Re: [Exim] OpenPGP signatures on Exim releases

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Author: Michael Scott Shappe
Date:  
To: exim-users
Subject: Re: [Exim] OpenPGP signatures on Exim releases
Quoting Philip Hazel <ph10@???>:

> I'm confused. What is the difference between PGP and GPG? This thread is
> using both of them...


Brand names.

PGP was at one time solely the name of Phil Zimmerman's Pretty Good Privacy
public-key encryption program. It has since come to be misused (like Kleenex
(tm)) to cover any program that interoperates (fully or under some
conditions) with a particular protocol, often referred to as OpenPGP.

PGP was freeware once; then Mr Zimmerman tried to take it commercial, and
his company, PGP Inc, got bought by NAI. Hence the advent of GPG
(also 'GnuPG' to avoid dyslexic confusion) -- the GNU Privacy Guard -- a
mostly compatible, open source replacement. GnuPG also originated overseas,
thus getting around the US export restrictions that tangled up PGP (and Mr
Zimmerman) for years.

GnuPG is being regularly maintained and has a definite future; PGP is in
shakier straits, as I hear it, as NAI has given up trying to make money off
of it and has allowed it to spin off again.

I personally recommend the use of GnuPG.

If you decide you want to start signing releases, give me a shout after
you're done getting the book out the door, and I can give you the Reader's
Digest walkthrough :-)

--
Michael Scott Shappe <mikey@???>
Addicting the Unsuspecting to the Internet since 1987
Visit Radio Free Tomorrow at <http://www.radiofreetomorrow.org/>

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