> John A. Wallace wrote: > > When using Enigmail In Windows OS, if Iwant tomake a reference to a > > folder by using a relative path such as“.\folder1\folder2”, instead > of > > an absolute path starting at the root of the drive,in the OpenPGP > > Preferences > > > Advanced>Additional parameters for GnuPG, where exactly would that > > Advanced>initial > > directory“.\”be referring to? I mean, is it the folder > > where“thunderbird.exe”starts up, or the thunderbird > > profile,or“gpg.exe”,or where exactly? > > There is no current directory of Enigmail outside of what is defined > for an extension. > > It's somewhat indeterminate.
It's somewhat quantum-like, is it not, this space we inhabit? It helps to keep us alert! > The idea of a current directory is > problematic with Windows gui apps. it's whatever directory Windows > happened to be working in when the app is started. TB/SM started by > Explorer from a shortcut will use the value of the 'Start in' field of > the shortcut. If started from clicking on an associated file, e.g., > saved.eml, it will either be the Path value from the application's key > under 'App Paths' or the directory containing the clicked file. > > Filenames passed as arguments are passed by Windows as full paths. > > gpg treats the directory of the calling process as the working > directory, with the exception of the handling of keyring files in the > home directory. This distinction may be helpful in my situation. When I use Enigmail in portable mode installed on, say, a USB device and I insert the device into a USB port on different machines, the gpg home directory could change in an absolute pathname because the root drive letter of the USB port could differ in any given machine's assignment. In other cases it might not even have a root drive letter because it could be on a share mapped into a virtual machine with only a UNC pathname: \\srv\sharename\data. Therefore, there are numerous occasions in a portable mode situation where I need to define "--homedir" in order to have access to the keyring, which I have placed on the device. The keyring will always be in the same relative place in relation to the Thunderbird program. Gpg is also installed locally, that is, on the device itself, which is basically self contained with the programs needed to run in the machine's Windows OS. Similarly, I can start up the portable TB program with a portable Windows command shell so that it looks for the profile in the same relative place on the device (using a command "thunderbird.exe -p .\data\profile") and so that I can define some other environment variables to have constant paths defined relative to the installation of the command shell program. However, so that I end up with the gpg homedir in the folder where I have the keys in a file on this device and accessible to Enigmail, I am right now of the opinion that I would need to define it with the option "--homedir" in the Advanced parameters section of Enigmail's configuration settings. I say it like this because this option is the final one and the one that would take precedence over any others in terms of the way that gpg determines which homedir is to be used for the keyrings. It is, in other words, more secure than leaving it to chance that the OS has a predefined registry setting or environment variable for GNUPGHOME. Is that not so? > I don't recall where Thunderbird and Seamonkey make non-absolute file > references from. In the case of extensions, i.e., Enigmail, it's most > likely the profile directory. The mailnews itself code makes use of > relative paths from [ProfD], the profile directory, once it has been > configured from an absolute path. This makes sharing profiles between > different OS much easier. I don't know of a method for end users to > access this mechanism though. > > It don't recall another request like this in the ten years I've been > associated with the project. The only thing I can tell you is you're > just going to have to tinker with it and see if you can get it to work > the way you wish. Based on the pointers you gave me in your post, I should be able to do so now with less trial and error. Thanks for that. > One last thought, what is it you wish to accomplish and why? When one > requires configuration that no one else has mentioned in a decade, it > leads me to think the use case is what needs to be examined. See above. John A. Wallace The pen is mightier than the sword, but only if you get in the first stroke. _______________________________________________ enigmail-users mailing list [email protected] https://admin.hostpoint.ch/mailman/listinfo/enigmail-users_enigmail.net
