1 This is gnupg.info, produced by makeinfo version 6.5 from gnupg.texi.
3 This is the 'The GNU Privacy Guard Manual' (version 2.3.3-beta5, October
6 (C) 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
7 (C) 2013, 2014, 2015 Werner Koch.
8 (C) 2015, 2016, 2017 g10 Code GmbH.
10 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
11 document under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
12 published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the
13 License, or (at your option) any later version. The text of the
14 license can be found in the section entitled "Copying".
15 INFO-DIR-SECTION GNU Utilities
17 * gpg2: (gnupg). OpenPGP encryption and signing tool.
18 * gpgsm: (gnupg). S/MIME encryption and signing tool.
19 * gpg-agent: (gnupg). The secret key daemon.
20 * dirmngr: (gnupg). X.509 CRL and OCSP server.
21 * dirmngr-client: (gnupg). X.509 CRL and OCSP client.
25 File: gnupg.info, Node: Top, Next: Installation, Up: (dir)
27 Using the GNU Privacy Guard
28 ***************************
30 This is the 'The GNU Privacy Guard Manual' (version 2.3.3-beta5, October
33 (C) 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
34 (C) 2013, 2014, 2015 Werner Koch.
35 (C) 2015, 2016, 2017 g10 Code GmbH.
37 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
38 document under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
39 published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the
40 License, or (at your option) any later version. The text of the
41 license can be found in the section entitled "Copying".
43 This manual documents how to use the GNU Privacy Guard system as well
44 as the administration and the architecture.
48 * Installation:: A short installation guide.
50 * Invoking GPG-AGENT:: How to launch the secret key daemon.
51 * Invoking DIRMNGR:: How to launch the CRL and OCSP daemon.
52 * Invoking GPG:: Using the OpenPGP protocol.
53 * Invoking GPGSM:: Using the S/MIME protocol.
54 * Invoking SCDAEMON:: How to handle Smartcards.
55 * Specify a User ID:: How to Specify a User Id.
56 * Trust Values:: How GnuPG displays trust values.
58 * Smart Card Tool:: Tool to administrate smart cards.
59 * Helper Tools:: Description of small helper tools.
60 * Web Key Service:: Tools for the Web Key Service.
62 * Howtos:: How to do certain things.
63 * System Notes:: Notes pertaining to certain OSes.
64 * Debugging:: How to solve problems.
66 * Copying:: GNU General Public License says
67 how you can copy and share GnuPG.
68 * Contributors:: People who have contributed to GnuPG.
70 * Glossary:: Short description of terms used.
71 * Option Index:: Index to command line options.
72 * Environment Index:: Index to environment variables and files.
73 * Index:: Index of concepts and symbol names.
76 File: gnupg.info, Node: Installation, Next: Invoking GPG-AGENT, Prev: Top, Up: Top
78 1 A short installation guide
79 ****************************
81 Unfortunately the installation guide has not been finished in time.
82 Instead of delaying the release of GnuPG 2.0 even further, I decided to
83 release without that guide. The chapter on gpg-agent and gpgsm do
84 include brief information on how to set up the whole thing. Please
85 watch the GnuPG website for updates of the documentation. In the
86 meantime you may search the GnuPG mailing list archives or ask on the
87 gnupg-users mailing list for advise on how to solve problems or how to
88 get that whole thing up and running.
90 ** Building the software
92 Building the software is described in the file 'INSTALL'. Given that
93 you are already reading this documentation we can only give some extra
96 To comply with the rules on GNU systems you should have build time
97 configured 'gnupg' using:
99 ./configure --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var
101 This is to make sure that system wide configuration files are
102 searched in the directory '/etc' and variable data below '/var'; the
103 default would be to also install them below '/usr/local' where the
104 binaries get installed. If you selected to use the '--prefix=/' you
105 obviously don't need those option as they are the default then.
107 ** Notes on setting a root CA key to trusted
109 X.509 is based on a hierarchical key infrastructure. At the root of
110 the tree a trusted anchor (root certificate) is required. There are
111 usually no other means of verifying whether this root certificate is
112 trustworthy than looking it up in a list. GnuPG uses a file
113 ('trustlist.txt') to keep track of all root certificates it knows about.
114 There are 3 ways to get certificates into this list:
116 * Use the list which comes with GnuPG. However this list only
117 contains a few root certificates. Most installations will need
120 * Let 'gpgsm' ask you whether you want to insert a new root
121 certificate. This feature is enabled by default; you may disable
122 it using the option 'no-allow-mark-trusted' into 'gpg-agent.conf'.
124 * Manually maintain the list of trusted root certificates. For a
125 multi user installation this can be done once for all users on a
126 machine. Specific changes on a per-user base are also possible.
129 File: gnupg.info, Node: Invoking GPG-AGENT, Next: Invoking DIRMNGR, Prev: Installation, Up: Top
134 'gpg-agent' is a daemon to manage secret (private) keys independently
135 from any protocol. It is used as a backend for 'gpg' and 'gpgsm' as
136 well as for a couple of other utilities.
