[OTR-dev] human-readable message hints for session life cycle events

[Ian Goldberg]

On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 12:41:22PM -0400, Donny Viszneki wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I love OTR, but occasionally I have to tell someone "no otr!"
> 
> But sometimes I find out that my friend is not messaging me, but
> rather has ended our OTR session.
> 
> Perhaps it can be worked into the existing protocol, or just put into
> a checklist somewhere for a future revision of the protocol, to tell a
> user that an OTR message is ending the OTR session.
> 
> Perhaps I have not thought it through enough and there is a reason to
> disguise this message, but if I recall the details of OTR's design
> goals, this should not be the case.
> 
> Is there any way I could tell that now if I didn't have an OTR client?
> 
> Thanks for this great software :)

I'm not sure what you're asking.  Is this the case:

1 You're having an OTR conversation with someone
2 You switch to a non-OTR-enabled IM client
3 The other person quits their IM client or otherwise ends their OTR
  session with you
4 You receive the OTR-encrypted message that's meant to securely tell
  your client that the other person closed their session, but see it
  as gibberish because you no longer have OTR enabled

Is that right?  I wonder why your step 2 didn't cause their end to
indicate the OTR session is closed on your end.  (Or did you not quit
your OTR-enabled client?)

   - Ian