[tex-live] GPG message using tlpretest on OSX [was: Re: tex-live Digest, Vol 159, Issue 74]

Juergen Fenn jfenn at gmx.net
Mon Apr 18 13:46:32 CEST 2016


Am 18.04.2016 um 12:00 schrieb tex-live-request at tug.org:

> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2016 10:18:01 +0200
> From: Angelo Graziosi <angelo.graziosi at alice.it>
> To: Norbert Preining <preining at logic.at>
> Cc: <tex-live at tug.org>
> Subject: Re: [tex-live] GPG message using tlpretest on OSX
> Message-ID: <57149839.9050904 at alice.it>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"; format=flowed
> 
> 
> 
> Il 18/04/2016 03:49, Norbert Preining ha scritto:
>> 
>> Probably you have gpg on Linux, and see a different message, namely
>> 	cryptographic signature of ..... verified
> 
> Shouldn't TL comes with that gpg program for OS on which it is installed?
> 
> After all, it already has wget, xz etc. for (almost) every platform on 
> which TL is installed.. or not?

Just an aside on this debate: 

When I had to set up an all new OS X Mavericks system in 2014, I installed gpg from MacPorts, as I used to on 10.4--10.6.8. Shortly after that, the enigmail project announced they would drop support for gpg and replace it with gpg2. So I installed gpg2, only to find that enigmail on the Mac is incompatible with enigmail on Windows. I could only communicate with other Mac users. I remember longish threads on both the enigmail, and a gpg list at the time about those problems, which finally stem from Werner Koch's idea to have a demon running in the background which does not work as it should on platforms other than Linux. 

I still have gpg installed on my machine, but I stopped using it actively after that test. And I don't think it's a good idea to depend on a user-installed gpg for TeX Live because there are issues that depend on the packaging system you select and the flavour of OS X, etc. you are running. Everything else the Linux developers are keen to bring into the game is shipped with TeX Live on other platforms, including a complete Perl installation, etc. I think, too, this should be a part of the installation, or you should please think about other ways to verify the integrity of packages. Also, there is so much that has to be changed in TL this time around (luatex, xetex, the preference pane in OS X...), so you might like to think about postponing the crypto features until next year. Do we really need this? My 2 ct.

Best regards,
Jürgen.


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