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Re: revised allout.el outliner, with topic encryption - seeking testers


From: Ken Manheimer
Subject: Re: revised allout.el outliner, with topic encryption - seeking testers
Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 20:47:49 -0400

The attachments didn't make it through.  I'm going to try sending them
as attachments one more time, and if that doesn't work i'll send them
separately, inline.  (thanks, eric, for alerting me to their absence!)

Ken
address@hidden

On 8/17/05, Ken Manheimer <address@hidden> wrote:
> i've developed some substantial features and fixes for my emacs
> outliner, allout, and would like to get some testing by others before
> asking for application of the changes to the distributed version.  the
> primary new feature is topic encryption/decryption, with lots of
> niceties to help negotiate the hazards of encryption.
> 
> about allout - unlike the basic emacs outliner, which provides only
> outline navigation, allout provides outline-structured editing
> features - topic creation, promotion, demotion, cut and paste across
> topic depths, auto-adjusted paragraph flow indent to the topic header,
> etc.  it also provides incremental search with dynamic exposure and
> re-concealment of concealed text, configurable per-file outline
> initial exposure settings, customizable bullet format for, eg,
> program-language specific outlining (can you say code folding?), and
> much more.
> 
> i use allout daily for many things, particularly my daily activity and
> notes logs.  i recently added topic (gpg) encryption to make it safe
> to securely include, eg, details about password changes, financial
> transactions, and other confidential details inline with my activity
> notes.
> 
> both symmetric and public key-pair gpg modes are supported.  symmetric
> is the default encryption mode (and exercised a lot more, so far).
> the appropriate decryption mode is inferred automatically.
> 
> optional auto-encryption of pending topics on file save (and autosave)
> helps avoid accidentally exposing sensitive information on the file
> system.
> 
> other features significantly ease everyday use of encryption.  some
> help prevent disastrous mistakes like: inadvertently encrypting an
> entry with a mistyped key, unintentionally using different symmetric
> keys within a single file (using a key verification scheme - redundant
> key entry doesn't help avoid the latter), or forgetting which
> symmetric key you used in which file (with user-supplied key hints).
> it also uses mailcrypt's key caching mechanism, which automatically
> reuses the last provided key until it's unused for some set period of
> time (default 1 minute), making it much more convenient to navigate
> numerous encrypted entries, or frequent saving during editing of
> encrypted entries.
> 
> Some requirements to use the encryption features:
> 
>   - they depend on both crypt++ and mailcrypt, and specifically on using
>     them in gpg (rather than pgp or pgp5) mode.  non-encryption allout
>     features will work without them, but the encryption features won't.
> 
>   - you must configure gpg to operate in "armored" mode.  eg, include the
>     word "armor" in your ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf file.  topic encryption will fail 
> if
>     you try to encrypt anything without armoring.
> 
>   - allout won't encrypt top-level (level 1) topics.  demote them to level 2
>     or more, even if they're (it's) the sole topic in a file.
> 
> i'm attaching the new version of allout.el and an omnibus ChangeLog,
> including details about the encryption features and some bug fixes and
> smaller new features.
> 
> feel free to email me directly with feedback.  i'm going to be heading
> out of town and will be out of touch for a few weeks, starting this
> weekend (aug 20/21), but will be happy to go over feedback before i go
> and when i return.
> 
> and always, thanks to everyone who helps make emacs the great thing it is.
> 
> ken manheimer
> address@hidden
>

Attachment: allout.el
Description: Binary data

Attachment: ChangeLog
Description: Binary data


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