fred avolio's musings

I’ve been a fairly happy PGP Desktop User. I used it on Windows and when I moved to a Mac. Even though few of my correspondents use it (as I mention in this earlier blog) I like to have the option. And, I do have some PGP-encrypted e-mail that I keep encrypted. Before Leopard, PGP Desktop came with a “Mail Bundle” for Mac. It’s an extension that adds “decrypt/verify” and “encrypt/sign” buttons to the Mail windows (where appropriate). PGP Corporation prefers users to use the proxy, an application running in the backgroud and automatically decrypting (it is secure; it asks for your passphrase) and encrypting if it can. I wanted more control over what I send encrypted. (Just because my friend Davecan read PGP-encrypted e-mail, does not mean I always want to encrypt email to him. A topic for another blog, perhaps.)

The Mail Bundle in Leopard broke this.

I found a fix at the site of someone who is really made at PGP and thinks PGP Sucks. (I don’t think it does. I think it needs a small sub-group that handles retail customers.) He also pointed me to the solution. Sen:te’s GPGMail. It is not a final release, but is working fine for me. (I have the GPGMail_d51_Leopard distribution.) It requires Gnu Privacy Guard, which I got from Sourceforge’s Mac GNU Privacy Guard site. (You will have to use Terminal to import your key files.)

It works fine, just as I want it. I moved the not-working PGP Mail Bundle out and moved in the GPGMail bundle.

Here are some screen shots.

• An encrypted message:
  
• Decrypting it:
  
• Creating a new message:
  

The Mail/Preferences window is straightforward. For more and earlier discussions on secure email, check out my secure e-mail collection.

UPDATE: Updated to PGP 9.7. All is well.