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edit commit 02b0785584 on the not-exactly-unique fingerprint

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Tammi L. Coles 2023-11-25 16:30:54 +01:00
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book/source/04-certificates.md
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@ -96,9 +96,7 @@ For example, an OpenPGP version 4 certificate with the fingerprint `B3D2 7B09 FB
Historically, even shorter 32-bit identifiers were used, like this: `2455 4239`, or `0x24554239`. Such identifiers still appear in very old documents about PGP. However, [32-bit identifiers have been long deemed unfit for purpose](https://evil32.com/). At one point, 32-bit identifiers were called "short Key ID," while 64-bit identifiers were referred to as "long Key ID."
```{note}
In practice, the fingerprint of a component key is used like a unique identifier.
However, formally, a fingerprint is not unique. For every component key, other component keys with the same fingerprint exist, in theory. But because fingerprints are calculated using a [cryptographic hash algorithm](crypto-hash), it is practically impossible to find two different component keys that have the same fingerprint.
In practice, the fingerprint of a component key, while not theoretically unique, functions effectively as a unique identifier. The use of a [cryptographic hash algorithm](crypto-hash) in generating fingerprints makes the occurrence of two different component keys with the same fingerprint extremely unlikely.
```
### Primary key