1 # doc/DETAILS -*- org -*-
3 # Globally disable superscripts and subscripts:
7 # Note: This file uses org-mode; it should be easy to read as plain
8 # text but be aware of some markup peculiarities: Verbatim code is
9 # enclosed in #+begin-example, #+end-example blocks or marked by a
10 # colon as the first non-white-space character, words bracketed with
11 # equal signs indicate a monospace font, and the usual /italics/,
12 # *bold*, and _underline_ conventions are recognized.
14 This is the DETAILS file for GnuPG which specifies some internals and
15 parts of the external API for GPG and GPGSM.
17 * Format of the colon listings
18 The format is a based on colon separated record, each recods starts
19 with a tag string and extends to the end of the line. Here is an
22 $ gpg --with-colons --list-keys \
23 --with-fingerprint --with-fingerprint wk@gnupg.org
24 pub:f:1024:17:6C7EE1B8621CC013:899817715:1055898235::m:::scESC:
25 fpr:::::::::ECAF7590EB3443B5C7CF3ACB6C7EE1B8621CC013:
26 uid:f::::::::Werner Koch <wk@g10code.com>:
27 uid:f::::::::Werner Koch <wk@gnupg.org>:
28 sub:f:1536:16:06AD222CADF6A6E1:919537416:1036177416:::::e:
29 fpr:::::::::CF8BCC4B18DE08FCD8A1615906AD222CADF6A6E1:
30 sub:r:1536:20:5CE086B5B5A18FF4:899817788:1025961788:::::esc:
31 fpr:::::::::AB059359A3B81F410FCFF97F5CE086B5B5A18FF4:
34 The double =--with-fingerprint= prints the fingerprint for the subkeys
35 too. Old versions of gpg used a slightly different format and required
36 the use of the option =--fixed-list-mode= to conform to the format
39 ** Description of the fields
40 *** Field 1 - Type of record
43 - crt :: X.509 certificate
44 - crs :: X.509 certificate and private key available
45 - sub :: Subkey (secondary key)
47 - ssb :: Secret subkey (secondary key)
48 - uid :: User id (only field 10 is used).
49 - uat :: User attribute (same as user id except for field 10).
51 - rev :: Revocation signature
52 - fpr :: Fingerprint (fingerprint is in field 10)
53 - pkd :: Public key data [*]
55 - rvk :: Revocation key
56 - tru :: Trust database information [*]
57 - spk :: Signature subpacket [*]
58 - cfg :: Configuration data [*]
60 Records marked with an asterisk are described at [[*Special%20field%20formats][*Special fields]].
62 *** Field 2 - Validity
64 This is a letter describing the computed validity of a key.
65 Currently this is a single letter, but be prepared that additional
66 information may follow in some future versions. Note that GnuPG <
67 2.1 does not set this field for secret key listings.
69 - o :: Unknown (this key is new to the system)
70 - i :: The key is invalid (e.g. due to a missing self-signature)
71 - d :: The key has been disabled
72 (deprecated - use the 'D' in field 12 instead)
73 - r :: The key has been revoked
74 - e :: The key has expired
75 - - :: Unknown validity (i.e. no value assigned)
76 - q :: Undefined validity. '-' and 'q' may safely be treated as
77 the same value for most purposes
78 - n :: The key is not valid
79 - m :: The key is marginal valid.
80 - f :: The key is fully valid
81 - u :: The key is ultimately valid. This often means that the
82 secret key is available, but any key may be marked as
84 - w :: The key has a well known private part.
85 - s :: The key has special validity. This means that it might be
86 self-signed and expected to be used in the STEED sytem.
88 If the validity information is given for a UID or UAT record, it
89 describes the validity calculated based on this user ID. If given
90 for a key record it describes the validity taken from the best
93 For X.509 certificates a 'u' is used for a trusted root
94 certificate (i.e. for the trust anchor) and an 'f' for all other
97 *** Field 3 - Key length
99 The length of key in bits.
101 *** Field 4 - Public key algorithm
103 The values here are those from the OpenPGP specs or if they are
104 greather than 255 the algorithm ids as used by Libgcrypt.
108 This is the 64 bit keyid as specified by OpenPGP and the last 64
109 bit of the SHA-1 fingerprint of an X.509 certifciate.
111 *** Field 6 - Creation date
113 The creation date of the key is given in UTC. For UID and UAT
114 records, this is used for the self-signature date. Note that the
115 date is usally printed in seconds since epoch, however, we are
116 migrating to an ISO 8601 format (e.g. "19660205T091500"). This is
117 currently only relevant for X.509. A simple way to detect the new
118 format is to scan for the 'T'. Note that old versions of gpg
119 without using the =--fixed-list-mode= option used a "yyyy-mm-tt"
122 *** Field 7 - Expiration date
124 Key or UID/UAT expiration date or empty if it does not expire.
126 *** Field 8 - Certificate S/N, UID hash, trust signature info
128 Used for serial number in crt records. For UID and UAT records,
129 this is a hash of the user ID contents used to represent that
130 exact user ID. For trust signatures, this is the trust depth
131 seperated by the trust value by a space.
133 *** Field 9 - Ownertrust
135 This is only used on primary keys. This is a single letter, but
136 be prepared that additional information may follow in future
137 versions. For trust signatures with a regular expression, this is
138 the regular expression value, quoted as in field 10.
