trust path lookup on server

[David Shaw]

On Sat, Nov 26, 2005 at 12:56:16AM +0100, Jaap Eldering wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I was wondering whether the following feature does exist within gpg
> or related programs: the possibility to check a signature via a
> (longer) trust path from my key to the signer's key.
> 
> I am no expert in the use of gpg, but from what I have seen, gpg does
> only download the signer's key from the keyserver and then use the
> local keyring to check for a trust path.
> 
> I have thought with some people about the concept of a server from
> which trust paths can be obtained. gpg itself can then verify this
> path and thus verify a trust path that is outside of one's keyring
> data. Is this a useful idea?

Yes, it is.  There are a few servers that do more or less what you
describe (for example http://www.lysator.liu.se/~jc/wotsap/).  It's
useful to see the various paths, but unless you trust each step in the
chain, it doesn't really help you get trust in the end point.

David