OpenPGP Message Format
draft-ietf-openpgp-rfc4880bis-02
Network Working Group W. Koch
Internet-Draft
Updates: 4880 (if approved) June 30, 2017
Intended status: Standards Track
Expires: January 1, 2018
OpenPGP Message Format
draft-ietf-openpgp-rfc4880bis-02
Abstract
{ Work in progress to update the OpenPGP specification from RFC4880 }
This document is maintained in order to publish all necessary
information needed to develop interoperable applications based on the
OpenPGP format. It is not a step-by-step cookbook for writing an
application. It describes only the format and methods needed to
read, check, generate, and write conforming packets crossing any
network. It does not deal with storage and implementation questions.
It does, however, discuss implementation issues necessary to avoid
security flaws.
OpenPGP software uses a combination of strong public-key and
symmetric cryptography to provide security services for electronic
communications and data storage. These services include
confidentiality, key management, authentication, and digital
signatures. This document specifies the message formats used in
OpenPGP.
Status of This Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute
working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-
Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
This Internet-Draft will expire on January 1, 2018.
Koch Expires January 1, 2018 [Page 1]
Internet-Draft OpenPGP Message Format June 2017
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Table of Contents
1. {1} Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1. {1.1} Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2. {2} General functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.1. {2.1} Confidentiality via Encryption . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2. {2.2} Authentication via Digital Signature . . . . . . . 7
2.3. {2.3} Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.4. {2.4} Conversion to Radix-64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.5. {2.5} Signature-Only Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3. {3} Data Element Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.1. {3.1} Scalar Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.2. {3.2} Multiprecision Integers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.3. {3.3} Key IDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.4. {3.4} Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.5. {3.5} Time Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.6. {3.6} Keyrings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.7. {3.7} String-to-Key (S2K) Specifiers . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.7.1. {3.7.1} String-to-Key (S2K) Specifier Types . . . . . 10
3.7.2. {3.7.2} String-to-Key Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4. {4} Packet Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.1. {4.1} Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.2. {4.2} Packet Headers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.2.1. {4.2.1} Old Format Packet Lengths . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.2.2. {4.2.2} New Format Packet Lengths . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.2.3. {4.2.3} Packet Length Examples . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.3. {4.3} Packet Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
5. {5} Packet Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
5.1. {5.1} Public-Key Encrypted Session Key Packets (Tag 1) . 17
5.2. {5.2} Signature Packet (Tag 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
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