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40 lines
1.5 KiB
Markdown
40 lines
1.5 KiB
Markdown
# Goals of this document
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```
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Target audience: developers (not end users)
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Prior knowledge of the reader?
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- Software development
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- Basics of encryption
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Entry point to writing software that uses OpenPGP
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Help to getting started as a user of any implementation (OpenPGP JS, Sequoia PGP, ...)
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The RFC explains lots of details (which bit goes where) that are crucial
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for implementers, but unimportant for software developers who use OpenPGP
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through a library.
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This text aims to describe OpenPGP at the "library-level."
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```
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## A companion for the OpenPGP RFC
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The [OpenPGP Standard](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4880.html) defines
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*"format and methods"* to *"provide services including confidentiality, key
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management, authentication, and digital signatures"*.
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This chapter is intended as a companion to the RFC. It does not aim to teach
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cryptographic concepts.
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The idea is to go over various common OpenPGP artifacts, as they are
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currently used, to get an overview.
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There are lots of details that these notes will not cover.
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Among these omitted details are differences between current v4 artifacts and
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older variants, which were used in previous incarnations of (Open)PGP.
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(Note: OpenPGP v3 artifacts are still in use as of this writing, the RFC
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requires implementations to accept them. v3 artifacts are still very
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much relevant for real world OpenPGP usage and implementations)
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We will also ignore most details about how OpenPGP artifacts are encoded, as
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well as how OpenPGP data is arranged to allow for streaming operation.
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