program.  The "config.txt" settings override those in the preferences file.

text file "config.txt" which must be in the same folder as the MacPGP

your System Folder.  You can also specify some of these options from the

This saves the options you have selected in the "PGP Preferences" file in



• Save Options



to be recognized by PGP 2.3a and earlier versions.

Use this option if you want the keys and messages you create

This option allows you to make backwards compatible files.



• Use 2.3a Format



"ASCII output" option above.

each chunk in a multipart ".asc" file sequence.  See the entry for the

This option allows you to specify the maximum number of lines allowed in



• Armorlines



encryption, conventional encryption, and signing.

file selection dialogs.  You can also specify defaults for public-key

Clipboard should be used for input when encrypting or signing, avoiding

This option allows you to bypass various dialogs.  You can specify that the



• Dialog shortcuts



with your signature or decrypt private messages to you.

computer without exiting the application someone could sign documents

does not need to retype them.  Be careful with this option; if you leave the

point during its execution for the duration of the execution so the user

Under this option MacPGP remembers passwords that were entered at any



• Recycle passwords



checkbox option under Decryption.

is about to be "wiped" (irreversably erased) under the "wipe file"

Turning this switch on causes MacPGP to warn and prompt anytime a file



• Wipe warning



and replace it with the newly decrypted file of the same name.

e.g. decryption.  Instead it will just remove (not wipe) the existing file

option is on, MacPGP will NOT prompt you before overwriting files during

In the regular PGP package this is called the "force flag".  When the



• Overwrite files



PGP non-interactively.

questions or prompt for alternate filenames.  This is useful for running

With the Batch flag enabled, MacPGP will not ask any "unneccessary"



• Batch Mode



operations.

In quiet mode, MacPGP outputs minimal amounts of information during



• Quiet Mode



because this requires the recipient's secret key, which you don't have.

then you won't be able to decrypt RSA (public key) messages you create,

recipient of any RSA encrypted messages you create.  If you don't do this

This option allows you to automatically include yourself as an additional



• Encrypt to Self



characters to users of non-Macintosh machines.

So you should use this flag to send PGP messages containing non-English

personal computer character set formats to ISO Latin-1 format and back.

west European countries. PGP provides for translation of text files from

in Romance and Germanic languages and is widely used on Unix systems in

standard is used to encode diacritical marks such as accents, umlauts, etc.

Organization's format for west European language character sets.  This

PGP convert Macintosh plaintext files to the International Standards

Use this option in conjunction with the "treat source as text" option to make



• ISO Latin-1



whatever text form is appropriate for the local environment.

receiving end, the decrypted plaintext is automatically converted back to

converted to canonical text form before it gets encrypted.  At the

plaintext should be treated as ASCII text (not binary data) and should be

linefeed at the end of each line of text.  PGP lets you specify that the

from one machine to another.  Canonical text has a carriage return and a

translated to some common "canonical" form when they are transmitted

Normal unencrypted ASCII text messages are often automatically



plaintext file contains what it thinks is non-text binary data.

translation.  This mode is automatically turned off if PGP detects that the

architectures.  When it is enabled, PGP takes care of the proper

because of minor and major variations in text formats across machine

converted to canonical text before encryption.  This option is necessary

Use this option to make PGP assume the plaintext is text that should be



• Treat source as text



menu.  MacPGP converts it to a ".asc" file.

radix-64 format by simply using the "ASCIIfy" command in the File

file or extracted a key, you may still directly convert the binary file into

If you forgot to use the ASCII Output option when you made a ciphertext



radix-64 message blocks.

ignores any extraneous text in mail headers that are not enclosed in the

proper order into one big file before decrypting it.  While decrypting, PGP

recipient must concatenate these separate files back together in their

put into files named with extensions ".as1", ".as2", "as3", etc.  The

into chunks that are each small enough to send via E-mail.  The chunks are

large, and you requested radix-64 format, PGP automatically breaks it up

chunks that can be mailed separately.  If your encrypted message is very

than 50000 bytes long.  Longer messages must be broken into smaller

Most Internet E-mail facilities prohibit sending messages that are more



this option while extracting the key from your keyring.

want to send a public key to someone else in radix-64 format, just enable

transport-armored message is no different than a normal decrypt.  If you

encryption or key extraction operation.  Decrypting the radix-64

The radix-64 format is generated when this option is set during an



probably was compressed more than that by PGP before it was encrypted.

33%.  But this expansion isn't so bad when you consider that the file

8-bit bytes into 4 printable ASCII characters, so the file grows by about

Radix-64 format converts the plaintext by expanding groups of 3 binary



errors.

Internet.  It also appends a redundancy check (CRC) to detect transmission

against corruption as it travels through intersystem gateways on

text.  This format acts as a form of "transport armor", protecting it

7-bit channels or for sending binary encrypted data as normal E-mail

characters, so it is useful for transmitting binary encrypted data through

This special format represents binary data by using only printable ASCII

messages, similar to the Internet Privacy-Enhanced Mail (PEM) format.

this problem, PGP supports the ASCII radix-64 format for ciphertext

not the 8-bit raw binary data that ciphertext is made of.  To get around

Many electronic mail systems only allow messages made of ASCII text,



and compressed/encrypted data) to be encoded in text messages.

format," a scheme that allows arbitrary binary data (in this case, keys

This specifies that output files should be encoded in the "radix-64



• ASCII output



the RSA process.)

generation the mode reveals the internal mathematical parameters used in

problems in PGP.  Not recommended for normal use.  (Under key

Under this mode to display maximum information, usually to help diagnose



• Verbose



commands that PGP executes.

option to attach comments to PGP generated headers, as well as modify the

trustworthy signatures, how deeply nested they are.  Also one can use this

example how many completely trustworthy signatures, how many partially

to trust a given public key based on the signatures attached to it.  For

This option allows you to fine tune the way PGP determines whether or not



• Misc. Customizations



key before adding it to your key ring.

keys to your key ring, MacPGP will ask for confirmation (or veto) of each

Enabling this mode will mean that if you add a key file containing multiple



• Interactive key addition



non-Macintosh system.

want MacPGP to process PGP generated files downloaded from a

relevant file types will be shown.  This option should be turned off if you

This option indicates that in file selection dialogs, only files with the



• Use file types



voluminous output from PGP, eg. when viewing a large keyring.

operation to be saved to a disk file.  Use this option when you expect

This is a MacPGP option that allows the PGP session text output during an



• Logfile



main keyring

keyring which will be searched if the desired key is not found in your

file name using this command.  You can also specify a secondary public

contains a public or a secret key.  You may specify a different key ring

"pubring.pgp" or "secring.pgp", depending on whether the keyfile

algorithm, use a keyring file.  The optional keyring file name defaults to

Virtually all PGP commands, in particular those dealing with the RSA



• Set Key Ring...



"command-line options".

This menu allows the toggling of various PGP "switches" or "flags" or




åThe Options Menu