140 *** Field 10 - User-ID
141 The value is quoted like a C string to avoid control characters
142 (the colon is quoted =\x3a=). For a "pub" record this field is
143 not used on --fixed-list-mode. A UAT record puts the attribute
144 subpacket count here, a space, and then the total attribute
145 subpacket size. In gpgsm the issuer name comes here. A FPR
146 record stores the fingerprint here. The fingerprint of a
147 revocation key is stored here.
148 *** Field 11 - Signature class
150 Signature class as per RFC-4880. This is a 2 digit hexnumber
151 followed by either the letter 'x' for an exportable signature or
152 the letter 'l' for a local-only signature. The class byte of an
153 revocation key is also given here, 'x' and 'l' is used the same
154 way. This field if not used for X.509.
156 *** Field 12 - Key capabilities
158 The defined capabilities are:
163 - a :: Authentication
164 - ? :: Unknown capability
166 A key may have any combination of them in any order. In addition
167 to these letters, the primary key has uppercase versions of the
168 letters to denote the _usable_ capabilities of the entire key, and
169 a potential letter 'D' to indicate a disabled key.
171 *** Field 13 - Issuer certificate fingerprint or other info
173 Used in FPR records for S/MIME keys to store the fingerprint of
174 the issuer certificate. This is useful to build the certificate
175 path based on certificates stored in the local key database it is
176 only filled if the issuer certificate is available. The root has
177 been reached if this is the same string as the fingerprint. The
178 advantage of using this value is that it is guaranteed to have
179 been been build by the same lookup algorithm as gpgsm uses.
181 For "uid" records this field lists the preferences in the same way
182 gpg's --edit-key menu does.
184 For "sig" records, this is the fingerprint of the key that issued
185 the signature. Note that this is only filled in if the signature
186 verified correctly. Note also that for various technical reasons,
187 this fingerprint is only available if --no-sig-cache is used.
189 *** Field 14 - Flag field
191 Flag field used in the --edit menu output
193 *** Field 15 - S/N of a token
195 Used in sec/ssb to print the serial number of a token (internal
196 protect mode 1002) or a '#' if that key is a simple stub (internal
197 protect mode 1001). If the option --with-secret is used and a
198 secret key is available for the public key, a '+' indicates this.
200 *** Field 16 - Hash algorithm
202 For sig records, this is the used hash algorithm. For example:
203 2 = SHA-1, 8 = SHA-256.
205 *** Field 17 - Curve name
207 For pub, sub, sec, and ssb records this field is used for the ECC
212 *** PKD - Public key data
214 If field 1 has the tag "pkd", a listing looks like this:
216 pkd:0:1024:B665B1435F4C2 .... FF26ABB:
218 ! !------ for information number of bits in the value
219 !--------- index (eg. DSA goes from 0 to 3: p,q,g,y)
222 *** TRU - Trust database information
223 Example for a "tru" trust base record:
225 tru:o:0:1166697654:1:3:1:5
228 - Field 2 :: Reason for staleness of trust. If this field is
229 empty, then the trustdb is not stale. This field may
230 have multiple flags in it:
232 - o :: Trustdb is old
233 - t :: Trustdb was built with a different trust model
234 than the one we are using now.
236 - Field 3 :: Trust model
238 - 0 :: Classic trust model, as used in PGP 2.x.
239 - 1 :: PGP trust model, as used in PGP 6 and later.
240 This is the same as the classic trust model,
241 except for the addition of trust signatures.
243 GnuPG before version 1.4 used the classic trust model
244 by default. GnuPG 1.4 and later uses the PGP trust
247 - Field 4 :: Date trustdb was created in seconds since Epoch.
248 - Field 5 :: Date trustdb will expire in seconds since Epoch.
249 - Field 6 :: Number of marginally trusted users to introduce a new
250 key signer (gpg's option --marginals-needed).
251 - Field 7 :: Number of completely trusted users to introduce a new
252 key signer. (gpg's option --completes-needed)
254 - Field 8 :: Maximum depth of a certification chain. (gpg's option
257 *** SPK - Signature subpacket records
259 - Field 2 :: Subpacket number as per RFC-4880 and later.
260 - Field 3 :: Flags in hex. Currently the only two bits assigned
261 are 1, to indicate that the subpacket came from the
262 hashed part of the signature, and 2, to indicate the
263 subpacket was marked critical.
264 - Field 4 :: Length of the subpacket. Note that this is the
265 length of the subpacket, and not the length of field
266 5 below. Due to the need for %-encoding, the length
267 of field 5 may be up to 3x this value.
268 - Field 5 :: The subpacket data. Printable ASCII is shown as
269 ASCII, but other values are rendered as %XX where XX
270 is the hex value for the byte.
272 *** CFG - Configuration data
274 --list-config outputs information about the GnuPG configuration
275 for the benefit of frontends or other programs that call GnuPG.
276 There are several list-config items, all colon delimited like the
277 rest of the --with-colons output. The first field is always "cfg"
278 to indicate configuration information. The second field is one of
281 - version :: The third field contains the version of GnuPG.
285 - pubkey :: The third field contains the public key algorithms
286 this version of GnuPG supports, separated by
287 semicolons. The algorithm numbers are as specified in
288 RFC-4880. Note that in contrast to the --status-fd
289 interface these are _not_ the Libgcrypt identifiers.
