[Announce] The maybe final Beta for GnuPG 2.1

Fri Oct 3 16:35:52 CEST 2014

Hello!

I just released another *beta* version of GnuPG *2.1*.  It has been
released to give you the opportunity to check out new features and to
help fixing bugs.

  If you need a stable and fully maintained version of GnuPG,
  you should use version 2.0.26 or 1.4.18.

This version is marked as BETA and as such it should in general not be
used for real work.  However, the functionality is solid enough and thus
this may actually be the last beta before we release 2.1.0 some time
this year.

What's new in 2.1.0-beta864 since beta784
=========================================

 * gpg: Removed the GPG_AGENT_INFO related code.  GnuPG does now only
   use a fixed socket name in its home directory.

 * gpg: Renamed --gen-key to --full-gen-key and re-added a --gen-key
   command using less prompts.

 * gpg: Use SHA-256 for all signature types also on RSA keys.

 * gpg: Default keyring is now created with a .kbx suffix.

 * gpg: Add a shortcut to the key capabilies menu (e.g. "=e" sets the
   encryption capabilities).

 * gpg: Fixed obsolete options parsing.

 * speedo: Improved the quick build system.

 Already released with beta834:

 * gpg: Improved passphrase caching.

 * gpg: Switched to algorithm number 22 for EdDSA.

 * gpg: Removed CAST5 from the default preferences.

 * gpg: Order SHA-1 last in the hash preferences.

 * gpg: Changed default cipher for --symmetric to AES-128.

 * gpg: Fixed export of ECC keys and import of EdDSA keys.

 * dirmngr: Fixed the KS_FETCH command.

 * speedo: Downloads related packages and works for non-Windows.

Getting the Software
====================

GnuPG 2.1.0-beta864 is available at

 ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/gnupg/unstable/gnupg-2.1.0-beta864.tar.bz2
 ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/gnupg/unstable/gnupg-2.1.0-beta864.tar.bz2.sig

and soon on all mirrors <http://www.gnupg.org/mirrors.html>.

Please read the README file !

Checking the Integrity
======================

In order to check that the version of GnuPG which you are going to
install is an original and unmodified one, you can do it in one of
the following ways:

 * If you already have a trusted version of GnuPG installed, you
   can simply check the supplied signature.  For example to check the
   signature of the file gnupg-2.1.0-beta864.tar.bz2 you would use
   this command:

     gpg --verify gnupg-2.1.0-beta864.tar.bz2.sig

   Depending on your installation you may use "gpg2" instead of "gpg".
   This checks whether the signature file matches the source file.  You
   should see a message indicating that the signature is good and made
   by that signing key.  Make sure that you have the right key, either
   by checking the fingerprint of that key with other sources or by
   checking that the key has been signed by a trustworthy other key.
   Note, that you can retrieve the signing key using the command

     finger wk ,at' g10code.com

   or using a keyserver like

     gpg --keyserver keys.gnupg.net --recv-key 4F25E3B6

   The distribution key 4F25E3B6 is signed by the well known key:

     pub   dsa2048/1E42B367 2007-12-31 [expires: 2018-12-31]
     Key fingerprint = 8061 5870 F5BA D690 3336  86D0 F2AD 85AC 1E42 B367
     uid                  Werner Koch <wk at gnupg.org>

   Never use a GnuPG version you just downloaded to check the
   integrity of the source - use an existing GnuPG installation!

Building
========

GnuPG requires a couple of extra libraries, which need to be build and
installed before GnuPG.  The configure script will tell you about the
requirements.

You may try the Speedo system as an alternative build method:

  make -f build-aux/speedo.mk native INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local

This method downloads all required libraries and does a native build of
GnuPG to "/usr/local" (or to "PLAY/inst/" if you do not specify the
INSTALL_PREFIX).  Note that you need installation privileges on the
install directory, GNU make, and a decent Unix system.  Building for
Windows is in theory possible but has not been tested for this release.

Documentation
=============

The file gnupg.info has the complete user manual of the system.
Separate man pages are included as well; however they have not all the
details available in the manual.  It is also possible to read the
complete manual online in HTML format at

  https://www.gnupg.org/documentation/manuals/gnupg-devel/

The chapters on gpg-agent, gpg and gpgsm include information on how
to set up the whole thing.  You may also want search the GnuPG mailing
list archives or ask on the gnupg-users mailing lists for advise on
how to solve problems.  Many of the new features are around for
several years and thus enough public knowledge is already available.

Almost all mail clients support GnuPG-2.  Mutt users may want to use
the configure option "--enable-gpgme" during build time and put a "set
use_crypt_gpgme" in ~/.muttrc to enable S/MIME support along with the
reworked OpenPGP support.

Support
=======

Please consult the archive of the gnupg-users mailing list before
reporting a bug <https://gnupg.org/documentation/mailing-lists.html>.
We suggest to send bug reports for a new release to this list in favor
of filing a bug at <https://bugs.gnupg.org>.  We also have a dedicated
service directory at:

  https://www.gnupg.org/service.html

Maintaining and improving GnuPG is costly.  For more than a decade,
g10 Code GmbH, a German company owned and headed by GnuPG's principal
author Werner Koch, is bearing the majority of these costs.  To help
them carry on this work, they need your support.  See

  https://gnupg.org/donate/

For reasons why donating to free software projects is beneficial for
everyone, please read Poul-Henning Kamp's "Quality Software Costs Money
- Heartbleed Was Free" at https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=2636165 .

Thanks
======

We have to thank all the people who helped with this release, be it
testing, coding, translating, suggesting, auditing, administering the
servers, spreading the word, and answering questions on the mailing
lists.

Salam-Shalom,

   Werner

-- 
Die Gedanken sind frei.  Ausnahmen regelt ein Bundesgesetz.
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