[Enigmail] Keeping the private key in a safe place

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Hello,

Thank you for the several responses that made it very clear to me
about what signing does.

I have another naive question, I understand that keeping the private
key safe is of great importance. How can I copy it onto a cd that I
will store safely at home, alongside the recovation certificate for
the public key, in the event that my computer dies or get stolen ?

Best,

Alex

On 01/21/2012 09:59 PM, John Clizbe wrote:
> Alex aka Soyouth wrote:
>> Hello,
>> 
>> I am a total newbie,
> 
> We were all newbies at one point in time.
> 
>> I was able to setup enigmail in thunderbird under ubuntu 10.4. I
>> could send a message to adele and received an encrypted one but
>> it only worked once. Maybe it has to do with the smtp server I am
>> using ?
>> 
>> Also I do not understand the exact meaning of Sign Message
>> versus Attach my public key .
> 
> Sign Message does just that. Inline OpenPGP, which you've used
> attaches the signature to the end of the message. PGP/MIME attaches
> the signature as an attachment.
> 
> Attach Public Key attaches your key as apart of the message. It's
> one way to distribute your public key to others, but IMNSHO, it's
> suboptimal. I believe the keyservers are a better solution.
> 
>> If I want people to be able to reply to me with encryption, shall
>> I just sign it or also attach my key ?
> 
> Had your key been on the keyservers, gpg would have automagically
> fetched it to verify the signature on the message you sent to the
> list. Anyone replying directly to you could then also send the
> reply encrypted to your public key. So, you see, signing is
> sufficient after you've sent your key to a keyserver.
> 
> NB: As I said, I'm biased. I operate two keyservers and maintain
> the keyserver code.
> 
>> Thank you very much in advance for your help
> 
> No problem
> 
>> Alex
> 
> -John
> 
>> ps : I couldn't find any key for [EMAIL PROTECTED] so I am
>> sending this message unencrypted.
> 
> There is no [EMAIL PROTECTED] key. Please *do not ever* send
> encrypted mail to a public list _UNLESS_ the list is setup that
> way.
> 
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