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╔══════════ PGP-Front Manual ══════════╗
║ ║
║ PGP-Front Version 0.99ß ║
║ Copyright (c) 1993 ║
║ ║
║ An user-friendly shell for PGP v2.3A ║
║ Written by Walter H. van Holst ║
║ ║
║ Fido : 2:281/611.3 ║
║ Internet: 121233@pc-lab.fbk.eur.nl ║
║ ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════╝
page 1
Table of contents:
I Legal stuff
1.1 Disclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Distribution restrictions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
II About the program and its author
2.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 The program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.3 Me, myself and I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.4 Credits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
III Installation and a quick start
3.1 System requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.2 How to install the package . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.3 Quick start. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
IV How to...
4.1 Encrypt and/or sign a file . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.2 Decrypt a file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.3 Change your current directory. . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.3 Manage your keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
V The Options menu
5.1 Directories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.2 External programs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.3 Video configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
VI Future enhancements
6.1 Near future. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6.2 Far future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6.3 Things I am NOT going to do. . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
VII Problem solving
7.1 Possible problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
7.2 Known bugs and problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
VII Last minute notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
page 2
I Legal stuff
1.1 Disclaimer
The only thing which is sure about the program and related files is that it
consumes disk space (where did you read that before?). The author is not res-
ponsible for any physical, mental or social damage caused directly or
indirectly to you, your posessions or whatsoever.
1.2 Distribution restrictions
This program is beggarware, which implies that you may use and distribute it
freely and means also that if you feel urged to throw away some money I'd be
pleased if you send me some of it (less than 80ns SIMM's, young women, fast &
big SCSI HD's, programmable DSP modems and SG workstations are also accepted).
The program being beggarware doesn't imply that it isn't copyrighted. The
program, its documentation and future language modules may not be distributed
in any altered form without the explicit permission of the author. This
software package may not be distributed through disk-magazines, CD-ROM
releases or commercial BBS's without an explicit written permission of the
author. Distribution in any other form is encouraged and the only restrictions
are that the complete package (executables, documentation and language modules)
are kept together and that no fee higher than the local equivalent of U.S. $ 3
is asked.
If you encounter any way of distributing PGP-Front that you feel as violating
these restrictions, please contact the author.
By using and/or distributing this software you agree to the restrictions imposed
on its distribution and use by this document.
page 3
II About the program and its author
2.1 Background
PGP-Front is an interactive shell program which is intended to be used with
Philip Zimmermann's Pretty Good Privacy. I wrote it because I perceived the
PGP executables as user-unfriendly and had the feeling that Johannes Kepler's
PGPSHELL could be improved. Although the latter program is a useful tool for
those wo don't use the esoteric options of PGP very often, it lacks a good
user interface in my opinion. But I have heard rumours that an Windows-version
of PGPSHELL is under development, it would be a great thing for those GUI-
adepts.
2.2 The program
PGP-Front is written in Turbo Pascal 6.0, using Turbo Vision 1.0, some of my
own units and Ralph Brown's SPAWNO (keep up the good things Ralph!).
2.3 Me, myself and I
The author is a third year student in Business Administration and seems to
have nothing better to do than playing with Turbo Vision. He can be contacted
via E-mail on the following addresses:
Fight-O-Net: 2:281/611.3 (preferred)
2:2802/109.3
Internet : 121233@pc-lab.fbk.eur.nl (preferred)
holst@sjaan.fbk.eur.nl
Snailmail adress (send lots of money to it!):
Warmoeskade 35
2771 NE Boskoop
The Netherlands
2.4 Credits
I feel urged to mention the following people because of their feedback on alpha-
releases, suggestions and so on. Here they are:
Ralph Brown, for providing your great SPAWNO swapping unit.
Berend de Boer and
Edwin Groothuis, both for providing help with the Turbo Vision toolkit.
Erwin van Helden, for alpha testing and suggestions.
Timo Krul, for making as much critical remarks as possible :-).
Branko Lankester, for some good suggestions.
Giacomo Mazzocato, for making an Italian version of the documentation and
alpha-testing.
