On 9 Apr 2013, at 14:32, Sander Steffann <sander@steffann.nl> wrote:

Hi Alex,

Signing emails from hostmaster@ripe.net, lir-help@ripe.net, new-lir@ripe.net and enum@ripe.net is one of the first pieces that we need to remove in order to phase out all the legacy software. While we realise that it is a best practice to sign such emails and are aware of the value it offers, we are planning to discontinue email signing from just these addresses starting 1 January 2014. It will allow us to phase out a part of our infrastructure that makes future migration a lot easier, while saving cost in the mean time.

Bad idea. Come on, it can't be that difficult or expensive to add a digital signature to an e-mail. There are command line tools that can do that in a single line, and there is Python code that can do it in ±10! I don't know what software and language you are using, but if adding a PGP signature to outgoing messages is as hard as you describe then you're doing something horribly wrong...

Thanks for the quick feedback everyone. Of course we would have liked to avoid this situation altogether, but anyone who is familiar with phasing out legacy systems knows what kind of unfortunate obstacles can arise. Allow me to explain this in a little more detail, at the risk of ending up in a bikeshedding discussion. :)

Currently, tickets are being signed by a very old server, running an unsupported legacy OS and GNUPG1. In the beginning of the year, we tried phasing this server out and handle signing from one of our standard platforms running GNUPG2. That box signs emails very well, however our legacy ticketing refuses to play nice with it. We spent many, many hours on getting it our ticketing system to behave, but to no avail. The result was that we rolled back to the old solution, followed by this announcement:

http://www.ripe.net/ripe/mail/archives/ncc-services-wg/2013-January/001968.html

The proposal to discontinue ticket signing would be a temporary measure to allow an easier transition. That's all we're asking for.

After we have migrated to a new platform, of course we can re-install the signing of e-mails if this is desired by the Community. Some of you have asked for a time indication for this transition period, but that is very hard to predict at this time as we have yet to decide on a new ticketing system and implementation plan. 

If the membership feels that a having any period, no matter how short, without these emails being signed is unacceptable then we will have to return with an alternative solution.

Again, your feedback is very valuable in helping us with our planning. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers,

-Alex