[plug] PGP Sign messages

[James Devenish]

In message <20040921114839.GD19087 at cp.yi.org>
on Tue, Sep 21, 2004 at 07:48:39PM +0800, Cameron Patrick wrote:
> Steve Baker wrote:
> > More correctly, the hash is *encrypted by* the private key of the
> > keypair.
> 
> No, it's /decrypted/.
...
> Hence, to compute the signature, you decrypt the hash with your key

Cameron, your post seems to be at complete odds with my own
understanding, and my own understanding is congruent with what
Steve's expressed. As I understand it, there are two canonical
uses for keypairs in our e-mail:

* Signing: a hash of the body of the message is encrypted with the
  private key and then decrypted by everyone with the public key.
* Encryption: the entire body is encrypted opaquely with the public
  key and then decrypted by the sole holder of the private key.