138 The agent is automatically started on demand by 'gpg', 'gpgsm',
139 'gpgconf', or 'gpg-connect-agent'. Thus there is no reason to start it
140 manually. In case you want to use the included Secure Shell Agent you
141 may start the agent using:
143 gpg-connect-agent /bye
145 If you want to manually terminate the currently-running agent, you can
148 gpgconf --kill gpg-agent
150 You should always add the following lines to your '.bashrc' or whatever
151 initialization file is used for all shell invocations:
156 It is important that this environment variable always reflects the
157 output of the 'tty' command. For W32 systems this option is not
160 Please make sure that a proper pinentry program has been installed
161 under the default filename (which is system dependent) or use the option
162 'pinentry-program' to specify the full name of that program. It is
163 often useful to install a symbolic link from the actual used pinentry
164 (e.g. '/usr/local/bin/pinentry-gtk') to the expected one (e.g.
165 '/usr/local/bin/pinentry').
167 *Note Option Index::, for an index to 'GPG-AGENT''s commands and
172 * Agent Commands:: List of all commands.
173 * Agent Options:: List of all options.
174 * Agent Configuration:: Configuration files.
175 * Agent Signals:: Use of some signals.
176 * Agent Examples:: Some usage examples.
177 * Agent Protocol:: The protocol the agent uses.
180 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent Commands, Next: Agent Options, Up: Invoking GPG-AGENT
185 Commands are not distinguished from options except for the fact that
186 only one command is allowed.
189 Print the program version and licensing information. Note that you
190 cannot abbreviate this command.
194 Print a usage message summarizing the most useful command-line
195 options. Note that you cannot abbreviate this command.
198 Print a list of all available options and commands. Note that you
199 cannot abbreviate this command.
202 Run in server mode and wait for commands on the 'stdin'. The
203 default mode is to create a socket and listen for commands there.
205 '--daemon [COMMAND LINE]'
206 Start the gpg-agent as a daemon; that is, detach it from the
207 console and run it in the background.
209 As an alternative you may create a new process as a child of
210 gpg-agent: 'gpg-agent --daemon /bin/sh'. This way you get a new
211 shell with the environment setup properly; after you exit from this
212 shell, gpg-agent terminates within a few seconds.
215 Run in the foreground, sending logs by default to stderr, and
216 listening on provided file descriptors, which must already be bound
217 to listening sockets. This command is useful when running under
218 systemd or other similar process supervision schemes. This option
219 is not supported on Windows.
221 In -supervised mode, different file descriptors can be provided for
222 use as different socket types (e.g. ssh, extra) as long as they
223 are identified in the environment variable 'LISTEN_FDNAMES' (see
224 sd_listen_fds(3) on some Linux distributions for more information
228 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent Options, Next: Agent Configuration, Prev: Agent Commands, Up: Invoking GPG-AGENT
233 Options may either be used on the command line or, after stripping off
234 the two leading dashes, in the configuration file.
237 Reads configuration from FILE instead of from the default per-user
238 configuration file. The default configuration file is named
239 'gpg-agent.conf' and expected in the '.gnupg' directory directly
240 below the home directory of the user. This option is ignored if
241 used in an options file.
244 Set the name of the home directory to DIR. If this option is not
245 used, the home directory defaults to '~/.gnupg'. It is only
246 recognized when given on the command line. It also overrides any
247 home directory stated through the environment variable 'GNUPGHOME'
248 or (on Windows systems) by means of the Registry entry
249 HKCU\SOFTWARE\GNU\GNUPG:HOMEDIR.
251 On Windows systems it is possible to install GnuPG as a portable
252 application. In this case only this command line option is
253 considered, all other ways to set a home directory are ignored.
255 To install GnuPG as a portable application under Windows, create an
256 empty file named 'gpgconf.ctl' in the same directory as the tool
257 'gpgconf.exe'. The root of the installation is then that
258 directory; or, if 'gpgconf.exe' has been installed directly below a
259 directory named 'bin', its parent directory. You also need to make
260 sure that the following directories exist and are writable:
261 'ROOT/home' for the GnuPG home and 'ROOT/usr/local/var/cache/gnupg'
262 for internal cache files.
266 Outputs additional information while running. You can increase the
267 verbosity by giving several verbose commands to 'gpg-agent', such
272 Try to be as quiet as possible.
275 Don't invoke a pinentry or do any other thing requiring human
278 '--faked-system-time EPOCH'
279 This option is only useful for testing; it sets the system time
280 back or forth to EPOCH which is the number of seconds elapsed since
283 '--debug-level LEVEL'
284 Select the debug level for investigating problems. LEVEL may be a
285 numeric value or a keyword:
288 No debugging at all. A value of less than 1 may be used
289 instead of the keyword.
291 Some basic debug messages. A value between 1 and 2 may be
292 used instead of the keyword.
294 More verbose debug messages. A value between 3 and 5 may be
295 used instead of the keyword.
297 Even more detailed messages. A value between 6 and 8 may be
298 used instead of the keyword.
300 All of the debug messages you can get. A value greater than 8
301 may be used instead of the keyword. The creation of hash
302 tracing files is only enabled if the keyword is used.
304 How these messages are mapped to the actual debugging flags is not
305 specified and may change with newer releases of this program. They
306 are however carefully selected to best aid in debugging.
309 Set debug flags. All flags are or-ed and FLAGS may be given in C
310 syntax (e.g. 0x0042) or as a comma separated list of flag names.
311 To get a list of all supported flags the single word "help" can be
312 used. This option is only useful for debugging and the behavior
313 may change at any time without notice.
316 Same as '--debug=0xffffffff'
319 When running in server mode, wait N seconds before entering the
320 actual processing loop and print the pid. This gives time to
323 '--debug-quick-random'
324 This option inhibits the use of the very secure random quality
325 level (Libgcrypt’s 'GCRY_VERY_STRONG_RANDOM') and degrades all
326 request down to standard random quality. It is only used for
327 testing and should not be used for any production quality keys.
328 This option is only effective when given on the command line.
330 On GNU/Linux, another way to quickly generate insecure keys is to
331 use 'rngd' to fill the kernel's entropy pool with lower quality
332 random data. 'rngd' is typically provided by the 'rng-tools'
333 package. It can be run as follows: 'sudo rngd -f -r /dev/urandom'.
336 This option enables extra debug information pertaining to the
337 Pinentry. As of now it is only useful when used along with
341 Don't detach the process from the console. This is mainly useful
348 Format the info output in daemon mode for use with the standard
349 Bourne shell or the C-shell respectively. The default is to guess
350 it based on the environment variable 'SHELL' which is correct in
355 Tell the pinentry to grab the keyboard and mouse. This option
356 should be used on X-Servers to avoid X-sniffing attacks. Any use
357 of the option '--grab' overrides an used option '--no-grab'. The
358 default is '--no-grab'.
361 Append all logging output to FILE. This is very helpful in seeing
362 what the agent actually does. Use 'socket://' to log to socket.
363 If neither a log file nor a log file descriptor has been set on a
364 Windows platform, the Registry entry
365 'HKCU\Software\GNU\GnuPG:DefaultLogFile', if set, is used to
366 specify the logging output.
368 '--no-allow-mark-trusted'
369 Do not allow clients to mark keys as trusted, i.e. put them into
370 the 'trustlist.txt' file. This makes it harder for users to
371 inadvertently accept Root-CA keys.
373 '--allow-preset-passphrase'
374 This option allows the use of 'gpg-preset-passphrase' to seed the
375 internal cache of 'gpg-agent' with passphrases.
377 '--no-allow-loopback-pinentry'
378 '--allow-loopback-pinentry'
379 Disallow or allow clients to use the loopback pinentry features;
380 see the option 'pinentry-mode' for details. Allow is the default.
382 The '--force' option of the Assuan command 'DELETE_KEY' is also
383 controlled by this option: The option is ignored if a loopback
384 pinentry is disallowed.
386 '--no-allow-external-cache'
387 Tell Pinentry not to enable features which use an external cache
390 Some desktop environments prefer to unlock all credentials with one
391 master password and may have installed a Pinentry which employs an
392 additional external cache to implement such a policy. By using
393 this option the Pinentry is advised not to make use of such a cache
394 and instead always ask the user for the requested passphrase.
396 '--allow-emacs-pinentry'
397 Tell Pinentry to allow features to divert the passphrase entry to a
398 running Emacs instance. How this is exactly handled depends on the
399 version of the used Pinentry.
401 '--ignore-cache-for-signing'
402 This option will let 'gpg-agent' bypass the passphrase cache for
403 all signing operation. Note that there is also a per-session
404 option to control this behavior but this command line option takes
407 '--default-cache-ttl N'
408 Set the time a cache entry is valid to N seconds. The default is
409 600 seconds. Each time a cache entry is accessed, the entry's
410 timer is reset. To set an entry's maximum lifetime, use
411 'max-cache-ttl'. Note that a cached passphrase may not be evicted
412 immediately from memory if no client requests a cache operation.
413 This is due to an internal housekeeping function which is only run
416 '--default-cache-ttl-ssh N'
417 Set the time a cache entry used for SSH keys is valid to N seconds.
418 The default is 1800 seconds. Each time a cache entry is accessed,
419 the entry's timer is reset. To set an entry's maximum lifetime,
420 use 'max-cache-ttl-ssh'.
423 Set the maximum time a cache entry is valid to N seconds. After
424 this time a cache entry will be expired even if it has been
425 accessed recently or has been set using 'gpg-preset-passphrase'.
426 The default is 2 hours (7200 seconds).
428 '--max-cache-ttl-ssh N'
429 Set the maximum time a cache entry used for SSH keys is valid to N
430 seconds. After this time a cache entry will be expired even if it
431 has been accessed recently or has been set using
432 'gpg-preset-passphrase'. The default is 2 hours (7200 seconds).
434 '--enforce-passphrase-constraints'
435 Enforce the passphrase constraints by not allowing the user to
436 bypass them using the "Take it anyway" button.
438 '--min-passphrase-len N'
439 Set the minimal length of a passphrase. When entering a new
440 passphrase shorter than this value a warning will be displayed.
443 '--min-passphrase-nonalpha N'
444 Set the minimal number of digits or special characters required in
445 a passphrase. When entering a new passphrase with less than this
446 number of digits or special characters a warning will be displayed.
449 '--check-passphrase-pattern FILE'
450 '--check-sym-passphrase-pattern FILE'
451 Check the passphrase against the pattern given in FILE. When
452 entering a new passphrase matching one of these pattern a warning
453 will be displayed. If FILE does not contain any slashes and does
454 not start with "~/" it is searched in the system configuration
455 directory ('/etc/gnupg'). The default is not to use any pattern
456 file. The second version of this option is only used when creating
457 a new symmetric key to allow the use of different patterns for such
460 Security note: It is known that checking a passphrase against a
461 list of pattern or even against a complete dictionary is not very
462 effective to enforce good passphrases. Users will soon figure up
463 ways to bypass such a policy. A better policy is to educate users
464 on good security behavior and optionally to run a passphrase
465 cracker regularly on all users passphrases to catch the very simple
468 '--max-passphrase-days N'
469 Ask the user to change the passphrase if N days have passed since
470 the last change. With '--enforce-passphrase-constraints' set the
471 user may not bypass this check.