290 Using =pubkeyname= prints names instead of numbers.
292 : cfg:pubkey:1;2;3;16;17
294 - cipher :: The third field contains the symmetric ciphers this
295 version of GnuPG supports, separated by semicolons.
296 The cipher numbers are as specified in RFC-4880.
297 Using =ciphername= prints names instead of numbers.
299 : cfg:cipher:2;3;4;7;8;9;10
301 - digest :: The third field contains the digest (hash) algorithms
302 this version of GnuPG supports, separated by
303 semicolons. The digest numbers are as specified in
304 RFC-4880. Using =digestname= prints names instead of
307 : cfg:digest:1;2;3;8;9;10
309 - compress :: The third field contains the compression algorithms
310 this version of GnuPG supports, separated by
311 semicolons. The algorithm numbers are as specified
314 : cfg:compress:0;1;2;3
316 - group :: The third field contains the name of the group, and the
317 fourth field contains the values that the group expands
318 to, separated by semicolons.
320 For example, a group of:
321 : group mynames = paige 0x12345678 joe patti
323 : cfg:group:mynames:patti;joe;0x12345678;paige
325 - curve :: The third field contains the curve names this version
326 of GnuPG supports, separated by semicolons. Using
327 =curveoid= prints OIDs instead of numbers.
329 : cfg:curve:ed25519;nistp256;nistp384;nistp521
332 * Format of the --status-fd output
334 Every line is prefixed with "[GNUPG:] ", followed by a keyword with
335 the type of the status line and some arguments depending on the type
336 (maybe none); an application should always be prepared to see more
337 arguments in future versions.
339 ** General status codes
341 Is issued right before a signature verification starts. This is
342 useful to define a context for parsing ERROR status messages. No
343 arguments are currently defined.
345 *** GOODSIG <long_keyid_or_fpr> <username>
346 The signature with the keyid is good. For each signature only one
347 of the codes GOODSIG, BADSIG, EXPSIG, EXPKEYSIG, REVKEYSIG or
348 ERRSIG will be emitted. In the past they were used as a marker
349 for a new signature; new code should use the NEWSIG status
350 instead. The username is the primary one encoded in UTF-8 and %XX
351 escaped. The fingerprint may be used instead of the long keyid if
352 it is available. This is the case with CMS and might eventually
353 also be available for OpenPGP.
355 *** EXPSIG <long_keyid_or_fpr> <username>
356 The signature with the keyid is good, but the signature is
357 expired. The username is the primary one encoded in UTF-8 and %XX
358 escaped. The fingerprint may be used instead of the long keyid if
359 it is available. This is the case with CMS and might eventually
360 also be available for OpenPGP.
362 *** EXPKEYSIG <long_keyid_or_fpr> <username>
363 The signature with the keyid is good, but the signature was made
364 by an expired key. The username is the primary one encoded in
365 UTF-8 and %XX escaped. The fingerprint may be used instead of the
366 long keyid if it is available. This is the case with CMS and
367 might eventually also be available for OpenPGP.
369 *** REVKEYSIG <long_keyid_or_fpr> <username>
370 The signature with the keyid is good, but the signature was made
371 by a revoked key. The username is the primary one encoded in UTF-8
372 and %XX escaped. The fingerprint may be used instead of the long
373 keyid if it is available. This is the case with CMS and might
374 eventually also beñ available for OpenPGP.
376 *** BADSIG <long_keyid_or_fpr> <username>
377 The signature with the keyid has not been verified okay. The
378 username is the primary one encoded in UTF-8 and %XX escaped. The
379 fingerprint may be used instead of the long keyid if it is
380 available. This is the case with CMS and might eventually also be
381 available for OpenPGP.
383 *** ERRSIG <keyid> <pkalgo> <hashalgo> <sig_class> <time> <rc>
384 It was not possible to check the signature. This may be caused by
385 a missing public key or an unsupported algorithm. A RC of 4
386 indicates unknown algorithm, a 9 indicates a missing public
387 key. The other fields give more information about this signature.
388 sig_class is a 2 byte hex-value. The fingerprint may be used
389 instead of the keyid if it is available. This is the case with
390 gpgsm and might eventually also be available for OpenPGP.
392 Note, that TIME may either be the number of seconds since Epoch or
393 an ISO 8601 string. The latter can be detected by the presence of
400 - <fingerprint_in_hex>
401 - <sig_creation_date>
409 - [ <primary-key-fpr> ]
411 This status indicates that the signature is cryptographically
412 valid. This is similar to GOODSIG, EXPSIG, EXPKEYSIG, or REVKEYSIG
413 (depending on the date and the state of the signature and signing
414 key) but has the fingerprint as the argument. Multiple status
415 lines (VALIDSIG and the other appropriate *SIG status) are emitted
416 for a valid signature. All arguments here are on one long line.
417 sig-timestamp is the signature creation time in seconds after the
418 epoch. expire-timestamp is the signature expiration time in
419 seconds after the epoch (zero means "does not
420 expire"). sig-version, pubkey-algo, hash-algo, and sig-class (a
421 2-byte hex value) are all straight from the signature packet.
422 PRIMARY-KEY-FPR is the fingerprint of the primary key or identical
423 to the first argument. This is useful to get back to the primary
424 key without running gpg again for this purpose.
426 The primary-key-fpr parameter is used for OpenPGP and not
427 available for CMS signatures. The sig-version as well as the sig
428 class is not defined for CMS and currently set to 0 and 00.
