Re: encrypt.el in No Gnus 0.7

[Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>]

    In my experience, giving users creative freedom is always worth it.

The question is whether to give users certain facilities.

    Emacs is built around the idea of letting users do what they want, isn't
    it?

In Emacs, users can change any Lisp code at run time.  This general
facility, which lets users do absolutely whatever they want, means we
do not need to provide specific customization features for everything
somebody would like to change.  We only provide specific customization
features where they are substantially useful.

Providing every hook that someone might imaginably want is an explicit
non-goal of Emacs development.  (And always has been.)

    RS> Is there any sign that users use it?

    The package was in Gnus, and I don't have bug reports.  I have not
    advertised the library so far, except for brief notes to Gnus users.  So
    I don't have a sample big enough to answer your question.

In other words, there is no indication that users actually use this
particular customization facility.

You could post a request where Gnus users will see it, asking them to
let you know if they have used it.

    I found a few GPL ones (just a sample list) with a simple web search:

    MCrypt http://mcrypt.sourceforge.net/
    AxCrypt http://www.axantum.com/AxCrypt/
    ScramDisk 4 Linux http://sourceforge.net/projects/sd4l/
    Several steganography tools (hide data inside an image, for example)

We are miscommunicating.  I think you mean that in principle they
could be useful for encryption.  Maybe they are.  But the question is
whether this particular feature is useful, not whether other useful
encryption programs exist.

    - use BBDB to store shared keys or public keys

    - get shared or public keys from an IMAP server (stored in a message)

    - on a CVS/SVN/etc. checkin/checkout, use another file in the repository
      to modify the shared key or as the shared key

I think the right place to implement any of these features is elsewhere.

    - pure Lisp ciphers for quick experimentation and sharing

That seems unimportant to me.

    In any case, the user wouldn't select a cipher each time.  The
    encrypt-find-model function will determine the encryption model,
    currently from an alist.  The user chooses, for example, that
    ~/.authinfo is encrypted with GnuPG, but ~/emacs/*.el will use cipher X
    because it's more appropriate.  Perhaps cipher X is the XOR cipher
    because the user is OK with simple obfuscation.

It does not seem very useful.

The main use of simple obfuscation ciphers is in sending mail, and for
that purpose, you cannot tell from a file name (there's none) or a
buffer name (it's the same as always) whether to do it.