Comment by tptacek | Hacker News Reader

Comment by tptacek | Hacker News Reader

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There isn't an alternative that is functionally equivalent because what PGP does is dumb. It's a Swiss Army Knife. Nobody who wants to design an excellent saw sets out to design the Swiss Army Knife saw[†]. Nobody who needs shears professionally buys a Swiss Army Knife for the scissors.

The cryptographic requirements of different problems --- backup, package signing, god-help-us secure messaging --- are in tension with each other. No one design adequately covers all the use cases. Trying to cram them all into one tool is a sign that something other than security is the goal. If that's the case, you're live action roleplaying, not protecting people.

I'd be interested in whether you could find a cryptographer who disagrees with that. I've asked around!

[†] I am aware that SAK nerds love the saw.

So what toolbag or workshop of excellent specialized tools would provide the same capability as GnuPG?

Ask me a question about a specific realistic problem (ie, not "how do I replicate this behavior of PGP", but rather "how do I solve this real-world problem") and I'll give an answer (or someone else will).

I think I described (though perhaps too briefly or not clearly enough) the very specific realistic problems?

I'm somewhat amused that every time this kind of discussion comes up, the answer is "you are holding it wrong". I have a feeling the world of knowledgeable crypto folks is somewhat detached from user reality.

If a single tool isn't possible, give me three tools. But if those three tools each require separate sets of keys with their own key management systems, I'm not sure if the user's problem is being addressed.

Which three problems? This isn't a trick question.

I only counted one problem:

> I want to be able to encrypt my backups to multiple recipients.

Presumably this means you want to encrypt the backup once and have multiple decryption keys or something?

The rest of your original comment are constraints around how you want it to work.

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