Ronald Prins, for intensive alpha testing and suggestions.
page 4
III Installation and a quick start
3.1 System requirements
In order to run this program properly you need an IBM-PC/AT with at least an
80286 processor. You even don't want to know how much time it takes on an 8088
to do some serious data-encryption, believe me. The memory requirements aren't
very high, add 500 bytes to the amount your copy of PGP requires and you have
enough of it. Don't ask me for exact numbers, even I have something better to do
than running PGP and PGP-Front on the tightest configuration possible. It is
also recommended to have an version of PGP which is in the 2.xx range or better.
Another thing which I haven't tested up to now is the minimum DOS-version you
need, I suppose you need 3.xx or later to be safe. The package has not been
tested on one of the DR-DOS versions or in any networking environment. Any
reports on neanderthaler systems which did or did not run PGP-Front properly are
highly appreciated.
3.2 How to install the package
VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE:
Read the documentation of your PGP package (do it!) and make sure you have it
installed properly, that is, with at least the time-zone environment variable
set.
There are several ways to install PGP-Front, it depends on your own way of ad-
ministrating your system and how you installed PGP. It is strongly recommended
not to fill the root directory of your HD with programs like this, so put it in
another directory. The three possible ways to install PGP-Front:
- You have installed PGP using the environment variable PGPPATH.
Simply put the file PGPFRONT.EXE in any subdirectory you want, it is recommended
that it is stated in your PATH statement. Run the program and choose the Options
menu, enter the Externals submenu and enter your favourite file-viewer, wordpro-
cessor and message-editor (if you have any). Use the Tab-key to move through
the dialog, press enter when you are satisfied. Choose the Options menu again,
choose the Save options option and you are ready to go.
- You don't like environment stuff but you want all the features of PGP-front.
Do the same things as you have to do when you are using the PGPPATH environment
variable, but you have also to set the directories where PGP.EXE resides. If you
want your key-files to stay in another subdirectory than PGP.EXE you can also set
the keyring directory. This option is strongly recommended in case PGP.EXE is on
a network drive and you don't want your key-files on a network drive. If you
don't set this option, PGP-Front assumes your key-files to be in the same sub-
directory as PGP.EXE. You can also set the directory or drive where you want
PGP-Front to swap out when shelling to other programs. If you don't set this
option PGP-Front uses the value of the environment variable TEMP. If you didn't
set the TEMP variable, PGP-Front will use the current directory when swapping
out.
page 5
- You don't like environment variables and you never en- or decrypt things
outside your PGP directory.
Put PGPFRONT.EXE in the PGP directory and make sure it is your current directory
when you are going to use it.
Note:
If you want your settings to be permanent, make sure you use the Save Options
option in the Options menu. A PGPFRONT.CFG file will then be created in the
directory where PGPFRONT.EXE resides. If your configuration file is corrupted
in such a way that PGP-Front hangs at startup, simply delete it and set your
options again.
3.3 Quick start
After you have set you options and you haven't generated a key pair up to now,
you can generate a pair by choosing the Key menu and then choosing the Generate
key option or by pressing Alt-G. If you have a key pair, you can simply select
the select... option in the File menu and then do the basic things you want. The
hotkey in this case is Alt-S and remember that the Tab-key is intended to travel
through dialog boxes.
That's enough for a quick start, it is just that simple. If you are an absolute
beginner and have never met a decent user-interface before, please read further,
anyone else can skip the rest of the documentation. You can better read the PGP
document files.
page 6
IV How to...