473 '--enable-passphrase-history'
474 This option does nothing yet.
476 '--pinentry-invisible-char CHAR'
477 This option asks the Pinentry to use CHAR for displaying hidden
478 characters. CHAR must be one character UTF-8 string. A Pinentry
479 may or may not honor this request.
481 '--pinentry-timeout N'
482 This option asks the Pinentry to timeout after N seconds with no
483 user input. The default value of 0 does not ask the pinentry to
484 timeout, however a Pinentry may use its own default timeout value
485 in this case. A Pinentry may or may not honor this request.
487 '--pinentry-formatted-passphrase'
488 This option asks the Pinentry to enable passphrase formatting when
489 asking the user for a new passphrase and masking of the passphrase
492 If passphrase formatting is enabled, then all non-breaking space
493 characters are stripped from the entered passphrase. Passphrase
494 formatting is mostly useful in combination with passphrases
495 generated with the GENPIN feature of some Pinentries. Note that
496 such a generated passphrase, if not modified by the user, skips all
497 passphrase constraints checking because such constraints would
498 actually weaken the generated passphrase.
500 '--pinentry-program FILENAME'
501 Use program FILENAME as the PIN entry. The default is installation
502 dependent. With the default configuration the name of the default
503 pinentry is 'pinentry'; if that file does not exist but a
504 'pinentry-basic' exist the latter is used.
506 On a Windows platform the default is to use the first existing
507 program from this list: 'bin\pinentry.exe',
508 '..\Gpg4win\bin\pinentry.exe', '..\Gpg4win\pinentry.exe',
509 '..\GNU\GnuPG\pinentry.exe', '..\GNU\bin\pinentry.exe',
510 'bin\pinentry-basic.exe' where the file names are relative to the
511 GnuPG installation directory.
513 '--pinentry-touch-file FILENAME'
514 By default the filename of the socket gpg-agent is listening for
515 requests is passed to Pinentry, so that it can touch that file
516 before exiting (it does this only in curses mode). This option
517 changes the file passed to Pinentry to FILENAME. The special name
518 '/dev/null' may be used to completely disable this feature. Note
519 that Pinentry will not create that file, it will only change the
520 modification and access time.
522 '--scdaemon-program FILENAME'
523 Use program FILENAME as the Smartcard daemon. The default is
524 installation dependent and can be shown with the 'gpgconf' command.
527 Do not make use of the scdaemon tool. This option has the effect
528 of disabling the ability to do smartcard operations. Note, that
529 enabling this option at runtime does not kill an already forked
532 '--disable-check-own-socket'
533 'gpg-agent' employs a periodic self-test to detect a stolen socket.
534 This usually means a second instance of 'gpg-agent' has taken over
535 the socket and 'gpg-agent' will then terminate itself. This option
536 may be used to disable this self-test for debugging purposes.
538 '--use-standard-socket'
539 '--no-use-standard-socket'
540 '--use-standard-socket-p'
541 Since GnuPG 2.1 the standard socket is always used. These options
542 have no more effect. The command 'gpg-agent
543 --use-standard-socket-p' will thus always return success.
549 '--lc-messages STRING'
550 '--xauthority STRING'
551 These options are used with the server mode to pass localization
556 Ignore requests to change the current 'tty' or X window system's
557 'DISPLAY' variable respectively. This is useful to lock the
558 pinentry to pop up at the 'tty' or display you started the agent.
561 Set the size of the queue for pending connections. The default is
564 '--extra-socket NAME'
565 The extra socket is created by default, you may use this option to
566 change the name of the socket. To disable the creation of the
567 socket use "none" or "/dev/null" for NAME.
569 Also listen on native gpg-agent connections on the given socket.
570 The intended use for this extra socket is to setup a Unix domain
571 socket forwarding from a remote machine to this socket on the local
572 machine. A 'gpg' running on the remote machine may then connect to
573 the local gpg-agent and use its private keys. This enables
574 decrypting or signing data on a remote machine without exposing the
575 private keys to the remote machine.
577 '--enable-extended-key-format'
578 '--disable-extended-key-format'
579 Since version 2.3 keys are created in the extended private key
580 format. Changing the passphrase of a key will also convert the key
581 to that new format. This new key format is supported since GnuPG
582 version 2.1.12 and thus there should be no need to disable it. The
583 disable option allows to revert to the old behavior for new keys;
584 be aware that keys are never migrated back to the old format.
585 However if the enable option has been used the disable option won't
586 have an effect. The advantage of the extended private key format
587 is that it is text based and can carry additional meta data.
589 '--enable-ssh-support'
590 '--enable-putty-support'
592 The OpenSSH Agent protocol is always enabled, but 'gpg-agent' will
593 only set the 'SSH_AUTH_SOCK' variable if this flag is given.
595 In this mode of operation, the agent does not only implement the
596 gpg-agent protocol, but also the agent protocol used by OpenSSH
597 (through a separate socket). Consequently, it should be possible
598 to use the gpg-agent as a drop-in replacement for the well known
601 SSH Keys, which are to be used through the agent, need to be added
602 to the gpg-agent initially through the ssh-add utility. When a key
603 is added, ssh-add will ask for the password of the provided key
604 file and send the unprotected key material to the agent; this
605 causes the gpg-agent to ask for a passphrase, which is to be used
606 for encrypting the newly received key and storing it in a gpg-agent
609 Once a key has been added to the gpg-agent this way, the gpg-agent
610 will be ready to use the key.
