-scheme-gpg-instance (luna-make-entity 'pgg-scheme-gpg)))) @end lisp The name of the function must follow the regulation---@code{pgg-make-scheme-} follows the backend name. @node Backend methods @section Backend methods In each backend, these methods must be present. The output of these methods is stored in special buffers (@ref{Getting output}), so that these methods must tell the status of the execution. @deffn Method pgg-scheme-lookup-key scheme string &optional type Return keys associated with @var{string}. If the optional third argument @var{type} is non-@code{nil}, it searches from the secret keyrings. @end deffn @deffn Method pgg-scheme-encrypt-region scheme start end recipients &optional sign passphrase Encrypt the current region between @var{start} and @var{end} for @var{recipients}. If @var{sign} is non-@code{nil}, do a combined sign and encrypt. If encryption is successful, it returns @code{t}, otherwise @code{nil}. @end deffn @deffn Method pgg-scheme-encrypt-symmetric-region scheme start end &optional passphrase Encrypt the current region between @var{start} and @var{end} using a symmetric cipher and a passphrases. If encryption is successful, it returns @code{t}, otherwise @code{nil}. This function is currently only implemented for GnuPG. @end deffn @deffn Method pgg-scheme-decrypt-region scheme start end &optional passphrase Decrypt the current region between @var{start} and @var{end}. If decryption is successful, it returns @code{t}, otherwise @code{nil}. @end deffn @deffn Method pgg-scheme-sign-region scheme start end &optional cleartext passphrase Make the signature from text between @var{start} and @var{end}. If the optional third argument @var{cleartext} is non-@code{nil}, it does not create a detached signature. If signing is successful, it returns @code{t}, otherwise @code{nil}. @end deffn @deffn Method pgg-scheme-verify-region scheme start end &optional signature Verify the current region between @var{start} and @var{end}. If the optional third argument @var{signature} is non-@code{nil}, it is treated as the detached signature of the current region. If the signature is successfully verified, it returns @code{t}, otherwise @code{nil}. @end deffn @deffn Method pgg-scheme-insert-key scheme Retrieve the user's public key and insert it as ASCII-armored format. On success, it returns @code{t}, otherwise @code{nil}. @end deffn @deffn Method pgg-scheme-snarf-keys-region scheme start end Collect public keys in the current region between @var{start} and @var{end}, and add them into the user's keyring. On success, it returns @code{t}, otherwise @code{nil}. @end deffn @node Getting output @section Getting output The output of the backend methods (@ref{Backend methods}) is stored in special buffers, so that these methods must tell the status of the execution. @defvar pgg-errors-buffer The standard error output of the execution of the PGP command is stored here. @end defvar @defvar pgg-output-buffer The standard output of the execution of the PGP command is stored here. @end defvar @defvar pgg-status-buffer The rest of status information of the execution of the PGP command is stored here. @end defvar @node Parsing OpenPGP packets @chapter Parsing OpenPGP packets The format of OpenPGP messages is maintained in order to publish all necessary information needed to develop interoperable applications. The standard is documented in RFC 2440. PGG has its own parser for the OpenPGP packets. @defun pgg-parse-armor string List the sequence of packets in @var{string}. @end defun @defun pgg-parse-armor-region start end List the sequence of packets in the current region between @var{start} and @var{end}. @end defun @defvar pgg-ignore-packet-checksum If non-@code{nil}, don't check the checksum of the packets. @end defvar @node Function Index @chapter Function Index @printindex fn @node Variable Index @chapter Variable Index @printindex vr @summarycontents @contents @bye @c End: @ignore arch-tag: 0c205838-34b9-41a5-b9d7-49ae57ccac85 @end ignore