[46373] in Cypherpunks
Re: 2047 bit keys in PGP
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Laszlo Vecsey)
Wed Jan 3 13:55:20 1996
Date: Wed, 3 Jan 1996 13:35:50 -0500 (EST)
From: Laszlo Vecsey <master@internexus.net>
To: Sten Drescher <dreschs@austnsc.tandem.com>
Cc: "Douglas F. Elznic" <delznic@storm.net>, cypherpunks@toad.com
In-Reply-To: <5568et6trn.fsf@galil.austnsc.tandem.com>
> "Douglas F. Elznic" <delznic@storm.net> said:
>
> DE> What is the deal with the 2047 bit keys? How do you produce one? IS
> DE> it compatible with international versions?
>
> =09When you do 'pgp -kg', you are asked to pick a PGP key size, and
> given 3 preselected sizes. You can select one of the sizes, or enter
> your own choice. Actually, the pgp source will allow 2048, but there is
> a bug in the DOS version (from the compiler) that limits that one to
> 2047. The international version is identical to the domestic one,
> except for the RSA code, so everything is interoperable. There is a
> hacked version that allows 4096 bit keys, and the supersized keys are
> incompatible.
Are you sure it's a bug in the DOS version? When I did a pgp -kg in my
UNIX shell (US version 2.6.2) I also entered 2048 bits and it too
created a 2047 bit key instead.
Why is there a limit to the size of the key anyway? It's too bad PGP
doesn't support any size key (within reason).