612 Note: in case the gpg-agent receives a signature request, the user
613 might need to be prompted for a passphrase, which is necessary for
614 decrypting the stored key. Since the ssh-agent protocol does not
615 contain a mechanism for telling the agent on which display/terminal
616 it is running, gpg-agent's ssh-support will use the TTY or X
617 display where gpg-agent has been started. To switch this display
618 to the current one, the following command may be used:
620 gpg-connect-agent updatestartuptty /bye
622 Although all GnuPG components try to start the gpg-agent as needed,
623 this is not possible for the ssh support because ssh does not know
624 about it. Thus if no GnuPG tool which accesses the agent has been
625 run, there is no guarantee that ssh is able to use gpg-agent for
626 authentication. To fix this you may start gpg-agent if needed
627 using this simple command:
629 gpg-connect-agent /bye
631 Adding the '--verbose' shows the progress of starting the agent.
633 The '--enable-putty-support' is only available under Windows and
634 allows the use of gpg-agent with the ssh implementation 'putty'.
635 This is similar to the regular ssh-agent support but makes use of
636 Windows message queue as required by 'putty'.
638 '--ssh-fingerprint-digest'
640 Select the digest algorithm used to compute ssh fingerprints that
641 are communicated to the user, e.g. in pinentry dialogs. OpenSSH
642 has transitioned from using MD5 to the more secure SHA256.
644 '--auto-expand-secmem N'
645 Allow Libgcrypt to expand its secure memory area as required. The
646 optional value N is a non-negative integer with a suggested size in
647 bytes of each additionally allocated secure memory area. The value
648 is rounded up to the next 32 KiB; usual C style prefixes are
649 allowed. For an heavy loaded gpg-agent with many concurrent
650 connection this option avoids sign or decrypt errors due to out of
651 secure memory error returns.
653 '--s2k-calibration MILLISECONDS'
654 Change the default calibration time to MILLISECONDS. The given
655 value is capped at 60 seconds; a value of 0 resets to the
656 compiled-in default. This option is re-read on a SIGHUP (or
657 'gpgconf --reload gpg-agent') and the S2K count is then
661 Specify the iteration count used to protect the passphrase. This
662 option can be used to override the auto-calibration done by
663 default. The auto-calibration computes a count which requires by
664 default 100ms to mangle a given passphrase. See also
667 To view the actually used iteration count and the milliseconds
668 required for an S2K operation use:
670 gpg-connect-agent 'GETINFO s2k_count' /bye
671 gpg-connect-agent 'GETINFO s2k_time' /bye
673 To view the auto-calibrated count use:
675 gpg-connect-agent 'GETINFO s2k_count_cal' /bye
678 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent Configuration, Next: Agent Signals, Prev: Agent Options, Up: Invoking GPG-AGENT
683 There are a few configuration files needed for the operation of the
684 agent. By default they may all be found in the current home directory
685 (*note option --homedir::).
688 This is the standard configuration file read by 'gpg-agent' on
689 startup. It may contain any valid long option; the leading two
690 dashes may not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated.
691 This file is also read after a 'SIGHUP' however only a few options
692 will actually have an effect. This default name may be changed on
693 the command line (*note option --options::). You should backup
697 This is the list of trusted keys. You should backup this file.
699 Comment lines, indicated by a leading hash mark, as well as empty
700 lines are ignored. To mark a key as trusted you need to enter its
701 fingerprint followed by a space and a capital letter 'S'. Colons
702 may optionally be used to separate the bytes of a fingerprint; this
703 enables cutting and pasting the fingerprint from a key listing
704 output. If the line is prefixed with a '!' the key is explicitly
705 marked as not trusted.
707 Here is an example where two keys are marked as ultimately trusted
708 and one as not trusted:
710 # CN=Wurzel ZS 3,O=Intevation GmbH,C=DE
711 A6935DD34EF3087973C706FC311AA2CCF733765B S
713 # CN=PCA-1-Verwaltung-02/O=PKI-1-Verwaltung/C=DE
714 DC:BD:69:25:48:BD:BB:7E:31:6E:BB:80:D3:00:80:35:D4:F8:A6:CD S
716 # CN=Root-CA/O=Schlapphuete/L=Pullach/C=DE
717 !14:56:98:D3:FE:9C:CA:5A:31:6E:BC:81:D3:11:4E:00:90:A3:44:C2 S
719 Before entering a key into this file, you need to ensure its
720 authenticity. How to do this depends on your organisation; your
721 administrator might have already entered those keys which are
722 deemed trustworthy enough into this file. Places where to look for
723 the fingerprint of a root certificate are letters received from the
724 CA or the website of the CA (after making 100% sure that this is
725 indeed the website of that CA). You may want to consider
726 disallowing interactive updates of this file by using the *note
727 option --no-allow-mark-trusted::. It might even be advisable to
728 change the permissions to read-only so that this file can't be
729 changed inadvertently.
731 As a special feature a line 'include-default' will include a global
732 list of trusted certificates (e.g. '/etc/gnupg/trustlist.txt').
