[ubuntu-uk] Code of conduct/GPG
Eamonn Sullivan
eamonn.sullivan at gmail.com
Fri Sep 1 15:51:00 BST 2006
On 9/1/06, Steve Smith <steve.lists at googlemail.com> wrote:
> I'm trying to get to the bottom of what GPG is and how it works. I
> can't find a description that covers the absolute basics of what it
> is, would anyone care to explain to me? Does it have anything to do
> at all with the actual computer you create it on, or is it just
> completely random? How does it actually provide proof of
> identification, etc in practise?
That's a long and involved topic, I'm afraid. I'd start with the
fairly good Wikipedia article on public-key cryptography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography
And then move on to the GnuPG (GPG) handbook:
http://www.gnupg.org/gph/en/manual.html
It's not something that can really be summed up in a few sentences in
an email message. I assume you are interested because you need a GPG
key to sign the Code of Conduct? You could probably jump right to the
GPG handbook if you don't need convincing on how public-key
cryptography works.
-Eamonn
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