PGP (Pretty Good Privacy, written by Philip Zimmermann) is a DOS-program and a very good public key encryption of text files. Eudora from QUALCOMM is a very popular mailprogram for MS-Windows. Peics is just an interface between these programs. It does not replace either of them.
Without a PGP-shell it's cumbersome to reply to coded mail. You have to save the received mail in a file; go to DOS; PGP-decode it; return to Windows if you prefer a Windows editor; type an answer; go back to DOS; PGP-code the file; and then return to Windows, paste the encrypted message in Eudora and send the file. With Peics you can run PGP from Eudora's menu or by pushing a button on Eudora's toolbar.
Peics finds out what to do. First it copies the data in the current window to a textfile on disk. Then it starts PGP.EXE in a DOS-box and specifies the right command-line to decode or encrypt the text. The decoded text is returned in the current window if possible. Otherwise you can paste it into an editor of your choice. The encrypted text is always put in the current window.
Peics Pro is not freeware nor shareware. You will need a license from Comerwell Software to use it. Peics Light is freeware for private non-business use and shareware for commercial use, so if you use it at work you should buy a license. Then you can also use Peics Pro, instead.You do not have to read the entire manual. I'm sorry for writing so much. Read at least sections 2, 3, 4 and the start of section 5. Then run the program, see if and how it works. Then run the program and see if and how it works. If you can't figure something out, read the appropriate section and try again.
Do not expect, that it will always work with beta versions of Eudora.
For Peics you will need Eudora(16) 3.0 or later, for Empics(16) please use
Eudora(16) 1.5.2, 1.5.4, 2.1.2 or 2.2.
It does not run with 32-bit versions of Eudora.
PEICSLT.LIC will be shown when you run the program for the first time. If you don't like to have those files in the plugins directory, you can also create a subdirectory PEICS under PLUGINS. Peics searches them there if the directory exists. The main PEICS??.DLL must be in PLUGINS, because Eudora must load it.
Peics reads module information from Eudora, which will be saved in the [ModuleDefinition] section in PEICS.INI. Peics knows about specific Eudora versions. If you use another, you'll see a dialog box from which you can choose a module definition. If everything worked fine, you can save the module definition for later use. This information is saved in the [SelectedModDefinition] section in PEICS.INI.
This version can load a language module. A German module will soon be on the language support page. The file must be named "pl16?*.dll" (16-bit) or "pl32?*.dll" (32-bit). The "?*" is a language identifier, so the 32-bit German version will be "pl32de.dll". The first file that matches this name will be loaded from the PLUGINS directory (or the PEICS directory if that one exists). You can also set the name in PEICS.INI. Peics will use the internal English data if the file cannot be found.
If Eudora is currently running, the new addition of this software will not show up. Close Eudora and re-launch.
Peics first reads PGP's configuration file (CONFIG.TXT or PGP.INI) from the directory specified by the PGPPATH environmental variable. If it finds a TMP= entry, it will use that directory, otherwise it uses the directory specified by the TMP environmental variable. This is exactly how PGP does this. See section "Setting Parameters in the PGP Configuration File" in PGPDOC2.TXT (PGP's documentation).
It's recommended to set the TMP parameter in PGP's CONFIG.TXT or PGP.INI to a RAM-drive, because this will guarantee that there are no stale (chunks of) files left on the disk when the system or the program hangs.
If the directory for temporary files has not been found, yet, then Peics tries the TEMP environmental variable and the PGPtempdir parameter in PEICS.INI.
If the files exist on start-up, you will be prompted if they can be overwritten. If you choose "Cancel" the program terminates without overwriting them.
The license file PEICSLT.LIC will be searched in this configuration directory and in the PLUGINS directory under the Eudora directory. If you have a license for more users, then you'd better store the file under the Eudora directory. If you have a license for yourself put it in your own configuration directory. Peics shows where it searched the file if it cannot be found. If it finds a file, it does not search for other PEICSLT.LIC files.
Every time you use PGP you will have to follow these instructions:
The next sections assume that you are at section 2 of the description
above.
5a. Decoding
If Peics found a PGP MESSAGE BEGIN/END block, it will
show a "Decode" dialog box.
This will decode the text from the BEGIN/END block.
Peics copies the text to the window where it came from. If this is an an input window you can only read the text. Everything else you try to do (forward, reply, save), will be done on the original encrypted text. As well as reading and scrolling you can copy a selection to the clipboard (Edit|Select All and Edit|Copy).
If you have sent an encrypted message from an output window you can later decode it, provided that you have also encrypted for yourself. But Eudora marks this output window as read-only, so you can only read the (decoded) text, as in the input window.
If you have set the INI-setting CopyToReadOnly = 0, then Peics shows a
dialog box that lets you choose where you want your decoded text to go.
It can copy the text to the
clipboard (the default, [Yes]) or ([No])
to the textwindow, where it came from. If you chose to copy the text
to the clipboard, you can paste your decoded text from the clipboard into
an editor of your choice.
Decoding attachments
Incoming text attachments can be passed to PGP for decoding. I added this because some
other mailer extensions put the encrypted text in an attachment. Moreover some
keymailers send keys as attachment. The converted text will be put in the text
in place of the "Attachment Converted: FILENAME" text. This enables
you to decode more than one attachment in a message. Simply "run PGP" on them again.
The program reads the attached file and scans for a "-----PGP BEGIN" to see what it should do with the file. Then it does exactly what it normally does with a text in the window. It copies the text to a file (PEICS.ASC); passes that to PGP and inserts the result in the original text. If there's no PGP MESSAGE, KEY or SIGNATURE block in the file, then Peics just ignores the attachment. Attachment decoding can be turned off in the "Peics settings..." dialog box.
Now please do not start mailing me, saying that you cannot encrypt attachments that you make. I shall add this some time in the future, but I do not know when.
There's an easier way to decode if you want to reply to an encrypted message. See section 5d. Reply to coded mail.
If Peics finds no coded or signed text in an output window , it shows an Encrypt-dialog box with the previously typed text and the recipient name from the "To:"-field. You can change this name, if the keyname is different. It's very convenient to have the e-mail address in the public key. PGP uses this name to find the key of the recipient. Peics extracts the e-mail address from the text in the "To:" field, if it finds an '@' sign.
Here you can add options, if you need. Put them in the editbox before the recipients name (e.g.: -s hans will sign the message encrypted for "hans".). If you set "AlwaysSign" in PEICS.INI every message that must be encrypted will be signed. The default PGP-options are "-aetw".
The program reads the "Cc:" (Carbon copy) field from the message window and adds those names to the "Encrypt for" field in the "Run PGP..." dialog box. If you have checked the "Encrypt for self" option in PEICS.INI, then the name of the sender (you:-) will also be added to this list. This makes it easy to encrypt every message for your self (so that you can at least read all mail encrypted by you ;-).
If you delete the recipients' name or if there was none in the "To:"-field, you will see the "ClearSign" header. (See section 5e. Clearsign a message). If you keep the [Shift] key down while starting the dialog box, then the nicknames in the "To:"- and "CC:"-fields will be expanded. These Peics Settings affect encrypting: "AlwaysSign", "Encrypt for self", "EncryptFor" and "Nicknames".
Note: Peics Pro offers a more complete dialog box with checkboxes for most options
and a list box for the keys.
5c. Adding a new key
If there's a "PGP PUBLIC KEY BEGIN/END" block in the text, you can add it to the
public keyring. Peics will pass the complete message to PGP.
After running PGP there's nothing to do for Peics.
PGP has showed already what it did.
Peics can also add the key from Eudora Pro's finger window. Use the EMSAPI interface to start the Peics dialog box. The window interface cannot find the finger window, so Empics cannot do this.
5d. Reply to coded mail
This is a very common usage, so I made it as easy as possible.
Part of this is very similar to what is covered
in section 5a. Decoding.
Clearing the "Encrypt for" field in Peics's dialog box will also turn on clearsigning. If you had already a name in the "To:"-field, this is easier.
In the "Sign from" parameter in the "Peics settings..." dialog box you can specify which secret key must be used for signing.
Note 1: Before running PGP, Peics sends two menucommands to the message window:
"Edit | Select All" and "Edit | Wrap Selection".
This will insert carriage returns in the text. If this is not done now,
Eudora will insert them just before sending the message and the signature
will fail because the text has changed.
Note 2: This is done on every message in an output window
.
5f. Checking signatures
If Peics found a SIGNATURE BEGIN/END block it will pass this
block to PGP and insert the text that PGP returns. This makes it
possible to check more signatures in one message.
After the first text has been checked it is returned in the message
but without the SIGNATURE BEGIN/END BLOCK. The next time you run PGP
the next message will be checked and so on.
You must check the signature on PGP's output. Peics does not show
anything.
5g. The "Edit | Undo"-function
If you have PGP'd and notice you have made an error, do not worry.
The "Edit | Undo" menu selection restores the window text
that appeared before PGP was started.
As soon as you change anything in the text, you cannot undo the PGP action
anymore, because the Undo function will undo the last change, as usual in Eudora.
Note that "Edit | Undo" is disabled when you are not in the
part of the window, where the text is. So if the cursor is in the subject-field,
first move to the text and then choose Undo.
You cannot undo an Add-key action.
5h. The Skip button
You will see a "skip" button in the dialog box, when Peics found an encrypted
or signed text (5a, 5f). If you push it, Peics will move to
the next PGP BEGIN/END block or to the next attached file. If it cannot
find more of these, it will show a "Nothing to do" message.
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6. Settings dialog box (PEICS.INI configuration file)
You do not have to read this chapter unless you have special wishes. The
default settings work fine for 80 % of the users, but the remaining 20%
may wish to change Peics's configuration to suit their preferences.
To change or review the configuration select the menu "Special | Message Plugins Settings..."
and choose "Peics PGP-Eudora interface" from the plug-ins list.
Peics first reads the INI-file from the Windows directory, then from the Eudora directory and then from the directory, that's passed by Eudora. This is a usually a "Plugins" directory below the Eudora directory or below the mail directory, specified as command-line parameter for Eudora. The latter is usually used to give each user his own configuration.
Every time it reads an INI-file, it overrides the previous settings. This makes it easy to create a system-wide configuration and a user-specific configuration. I've included an INI-file with the default settings. If you agree with them you do not need the file because the program sets them internally before reading the first INI-file. You can check the settings in the Settings dialog box or by keeping the [CAPSLOCK] key down, while Peics is being loaded.
Here are the options that are currently supported (with their defaults):
If you check this option, then Peics will make the tempdir the current
directory, so it only has to pass PEICS.ASC, instead of
"C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\PEICS.ASC". If you do this, then check that PGP.EXE does not
have its working directory specified to another directory, because then
windows will change to that directory and PGP will not be able to find the
file, that Peics made. You can check this in PGP.PIF (Win3.1) or in
"File | Properties" for PGP.EXE in "My Computer".
You may need this if you use special characters as in French, German, etc.
Windows uses the Ansi character set, while DOS uses the Oem definition, so
if you exchange mail with someone who does not use Windows (they exist!)
and if you use those special characters, then you can try to turn on this
option. Then PGP will maybe not complain about failing signatures and you can
better read PGP's output. If you do not understand, what this is all about,
leave it set to = 0.
(Not in the dialog box)
(Not in the dialog box)
(AnsiOem conversion)
(Convert incoming attachments)
(Expand nicknames)
(Not in the dialog box)
These 3 radiobuttons you will see in the dialog box:
-1 ; handled by Windows
0 ; created by Peics; close yourself
1 ; created by Peics; close automatically
when: 1) there are no errors
2) PGP has to encrypt or sign
The values (-1, 0, 1) are used in the INI-file.
If you choose 0 or 1, you have to close the window by clicking on the console window or by pressing a key. The closebutton does not work in these cases.
KeepOpen does not work if you use a PGP.PIF file. If you set KeepOpen >= 0, then PEICS does not search for a PGP.PIF file unless you specify it explicitly in PEIC.INI.
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7. Miscellaneous
7a. Programversions and name change
The version number of Peics increases by 0.01 on minor changes.
Versions with new features get the next 0.x0 number. In this case the manual
will be updated too. The time stamp always has the version number.
1:23 means version 1.23.
Peics(32) is compiled for i486 and runs on both 80386 and 80486
(and better) processors. Peics(16) runs on a 80286 based computer too.
Choose "Help | About Peics..." to get the
"About Peics" dialog box. Here you can see which version you have
(and who made this program ;-). It also shows your license information.
7b. Files in this distribution
In the file PeicsPro???.ZIP (??? = version number) you should find
another ZIP-file and a signature:
Length Size Ratio Date Time Name
------ ----- ----- ---- ---- --------
139582 139582 0% 21-04-97 01:23 PEICS.ZIP
152 152 0% 21-04-97 01:23 PEICS.SIG
------ ------ --- -------
139734 139734 0% 2
In the file PEICS.ZIP you should find these files:
Length Size Ratio Date Time Name
------ ----- ----- ---- ---- --------
138256 58464 58% 21-04-97 01:23 PEICS16.DLL Peics(16)
120864 59742 51% 21-04-97 01:23 PEICS32.DLL Peics(32)
48201 17334 65% 26-04-97 01:23 MANUAL.HTM This manual
3870 2038 48% 19-04-97 01:23 PEICSLT.LIC License file
5887 2472 59% 24-02-97 01:23 PEICS.INI Configuration
545 161 71% 24-02-97 01:23 PGP.PIF PIF file for win3.1
2562 1158 55% 26-04-97 01:23 REGISTER.DOC Registration info
591 362 39% 26-04-97 01:23 REGISTER.TXT Registration form
------ ------ --- -------
314007 138986 56% 8
These 3 files are in the Empics distribution instead of the Peics DLLs:
131088 53772 59% 26-04-97 01:23 EMPICS16.EXE Empics(16)
26144 12412 53% 25-04-97 01:23 EMPICS32.EXE Empics(32) EXE
116768 57512 51% 26-04-97 01:23 MP32.DLL Empics(32) DLL
Empics(32) consists of 2 parts: an EXE-file (EMPICS32.EXE) and a DLL
(MP32.DLL). This is the only way to do window subclassing between
different processes in Win95.
EMPICS32.EXE maps its DLL in Eudora's address space and the DLL does the
actual interfacing. Direct interfacing between programs is not allowed.
The file sizes and dates in the actual ZIP-file may be a bit different,
because I do not update this manual on every program update.
You can use the file PEICS.SIG to check if you have the original files.
You need my public key (for pgpeudra@comerwell.xs4all.nl)
for this.
You can get it:
Receiving the key by finger (Eudora Pro) or by mail is the easiest,
if you have already installed Peics, because Peics can
add the key to your public keyring.
To check the signature type at the DOS-commandline:
pgp peics.sig peics.zip
and PGP will show if the file has been changed. Of course this is no guarantee for the correctness of the program. It only shows that it's not corrupted. This is a good virusprotection too.
Every registered user (who wants this :-) will get an e-mail when I made
a new version.
You can regularly check the
announce
page to see if there are new versions announced.
Of course I shall post in the new
comp.security.pgp.announce
newsgroup, when I have a new version.
7c. Useful links on the internet
This part will may be outdated soon, but you can use it as a starting point.
If you need information about PGP or about other shells, you may find these
links useful:
LEGAL ISSUES
============
In plain English:
The author makes NO WARRANTY or representation, either express or implied, with respect to this software, its quality, accuracy, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose. This software is provided "AS IS", and you, its user, assume the entire risk as to its quality and accuracy.
Peics is copyright © 1995, 1996, 1997 Hans Bausewein, Hengelo, Nederland
All Rights Reserved except as specified below.
Permission is hereby granted to use, copy and distribute this program for non-commercial use, without fee, subject to these conditions:
THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
Instead I sell a license to use the program. This no-nonsense license offers you:
You will get an automatic reply within a few days and temporary try-out license. I shall send the permanent license when I got your payment.
Postbank number 7525347 or: ABN-AMRO number 40.78.38.309Note that this is not a postal address but a bank account. I also have a bank account in Germany and the USA (NY). See up-to-date information on my homepage.
Comerwell Software
Hengelo
The Netherlands
Comerwell Software is registered at the Chamber of Trade (Kamer van
Koophandel, KvK) Enschede at number 06072135. If Peics is bought for
a registered company in the EU, you must send me a copy of the registration
before I can send you an invoice.
7g. Remarks, comments, questions, etc
Remarks, comments, good ideas and mental support are very welcome. Maybe I may not reply immediately, subject to other work loads.
Please note this before you e-mail to me:
This Manual last revised - 97 - March 3