733 This global list is also used if the local list is not available.
735 It is possible to add further flags after the 'S' for use by the
739 Relax checking of some root certificate requirements. As of
740 now this flag allows the use of root certificates with a
741 missing basicConstraints attribute (despite that it is a MUST
742 for CA certificates) and disables CRL checking for the root
746 If validation of a certificate finally issued by a CA with
747 this flag set fails, try again using the chain validation
751 This file is used when support for the secure shell agent protocol
752 has been enabled (*note option --enable-ssh-support::). Only keys
753 present in this file are used in the SSH protocol. You should
756 The 'ssh-add' tool may be used to add new entries to this file; you
757 may also add them manually. Comment lines, indicated by a leading
758 hash mark, as well as empty lines are ignored. An entry starts
759 with optional whitespace, followed by the keygrip of the key given
760 as 40 hex digits, optionally followed by the caching TTL in seconds
761 and another optional field for arbitrary flags. A non-zero TTL
762 overrides the global default as set by '--default-cache-ttl-ssh'.
764 The only flag support is 'confirm'. If this flag is found for a
765 key, each use of the key will pop up a pinentry to confirm the use
766 of that key. The flag is automatically set if a new key was loaded
767 into 'gpg-agent' using the option '-c' of the 'ssh-add' command.
769 The keygrip may be prefixed with a '!' to disable an entry.
771 The following example lists exactly one key. Note that keys
772 available through a OpenPGP smartcard in the active smartcard
773 reader are implicitly added to this list; i.e. there is no need to
776 # Key added on: 2011-07-20 20:38:46
777 # Fingerprint: 5e:8d:c4:ad:e7:af:6e:27:8a:d6:13:e4:79:ad:0b:81
778 34B62F25E277CF13D3C6BCEBFD3F85D08F0A864B 0 confirm
782 This is the directory where gpg-agent stores the private keys.
783 Each key is stored in a file with the name made up of the keygrip
784 and the suffix 'key'. You should backup all files in this
785 directory and take great care to keep this backup closed away.
787 Note that on larger installations, it is useful to put predefined
788 files into the directory '/etc/skel/.gnupg' so that newly created users
789 start up with a working configuration. For existing users the a small
790 helper script is provided to create these files (*note addgnupghome::).
793 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent Signals, Next: Agent Examples, Prev: Agent Configuration, Up: Invoking GPG-AGENT
795 2.4 Use of some signals
796 =======================
798 A running 'gpg-agent' may be controlled by signals, i.e. using the
799 'kill' command to send a signal to the process.
801 Here is a list of supported signals:
804 This signal flushes all cached passphrases and if the program has
805 been started with a configuration file, the configuration file is
806 read again. Only certain options are honored: 'quiet', 'verbose',
807 'debug', 'debug-all', 'debug-level', 'debug-pinentry', 'no-grab',
808 'pinentry-program', 'pinentry-invisible-char', 'default-cache-ttl',
809 'max-cache-ttl', 'ignore-cache-for-signing', 's2k-count',
810 'no-allow-external-cache', 'allow-emacs-pinentry',
811 'no-allow-mark-trusted', 'disable-scdaemon', and
812 'disable-check-own-socket'. 'scdaemon-program' is also supported
813 but due to the current implementation, which calls the scdaemon
814 only once, it is not of much use unless you manually kill the
818 Shuts down the process but waits until all current requests are
819 fulfilled. If the process has received 3 of these signals and
820 requests are still pending, a shutdown is forced.
823 Shuts down the process immediately.
826 Dump internal information to the log file.
829 This signal is used for internal purposes.
832 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent Examples, Next: Agent Protocol, Prev: Agent Signals, Up: Invoking GPG-AGENT
837 It is important to set the environment variable 'GPG_TTY' in your login
838 shell, for example in the '~/.bashrc' init script:
840 export GPG_TTY=$(tty)
842 If you enabled the Ssh Agent Support, you also need to tell ssh about
843 it by adding this to your init script:
846 if [ "${gnupg_SSH_AUTH_SOCK_by:-0}" -ne $$ ]; then
847 export SSH_AUTH_SOCK="$(gpgconf --list-dirs agent-ssh-socket)"
851 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent Protocol, Prev: Agent Examples, Up: Invoking GPG-AGENT
853 2.6 Agent's Assuan Protocol
854 ===========================
856 Note: this section does only document the protocol, which is used by
857 GnuPG components; it does not deal with the ssh-agent protocol. To see
858 the full specification of each command, use
860 gpg-connect-agent 'help COMMAND' /bye
862 or just 'help' to list all available commands.
864 The 'gpg-agent' daemon is started on demand by the GnuPG components.
866 To identify a key we use a thing called keygrip which is the SHA-1
867 hash of an canonical encoded S-Expression of the public key as used in
868 Libgcrypt. For the purpose of this interface the keygrip is given as a
869 hex string. The advantage of using this and not the hash of a
870 certificate is that it will be possible to use the same keypair for
871 different protocols, thereby saving space on the token used to keep the
874 The 'gpg-agent' may send status messages during a command or when
875 returning from a command to inform a client about the progress or result
876 of an operation. For example, the INQUIRE_MAXLEN status message may be
877 sent during a server inquire to inform the client of the maximum usable
878 length of the inquired data (which should not be exceeded).
