[Savannah-hackers] submission of GnuPG Keyserver - savannah.gnu.org

[arc]

A package was submitted to savannah.gnu.org
This mail was sent to address@hidden, address@hidden


Arc NLN <address@hidden> described the package as follows:
License: gpl
Other License: Copyright (C) 2002 Free Software Foundation

Even the proof-of-concept code that\'s being distrubed contains the correct 
copyright headers, same as Freeform.


Package: GnuPG Keyserver
System name: gnupgd
Type: GNU

Description:
This project is to coordinate the development of a simple OpenPGP keyserver 
using GnuPG as it\'s core.

Basically, the idea is that we let GnuPG handle most of the processing, that 
is, merging new signatures into keys, storing, sorting, searching, etc.  Other 
keyserver projects try to reinvent the wheel, and while they may be faster, 
they are either too old to support new features, lack flexibility we need for 
our implementation, or are simply not ready for production use yet (and most 
likely will not be within anywhere near a reasonable timeframe).

Our first goal is to have a working keyserver running this code by Saturday 
(09/29/02) at keys.indymedia.org.  This was a keyserver network serving the 
Indymedia (www.indymedia.org) network and thousands of activists who need to 
exchange secure content with them, however pks proved to be too high 
maintenence and over time all five mirror servers have shut down due to their 
admin\'s lack of time to keep them running (ie, restarting them when they 
fail).  I\'m planning to facilitate a GnuPG workshop at the upcomming 
convergence in DC (where several hundred media activists will be attending) and 
having keys.indymedia.org is essential to teaching this workshop.

Once in operation, contingent on the time and energy of Indymedia tech 
volunteers (and others interested in helping develope the code), we\'ll add 
features like photo-id display from the web interface, HKP email support for 
peering with older keyserver codebases, and interoperability with Freeform 
(http://sv.gnu.org/projects/freeform/).

At this point all that exists in snippets of proof-of-concept code, however we 
should have some real code to upload to CVS as soon as this project is setup.


Other Software Required:
Python, py-GnuPGInterface, and GnuPG 1.2.  

All Free, however I\'d like to use something other than GnuPGInterface- I feel 
uneasy about the OSDN (Sourceforge, where it\'s hosted) and the interface it 
offers for GnuPG is crude, at best.  It\'s only redeeming quality is that it\'s 
so low-level that it doesn\'t seem to care what version of GnuPG we run, 
compatability with any one version is dependent on our side (responses have to 
be parsed differently).  This project may require, eventually, a new GnuPG 
module be written.


Other Comments: