GnuPG 1.3.4 SHA256 problem?

[David Shaw]

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On Tue, Dec 02, 2003 at 07:39:39AM -0600, Joe Vender wrote:

> It would be very helpful to have the possibility to be able to
> enter seperate RSAV4-digest-algo and DSA-Digest-algo choices in
> the gpg.conf file. That way, the user could, by default, use the
> SHA256 hash if choosing an RSAv4 key and either the SHA1 or
> RIPEMD160 if choosing a DSA key, without having to alter the
> gpg.conf when going between RSAv4/DSA keys.

  personal-digest-preferences sha256 sha1

That will use SHA256 when possible, and SHA-1 otherwise.  You could
actually leave off the "sha1" at the end since that is the default.
Just list all hashes you want to use, ranked in preference order.

> When using the SHA256 hash with the DSA key, I was prompted for
> a passphrase, which led me to believe that the settings would
> work, and the partial output was confusing, since I wasn't aware
> that it wouldn't work. When the SHA256 hash is released
> (read/write) as part of the next production stable gnupg, new
> gpg users will probably make the same mistake trying to use
> SHA256 with a DSA key.

I'm not sure I get this.  You tried something that is impossible, and
you got an error message ("DSA requires the use of a 160 bit hash
algorithm") saying so.  Where's the problem?

SHA256 is unlikely to be made read/write in the stable GnuPG until the
unstable GnuPG becomes the stable one (1.4).

David
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