Re: GPGME

[Ted Zlatanov]

On Wed, 29 Jun 2011 22:15:02 +0900 Daiki Ueno <address@hidden> wrote: 

DU> Ted Zlatanov <address@hidden> writes:
DU> I remember that the problem of encrypt.el was that the data format is
DU> not interoperable and the algorithm used is not interchangeable though
DU> the API might be neutral.
>> 
>> Is that a problem, if the intent is to provide an Emacs facility?

DU> The benefit using the standard GPG format is that it embeds what
DU> algorithm is used in data.

I don't see why it's not better to implement a storage format that works
well with ELisp.  For instance the format could be a simple plist:

(:cipher xyz :cipher-version 1.2 :data BASE64DATA :other-cipher-parameter abc 
:checksum SUM)

The standard OpenPGP format described in the 90-page RFC is extremely
flexible and powerful (it's packet based and has more options than GNU
ls); I think it would be a lot of work to implement it even for just a
few symmetric ciphers.  OTOH the plist format above can be done in a few
hours and has no external dependencies.  It would only be usable by
Emacs, but I honestly don't see the harm in that.

Ted