This is a liberated version of GPG Mail®, an Apple Mail plugin sold with a support plan as part of the GPG Suite® by GPGTools.
While the seller of the commercial product has the right to charge for a support plan and place DRM into their product, it is still BSD and GPL licensed software which requires the source code to be available.
This repository and project uses the open source code with the DRM code replaced so the product can be used without a license key, support plan or online activation.
Rather than building the entire suite and installer, this project just concentrates on building the "mailbundle", the plugin for Apple Mail.
We also publish a copy of the original source packages and execise our right, granted by the open source license, to redistribute the compiled suite without any business involved. This does not constitute any endorsement or promotion of our releases by the intermediate copyright holders.
Depending on supported macOS versions, there are different versions of the plugin available:
| Mailbundle | 10.13 | 10.14 | 10.15 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Sierra | Mojave | Catalina | Big Sur | Monterey | |
| Free-GPGMail 3 | x | x | |||
| Free-GPGMail 4 | x | x | x | ||
| Free-GPGMail 5* | u | u | s | ||
| Free-GPGMail 6 | x |
(*) While Big Sur requires Free-GPGMail 5 to be codesigned, Mojave and Catalina do not like the code signature of the provided mailbundles. Thus, we publish an unsigned and a signed version of the Free-GPGMail 5 mailbundle.
Note that GnuPG and Libmacgpg must be installed first and then the mailbundle binaries can be activated. You can compile them from source or install them from the GPG Suite.
Note: If you want to use pre-compiled, signed, and notarized mailbundles, you can download a mailbundle from the release page.
This build uses Xcode®. Command line build tools must be installed.
-
Go to the Source directory and run make for the desired Free-GPGMail version:
cd Source/ make GPGMail_$nwhere valid values for
$nare3to6. This will create aFree-GPGMail_$n.mailbundleinbundles/. If you want to build bundles for all versions, just callmake. -
On Big Sur or later, if you want to use the mailbundle on a different machine than where it has been built, you may need to codesign the mailbundle with a developer key, or add a Gatekeeper rule after installation (see below):
sudo spctl --add ~/Library/Mail/Bundles/Free-GPGMail_*.mailbundle
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Download and install the GPG Suite .dmg file from the commercial seller or from the Free-GPGMail releases page.
- If you are asked by the installed whether you want to "enable GPG Mail now", say Not Now and check I am not interested in GPG Mail. Don't ask me again.
-
Build or download a Free-GPGMail mailbundle compatible with your macOS version.
-
Create a folder
~/Library/Mail/Bundles/and dragFree-GPGMail_<version>.mailbundleinto that folder. (~/Librarymay be hidden in Finder, but you can enable the visibility in "Show View Options" while you are in Home) -
Restart Mail.app, go to
Preferences -> General -> Manage Plugins....- Make sure that
GPGMailLoader_*.mailbundle, if present, is disabled. - Enable the
Free-GPGMail_<version>.mailbundle. - Apply and Restart Mail.
- Make sure that
-
In Mail.app, check
Preferences -> Free-GPGMail. If it says that you are in Trial Mode or Decryption Only Mode, hit Activate. It will perform a dummy activation routine.
This project is run by volunteers in the free and open source spirit. Contributions are welcome. Problems with building or installing Free-GPGMail should be posted in the Github issue tracker. If you need help with the program itself, consider buying the commercial product and make them work for their money.
Apple® and Xcode® are trademarks of Apple Inc.
GPG Mail®, GPG Suite® and GPGTools® are trademarks of GPGTools GmbH.
Neither use of these terms within this Readme or within Free-GPGMail constitutes endorsement of Free-GPGMail by the respective holders. Free-GPGMail is a non-commercial software without any business involved.