Synthesis of the seahorse 'asc' bug + bypass + fix + remaining problems

[Marc Meurrens <marc meurrens org>]

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Hello,

Here is my complete bug report.

Do I still need to enter a bugzilla entry or is this report enough ?
I am not willing to duplicate entry
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=458809
while, however, some additional material is provided here.

Please provide us with a feed-back specially on the last issues :
the "minor and major remaining problems".

Regards,

marc

========================================================

THE 'asc' BUG in seahorse

appears with seahorse version 2.20 on Ubuntu 7.04
appears with version 2.20 on Ubuntu 7.10
appears with last version 2.20.1 on Ubuntu 7.10

This bug is partially described as :
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=458809
and :
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11680
(this synthesis adds a.o. by-passes and fixes)

This report is also published at :
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=611743&highlight=seahorse
in order to make by-passes and fixes available for the Ubuntu communauty.

By double-clicking on the file, you get a security warning message.
you are invited to change the extension by .pgp.
even then, you are not able to process the file.

Opening the Properties/Open With of the file,
you see the association with "Importer une clé (import a key)".
You cannot add manually an association with seahorse-tool --import
as this probably conflict with the existing entry.

Hopefully enough you can still import the key by launching seahorse.

=====

BY-PASSING THE BUG

rename .asc pgp key file into .pkr file
the double-click will import (silently!) the key to your key ring

=====

FIXING THE BUG (for your self only : no need to be root)

in your home directory (you must select to show hidden files),
there is a .local directory.
there you find a share directory.
within share there is a mime directory; else, create it
inside mime there is a packages directory, else create it
within packages, there is a file Override.xml (uppercase O)
If the file does not yet exist create it with the following content :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<mime-info xmlns="http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/shared-mime-info";>
     <mime-type type="application/pgp-keys">
          <comment>ascii armoured pgp key</comment>
          <glob pattern="*.asc"/>
     </mime-type>
</mime-info>

if the file already existed, simply add the mime-type :

     <mime-type type="application/pgp-keys">
          <comment>ascii armoured pgp key</comment>
          <glob pattern="*.asc"/>
     </mime-type>

in the console, do the following :
$ update-mime-database ~/.local/share/mime/

a lot of files are now created (or updated) in your ~/.local/share/mime/

double-click on asc file containing an ascii armoured pgp key :
seahorse will silently import the key.
the problem is solved

=====

REMAINING MINOR PROBLEM :

The key importation is completely silent. So you don't know if the
importation was successfull or not.
However in the message
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/seahorse-list/2007-September/msg00000.html
with subject ANNOUNCEMENT: Seahorse 2.20
the list of Changes between 1.0 and 2.20
announced a.o. "Give more detail for imported keys. [Adam Schreiber]"

=====

REMAINING MAJOR PROBLEM

The choice, for pgp keys, of the extensions .pkr and .skr instead of
.asc is problematic.
.skr , as suggested by the name, was the extension for the secret key
ring of the windows version of PGP.
.pkr was for public key ring.
(btw, these extensions are not used by gnupg)
.asc is for ascii armoured things. It is widely used to distribute pgp
(or gpg) public keys or to backup
private keys.
The choices expressed in file /usr/share/mime/packages/seahorse.xml
also reflected in file usr/share/mime/packages/freedesktop.org.xml
are a really serious problem.
(btw, there is no file : /usr/share/mime-info/seahorse.mime or
seahorse.keys )
Mind that, when exporting a key, seahorse still suggest the extension
.asc (and is right to do so!)
We must find a definitive solution so that a 'normal' user may simply
click on an .asc file
(e.g. freshly downloaded from the web) to import the key.
I suppose the seahorse developers will take the measures after the bug :
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11680
will be carried on by freedesktop.org

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