• Registered: 2009-02-04
  • Posts: 8

Topic: Trying to get FirGPG working with Portable Firefox

Despite some of the messages which seemed to indicate this would not work, I thought I would try... Because it is really really useful and I am already using this mechanism with Thunderbird (PortableApps version of Thunderbird+Enigmail). This works fine but not in every situation (for example when you try to use your key behind a firewall that blocks SMTP). So being able to use FireGPG would be very very good for me.

I'm not a crypto expert so excuse me if I get things wrong, here is a list of problems I have encountered running PortableApps FireFox 3.0.5 and FireGPG 0.7.2 on Windows/XP and trying to get this all to work via Gmail.
I've installed Portable Apps and the WinGPG crypto software on my USB memory stick. I've installed the FireGPG add-on in Firefox.

1) Problem with loading keys into the key manager.
Since I've got my keys (both my own private/public and my friends public keys) already loaded in Thunderbird, I thought I would simply export them into files and then import them into FireGPG. There seem to be some problems:
a) when the key is imported it does not appear in the list, you have to close the key editor and open it again.
b) when I export my public/private key from Thunderbird, the import only seems to import the public key part so I have to generate a new key pair for signing (and presumably I can't have both present at the same time)
c) I tried decrypting a mail from a friend but it didn't work, though this may be because I was trying to use the new Gmail interface - this does not appear to function.

2) Problem with Gmail
When I use the new Gmail interface then I can't see anything that will let me sign or encrypt. On the old interface, there are some buttons that appear to do something (Encrypt and Send etc)...

3) Problem with link to GPG
Since I'm using a USB stick obviously I can't put in a hard-coded path to GPG (and of course it is not in default install). I tried using {FxFolder} in every way I could think but this did no good.
Then I decided to hardcode on my machine at home and that got round the problem. But imagine my surprise when I came to work to try it on a different machine only to discover that the link seems to have been changed automatically without me doing anything to point to the path (on my home machine it was I:\PortableApps\Firefox\GnuPG\gpg.exe, while at work it is I:\PortableApps\Firefox\GnuPG\gpg.exe).
So it seems to work but it shouldn't!!

4) Key editor again
All the keys I had loaded into my key editor when I was at home seem to have disappeared now that I am at work. I'll test this again and return to the problem this evening...

  • From: Geneva
  • Registered: 2007-04-04
  • Posts: 1,040

Re: Trying to get FirGPG working with Portable Firefox

1)
a) Ok, fixed, thanks.
b) Normal, I refuse to let's firegpg import private key.
c) New gmail interface is currently broken dues to new gmail..

2) New gmail interface is currently broken dues to new gmail..

3) It's {$FXFolder} , small bug fixed in next release. I don't see what changed between your two links, and it's not firegpg who changed it.

4) Use {$FXFolder}

the_glu's Website

  • Registered: 2009-02-04
  • Posts: 8

Re: Trying to get FirGPG working with Portable Firefox

Thanks for the quick reply, but I am still having trouble. Here is my problem:

3) I have changed the setting to look like this: {$FXFolder}\GnuPG\gpg.exe, the full path (on the machine I'm using at the moment) is this: I:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable\GnuPG\gpg.exe. I have also restarted Firefox. But it still says that it can't find the GPG executable.

I think that maybe what changed the links is the way I worked. I started by installing GPG and WinPT on a machine which allocates my USB stick to the F: drive (so that F:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable\GnuPG\gpg.exe is considered by Windows to be the installation drive for GPG on that machine). Now I am trying to test it on another machine which allocates the I: drive to my USB stick, so that GPG is installed here: I:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable\GnuPG\gpg.exe
Do you by any chance start by looking for GPG in the drive where Windows thinks it is installed, and only if you don't find it there then you use {$FXFolder}?
At all events, I think you need to make sure that you test this on a machine where you did NOT install GnuPG and WinPT by the normal installation process, but just by copying onto a key.

