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Cannot get Enigmail to work in Postbox under Mac Sonoma

mike
2023-10-13
2024-04-11
  • mike

    mike - 2023-10-13

    Ever since I installed Sonoma (Mac OSX 14), my Enigmail plug-in stopped working in Posbox. I've tried to re-install enigmail several times in Posbox, but I cannot resolve the problem.

    When I try to re-configure an email account in Postbox to use Encryption (after installing the latest GnuPG), I get:

    "Support for OpenPGP encryption and signing messages is provided by Enigmail. You need to have GnuPG (gpg) installed in order to use this feature."


    But, when I remove the enigmail plug-in and start over, I get the message you see in the attachment. The setup wizard doesn't help as it only states:

    " **It looks like you started Enigmail for the first time on this computer. In order
    to use Enigmail, you need to first set it up properly. This assistant will guide
    you through the setup process.

    Inspecting your environment... Found a usable configuration of GnuPG

    ** We determined that you are using an Autocrypt-compliant email client, but
    we could not find any Autocrypt Setup Message. We recommend that you
    create an Autocrypt Setup Message on your existing device and then click on
    Rescan Inbox. Alternatively, you can export your settings and keys from an
    existing Enigmail installation, and restore these settings here.**

    (what existing Enigmail installation???)


    I contacted Postbox, but they claim they haven't changed anything and suggested I post here for help. I also saw that gnupg is not updating their library to support Mac OS Sonoma until the first minor release version (14.01 possibly?)

    Can anyone explain how I can get Enigmail working again in Sonoma in Postbox?

    My email encryption is totally broken at the moment.

    Thanks in advance,

     

    Last edit: mike 2023-10-13
  • Patrick Brunschwig

    Which distribution of GnuPG did you install?

     
  • mike

    mike - 2023-10-13

    It was the latest version, I believe that's 2.4.3.
    https://gnupg.org/download/index.html
    Thanks

     

    Last edit: mike 2023-10-13
  • Patrick Brunschwig

    OK, but GnuPG downloaded from gnupg.org is source code only - you can't run that. I'm interested in the distribution (e.g. gpgOSX, GPG Suite or GPG Tools, brew, etc).

     
    • mike

      mike - 2023-10-13

      Yes, you're right. Sorry.
      The binary distribution I downloaded and installed, the latest, is: "GPG_Suite-2023.3.dmg".
      Thanks again.

       

      Last edit: mike 2023-10-13
  • Patrick Brunschwig

    I just spoke to the GPG Suite developers. Unfortunately they don't provide a component that Enigmail requires (gpgme-json). I'd recommend you install gpgOSX, which is compatible with Enigmail.

     
  • mike

    mike - 2023-10-13

    Engimail has been working with Posbox perfectly for many years; I've never needed the json file. The only thing that's changed is installing Sonoma.
    Thanks.

     

    Last edit: mike 2023-10-13
  • Patrick Brunschwig

    The relevant piece that changed was Enigmail. The latest (major) update from earlier this week requires that file now.

     
    • mike

      mike - 2023-10-13

      Thanks Patrick!
      It's odd that Postbox company wasn't aware of this, right?
      So, my only recourse is to install the gpgOSX as you posted above or will these companies have a fix at some point soon (or at least say the same thing is needed)?

       
    • mike

      mike - 2023-10-13

      Wanted to THANK YOU for the GNUPG OSX idea. That worked!!!
      I didn't uninstall the existing GnuPG during the install (from the prompt) since I didn't want to risk the GPGKeychain data being lost. Probably would have been OK. I can always run the install again if you think there could be problems having both installed.
      Anyway....Thanks man!! :)

       
  • Patrick Brunschwig

    You don't need to uninstall GPG Suite

     
    • mike

      mike - 2023-10-14

      Thanks Patrick!
      I appreciate all your help and kind replies. :)

       
  • Dr. Peter N. Steinmetz

    Thanks for this suggestion Patrick. This also worked for me on MacOS 10.14.2 and Postbox 7.0.60.

    I might suggest putting this more prominently in the wizard for Enigmail installation or in the instructions for dealing with Postbox.

    I hope GnuPG fixes this soon.

     

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