430 Note, that *-TIMESTAMP may either be a number of seconds since
431 Epoch or an ISO 8601 string which can be detected by the presence
434 *** SIG_ID <radix64_string> <sig_creation_date> <sig-timestamp>
435 This is emitted only for signatures of class 0 or 1 which have
436 been verified okay. The string is a signature id and may be used
437 in applications to detect replay attacks of signed messages. Note
438 that only DLP algorithms give unique ids - others may yield
439 duplicated ones when they have been created in the same second.
441 Note, that SIG-TIMESTAMP may either be a number of seconds since
442 Epoch or an ISO 8601 string which can be detected by the presence
445 *** ENC_TO <long_keyid> <keytype> <keylength>
446 The message is encrypted to this LONG_KEYID. KEYTYPE is the
447 numerical value of the public key algorithm or 0 if it is not
448 known, KEYLENGTH is the length of the key or 0 if it is not known
449 (which is currently always the case). Gpg prints this line
450 always; Gpgsm only if it knows the certificate.
453 Mark the start of the actual decryption process. This is also
454 emitted when in --list-only mode.
456 Mark the end of the actual decryption process. This are also
457 emitted when in --list-only mode.
458 *** DECRYPTION_INFO <mdc_method> <sym_algo>
459 Print information about the symmetric encryption algorithm and the
460 MDC method. This will be emitted even if the decryption fails.
462 *** DECRYPTION_FAILED
463 The symmetric decryption failed - one reason could be a wrong
464 passphrase for a symmetrical encrypted message.
467 The decryption process succeeded. This means, that either the
468 correct secret key has been used or the correct passphrase for a
469 symmetric encrypted message was given. The program itself may
470 return an errorcode because it may not be possible to verify a
471 signature for some reasons.
473 *** SESSION_KEY <algo>:<hexdigits>
474 The session key used to decrypt the message. This message will
475 only be emitted if the option --show-session-key is used. The
476 format is suitable to be passed as value for the option
477 --override-session-key. It is not an indication that the
478 decryption will or has succeeded.
480 *** BEGIN_ENCRYPTION <mdc_method> <sym_algo>
481 Mark the start of the actual encryption process.
484 Mark the end of the actual encryption process.
486 *** FILE_START <what> <filename>
487 Start processing a file <filename>. <what> indicates the performed
494 Marks the end of a file processing which has been started
498 Mark the start of the actual signing process. This may be used as
499 an indication that all requested secret keys are ready for use.
501 *** ALREADY_SIGNED <long-keyid>
502 Warning: This is experimental and might be removed at any time.
504 *** SIG_CREATED <type> <pk_algo> <hash_algo> <class> <timestamp> <keyfpr>
505 A signature has been created using these parameters.
506 Values for type <type> are:
510 (only the first character should be checked)
512 <class> are 2 hex digits with the OpenPGP signature class.
514 Note, that TIMESTAMP may either be a number of seconds since Epoch
515 or an ISO 8601 string which can be detected by the presence of the
519 There are actually two related status codes to convey notation
522 - NOTATION_NAME <name>
523 - NOTATION_DATA <string>
525 <name> and <string> are %XX escaped; the data may be split among
526 several NOTATION_DATA lines.
528 *** POLICY_URL <string>
529 Note that URL in <string> is %XX escaped.
531 *** PLAINTEXT <format> <timestamp> <filename>
532 This indicates the format of the plaintext that is about to be
533 written. The format is a 1 byte hex code that shows the format of
534 the plaintext: 62 ('b') is binary data, 74 ('t') is text data with
535 no character set specified, and 75 ('u') is text data encoded in
536 the UTF-8 character set. The timestamp is in seconds since the
537 epoch. If a filename is available it gets printed as the third
538 argument, percent-escaped as usual.
540 *** PLAINTEXT_LENGTH <length>
541 This indicates the length of the plaintext that is about to be
542 written. Note that if the plaintext packet has partial length
543 encoding it is not possible to know the length ahead of time. In
544 that case, this status tag does not appear.
546 *** ATTRIBUTE <arguments>
547 The list or argemnts are:
557 This is one long line issued for each attribute subpacket when an
558 attribute packet is seen during key listing. <fpr> is the
559 fingerprint of the key. <octets> is the length of the attribute
560 subpacket. <type> is the attribute type (e.g. 1 for an image).
561 <index> and <count> indicate that this is the N-th indexed
562 subpacket of count total subpackets in this attribute packet.
563 <timestamp> and <expiredate> are from the self-signature on the
564 attribute packet. If the attribute packet does not have a valid
565 self-signature, then the timestamp is 0. <flags> are a bitwise OR
567 - 0x01 :: this attribute packet is a primary uid
568 - 0x02 :: this attribute packet is revoked
569 - 0x04 :: this attribute packet is expired
571 *** SIG_SUBPACKET <type> <flags> <len> <data>
572 This indicates that a signature subpacket was seen. The format is
573 the same as the "spk" record above.
576 *** INV_RECP, INV_SGNR
577 The two similar status codes:
579 - INV_RECP <reason> <requested_recipient>
580 - INV_SGNR <reason> <requested_sender>
582 are issued for each unusable recipient/sender. The reasons codes
583 currently in use are:
585 - 0 :: No specific reason given
587 - 2 :: Ambigious specification
588 - 3 :: Wrong key usage
593 - 8 :: Policy mismatch
594 - 9 :: Not a secret key
595 - 10 :: Key not trusted
596 - 11 :: Missing certificate
597 - 12 :: Missing issuer certificate
599 - 14 :: Syntax error in specification
601 Note that for historical reasons the INV_RECP status is also used
602 for gpgsm's SIGNER command where it relates to signer's of course.
