pgg-encrypt and confirming passphrase

pgg-encrypt and confirming passphrase

[Peter Rayner]

I recently managed to mistype my passphrase for pgg-encrypt and hence
seem to have locked away some data.  I would like to avoid this in
future by demanding a confirmation of a passphrase in the style of the
unix passwd command.  This doesn't seem to be an option.  Before I go
ahead and advise the function to provide this, I would like to confirm
that I'm not reinventing the wheel.  So is this already possible?
Please contact me off list since I don't always keep up 
regards
Peter


-- 
Peter Rayner: LSCE/IPSL, Laboratoire CEA-CNRS-UVSQ
address: Bat. 701 LSCE - CEA de Saclay
Orme des Merisiers, 91191 Gif/Yvette
work: +33  (1) 69 08 88 11;	mobile: +33 (6) 75 46 56 52;	 fax: +33 (1) 69 08 77 16
mail-to: peter.rayner@lsce.ipsl.fr
web: http://www-lsce.cea.fr/Pisp/52/peter.rayner.html

pgg-encrypt and confirming passphrase

[Peter Rayner]

With apologies, I note I made an error in my previous message.  The
function in question is actually
pgg-encrypt-symmetric-region, I've changed the text below to reflect
this.  So, should
pgg-encrypt-symmetric-region ask for a confirmation of a passphrase?
Perhaps I should explain what I want to do:
between accounts on about 20 machines, not to mention subscriptions of
various sorts, I've now got too many passwords for my ageing brain.
I'd like a central repository of these but I naturally want it
encrypted.  I need to edit it every so often of course as things get
added or changed.  I keep many tips and tricks plus configuration
notes in a particular file.  My idea was to create a section in that
file then use pgg-encrypt-symmetric-region.
People must do something very like this all the time ... any
suggestions?
thanks in advance and please copy me as well as replying to the list
since I might miss something in the traffic.
  
Peter Rayner writes:
>I recently managed to mistype my passphrase for pgg-encrypt-symmetric-region and hence
>seem to have locked away some data.  I would like to avoid this in
>future by demanding a confirmation of a passphrase in the style of the
>unix passwd command.  This doesn't seem to be an option.  Before I go
>ahead and advise the function to provide this, I would like to confirm
>that I'm not reinventing the wheel.  So is this already possible?
>Please contact me off list since I don't always keep up 
>regards
>Peter
>
>
>-- 
>Peter Rayner: LSCE/IPSL, Laboratoire CEA-CNRS-UVSQ
>address: Bat. 701 LSCE - CEA de Saclay
>Orme des Merisiers, 91191 Gif/Yvette
>work: +33  (1) 69 08 88 11;	mobile: +33 (6) 75 46 56 52;	 fax: +33 (1) 69 08 77 16
>mail-to: peter.rayner@lsce.ipsl.fr
>web: http://www-lsce.cea.fr/Pisp/52/peter.rayner.html

-- 
Peter Rayner: LSCE/IPSL, Laboratoire CEA-CNRS-UVSQ
address: Bat. 701 LSCE - CEA de Saclay
Orme des Merisiers, 91191 Gif/Yvette
work: +33  (1) 69 08 88 11;	mobile: +33 (6) 75 46 56 52;	 fax: +33 (1) 69 08 77 16
mail-to: peter.rayner@lsce.ipsl.fr
web: http://www-lsce.cea.fr/Pisp/52/peter.rayner.html

Re: pgg-encrypt and confirming passphrase

[Dmitri Minaev]

On Sat, May 9, 2009 at 6:00 PM, Peter Rayner <peter.rayner@lsce.ipsl.fr> wrote:
>  So, should
> pgg-encrypt-symmetric-region ask for a confirmation of a passphrase?

Sorry for a probably irrelevant answer, but EasyPG asks for
confirmation of the symmetric password. It might be a better choice
than PGG


-- 
With best regards,
Dmitri Minaev

Russian history blog: http://minaev.blogspot.com

Re: pgg-encrypt and confirming passphrase

[Richard Riley]

Dmitri Minaev <minaev@gmail.com> writes:

> On Sat, May 9, 2009 at 6:00 PM, Peter Rayner <peter.rayner@lsce.ipsl.fr> wrote:
>>  So, should
>> pgg-encrypt-symmetric-region ask for a confirmation of a passphrase?
>
> Sorry for a probably irrelevant answer, but EasyPG asks for
> confirmation of the symmetric password. It might be a better choice
> than PGG

yes, in emacs 23 its now default I think ... but I had pgg before and it
prompted fine.

emacs 23 : simply 

(require 'epa)

And then the only customisation I have is

(setq  epa-file-cache-passphrase-for-symmetric-encryption t)

Unfortunately, in Emacs 23, it's an area with not so good documentation
and the manuals are/were wrong with regard to the default settings.

Just for the record, it's not necessarily clear from the wiki or
accompanying docs how to use this stuff in gnus. After some digging and
emails this is how I now  have it working with gnus posting styles:

(setq gnus-posting-styles `((".*"
			    (name "rgr")
			    (from "rgr <rileyrgdev@gmail.com>")
			    (eval(setq gnushush-user-agent-header (quote real)))
			    (signature-file "~/.emacs.d/.sigs/rgr.sig")
			    (eval (setq mml2015-signers '("b39*****"))))))

The mml2015-signers (!) being the equivalent of the pgg-user-id or whatever
it was before.

For the symmetric encryption password, the best way to stop a GUI prompt
for the pwd and to prompt in the emacs minibuffer is

(setenv "GPG_AGENT_INFO" nil)

I mention all this in case anyone else is digging around - the whole
pgp/gpg/epa/epg/mml stuff left me with rather a headache!

HTH

regards

r.

Re: pgg-encrypt and confirming passphrase

[Dmitri Minaev]

On Sun, May 10, 2009 at 1:55 AM, Richard Riley
<rileyrgdev@googlemail.com> wrote:
> emacs 23 : simply
>
> (require 'epa)
>
> And then the only customisation I have is
>
> (setq  epa-file-cache-passphrase-for-symmetric-encryption t)

I also set epa-file-encrypt-to to "" (empty string) to stop EasyPG
from asking for the recipient.

> For the symmetric encryption password, the best way to stop a GUI prompt
> for the pwd and to prompt in the emacs minibuffer is
>
> (setenv "GPG_AGENT_INFO" nil)

I've been searching for this line for the last three days :). Thanks!

-- 
With best regards,
Dmitri Minaev

Russian history blog: http://minaev.blogspot.com

Re: pgg-encrypt and confirming passphrase

[Dmitri Minaev]

On Sat, May 9, 2009 at 6:00 PM, Peter Rayner <peter.rayner@lsce.ipsl.fr> wrote:
>  My idea was to create a section in that
> file then use pgg-encrypt-symmetric-region.

Some time ago there was a discussion in the org-mode mailing list:

http://www.mail-archive.com/emacs-orgmode@gnu.org/msg02842.html

-- 
With best regards,
Dmitri Minaev

Russian history blog: http://minaev.blogspot.com