Re: [Evolution-hackers] Evolution (1.5), GPG, and other email clients; compat problems

[Not Zed <notzed ximian com>]

This mail belongs on the evolution users list, this list is for discussion of evolution development ('hacking'), not features.

To save wasting your time reposting, evolution simply doesn't support the older and less reliable openpgp message format.  Almost all modern clients support pgp/mime or can be made to.

There's no use discussing it, check the mail archives.  There's a bounty for someone to write it, but since nobody has finished it, i guess nobody really cares that much afterall.

On Sun, 2004-09-12 at 11:23 -0400, Lars Vilhuber wrote:
>   guess it is now two weeks that I have been trying out Evolution as a
> email/calendar/task client ("groupware",
> http://www.novell.com/products/evolution). Prime incentive was the
> integration of email/calendar/addressbook with Palm sync - my current
> combo of Mozilla (email/addressbook) and JPilot
> (addressbook/calendar/palm sync) does not work well together, nor does
> Jpilot use the Ical standard that Oracle/other calendars use. I have
> been using Evolution 1.5 (development, pre-2.0) version, since it is
> the one with a more usual user interface, integrated junk mail
> filtering, and other supposed improvements. I have been using it for
> my list subscriptions and private email, some calendaring, but no
> "main" email.
>
> System:
> SuSE 9.0,
> upgraded to KDE 3.3
> evolution-1.5/evolution-2.0 downloaded via red-carpet
> (evolution1.5-1.5.94.1.0.200409071004-0.snap.ximian.8.1)
> Mozilla 1.7.2
>
> Results/winners:
> - junk mail filtering is on par between the two (so far), but the bulk
> of my junk mail is received on main email, not the lists or the
> private email, so it remains to be seen.
> - screen appearance: Mozilla
> - calendaring: Evolution
> - Addressbook: Jpilot, but Evolution integrated, with quirks
> - email compatibility: Mozilla.
>
> This last one surprised me, until I got messages from my parents and
> colleagues about weird email attachments. It turns out the problem is 
> with the way Evo handles GPG-signed messages, and the way Mozilla 
> and/or Windows email clients see it. I believe this is a non-trivial 
> problem.
>
> I set up a test email account, and mailed
> myself from both Mozilla and Evolution (on Linux), then read the
> emails (on Windows) with Mozilla and Outlook Express. Results: it's
> the security signing that I do that confuses Outlook Express (maybe
> also Eudora) but NOT Mozilla (all platforms) and not any of the
> web-based (mostly LInux-based) platforms.  When sending non-signed
> messages from Evo, OE does not have problems.
>
> In essence: when I "GPG sign" my messages, Mozilla, when sending,
> recombines the signed message and its signature, "inserting" it into
> the main mail message:
>
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> This is signed.
> - --
> [other stuff ]
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> Version: GnuPG v1.2.2 (GNU/Linux)
> [actual GPG signature hash]
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
>
> Evolution seems to do something else: it
> attaches the original email message and the (separate) signature
> invididually as attachments.
>
> Attachment 1: "This is signed."
> Attachment 2: "-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE..."
>
> NOw on the receiving end, Mozilla is fine with both  ways of sending, 
> but doesn't explicitly identify the Evo-sent message as being 
> digitally signed. It shows the main message inline (even if I tell it 
> not to show attachments inline), and sees the signature as a .asc file 
> in attachment.
>
> OE, on the other hand, sees BOTH components as
> attachments, and strips out the main message body as "unsafe"...
> Eudora possibly does the same thing, creating a .ems attachment
> (.ems="email message"?) that it may or may not show inline.
>
> Obviously, GPG-signed messages sent from Mozilla are identified as 
> such in Mozilla.
>
> When you have Evo on the receiving end, it is the converse. It doesn't 
> recognize the Mozilla way of signing messages as being "digitally 
> signed", but correctly processes Evo-sent messages.
>
> So the matrix looks like this, for encrypted/non-encyrpted messages.
> YES=can read message, identifies as signed
> Yes=can read message, but does not identify as signed
> NO= cannot read message
>
>                   |  Receiving:
> Sending:         |  Mozilla       Evolution       OE
> --------------------------------------------------------
> Mozilla/GPG         YES           Yes             Yes
> Mozilla             Yes           Yes             Yes
> Evolution/GPG       Yes           YES             NO
> Evolution           Yes           Yes             Yes
>
> So it seems to be a email setup problem, but related to the fact that
> the message is coming from a Unix host. Mozilla, which is
> cross-platform, has no problems; OE and possibly Eudora, which are
> not, have problems. The problem is still in the way Evolution handles
> PGP-signing - it treats a message differently when it is being signed
> then when it is not being signed, contrary to the Mozilla-way of
> creating a message.
>
> For me, this is a critical failure - I want to sign my emails, but 
> most of my correspondents are either Windows users (have problems 
> above) or are Mozilla users (and the signing would not show up as 
> signings).
>
> On the positive side, Evo's calendar apps and calendar compatibility
> is far greater than Jpilot's. However, given my intensity of email use
> relative to the intensity of sophisticated calendar usage, that
> doens't trump Evo's email problems.
>
> I think at this point in time, I will continue to monitor Evolution,
> but not use it for anything - I'll revert back to my current combo.

--

Michael Zucchi <notzed ximian com> "born to die, live to work, it's all downhill from here" Novell's Evolution and Free Software Developer