603 Newer GnuPG versions are using INV_SGNR; applications should
604 ignore the INV_RECP during the sender's command processing once
605 they have seen an INV_SGNR. Different codes are used so that they
606 can be distinguish while doing an encrypt+sign operation.
607 *** NO_RECP <reserved>
608 Issued if no recipients are usable.
610 *** NO_SGNR <reserved>
611 Issued if no senders are usable.
613 *** KEYEXPIRED <expire-timestamp>
614 The key has expired. expire-timestamp is the expiration time in
615 seconds since Epoch. This status line is not very useful because
616 it will also be emitted for expired subkeys even if this subkey is
617 not used. To check whether a key used to sign a message has
618 expired, the EXPKEYSIG status line is to be used.
620 Note, that the TIMESTAMP may either be a number of seconds since
621 Epoch or an ISO 8601 string which can be detected by the presence
625 The used key has been revoked by its owner. No arguments yet.
627 *** NO_PUBKEY <long keyid>
628 The public key is not available
630 *** NO_SECKEY <long keyid>
631 The secret key is not available
633 *** KEY_CREATED <type> <fingerprint> [<handle>]
634 A key has been created. Values for <type> are:
635 - B :: primary and subkey
638 The fingerprint is one of the primary key for type B and P and the
639 one of the subkey for S. Handle is an arbitrary non-whitespace
640 string used to match key parameters from batch key creation run.
642 *** KEY_NOT_CREATED [<handle>]
643 The key from batch run has not been created due to errors.
646 These are several similar status codes:
648 - TRUST_UNDEFINED <error_token>
649 - TRUST_NEVER <error_token>
650 - TRUST_MARGINAL [0 [<validation_model>]]
651 - TRUST_FULLY [0 [<validation_model>]]
652 - TRUST_ULTIMATE [0 [<validation_model>]]
654 For good signatures one of these status lines are emitted to
655 indicate the validity of the key used to create the signature.
656 The error token values are currently only emitted by gpgsm.
658 VALIDATION_MODEL describes the algorithm used to check the
659 validity of the key. The defaults are the standard Web of Trust
660 model for gpg and the the standard X.509 model for gpgsm. The
663 - pgp :: The standard PGP WoT.
664 - shell :: The standard X.509 model.
665 - chain :: The chain model.
666 - steed :: The STEED model.
668 Note that the term =TRUST_= in the status names is used for
669 historic reasons; we now speak of validity.
674 - PKA_TRUST_GOOD <mailbox>
675 - PKA_TRUST_BAD <mailbox>
677 Depending on the outcome of the PKA check one of the above status
678 codes is emitted in addition to a =TRUST_*= status.
681 *** GET_BOOL, GET_LINE, GET_HIDDEN, GOT_IT
683 These status line are used with --command-fd for interactive
684 control of the process.
686 *** USERID_HINT <long main keyid> <string>
687 Give a hint about the user ID for a certain keyID.
689 *** NEED_PASSPHRASE <long keyid> <long main keyid> <keytype> <keylength>
690 Issued whenever a passphrase is needed. KEYTYPE is the numerical
691 value of the public key algorithm or 0 if this is not applicable,
692 KEYLENGTH is the length of the key or 0 if it is not known (this
693 is currently always the case).
695 *** NEED_PASSPHRASE_SYM <cipher_algo> <s2k_mode> <s2k_hash>
696 Issued whenever a passphrase for symmetric encryption is needed.
698 *** NEED_PASSPHRASE_PIN <card_type> <chvno> [<serialno>]
699 Issued whenever a PIN is requested to unlock a card.
701 *** MISSING_PASSPHRASE
702 No passphrase was supplied. An application which encounters this
703 message may want to stop parsing immediately because the next
704 message will probably be a BAD_PASSPHRASE. However, if the
705 application is a wrapper around the key edit menu functionality it
706 might not make sense to stop parsing but simply ignoring the
707 following BAD_PASSPHRASE.
709 *** BAD_PASSPHRASE <long keyid>
710 The supplied passphrase was wrong or not given. In the latter
711 case you may have seen a MISSING_PASSPHRASE.
714 The supplied passphrase was good and the secret key material
718 *** IMPORT_CHECK <long keyid> <fingerprint> <user ID>
719 This status is emitted in interactive mode right before
720 the "import.okay" prompt.
722 *** IMPORTED <long keyid> <username>
723 The keyid and name of the signature just imported
725 *** IMPORT_OK <reason> [<fingerprint>]
726 The key with the primary key's FINGERPRINT has been imported.
729 - 0 :: Not actually changed
730 - 1 :: Entirely new key.
732 - 4 :: New signatures
734 - 16 :: Contains private key.
736 The flags may be ORed.
738 *** IMPORT_PROBLEM <reason> [<fingerprint>]
739 Issued for each import failure. Reason codes are:
741 - 0 :: No specific reason given.
742 - 1 :: Invalid Certificate.
743 - 2 :: Issuer Certificate missing.
744 - 3 :: Certificate Chain too long.
745 - 4 :: Error storing certificate.
