Linux Security Cookbook

8.3. Encrypted Mail with Pine

Problem

You want to send and receive encrypted email conveniently with the Pine mailer.

Solution

Use PinePGP.

Description

Before using PinePGP, make sure you have previously used Pine on your local computer, so you have a ~/.pinerc configuration file. Then download PinePGP from http://www.megaloman.com/~hany/software/pinepgp, build, and install it. (As root if you prefer.)

When installing PinePGP, you must make a choice: Should messages you encrypt be decryptable only by their intended recipients, or by yourself as well? If the former, which is the default behavior, run:

$ pinegpg-install

Alternatively, if you want to change this default, making your messages decryptable by you (with your public key) in addition to the recipient, instead invoke:

$ pinegpg-install [e-mail]

where [e-mail] is the email address associated with your intended GnuPG key. [Recipe 7.7]

Now let’s send an encrypted message to our friend [e-mail], whose GnuPG public key is already on our keyring. Run pine and compose a message. Press

ctrl-X

to send the message normally, and you will receive this prompt, asking if you want the message filtered before sending:

Send message (unfiltered)?

Press

ctrl-N

repeatedly to display the filters, which will appear like this:

Send message (filtered thru "gpg-sign")?
Send message (filtered thru "gpg-encrypt")?
Send message (filtered thru "gpg-sign+encrypt")?

Select the filter you want and press Return to send the message. If ...