Re: PGP
Hi,
On Tuesday, 29 July 2008, 21:20 (UTC-0700), Ravi Uday wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Maybe I am too lazy to google this stuff
Apparently.
> but what are PGP messages.. I
> mean I see emails with
>
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
> ..
> ..
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
>
> etc so what does it mean ? Why does mutt support PGP ?
The message was cryptographically signed. If you have the public key
corresponding to the private key it was signed with (you can get this
public key e.g. from a public key server), mutt can invoke a
cryptographic program on your system (e.g. GnuPG) to verify that the
signature was made with the private key corresponding to the public
key you have.
Whether the real-life identity of the person who claims to have sent
the e-mail in fact is the only one having access to that private key
is something that you would need to verify independently, and you
should really google for that (e.g. "web of trust").
> Do we need anything to have it setup in our mutt..
Yes.
> Or do we need PGP at all ??
That depends on what you mean by "need".
m.