4.1 Encrypt and/or sign a file
Just enter the file menu by pressing Alt-F or enter the menu-bar by pressing F10
and choose the file menu:
╔═[■]═══════════ File Selection ════════════════╗
║ ║
║ Name ║
║ █EXAMPLE.TXT████████████████▐▌ Cancel ▄ ║
║ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ║
║ Files Select ▄ ║
║ EXAMPLE.TXT │ TEMP\ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ║
║ AUTOEXEC.BAT │ UTILITY\ Encrypt ▄ ║
║ CHKLIST.MS │ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ║
║ CONFIG.DBL │ Decrypt ▄ ║
║ CONFIG.SYS │ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ║
║ DATA\ │ View ▄ ║
║ DOS\ │ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ║
║ PROGRAMS\ │ Open ▄ ║
║ <■▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ║
║ ║
║ C:\*.* ║
║ EXAMPLE.TXT 1024 Sep 22, 1993 11:22pm ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════╝
After you have entered the file menu, choose the Select.. option or press Alt-S,
which is the hotkey for selecting files. Now a dialog pops up and you can enter
the filename you'd like to be encrypted. You can also travel through the file-
list by entering it using the Tab-key. After you have choosen the file, just
press Alt-E or choose the Encrypt button and the encryption dialog pops up:
╔═[■]══════════ Encryption options for C:\EXAMPLE.TXT ═══════════════╗
║ ║
Optional ║ Recipient(s) Name(s): Ok ▄ ║
║ █████████████████████████████████████ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ║
║ Cancel ▄ ║
Obliga- ║ Kind of key to use: ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ║
tory ║ ( ) Only Sign it with your secret key ║
║ (X) Public key ║
║ ( ) Conventional one-way Encryption ║
║ ║
Optional ║ File options: ║
Rec. ║ [ ] Radix-64 format Needed when using PGP for E-mail ║
Rec. ║ [ ] ASCII source Useful for inter-system portability ║
Opt. ║ [ ] Wipe original file Caution! File will be unrecoverable ║
Opt. ║ [ ] For recipients Eyes only Decrypted output cannot be stored ║
Opt. ║ [ ] Encrypt signed file Only useful when signing a file ║
║ ║
╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
As you can see you have first to fill in the recipient(s) name(s), if there are
any. After you have entered the recipients name, a list of recipients or nothing
page 7
if there isn't any recipient, you must press the Tab key or click the next
option you want to fill in with your mouse. Next option is the kind of
encryption you want to be executed on the selected file. The key options are
self-explanatory, don't use conventional one-way encryption if it is your
intention to send the file to someone. Because one-way encryption methods are
relativeley easy to crack, there won't be much left of your Pretty Good Privacy.
If you want to sign and encrypt a file as well you must choose the "Only Sign it
with your secret key" option and from the file options the "Encrypt signed file"
option.
Now we're talking about the file options, it is recommended to use the Radix-64
format in case you want to send the encrypted file by E-mail. On many networks
there are systems (older Unix-boxes etc.) which don't recognize ASCII-codes higher
than 127, the extended ASCII-set. Since E-mail usually is treated as ASCII files
and not as binaries, the bit which should tell your system that the character
has an ASCII-code higher than 127 gets stripped. There are several ways to get
around this problem, one of them is the Radix-64 format. This format is auto-
matically recognized by the receivers PGP program, so why bother with other for-
mats like UUencoded files?
Another useful option is the "ASCII source" option, this is useful because there
is no universal standard how to treat carriage returns. If you use this option,
PGP will handle this compatibility problem for you. Read the PGP manual for more
information.
The other options are self-explanatory, at least I suppose them to be so.
After you have filled in your options, press the Enter key and PGP-Front will
swap out and start PGP.EXE with the right parameters. Read the PGP documentation
for further information (didn't you read it yet?).
If you think 'Geez, this is not what I wanted, get me out of here!', simply
press the Escape button or press Alt-C or click the Cancel button with your
mouse.
4.2 Decrypt a file
Just get into the File selection menu again and after you have choosen the file
you want to be decrypted (they are often recognizable by the ASC extension)
press Alt-D or click the Decryption button. Then a new menu pops up:
╔═[■]══════ Decryption options for C:\EXAMPLE.ASC ═══════════╗
║ ║
║ Output options: Ok ▄ ║
║ (X) Send output to Disk ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ║
║ ( ) Send output to Screen Cancel ▄ ║
║ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ║
║ File options: ║
║ [ ] Keep original filename ║
║ [ ] Leave signature intact ║
║ ║
╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
It doesn't look very complex and it isn't very complex too. Don't be afraid to
make a mistake, nothing can go wrong. In case you wanted to have the decrypted
data send to disk instead of your silly CRT, PGP asks you whether you want to
have it saved or not. The file options aren't very exciting too, if you want
page 8
the filename to stay the same as it was before the file was encrypted, just tick
the 'Keep original filename' checkbox. This option isn't very useful if you are
using PGP and PGP-Front for your E-mail as E-mail tends to have filenames like
'2JOHNSON.TXT' which aren't very informative to say the least. On the other
hand, keeping the signature intact isn't very interesting when processing
binaries but it can be usefull in the case of E-mail. Once decrypted, cipher-
files tend to be deleted which cause the destruction of possibly valuable
signatures. If you keep the signature intact you can always check whether it was
really your now ex-girlfriend who wrote you that you are the ultimate looser or
something like that.
