GnuPG "classic" for Debian
==========================

gnupg1 is the "classic" version of GnuPG (branch 1.4), maintained for
people who really need the backward compatibility it provides.

Since mid-2016, Debian ships the "modern" version of GnuPG as gnupg.
Please use the gnupg package unless you know for sure that you need
gnupg1.

The main differences between "classic" and "modern":

 * "classic" has fewer dependencies than "modern"; improvements to
   underlying libraries must be explicitly ported to "classic"

 " "classic" accepts the known-broken PGPv3 key format, which "modern"
   rejects

 * "classic" has no support for S/MIME

 * "classic" has no support for elliptic curves

 * "classic" uses gpg-agent only as a passphrase cache, while "modern"
   offloads all secret key access to the agent

 * "classic" cannot auto-launch the agent

 * "classic" does not support the TOFU trust model

 * "classic" lacks some other tools useful for desktop environments

 * "modern" prefers the keybox format (~/.gnupg/pubring.kbx) for
   public keyrings; "classic" only knows how to use the traditional
   linear keyring (~/gnupg/pubring.gpg)

It is recommended to use gnupg instead of gnupg1.

 -- Daniel Kahn Gillmor <dkg@fifthhorseman.net>, Fri,  1 Apr 2016 07:23:34 -0300