Hello!
The GNU project is pleased to announce the availability of a
new
stable GnuPG release: Version 2.0.0.
The GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG) is GNU's tool for secure
communication
and data storage. It can be used to encrypt data, create
digital
signatures, help authenticating using Secure Shell and to
provide a
framework for public key cryptography. It includes an
advanced key
management facility and is compliant with the OpenPGP and
S/MIME
standards.
GnuPG-2 has a different architecture than GnuPG-1 (e.g.
1.4.5) in that
it splits up functionality into several modules. However,
both
versions may be installed alongside without any conflict.
In fact,
the gpg version from GnuPG-1 is able to make use of the
gpg-agent as
included in GnuPG-2 and allows for seamless passphrase
caching. The
advantage of GnuPG-1 is its smaller size and the lack of
dependency on
other modules at run and build time. We will keep
maintaining GnuPG-1
versions because they are very useful for small systems and
for server
based applications requiring only OpenPGP support.
GnuPG is distributed under the terms of the GNU General
Public License
(GPL). GnuPG-2 works best on GNU/Linux or *BSD systems.
Other POSIX
compliant systems are also supported but have not yet been
tested very
well.
What's New in GnuPG-2
=====================
* The *gpg-agent* is the central place to maintain private
keys and
to cache passphrases. It is implemented as a daemon to
be started
with a user session.
* *gpgsm* is an implementation of the X.509 and CMS
standards and
provides the cryptographic core to implement the S/MIME
protocol.
The command line interface is very similar to the one of
gpg. This
helps adding S/MIME to application currently providing
OpenPGP
support.
* *scdaemon* is a daemon run by gpg-agent to access
different types
of smart cards using a unified interface.
* *gpg-connect-agent* is a tool to help scripts directly
accessing
services of gpg-agent and scdaemon.
* *gpgconf* is a tool to maintain the configuration files
of all
modules using a well defined API.
* Support for Dirmngr, a separate package to maintain
certificate
revocation lists, do OCSP requests and to run LDAP
queries.
* Support for the Secure Shell Agent protocol. In fact,
gpg-agent
may be used as full replacement of the commonly used
ssh-agent
daemon.
* Smart card support for the Secure Shell.
* Documentation is now done in Texinfo. Thus besides Info,
HTML and
PDF versions may easily be generated.
* Man pages for all tools.
Getting the Software
====================
Please follow the instructions found at http://www.gnupg.org/d
ownload/
or read on:
GnuPG 2.0.0 may be downloaded from one of the GnuPG mirror
sites or
direct from ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/ . The list of
mirrors can be
found at http://www.gnupg.or
g/mirrors.html . Note, that GnuPG is not
available at ftp.gnu.org.
On the mirrors you should find the following files in the
*gnupg*
directory:
gnupg-2.0.0.tar.bz2 (3.8M)
gnupg-2.0.0.tar.bz2.sig
GnuPG source compressed using BZIP2 and OpenPGP
signature.
Please try another mirror if exceptional your mirror is not
yet up to
date. GnuPG-2 requires a couple of libraries to be
installed; see the
README file or the output of the configure run for details.
Checking the Integrity
======================
In order to check that the version of GnuPG which you are
going to
install is an original and unmodified one, you can do it in
one of
the following ways:
* If you already have a trusted version of GnuPG installed,
you
can simply check the supplied signature. For example to
check the
signature of the file gnupg-2.0.0.tar.bz2 you would use
this command:
gpg --verify gnupg-2.0.0.tar.bz2.sig
This checks whether the signature file matches the source
file.
You should see a message indicating that the signature is
good and
made by that signing key. Make sure that you have the
right key,
either by checking the fingerprint of that key with other
sources
or by checking that the key has been signed by a
trustworthy other
key. Note, that you can retrieve the signing key using
the command
finger wk ,at' g10code.com
or using a key server like
gpg --recv-key 1CE0C630
The distribution key 1CE0C630 is signed by the well known
key
5B0358A2. If you get an key expired message, you should
retrieve a
fresh copy as the expiration date might have been
prolonged.
NEVER USE A GNUPG VERSION YOU JUST DOWNLOADED TO CHECK
THE
INTEGRITY OF THE SOURCE - USE AN EXISTING GNUPG
INSTALLATION!
* If you are not able to use an existing version of GnuPG,
you have
to verify the SHA-1 checksum. Assuming you downloaded
the file
gnupg-2.0.0.tar.bz2, you would run the sha1sum command
like this:
sha1sum gnupg-2.0.0.tar.bz2
and check that the output matches this:
c335957368ea88bcb658922e7d3aae7e3ac6896d
gnupg-2.0.0.tar.bz2
Internationalization
====================
GnuPG comes with support for 27 languages. Due to a lot of
new and
changed strings most translations are not entirely complete.
However
the Turkish and German translators have been very fast in
completing
their translations. The Russian one came in just a few
hours too
late. Updates of the other translations are expected for
the next
releases.
Documentation
=============
We are currently working on an installation guide to explain
in more
detail how to configure the new features. As of now the
chapters on
gpg-agent and gpgsm include brief information on how to set
up the
whole thing. Please watch the GnuPG website for updates of
the
documentation. In the meantime you may search the GnuPG
mailing list
archives or ask on the gnupg-users mailing lists for advise
on how to
solve problems. Many of the new features are around for
several years
and thus enough public knowledge is already available.
Support
=======
Improving GnuPG is costly, but you can help! We are looking
for
organizations that find GnuPG useful and wish to contribute
back. You
can contribute by reporting bugs, improve the software, or
by donating
money.
Commercial support contracts for GnuPG are available, and
they help
finance continued maintenance. g10 Code GmbH, a Duesseldorf
based
company owned and headed by GnuPG's principal author, is
currently
funding GnuPG development. We are always looking for
interesting
development projects.
A service directory is available at:
http://www.gnupg.or
g/service.html
Thanks
======
We have to thank all the people who helped with this
release, be it
testing, coding, translating, suggesting, auditing,
administering the
servers, spreading the word or answering questions on the
mailing
lists.
Happy Hacking,
The GnuPG Team (David, Werner and all other contributors)
--
Werner Koch <wk gnupg.org>
The GnuPG Experts http://g10code.com
Join the Fellowship and protect your Freedom! http://www.fsfe.org
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