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List:       kmail-devel
Subject:    Re: Some suggestions and some problems.
From:       Don Sanders <don () sanders ! org>
Date:       2000-04-27 4:44:58
[Download RAW message or body]

On Thu, 27 Apr 2000, neter@nym.xg.nu wrote:
> I would like to make some suggestions for kmail as well as note some problems.
> 
> To start I run the 1.0.29-1 (Last "STABLE" release) 
> I have been trying to get PGP to work. I am running 
> pgp 2.6.3in. It seems to work (to some extent) with pgp 5.0 although 
> there are some problems. 
> 
> 1) after spell checking the message it core dumps.

Right. This is fixed in the HEAD branch (KMail 1.1.x) but now after spell
checking the message become read only. Anyway this is a bug in the libs
hopefully it will be fixed.

> 2) only one chance to enter a pgp password. (more on this later)

Try the HEAD branch maybe this is fixed, I remember it being fixed.

> 3) if PGP password is wrong kmail hangs on send..

Bummer, again try the HEAD branch.

> 4) some mail vanishes from mail box.

Sorry, you mean you are losing mail or something. This should be fixed with
1.0.29.1. A few people have confirmed that this version did indeed fix that
problem.

> 5) filters need to check to see if it is a uuencoded or encrypted message
>    before applying filter rules to body of message.

Hmm.

> 6) there needs to be a way to turn off the pop up meter when it downloads new 
>    messages. (has caused problems when mail is up and i am trying to login
>    to a system or enter a password)

Progress is shown in the status bar in the HEAD branch. Try out the
experimental pop account that does the downloading of mail in the background.

> 7) does not seem to catch pgp ID and encrypt outgoing mail.
> 
> Some additions i would like to see. (Note: I use encryption a little more
>  than most.)
> 
> 1) nym account setup support.
> 2) nym account receive support.
> 3) cypherpunk remailer support.
> 4) (optional) mixmaster remailer support.
> 5) good PGP encryption/decryption support with multi pal secrets passwords 
>    and conventional encryption/decryption passwords.
> 6) when responding allow to select From: e-mail address, needs to know how to 
>    send nym style mail, and allow selecting of pgp keys to sign with.

We now have support for multiple identities in the HEAD branch, but still only
one PGP identity.

> 7) PGP key management.
> 
> Ok ill start with the problems.
> 
> #1 kinda explains itself..
> #2,3 if i miss key my pgp password it accepts it and then hangs when i try to
>      send a message out. some times it requires a kill -9 to get it to let go
>      and exit. I have to exit the software and reload to correct the password.
> #4 I have not been able to repeat this. It seems to be a random thing. I will
>    see 150 messages downloading and then only find 120 in the mail box to read.
>    I have been checking on the server before down load to see what is missed 
>    but do not seem to see a pattern to it. They do not show up in the trash
>    bin ether.

Oh, users would complain horribly if the situation was that bad. There was a
bug that could result in mail be lost (kinda of Y2K thing) but that should be
fixed in 1.0.291.

> #5 I have some filters to check the message body for such things as "Adults
>    Only", "One time mailing", "XXX" and "Remove"+"in the subject" (Dumps most
>    spam) and it seems to catch pgp messages as well as uuencoded messages
>    from time to time. I personally think that if it sees a "Begin 664 ???"
>    it should skip to the "end" and continue the filter as well as doing the 
>    same for "----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----" and "-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----"
>    This way you are not applying the filter to encrypted/encoded messages.

Hmm.

> #6 explains it self.
> #7 I have not been able to get it to encrypt an out going message. (This could
>    be on my end and I am open to suggestions.)

Well I got it to work ok :-)

I used the Gnu Privacy Guard (HEAD branch supports this), and just followed the
instructions for creating a private key. When I did this I was asked to
define a name or something and this is what I used as the PGP User Identity in
the settings dialog.

Sorry I know those are pretty lame instructions.


> The Requested additions.. ;)
> 
> #1,2 Nym's are the modern day Equivalent  to anon.penet.fi.. For those of you 
>      who have not been on the net that long it is a bi-directional anonymous
>      e-mail account that uses pgp encryption to provide a secure email address.
>      For more information on nym's and well as how they work look at 
>      http://anon.xg.nu 

Sounds like great fun for all the family. That website was not responding when
i tried it.

 >      There is currently only one (unix/linux) piece of software to
automate >      creation, deletion, and usage of nym accounts. It is called
premail >      and is written in perl. Suposed to work with pine and it does
not work with >      the new nym style. I have been doing manual creations of
accounts. As >      well as manual decryption of email for some time now and
would like to  >      see some software to make it a little easier.. PLEASE...

Damn I hate that bug. I'm using 1.0.29.1 and that paragraph got all messed up,
this is fixed in the HEAD branch.

You know what I think you're better off learning perl and fixing the premail
script. It's just to much to ask me to learn about nym and write a software to
automate the process, we have more pressing features to implement (IMAP,
Improved address book, Search dialog).

Implementing nym support does have a certain amount of novelty value attached
to it. Feel free to spend patches to the list, even anonymous ones.

;) > #3,4 Number 3 would not be to hard to do. It is a matter of message format
>      and encryption with the public key of the server. There are already 
>      predefined formats for server information. Please check out 
>      http://anon.xg.nu/list/remailer-list.html for cypherpunk data. 
>      mixmaster would be harder to do as it does not use pgp to crypt its 
>      messages. There are links on anon.xg.nu to mixmaster software and code
> #5   To support the above you would need good PGP support. With such things as
>      detecting incoming email from remailers and trying your keys against 
>      the message until it gets a decode. (Please look at the way premail 
>      handles the decoding of messages. Also note that with good pgp support
>      the users pgp passwords could be stored in a file that was pgp'd and 
>      the user could be asked to provide a password as start up to decrypt the
>      password's file. Allowing better security for one's e-mail.
> #6   Allow the user to select the From: line e-mail address. Check it against
>      the configuration and change the headers as needed. If it is from 
>      joe@foo.bar change the .sig, reply-to, etc to match that config.

This has been done in the HEAD branch. (It was completed less than 24 hrs ago).

> If an 
>      account is selected that is labeled as a nym format the message for nym
>      relay. Again check the data at http://anon.xg.nu for nym usage. Allow
>      the user to select the pgp key in the configuration to sign messages that
>      come from the account.
> #7   With all of this pgp key management is a must.. ;) 
> 
> Sorry about it being so long. These are just a few things that i would like to
> see added. I don't know if anyone is up to it I really wish i could program in C
> or C++ to help.. Let me know if there is anything the team needs though. I may
> just have a spare or two.. ;)

Try the HEAD branch, report bugs in the PGP stuff. Make your bug reports high
quality ones by including

A description of your environment KMail version PGP type version, system info.
A description of the problem.
A descrption of how to repeat the probelm
Provide a fix for the problem if one is known.

BFN,
Don.

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