GPG executable for Unix/Apache ?

[Brian Mearns]

On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 8:23 AM, Jan Banan <viceversasport at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi, and thanks for answering!
> Well, just to avoid misunderstandings, I have a form on a secure HTTP page
> on a third-party server. The form data is sent secured from the browser to
> the server. When it reaches the server it is to get encrypted before it is
> sent to me via email. Once arrived at my local email-inbox it is decrypted.
> (And anyway, I am not dealing with credit card numbers or any really
> sensitive information, I just want to be able to offer a more or less secure
> processing of the form data).
> I am actually on a Windows machine myself so when it comes to my end I guess
> I should install one of the win-versions to be able to decrypt the incoming
> emails. But it is getting the GPG executable onto the Unix/Apache server
> that is confusing to me at this point. I have already uploaded and
> configured a perl script that will encrypt the form data and send it to me,
> but for the encryption bit it needs to work together with a "GPG
> executable". And that's the piece of the puzzle I am currently missing.
> Are you saying that I could download the source code for e.g.
> gnupg-1.4.9.tar.gz and then extract it to my Windows harddrive and get a
> compiler to compile the code to a single file, which I then upload to my
> hosting server? If so, what kind of compiler should I look for? Do I need it
> to support special features or a special programming language?
> /peter


No you can't build it on Windows...well, you might be able to build it
on windows if you have the proper tools (most likely GNU make, gcc and
possibly others), but that will only build a Windows executable, which
cannot be executed natively on a Unix-like system. What I meant by
source is to download and extract the tar.gz on your web server, and
build it there. The usual sequence is './configure; make; make
install', but you will likely need super-user (root) permission to
install it. You could try configuring it to install to a directory you
have permissions to write to, and then you shouldn't need special
permissions to install it: if you decide to go this route, I can try
to help you configure it.

But this is all assuming that you have some sort of shell access to
the server, so that you can issue the commands. The same is true for
the alternative of installing a binary using a package manager.
Basically, it comes down to that fact that gnupg is software that
needs to be installed on your server, and you need to have permission
and the ability to do this, or you're pretty much out of luck, unless
you talk your host into installing it for you.

You are correct about decrypting; you will need to install a Windows
version in order to decrypt the message, and you will need to have
your secret key on your windows machine. There are easy to use
installers for Windows available on that same link I sent you before,
should be straightforward.

Let us know if you can get shell access to the server and, if
possible, what distribution of Linux (if it is Linux) the server is
running, and we can go from there.

-Brian

-- 
Feel free to contact me using PGP Encryption:
Key Id: 0x3AA70848
Available from: http://keys.gnupg.net