4.3 Change directory
Yes, moving around in your file-system! Wow, all the things you ever wanted to
know about: directory trees, faster-than-light-travel, emulating an Mac Quadra
on a ZX-Spectrum, changing drives and getting slim within two weeks without
having to change your pretty decadent life! Okay, now back to life: press Alt-C
or enter the file menu and choose the 'Change directory' option. A brand-new
menu pops up:
╔═[■]══════════ Change Directory ══════════════╗
║ ║
║ Directory name ║
║ █F:\███████████████████████▐▌ ║
║ ║
║ Directory tree ║
║ Drives OK ▄ ║
║ └─┬F:\ ▒ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ║
║ └┬─PROGRAMS ▒ ║
║ └─TEMP ■ Chdir ▄ ║
║ ▒ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ║
║ ▒ ║
║ ▒ Revert ▄ ║
║ ▒ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ║
║ ▒ ║
║ ║
║ ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Here you can do the following things:
- change the current drive
- change the current directory
You can simply enter the path you want to be the current one, e.g. if you type
'C:\DOS' and press Enter both drive and directory would be changed in this case.
You can also select another drive by selecting the Direcory tree item and
choosing the 'Drives' option. A tree of all drives will be displayed, like the
one displayed on next page.
page 9
╔═[■]══════════ Change Directory ══════════════╗
║ ║ For those who are thinking
║ Directory name ║ that I am running a full
║ Drives ▐▌ ║ blown network-server or
║ ║ such a beast, diskdoublers
║ Directory tree ║ are extremely usefull if
║ Drives OK ▄ ║ you want to boast about
║ └┬─A ▒ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ║ your system.
║ ├─B ▒ ║
║ ├─C ▒ Chdir ▄ ║ Anyway, choose your pre-
║ ├─D ▒ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ║ ferred drive and press
║ ├─E ▒ ║ Enter.
║ ├─F ■ Revert ▄ ║
║ ├─G ▒ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ║
║ └─H ▒ ║
║ ║
║ ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Changing directories is just the same. As soon as you are satisfied with the
situation you created, press Alt-O or click the Ok button. Ah, I forgot the
Revert button, that one is for obtaining the same effect as typing 'CD ..' in
DOS.
4.3 Manage your keys
If you press Alt-K you get the following menu:
┌────────────────────────┐ Comments:
│ Add a key Ins │ You must first select a file to be able to do that.
│ Remove a key Del │ Caution! Look out with deleting secret keys.
│ Switch key on/off Tab │ You can disable/enable a key without deleting it.
│ Extract a key F2 │ You can extract a key to a .ASC file.
│ FingerPrint │
│ Edit Trust parameters │ <──┐
│ Sign and certify a key │ │
├────────────────────────┤ │ These two are in fact the same.
│ View keyring │ │
│ Edit userId/password │ <──┘
│ Generate key pair │ Do it if you haven't done it... it takes some time.
└────────────────────────┘
I know that this is a very brief explanation, but there a few reasons for not
writing more about this menu:
- These are the more advanced features of PGP and it is very useful to know
what you are doing. This is intended to force you to read the PGP manual.
- If you have read the PGP manual you don't need a manual for this, so why
should I bother writing one?
page 10
V The Options menu
5.1 Directories
To achieve maximum flexibility with PGP and PGP-Front without using environment
variables it is recommended to provide PGP-Front the information where PGP.EXE
and your keyfiles can be found. You can also set your preferred swapping
directory if you don't have a TEMP environment variable or if you want to over-
ride the TEMP environment variable. If you don't set this option, PGP-Front
will use the current directory when swapping out. You can make these options
permanent by saving them.
Note: If you decide to have your keyfiles in another directory than the sub-
directory where PGP.EXE resides, make sure that the RANDSEED.BIN file
is also in this directory. It is not fatal if you don't do this, but
PGP will create another one which might give you the perception that
something is wrong.
5.2 External programs
With this option you can give PGP-Front information about some external
programs you'd like within this package. First you can enter the name of your
favourite file-viewer, for example Vernon D. Buerg's great LIST.COM. If you
don't have an favourite file-viewer, just enter 'more < '. Next one is your
preferred wordprocessor, even WordPerfect is possible, although I don't
recommend this one for this purpose. Last, but not least is your favourite
message-editor.
If you have installed them properly, both the file-viewer and the wordprocessor
can be started from the File Selection menu, using the View and Open options.
