Can you clarify when data compression is used?

[Kevin Hilton]

>
>
> The one specific piece of advice:
>
>  * Unless you can articulate a clear need why the defaults will not
>    work for your purpose, stick with the defaults.

I think I've seen this piece of advice before, and for the most part I
agree with it.  The problem I have, is that no where in the
documentation are the defaults specified.  You want me to trust the
defaults, but my contention is, at least tell me what the defaults are
-- no explanation needed.  We had this discussion with the default
cipher and hash choices.  When you tell me that dsa2 is enabled by
default (in newer GnuPG versions), however in the man pages there is
still a --enable-dsa2 flag, I hope you understand my confusion.  I'm
still confused what default cipher is chosen automatically (for me its
AES).  Again the man pages should accurately represent the defaults,
and changes should be made to the documentation when changes to the
defaults are added or subtracted.  I don't think the current GnuPG
manual is complete in any way nor in any way conveys what are the
default settings.   Its disingenuous for the program creators to
expect me to trust the defaults without at least conveying them to me.

Rant over, I apologize to the community.


-- 
Kevin Hilton