From: edgar@spectrx.Saigon.COM (Edgar W. Swank)
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 93 10:29:20 PDT
To: Cypherpunks          <cypherpunks@toad.com>
Subject: PGP: Re: PGP Error
Message-ID: <w66V2B3w165w@spectrx.saigon.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

Michael Diehl wrote on April 6:

    When I use the following command line in a batch file, I get a
    Compression/ decompression error.  No files are created.  The
    contents of the batch file is:

    pgp -es %1 %2 Diehl

    Where %1 is the name of the file to send, and %2 is the other
    person's name.

    What am I doing wrong, or is ther a problem with my pgp?

I think there's a problem with PGP.  A net-friend of mine in Poland
first brought this to my attention.  He says he's already notified PGP
author Branko Lankester.  The problem's occurance seems to depend on
the file being compressed/encrypted.  Files which are already
compressed, but are not ZIP files (e.g.  ARJ files) seem to cause the
problem.  I was able to reproduce a similar problem by trying to
compress ARJ.EXE (ARJ 2.30).  In my case, the system crashed shortly
- -after- PGP exited, and some of the armored files produced (I used
- -eas) were obviously messed up.

The obvious temporary bypass is to turn off compression for files
which cause problems; not much of a penalty, since the file is already
compressed. This can be done by a (temporary) change to the CONFIG.TXT
file.  I think there may also be an (undocumented) way to do this from
the command line. Try:

  +compress=off

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faTyFGsCeNcpA5x897qwsD/M7zM3j7EVauctAjNBTM9t/34eTuaYuesPPBmEaUcS
yp7J1VOvbWM=
=8+bK
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--
edgar@spectrx.saigon.com (Edgar W. Swank)
SPECTROX SYSTEMS +1.408.252.1005  Silicon Valley, Ca