You can start the message-editor from the File menu or by pressing Alt-M.
If you want to have the same settings every time you start PGP-Front, use the
Save Options option from the Options menu (huh?).
5.3 Video configuration
Using this option you can set your favourite display mode. There are three
possible modes:
- Color
- Monochrome
- LCD
All of them are 80x25 modes. Be careful, if you choose the monochrome option
and you don't have a Hercules video adaptor, your system will freeze next time
you start PGP-Front. You can solve this problem by replacing the word 'MONO' in
your PGPFRONT.CFG file with 'COLOR' or 'LCD'. In order to let changes in your
video configuration take effect, you must choose the 'Save options' option in
the Options menu, quit PGP-Front (Alt-X) and restart PGP-Front.
page 11
VI Future enhancements
6.1 Near future
In the near future, with that I mean version 1.00 or 1.5 I hope to implement
the following options:
- Multi-language support, at least the following languages will be supported:
o English (really!)
o Dutch
o Italian
If anyone wants to make language modules and documentation translations for
other languages, please contact me. It would be great to have a version in
Swahili, Frysk, Gaelic or even Esperanto :-) Other languages are of course
also welcome.
- More configuration options, you will be able to control the way PGP-Front
will swap, which language to use, default encryption and decryption options
etc.
- Context-sensitive help in your preferred language, don't expect that to be
implemented before version 1.5.
- A more efficient programming style which will enable a smaller and thus
faster program.
6.2 Far future
- The ability to interactively choose a key and manipulate it instead of only
have an list of keys presented by PGP and switching back to PGP-Front.
- In the very far future I hope to add the PGP algorithm itself to the program,
in that case its name will change to PGP4DOS. But that depends on the
willingness of the people behind PGP to help me with such a project.
- Options _YOU_ want to be included, please send feedback on this.
- If you want to have it ported to another platform: send enough money to make
me able to buy such a system :-)
6.3 Things that I am NOT going to do
I am NOT going to implement:
- Support for playing audio-CD's in your CD-ROM drive, my name is not Bimbo
Bendtsen and I don't listen to music when programming.
- Calculators, Tetris and Tic-Tac-Toe variants.
- Any stupid key-check to make sure you will pay me for this thing. It is up
to you to decide whether it is worth some mony or not. I really get sick of
those guilt-games played by too many shareware authors.
I am NOT going to publicize the source of this program, because of my bad
programming habits. Believe me, it really looks stupid.
page 12
VII Problem solving
7.1 Possible problems
Q. When I try to encrypt or decrypt a file I get the message 'bad command or
file name'.
A. You did not install PGP-Front properly, configure the directories in the
Options menu or set the PGPPATH environment variable.
Q. When I try to view or edit a file or try to start the message editor I get
the message 'bad command or filename'.
A. Again a wrong installation of PGP-Front, change the appropriate settings
in the Options menu, save your options and restart PGP-Front.
Q. My system crashes when I start PGP-Front.
A. You possibly have a wrong video configuration. You can delete your config
file (PGPFRONT.CFG) or edit it with an ASCII-editor. There are three words
possible: 'MONO','COLOR' and 'LCD'. If you delete your config file, re-
member to reconfigure PGP-Front.
Q. I get messages like 'Dos error 2771' when an external program exits and I
get back to PGP-Front.
A. That depends on the application you executed. If it was PGP.EXE, don't
worry, most errorcodes don't seem to mean that something is wrong. But I
simply don't know the meaning of them.
Q. I get strange run-time errors.
A. Report them at once! This is a beta-release, so don't expect a 100% stable
product. Send me the errorcode, its address and under which circumstances
this error occurs.
7.2 Known bugs and problems
- The SPAWNO unit I am currently using doesn't get along with Thunderbyte
anti-virus. I am afraid that you have to look for another shell for PGP, next
version of PGP-Front will include an option to control whether you want to
swap or not and in which way. I don't recommend to stop using Thunderbyte
anti-virus, it is one of the best anti-virus products around.
- The screen is not always redrawn properly after calling an external program,
please report under which circumstances this happens.
- Documentation is a mess, I need volunteers for writing the documentation, I
really hate to do that job myself.
page 13
VIII Last minute notes
- PGP-Front is now aware of QuarterDeck's DesqView, so no more hogging of your
processor.
- Added some error-messages for the most common user faults.