747 *** IMPORT_RES <args>
748 Final statistics on import process (this is one long line). The
749 args are a list of unsigned numbers separated by white space:
754 - always 0 (formerly used for the number of RSA keys)
768 *** CARDCTRL <what> [<serialno>]
769 This is used to control smartcard operations. Defined values for
772 - 1 :: Request insertion of a card. Serialnumber may be given
773 to request a specific card. Used by gpg 1.4 w/o
775 - 2 :: Request removal of a card. Used by gpg 1.4 w/o scdaemon.
776 - 3 :: Card with serialnumber detected
777 - 4 :: No card available
778 - 5 :: No card reader available
779 - 6 :: No card support available
780 - 7 :: Card is in termination state
782 *** SC_OP_FAILURE [<code>]
783 An operation on a smartcard definitely failed. Currently there is
784 no indication of the actual error code, but application should be
785 prepared to later accept more arguments. Defined values for
788 - 0 :: unspecified error (identically to a missing CODE)
793 A smart card operaion succeeded. This status is only printed for
794 certain operation and is mostly useful to check whether a PIN
795 change really worked.
797 ** Miscellaneous status codes
799 No data has been found. Codes for WHAT are:
801 - 1 :: No armored data.
802 - 2 :: Expected a packet but did not found one.
803 - 3 :: Invalid packet found, this may indicate a non OpenPGP
805 - 4 :: Signature expected but not found
807 You may see more than one of these status lines.
809 *** UNEXPECTED <what>
810 Unexpected data has been encountered. Codes for WHAT are:
811 - 0 :: Not further specified
812 - 1 :: Corrupted message structure
814 *** TRUNCATED <maxno>
815 The output was truncated to MAXNO items. This status code is
816 issued for certain external requests.
818 *** ERROR <error location> <error code> [<more>]
819 This is a generic error status message, it might be followed by
820 error location specific data. <error code> and <error_location>
821 should not contain spaces. The error code is a either a string
822 commencing with a letter or such a string prefixed with a
823 numerical error code and an underscore; e.g.: "151011327_EOF".
825 *** SUCCESS [<location>]
826 Postive confirmation that an operation succeeded. It is used
827 similar to ISO-C's EXIT_SUCCESS. <location> is optional but if
828 given should not contain spaces. Used only with a few commands.
830 *** FAILURE <location> <error_code>
831 This is the counterpart to SUCCESS and used to indicate a program
832 failure. It is used similar to ISO-C's EXIT_FAILURE but allows to
833 convey more information, in particular an gpg-error error code.
834 That numerical error code may optionally have a suffix made of an
835 underscore and a string with an error symbol like "151011327_EOF".
836 A dash may be used instead of <location>.
839 The ASCII armor is corrupted. No arguments yet.
841 *** DELETE_PROBLEM <reason_code>
842 Deleting a key failed. Reason codes are:
844 - 2 :: Must delete secret key first
845 - 3 :: Ambigious specification
846 - 4 :: Key is stored on a smartcard.
848 *** PROGRESS <what> <char> <cur> <total>
849 Used by the primegen and Public key functions to indicate
850 progress. <char> is the character displayed with no --status-fd
851 enabled, with the linefeed replaced by an 'X'. <cur> is the
852 current amount done and <total> is amount to be done; a <total> of
853 0 indicates that the total amount is not known. The condition
854 : TOTAL && CUR == TOTAL
855 may be used to detect the end of an operation.
857 Well known values for WHAT are:
859 - pk_dsa :: DSA key generation
860 - pk_elg :: Elgamal key generation
861 - primegen :: Prime generation
862 - need_entropy :: Waiting for new entropy in the RNG
863 - tick :: Generic tick without any special meaning - useful
864 for letting clients know that the server is still
866 - starting_agent :: A gpg-agent was started because it is not
868 - learncard :: Send by the agent and gpgsm while learing
869 the data of a smartcard.
870 - card_busy :: A smartcard is still working
872 *** BACKUP_KEY_CREATED <fingerprint> <fname>
873 A backup of a key identified by <fingerprint> has been writte to
874 the file <fname>; <fname> is percent-escaped.
876 *** MOUNTPOINT <name>
877 <name> is a percent-plus escaped filename describing the
878 mountpoint for the current operation (e.g. used by "g13 --mount").
879 This may either be the specified mountpoint or one randomly
882 *** PINENTRY_LAUNCHED <pid>
883 This status line is emitted by gpg to notify a client that a
884 Pinentry has been launched. <pid> is the PID of the Pinentry. It
885 may be used to display a hint to the user but can't be used to
886 synchronize with Pinentry. Note that there is also an Assuan
887 inquiry line with the same name used internally or, if enabled,
888 send to the client instead of this status line. Such an inquiry
889 may be used to sync with Pinentry
891 ** Obsolete status codes
893 Removed on 2011-02-04. This is deprecated in favor of KEYEXPIRED.
895 Obsolete. This status message used to be emitted for requests to
896 use the IDEA or RSA algorithms. It has been dropped from GnuPG
897 2.1 after the respective patents expired.
