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GPGServices: Decrypting files (minor issue)

• Edit

Tom Goschütz

12 Mar, 2018 06:57 AM

When decrypting files with GPG for Mac,the file extension is kept, i.e. *.zip.pgp will be decrypted to *.zip 2.pgp, so that one has to change the extension manually prior to working with the file (here double-click to decompress).

Expected
Drop .pgp extension with decrypted file

macOS                   10.13.3     17D102
GPG Suite               2018.1      2083    (9658b70)
GPGMail                 3.0b4       1272    (461cda15)
GPG Keychain            1.4.2       1403    (128637e)
GPGServices             1.11.2      969     (e5438f7)
MacGPG                  2.2.3       900     (cead4f9)
GPG Suite Preferences   2.1.1       993     (05eb1a6)
Libmacgpg               0.8.2       829     (943132e)
pinentry                0.9.7.1     9       (db18340)

1. Support Staff 1 Posted by Steve on 13 Mar, 2018 10:49 AM

   

   Hi Tom,

   welcome to the GPGTools support platform. Sorry you are having problems using GPG Suite.

   The decrypted file will have the name that it had prior to encryption. So if you have a file called "test_file.pdf" and encrypt that file, you'll end up with "test_file.pdf.gpg".

   Decrypting that file will result again in a file called "test_file.pdf".

   Could you test that with some random file and confirm GPGServices behaves in that way on your machine?

   If it does the file you are decrypting may have had an unusual name before decryption.

   Best,
   steve

   • Edit

2. 2 Posted by Tom Goschütz on 13 Mar, 2018 12:04 PM

   

   Hi Steve,

   thanks for following up on this. It does work as designed for a local file that I just tried (see OK1-3), but does not with a file that I receive every month from my mobile provider (see FAIL1-3). It looks like a standard ZIP file though and after removing the „ 2.pgp“ from the filename, double-clicking the file starts the unarchiver.

   OK:

   FAIL:

   Best,

   Tom

   • OK3.png 172 KB
   • FAIL1.png 252 KB
   • FAIL2.png 142 KB
   • FAIL3.png 285 KB
   • OK1.png 882 KB
   • OK2.png 763 KB
   • Edit

3. 3 Posted by Tom Goschütz on 13 Mar, 2018 12:06 PM

   

   addendum: I just notice that the file I receive has a .PGP extension instead of .GPG. This used to work though even with the PGP extension.
   If I change it to .GPG, the decrypt process also removes the .GPG.

   So it comes down to the suite handling the .PGP extension differently now than before.

   Best,
   Tom

   • Edit

4. Support Staff 4 Posted by Luke Le on 21 Mar, 2018 07:17 PM

   

   Hi Tom,

   unfortunately in this case GPG Services does what it is supposed to do, which is used the filename which is recorded in the GPG data. There seems to be a problem with the tool the sender is using. When the sender is encrypting a file, their GPG app will include the original filename in the GPG data. The advantage of this method is, that they could then assign a completely random name to the file (in order not to reveal the content) and when you decrypt it, the decrypted file will be name like the filename of the unencrypted version. In this case it appears, that for some reason the GPG app of the sender recorded the wrong filename.

   Does that make sense?

   • Edit

5. 5 Posted by Tom Goschütz on 21 Mar, 2018 09:10 PM

   

   Hi Luke,

   the handling does make sense if you ignore the fact that .pgp is a special extension since it is the granddaddy of the GPG suite, if you like. I would like to see that compatibility between the two kept.
   I get these PGP-encrypted files since years and GPG used to decrypt them back to the original extension of the file instead of keeping the .pgp extension.

   Best,
   tom

   • Edit

6. Support Staff 6 Posted by Steve on 22 Mar, 2018 12:47 PM

   

   Compatibility is there.

   Try the following: Encrypt random file named "test.pdf" on your computer. The encrpyted file will be "test.pdf.gpg".

   Duplicate the encrypted file and rename the duplicate to "test.pdf.pgp".

   Try decrypting both files and you will see that the decrypted files in both cases will be "test.pdf"

   • Edit

7. 7 Posted by Tom Goschütz on 22 Mar, 2018 03:43 PM

   

   Sure, but this is not about renaming files but simply about the case as I have described it before:

   I receive a .PGP file:

   I decrypt the file with GPG and get this:

   This always worked in a previous version and does not anymore. That simple.

   Best,
   Tom

   • Bildschirmfoto_2018-03-22_um_16.40.19.png 220 KB
   • Bildschirmfoto_2018-03-22_um_16.40.37.png 185 KB
   • Edit

8. Support Staff 8 Posted by Steve on 22 Mar, 2018 04:01 PM

   

   Please download 2017.3 and test the behavior with the received file:
   https://releases.gpgtools.org/GPG_Suite-2017.3.dmg

   • Edit

9. Support Staff 9 Posted by Steve on 08 Jul, 2018 12:02 PM

   

   Closing, since no further user feedback was received. Should your problem persist, feel free to re-open this discussion any time.

   All the best, steve

   • Edit

10. Steve closed this discussion on 08 Jul, 2018 12:02 PM.