[Alpine-info] I have S/MIME vs GPG questions.

[Steven W. Orr]

I see that alpine has S/MIME support and I think I understand how to create 
self-signed certs for myself. After that I have a number of questions that are 
confusing me.

* What are the pros and cons of using GPG to sign/encrypt versus using S/MIME?

* Even if I don't have a cert already created, why does alpine not perform the 
verification of S/MIME messages for me when I get such messages? And how can I 
make this happen automatically when they happen?

* What really is a good book to read on S/MIME? I have read the GPG material 
but S/MIME is not a topic of discussion. The alpine docs tell you what S/MIME 
support exists, but it sort of presumes that you know what it is in the first 
place.

* Does S/MIME (alpine or otherwise) have the capability to look up a 
public key like gpg does? Or do I have to manually trade keys with people?

I realize that this may be pushing the limits of whether these are alpine 
or gpg questions.

Thanks.

-- 
Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like a banana. Stranger things have  .0.
happened but none stranger than this. Does your driver's license say Organ ..0
Donor?Black holes are where God divided by zero. Listen to me! We are all- 000
individuals! What if this weren't a hypothetical question?
steveo at syslang.net