898 *** SHM_INFO, SHM_GET, SHM_GET_BOOL, SHM_GET_HIDDEN
899 These were used for the ancient shared memory based co-processing.
900 *** BEGIN_STREAM, END_STREAM
901 Used to issued by the experimental pipemode.
904 * Format of the --attribute-fd output
906 When --attribute-fd is set, during key listings (--list-keys,
907 --list-secret-keys) GnuPG dumps each attribute packet to the file
908 descriptor specified. --attribute-fd is intended for use with
909 --status-fd as part of the required information is carried on the
910 ATTRIBUTE status tag (see above).
912 The contents of the attribute data is specified by RFC 4880. For
913 convenience, here is the Photo ID format, as it is currently the
914 only attribute defined:
916 - Byte 0-1 :: The length of the image header. Due to a historical
917 accident (i.e. oops!) back in the NAI PGP days, this
918 is a little-endian number. Currently 16 (0x10 0x00).
920 - Byte 2 :: The image header version. Currently 0x01.
922 - Byte 3 :: Encoding format. 0x01 == JPEG.
924 - Byte 4-15 :: Reserved, and currently unused.
926 All other data after this header is raw image (JPEG) data.
929 * Unattended key generation
931 Please see the GnuPG manual for a description.
934 * Layout of the TrustDB
936 The TrustDB is built from fixed length records, where the first byte
937 describes the record type. All numeric values are stored in network
938 byte order. The length of each record is 40 bytes. The first
939 record of the DB is always of type 1 and this is the only record of
942 The record types: directory(2), key(3), uid(4), pref(5), sigrec(6),
943 and shadow directory(8) are not anymore used by version 2 of the
948 Unused record or deleted, can be reused for any purpose. Such
949 records should in general not exist because deleted records are of
950 type 254 and kept in a linked list.
952 ** Version info (RECTYPE_VER, 1)
954 Version information for this TrustDB. This is always the first
955 record of the DB and the only one of this type.
957 - 1 u8 :: Record type (value: 1).
958 - 3 byte :: Magic value ("gpg")
959 - 1 u8 :: TrustDB version (value: 2).
960 - 1 u8 :: =marginals=. How many marginal trusted keys are required.
961 - 1 u8 :: =completes=. How many completely trusted keys are
963 - 1 u8 :: =max_cert_depth=. How deep is the WoT evaluated. Along
964 with =marginals= and =completes=, this value is used to
965 check whether the cached validity value from a [FIXME
966 dir] record can be used.
967 - 1 u8 :: =trust_model=
968 - 1 u8 :: =min_cert_level=
970 - 1 u32 :: =created=. Timestamp of trustdb creation.
971 - 1 u32 :: =nextcheck=. Timestamp of last modification which may
972 affect the validity of keys in the trustdb. This value
973 is checked against the validity timestamp in the dir
975 - 1 u32 :: =reserved=. Not used.
976 - 1 u32 :: =reserved2=. Not used.
977 - 1 u32 :: =firstfree=. Number of the record with the head record
978 of the RECTYPE_FREE linked list.
979 - 1 u32 :: =reserved3=. Not used.
980 - 1 u32 :: =trusthashtbl=. Record number of the trusthashtable.
983 ** Hash table (RECTYPE_HTBL, 10)
985 Due to the fact that we use fingerprints to lookup keys, we can
986 implement quick access by some simple hash methods, and avoid the
987 overhead of gdbm. A property of fingerprints is that they can be
988 used directly as hash values. What we use is a dynamic multilevel
989 architecture, which combines hash tables, record lists, and linked
992 This record is a hash table of 256 entries with the property that
993 all these records are stored consecutively to make one big
994 table. The hash value is simple the 1st, 2nd, ... byte of the
995 fingerprint (depending on the indirection level).
997 - 1 u8 :: Record type (value: 10).
999 - n u32 :: =recnum=. A table with the hash table items fitting into
1000 this record. =n= depends on the record length:
1001 $n=(reclen-2)/4$ which yields 9 for oure current record
1004 The total number of hash table records to form the table is:
1005 $m=(256+n-1)/n$. This is 29 for our record length of 40.
1007 To look up a key we use the first byte of the fingerprint to get
1008 the recnum from this hash table and then look up the addressed
1011 - If that record is another hash table, we use 2nd byte to index
1012 that hash table and so on;
1013 - if that record is a hash list, we walk all entries until we find
1015 - if that record is a key record, we compare the fingerprint to
1016 decide whether it is the requested key;
1019 ** Hash list (RECTYPE_HLST, 11)
1021 See hash table above on how it is used. It may also be used for
1024 - 1 u8 :: Record type (value: 11).
1026 - 1 u32 :: =next=. Record number of the next hash list record or 0
1028 - n u32 :: =rnum=. Array with record numbers to values. With
1029 $n=(reclen-5)/5$ and our record length of 40, n is 7.
1031 ** Trust record (RECTYPE_TRUST, 12)
1033 - 1 u8 :: Record type (value: 12).
1035 - 20 byte :: =fingerprint=.
1036 - 1 u8 :: =ownertrust=.
1038 - 1 u8 :: =min_ownertrust=.
1039 - 1 byte :: Not used.
1040 - 1 u32 :: =validlist=.
1041 - 10 byte :: Not used.
1043 ** Validity record (RECTYPE_VALID, 13)
1045 - 1 u8 :: Record type (value: 13).
1047 - 20 byte :: =namehash=.
1048 - 1 u8 :: =validity=
1050 - 1 u8 :: =full_count=.
1051 - 1 u8 :: =marginal_count=.
1052 - 11 byte :: Not used.
1054 ** Free record (RECTYPE_FREE, 254)
1056 All these records form a linked list of unused records in the TrustDB.
1058 - 1 u8 :: Record type (value: 254)
1060 - 1 u32 :: =next=. Record number of the next rcord of this type.