I have also discovered another bug: when I change the FireGPG options and then shut the options window, I end up with an instance of Firefox + an instance of FireFoxPortable, and the instance of FireFox is eating all my CPU - the only way to get it to shut down is to kill the FireFox process in Task Manager.

2) Ok for the Gmail interface, for the moment I can use the old one.

4) As for above, still doesn't seem to work. But it sort of suggests that the keys are being kept outside Firefox in somewhere not very secure.

1b) I don't understand the reasoning behind this. Why should I not be able to import my private keys if I want to? Apart from anything else I would like to be able to make sure that I can back them up and restore them (one might think this is insecure, but if I choose to make this choice and choose some other technique for securing the files, then surely it is up to me?). I can't see why, if Enigmail will let me export them, FireGPG won't let me import them.

I'm really excited about FireGPG, I think it is a great idea - but there are still some bugs to be ironed out (aren't there always!) and I think (IMHO) that it would be a HUGE plus if you could really tool it to work with the PortableApps version of Firefox - I'm sure there are a lot of people like me who want to be able to travel with their encryption keys (in fact this is a major justification for a web mail tool as opposed to something like Thunderbird).

  • From: Geneva
  • Registered: 2007-04-04
  • Posts: 1,040

Re: Trying to get FirGPG working with Portable Firefox

3) http://blog.getfiregpg.org/wp-content/u … mwhaha.png this settings worked for me.

And yep, sometime firefox do this but i'ts not firegpg it's the ipc library.

4) Keys are stored where you say fireGPG/Gnupg to store them...

1b) The main reason  was in fact for importing key from internet, but yes, from the key manager it's should be possible. Next release.

the_glu's Website

  • Registered: 2009-02-04
  • Posts: 8

Re: Trying to get FirGPG working with Portable Firefox

3) Truly strange. On my key I had the following (sorry I don't have anywhere to put an image at the moment):
Firefox emplacement (note that the F: drive is allocated to my key address only on this machine):
F:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable\FirefoxPortable.exe
GPG emplacement
F:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable\GnuPG\gpg.exe
So I would have expected that the FXFolder setting would be {$FXFolder}\GnuPG\gpg.exe because the GnuPG folder is directly under the FXFolder. However it didn't work.
So I copied the settings in the picture you posted so that now I have:
Firefox emplacement:
F:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable\FirefoxPortable.exe
GPG emplacement
F:\PortableApps\GnuPG\gpg.exe
And the setting you suggested works, ie {$FXFolder}\..\..\..\GnuPG\gpg.exe - however I cannot understand how this works since "\.." should mean "down one directory level". {$FXFolder} should be "F:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable", so "{$FXFolder}\..\..\..\" should be three levels down, is in this case write back to the computer root. So there is still something bizarre here - it works, but it should not! Unless I have misunderstood.

I seem to have gotten rid of the "Firefox not shutting down problem". On the machines I have been testing with, I have FireFox 2.0 installed, including FireFTP (installed please note, not actually running at the same time. When I first installed FireGPG it gave me a message that referred to FireFTP which surprised me because FireFTP is NOT installed in the Firefox 3.0 that is on my USB stick and has FireGPG in it - I hope that is comprehensible!). So I uninstalled Firefox 2 completely. That did not seem to change anything. Then I managed to get my FXFolder working... and now when I go to look at the options and exit Firefox, it exits cleanly!! Hope that helps.

1b) THAT'S GREAT!! Any idea when?

  • From: Geneva
  • Registered: 2007-04-04
  • Posts: 1,040

Re: Trying to get FirGPG working with Portable Firefox

FireGPG conflict with FireFTP on Fx 3.0. FireGPG is not supported on Fx2.0 but with FireFTP installed FireGPG can work on Fx2.0.x]

> {$FXFolder} should be "F:\PortableApps\FirefoxPortable"

We use value return by Firefox, and he dosen't return this value. He return a subfolder of FireFoxPortable (I don't remeber witch one), so use my settings wink

1b) Sunday probably. Already done in svn version

the_glu's Website