882 * Agent PKDECRYPT:: Decrypting a session key
883 * Agent PKSIGN:: Signing a Hash
884 * Agent GENKEY:: Generating a Key
885 * Agent IMPORT:: Importing a Secret Key
886 * Agent EXPORT:: Exporting a Secret Key
887 * Agent ISTRUSTED:: Importing a Root Certificate
888 * Agent GET_PASSPHRASE:: Ask for a passphrase
889 * Agent CLEAR_PASSPHRASE:: Expire a cached passphrase
890 * Agent PRESET_PASSPHRASE:: Set a passphrase for a keygrip
891 * Agent GET_CONFIRMATION:: Ask for confirmation
892 * Agent HAVEKEY:: Check whether a key is available
893 * Agent LEARN:: Register a smartcard
894 * Agent PASSWD:: Change a Passphrase
895 * Agent UPDATESTARTUPTTY:: Change the Standard Display
896 * Agent GETEVENTCOUNTER:: Get the Event Counters
897 * Agent GETINFO:: Return information about the process
898 * Agent OPTION:: Set options for the session
901 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent PKDECRYPT, Next: Agent PKSIGN, Up: Agent Protocol
903 2.6.1 Decrypting a session key
904 ------------------------------
906 The client asks the server to decrypt a session key. The encrypted
907 session key should have all information needed to select the appropriate
908 secret key or to delegate it to a smartcard.
912 Tell the server about the key to be used for decryption. If this is
913 not used, 'gpg-agent' may try to figure out the key by trying to decrypt
914 the message with each key available.
918 The agent checks whether this command is allowed and then does an
919 INQUIRY to get the ciphertext the client should then send the cipher
922 S: INQUIRE CIPHERTEXT
927 Please note that the server may send status info lines while reading
928 the data lines from the client. The data send is a SPKI like S-Exp with
933 (<param_name1> <mpi>)
935 (<param_namen> <mpi>)))
937 Where algo is a string with the name of the algorithm; see the
938 libgcrypt documentation for a list of valid algorithms. The number and
939 names of the parameters depend on the algorithm. The agent does return
940 an error if there is an inconsistency.
942 If the decryption was successful the decrypted data is returned by
945 Here is an example session:
947 S: INQUIRE CIPHERTEXT
948 C: D (enc-val elg (a 349324324)
949 C: D (b 3F444677CA)))
951 S: # session key follows
953 S: D (value 1234567890ABCDEF0)
954 S: OK decryption successful
956 The “PADDING” status line is only send if gpg-agent can tell what
957 kind of padding is used. As of now only the value 0 is used to indicate
958 that the padding has been removed.
961 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent PKSIGN, Next: Agent GENKEY, Prev: Agent PKDECRYPT, Up: Agent Protocol
966 The client asks the agent to sign a given hash value. A default key
967 will be chosen if no key has been set. To set a key a client first
972 This can be used multiple times to create multiple signature, the
973 list of keys is reset with the next PKSIGN command or a RESET. The
974 server tests whether the key is a valid key to sign something and
977 SETHASH --hash=<name>|<algo> <hexstring>
979 The client can use this command to tell the server about the data
980 <hexstring> (which usually is a hash) to be signed. <algo> is the
981 decimal encoded hash algorithm number as used by Libgcrypt. Either
982 <algo> or -hash=<name> must be given. Valid names for <name> are:
985 The SHA-1 hash algorithm
987 The SHA-256 hash algorithm
989 The RIPE-MD160 hash algorithm
991 The old and broken MD5 hash algorithm
993 A combined hash algorithm as used by the TLS protocol.
995 The actual signing is done using
999 Options are not yet defined, but may later be used to choose among
1000 different algorithms. The agent does then some checks, asks for the
1001 passphrase and as a result the server returns the signature as an SPKI
1002 like S-expression in "D" lines:
1006 (<param_name1> <mpi>)
1008 (<param_namen> <mpi>)))
1010 The operation is affected by the option
1012 OPTION use-cache-for-signing=0|1
1014 The default of '1' uses the cache. Setting this option to '0' will
1015 lead 'gpg-agent' to ignore the passphrase cache. Note, that there is
1016 also a global command line option for 'gpg-agent' to globally disable
1019 Here is an example session:
1025 S: # I did ask the user whether he really wants to sign
1026 S: # I did ask the user for the passphrase
1028 C: D ABCDEF012345678901234
1030 S: # signature follows
1031 S: D (sig-val rsa (s 45435453654612121212))
1035 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent GENKEY, Next: Agent IMPORT, Prev: Agent PKSIGN, Up: Agent Protocol
1037 2.6.3 Generating a Key
1038 ----------------------
1040 This is used to create a new keypair and store the secret key inside the
1041 active PSE -- which is in most cases a Soft-PSE. A not-yet-defined
1042 option allows choosing the storage location. To get the secret key out
1043 of the PSE, a special export tool has to be used.
1045 GENKEY [--no-protection] [--preset] [<cache_nonce>]
1047 Invokes the key generation process and the server will then inquire
1048 on the generation parameters, like:
1051 C: D (genkey (rsa (nbits 1024)))
1054 The format of the key parameters which depends on the algorithm is of
1059 (parameter_name_1 ....)
1061 (parameter_name_n ....)))
1063 If everything succeeds, the server returns the *public key* in a SPKI
1064 like S-Expression like this:
1071 Here is an example session:
1074 C: D (genkey (rsa (nbits 1024)))
1077 S: D (rsa (n 326487324683264) (e 10001)))
1080 The '--no-protection' option may be used to prevent prompting for a
1081 passphrase to protect the secret key while leaving the secret key
1082 unprotected. The '--preset' option may be used to add the passphrase to
1083 the cache using the default cache parameters.
