What kind of file is *.asc?

CodeWarrior · 07-20-2003, 09:55 AM

I was trying to download SDK or TOmcat(don't remember) and they had a *.gz which I downloaded(I know what this is) and a *.asc version with the same name. THe *.asc was much smaller in size. Any clue what that is?

trickykid · 07-20-2003, 10:02 AM

Most cases its just an ASCII Text file.

ionstorm · 07-20-2003, 12:48 PM

Its the gpg signature so that you can verify the download is in fact from who it claims to be and that it has not been edited along the way. Just like MD5 really.

CodeWarrior · 07-22-2003, 06:47 PM

Oh ok, but how do you actually use it?

win32sux · 07-10-2004, 11:45 PM

to use an .asc file to verify a package's integrity, you need to have gnupg installed...

also, remember that gnupg and md5sum don't perform the same function...

here's some links:

http://httpd.apache.org/dev/verification.html

http://www.kernel.org/signature.html

http://www.gnupg.org/documentation/faqs.html

and if you wanna have a gnupg party:

http://www.cryptnet.net/fdp/crypto/gpg-party.html

=)