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Annotation of pgp/doc/readme.vms, revision 1.1.1.2

1.1.1.2 ! root        1: PGP/VMS Version 2.3
1.1       root        2: -------------------
                      3: 
                      4: All rights to PGP are reserved by Phil Zimmermann. All contributed modules
                      5: are also subject to the copyrights of their individual authors, on the same
                      6: conditions. Certain algorithms used by PGP are subject to patent restrictions
                      7: and this software as a whole may be subject to export control in certain
                      8: countries. Read the PGP Guide for full copyright information and for details
                      9: about export control.
                     10: 
                     11: These notes are intended for those people using and working with PGP under
                     12: the VAX/VMS operating system. These are intended to supplement rather than
                     13: replace the PGP guide. You should read and understand the guide, particularly
                     14: the section about key management.
                     15: 
                     16: If you unzip under VMS using the public domain Zipper - you will probably have
                     17: a problem with file characteristics. If you have the PD FILE utility, you can
                     18: fix this by saying:
                     19: 
                     20: $ FILE/type=stream  *.*
                     21: 
                     22: Otherwise you can fix using either TPU or CONVERT/FDL.
                     23:  
                     24: PGP/VMS was written using the VAX C compiler, which you must have to
                     25: compile it. If you wish to use another compiler, see the developers notes.
                     26: PGP is provided with an MMS description file. To build using this file, go
                     27: to the directory containing the uncompressed files and type the following:
                     28: 
                     29: $ MMS PGP.EXE
                     30: 
                     31: You may wish to delete the object files at this point, they are not needed
                     32: unless you are working on the code. To build a version under the VAX/VMS
                     33: debugger, define the DCL symbol PGP_DEBUG=1. The debugger version will be
                     34: built without any optimisation and will be *significantly* slower.
                     35: 
                     36: If you do not have MMS you may execute the DCL supplied command procedure 
                     37: VMSBUILD.COM to compile and link PGP.
                     38: 
                     39: Once you have built PGP, it should be placed somewhere that is protected
                     40: against tampering. It is not impossible that someone may replace PGP.EXE 
                     41: with a patched version designed to capture keys. You may wish to use the 
                     42: CHECKSUM utility (CHECKSUM/IMAGE PGP.EXE) to control against modifications, 
                     43: however CHECKSUM does not use very effective algorithms and may itself be 
                     44: compromised.
                     45: 
                     46: You should then use PGP by defining it as an "external command" in your
                     47: LOGIN.COM, or alternative the system wide login command procedure, SYLOGIN.
                     48: This is done simply with the following line of DCL:
                     49: 
                     50: $ PGP:==$device:[directory]PGP
                     51: 
                     52: After executing this line (remember the dollar sign before the device name), 
                     53: you should be able to display a help text by typing:
                     54: 
                     55: $ PGP
                     56: 
                     57: PGP will want to retain the keyrings and some other information. These are
                     58: stored in the device and directory pointed to by the logical name PGPPATH.
                     59: You should copy the files LANGUAGE.TXT and CONFIG.TXT to this directory.
                     60: 
                     61: Your secret keyring contains information that could be cryptographically
                     62: analysed - it must be protected against world access. However, your secret key
                     63: ring is encrypted so is protected against casual browsing. If anyone that you
                     64: can not trust has privileged access to your system, your plaintext files are
                     65: vulnerable and potentially, also your keyrings.
                     66: 
                     67: Note that keyrings should be directly transportable between VMS, MSDOS
                     68: and other PGP implementations. Text files may not be portable because of the
                     69: different text record representations across operating systems. If you wish
                     70: to send a text file to a system other than VAX/VMS, you are recommended to
                     71: use the 'canonical-form' switch '-t'.
                     72: 
                     73: If you wish to take binary files such as backup savesets between two systems
                     74: running VMS, you can use the special flag 'i' with the encrypt function to
                     75: preserve the file and record characteristics. When decrypting, PGP will read
                     76: the 'i' flag and the type of the system that created the file. If both systems
                     77: are VMS, the file will be correctly decrypted with the correct file
                     78: characteristics.
                     79: 
1.1.1.2 ! root       80: Special Notes For V2.2 And Following
        !            81: ------------------------------------
1.1       root       82: 
                     83: This version improves the keyboard handling. Specifically, it addresses
                     84: the CPU bound loop whilst reading terminal input and provides better prompt
                     85: and keyboard handling.
                     86: 
                     87: Developers Notes
                     88: ----------------
                     89: 
                     90: There are two key conditionals throughout the source for the VAX/VMS
                     91: implementation:
                     92: 
                     93: VAXC -  Allows specific optimisations permitted by the VAX C compiler and
                     94:         overcomes problems with the differences between VAX C and ANSI C.
                     95: 
                     96: VMS  -  This allows VMS specific file handling and some optimisations. It
                     97:         should be noted that the primitives do not work with RISC/VMS until
                     98:         someone has done some work on porting VAX.MAR.
                     99: 
                    100: There was also some preliminary work done on porting this to GNU C and indeed
                    101: an earlier (developers) version ran under GNU C. The code affected is usually
                    102: conditionalised with GCC. If someone wishes to complete this and (hopefully)
                    103: integrate the inline assembler stuff used for moves and zero-fills, this
                    104: would be very useful.
                    105: 
                    106: The MMS command procedure and VMSBUILD.COM build from sources in a directory
                    107: pointed to by the logical SRC and objects pointed to by OBJ. This makes life
                    108: a little easier as you can use a search list for the sources so you can keep
                    109: the distribution intect.
                    110:  
                    111: All optimizations were checked out using DEC's PCA, and this version appears
                    112: to be optimal under VAX C.
                    113: 
                    114: As for cleaning up, there are verious areas which could be improved:
                    115: 
                    116: 1)      PGP's own erase on delete could be replaced by the standard VMS 
                    117:         function so the file system does the work.
                    118: 
                    119: Contributing Authors
                    120: --------------------
                    121: 
                    122: This port was originally performed by Hugh Kennedy with assistance from
                    123: Mark Barsoum and others.
                    124: 
                    125: Support
                    126: -------
                    127: 
                    128: This software is provided in the public domain and without charge other than
                    129: for copying. For support issues concerning PGP and VAX/VMS, you are welcome 
                    130: to contact me via Electronic Mail on Compuserve using ID 70042,710 and on the 
                    131: Internet with [email protected]. This software is provided "as-is" and 
                    132: any support given will be of an informal nature.
                    133: 
                    134: Hugh A.J. Kennedy, 11th February 1992
1.1.1.2 ! root      135: Minor editing for 2.3 release, Colin Plumb, 14 June 1993

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