1061 The record number to the head of this linked list is
1062 stored in the version info record.
1065 * GNU extensions to the S2K algorithm
1067 1 octet - S2K Usage: either 254 or 255.
1068 1 octet - S2K Cipher Algo: 0
1069 1 octet - S2K Specifier: 101
1071 1 octet - GNU S2K Extension Number.
1073 If such a GNU extension is used neither an IV nor any kind of
1074 checksum is used. The defined GNU S2K Extension Numbers are:
1076 - 1 :: Do not store the secret part at all. No specific data
1079 - 2 :: A stub to access smartcards. This data follows:
1080 - One octet with the length of the following serial number.
1081 - The serial number. Regardless of what the length octet
1082 indicates no more than 16 octets are stored.
1084 Note that gpg stores the GNU S2K Extension Number internally as an
1085 S2K Specifier with an offset of 1000.
1088 * Keyserver helper message format
1090 The keyserver may be contacted by a Unix Domain socket or via TCP.
1092 The format of a request is:
1095 "Content-length:" digits
1099 Where command-tag is
1108 The format of a response is:
1111 "GNUPG/1.0" status-code status-text
1112 "Content-length:" digits
1115 followed by <digits> bytes of data
1119 - 1xx :: Informational - Request received, continuing process
1121 - 2xx :: Success - The action was successfully received, understood,
1124 - 4xx :: Client Error - The request contains bad syntax or cannot be
1127 - 5xx :: Server Error - The server failed to fulfill an apparently
1131 * Object identifiers
1133 OIDs below the GnuPG arc:
1136 1.3.6.1.4.1.11591.2 GnuPG
1137 1.3.6.1.4.1.11591.2.1 notation
1138 1.3.6.1.4.1.11591.2.1.1 pkaAddress
1139 1.3.6.1.4.1.11591.2.2 X.509 extensions
1140 1.3.6.1.4.1.11591.2.2.1 standaloneCertificate
1141 1.3.6.1.4.1.11591.2.2.2 wellKnownPrivateKey
1142 1.3.6.1.4.1.11591.2.12242973 invalid encoded OID
1147 * Miscellaneous notes
1150 For packet version 3 we calculate the keyids this way:
1151 - RSA :: Low 64 bits of n
1152 - ELGAMAL :: Build a v3 pubkey packet (with CTB 0x99) and
1153 calculate a RMD160 hash value from it. This is used
1154 as the fingerprint and the low 64 bits are the keyid.
1156 ** Simplified revocation certificates
1157 Revocation certificates consist only of the signature packet;
1158 "--import" knows how to handle this. The rationale behind it is to
1161 ** Documentation on HKP (the http keyserver protocol):
1163 A minimalistic HTTP server on port 11371 recognizes a GET for
1164 /pks/lookup. The standard http URL encoded query parameters are
1165 this (always key=value):
1167 - op=index (like pgp -kv), op=vindex (like pgp -kvv) and op=get (like
1170 - search=<stringlist>. This is a list of words that must occur in the key.
1171 The words are delimited with space, points, @ and so on. The delimiters
1172 are not searched for and the order of the words doesn't matter (but see
1175 - exact=on. This switch tells the hkp server to only report exact matching
1176 keys back. In this case the order and the "delimiters" are important.
1178 - fingerprint=on. Also reports the fingerprints when used with 'index' or
1181 The keyserver also recognizes http-POSTs to /pks/add. Use this to upload
1185 A better way to do this would be a request like:
1187 /pks/lookup/<gnupg_formatierte_user_id>?op=<operation>
1189 This can be implemented using Hurd's translator mechanism.
1190 However, I think the whole key server stuff has to be re-thought;
1191 I have some ideas and probably create a white paper.
1192 ** Algorithm names for the "keygen.algo" prompt
1194 When using a --command-fd controlled key generation or "addkey"
1195 there is way to know the number to enter on the "keygen.algo"
1196 prompt. The displayed numbers are for human reception and may
1197 change with releases. To provide a stable way to enter a desired
1198 algorithm choice the prompt also accepts predefined names for the
1199 algorithms, which will not change.
1201 | Name | No | Description |
1202 |---------+----+---------------------------------|
1203 | rsa+rsa | 1 | RSA and RSA (default) |
1204 | dsa+elg | 2 | DSA and Elgamal |
1205 | dsa | 3 | DSA (sign only) |
1206 | rsa/s | 4 | RSA (sign only) |
1207 | elg | 5 | Elgamal (encrypt only) |
1208 | rsa/e | 6 | RSA (encrypt only) |
1209 | dsa/* | 7 | DSA (set your own capabilities) |
1210 | rsa/* | 8 | RSA (set your own capabilities) |
1211 | ecc+ecc | 9 | ECC and ECC |
1212 | ecc/s | 10 | ECC (sign only) |
1213 | ecc/* | 11 | ECC (set your own capabilities) |
1214 | ecc/e | 12 | ECC (encrypt only) |
1215 | keygrip | 13 | Existing key |
1217 If one of the "foo/*" names are used a "keygen.flags" prompt needs
1218 to be answered as well. Instead of toggling the predefined flags,
1219 it is also possible to set them direct: Use a "=" character
1220 directly followed by a comination of "a" (for authentication), "s"
1221 (for signing), or "c" (for certification).