1085 The '--inq-passwd' option may be used to create the key with a
1086 supplied passphrase. When used the agent does an inquiry with the
1087 keyword 'NEWPASSWD' to retrieve that passphrase. This option takes
1088 precedence over '--no-protection'; however if the client sends a empty
1089 (zero-length) passphrase, this is identical to '--no-protection'.
1092 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent IMPORT, Next: Agent EXPORT, Prev: Agent GENKEY, Up: Agent Protocol
1094 2.6.4 Importing a Secret Key
1095 ----------------------------
1097 This operation is not yet supported by GpgAgent. Specialized tools are
1098 to be used for this.
1100 There is no actual need because we can expect that secret keys
1101 created by a 3rd party are stored on a smartcard. If we have generated
1102 the key ourselves, we do not need to import it.
1105 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent EXPORT, Next: Agent ISTRUSTED, Prev: Agent IMPORT, Up: Agent Protocol
1107 2.6.5 Export a Secret Key
1108 -------------------------
1112 Should be done by an extra tool.
1115 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent ISTRUSTED, Next: Agent GET_PASSPHRASE, Prev: Agent EXPORT, Up: Agent Protocol
1117 2.6.6 Importing a Root Certificate
1118 ----------------------------------
1120 Actually we do not import a Root Cert but provide a way to validate any
1121 piece of data by storing its Hash along with a description and an
1122 identifier in the PSE. Here is the interface description:
1124 ISTRUSTED <fingerprint>
1126 Check whether the OpenPGP primary key or the X.509 certificate with
1127 the given fingerprint is an ultimately trusted key or a trusted Root CA
1128 certificate. The fingerprint should be given as a hexstring (without
1129 any blanks or colons or whatever in between) and may be left padded with
1130 00 in case of an MD5 fingerprint. GPGAgent will answer with:
1134 The key is in the table of trusted keys.
1136 ERR 304 (Not Trusted)
1138 The key is not in this table.
1140 Gpg needs the entire list of trusted keys to maintain the web of
1141 trust; the following command is therefore quite helpful:
1145 GpgAgent returns a list of trusted keys line by line:
1147 S: D 000000001234454556565656677878AF2F1ECCFF P
1148 S: D 340387563485634856435645634856438576457A P
1149 S: D FEDC6532453745367FD83474357495743757435D S
1152 The first item on a line is the hexified fingerprint where MD5
1153 fingerprints are '00' padded to the left and the second item is a flag
1154 to indicate the type of key (so that gpg is able to only take care of
1155 PGP keys). P = OpenPGP, S = S/MIME. A client should ignore the rest of
1156 the line, so that we can extend the format in the future.
1158 Finally a client should be able to mark a key as trusted:
1160 MARKTRUSTED FINGERPRINT "P"|"S"
1162 The server will then pop up a window to ask the user whether she
1163 really trusts this key. For this it will probably ask for a text to be
1164 displayed like this:
1166 S: INQUIRE TRUSTDESC
1167 C: D Do you trust the key with the fingerprint @FPR@
1168 C: D bla fasel blurb.
1172 Known sequences with the pattern @foo@ are replaced according to this
1176 Format the fingerprint according to gpg rules for a v3 keys.
1178 Format the fingerprint according to gpg rules for a v4 keys.
1180 Choose an appropriate format to format the fingerprint.
1182 Replaced by a single '@'.
1185 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent GET_PASSPHRASE, Next: Agent CLEAR_PASSPHRASE, Prev: Agent ISTRUSTED, Up: Agent Protocol
1187 2.6.7 Ask for a passphrase
1188 --------------------------
1190 This function is usually used to ask for a passphrase to be used for
1191 symmetric encryption, but may also be used by programs which need
1192 special handling of passphrases. This command uses a syntax which helps
1193 clients to use the agent with minimum effort.
1195 GET_PASSPHRASE [--data] [--check] [--no-ask] [--repeat[=N]] \
1196 [--qualitybar] CACHE_ID \
1197 [ERROR_MESSAGE PROMPT DESCRIPTION]
1199 CACHE_ID is expected to be a string used to identify a cached
1200 passphrase. Use a 'X' to bypass the cache. With no other arguments the
1201 agent returns a cached passphrase or an error. By convention either the
1202 hexified fingerprint of the key shall be used for CACHE_ID or an
1203 arbitrary string prefixed with the name of the calling application and a
1204 colon: Like 'gpg:somestring'.
1206 ERROR_MESSAGE is either a single 'X' for no error message or a string
1207 to be shown as an error message like (e.g. "invalid passphrase").
1208 Blanks must be percent escaped or replaced by '+''.
1210 PROMPT is either a single 'X' for a default prompt or the text to be
1211 shown as the prompt. Blanks must be percent escaped or replaced by '+'.
1213 DESCRIPTION is a text shown above the entry field. Blanks must be
1214 percent escaped or replaced by '+'.
1216 The agent either returns with an error or with a OK followed by the
1217 hex encoded passphrase. Note that the length of the strings is
1218 implicitly limited by the maximum length of a command. If the option
1219 '--data' is used, the passphrase is not returned on the OK line but by
1220 regular data lines; this is the preferred method.
1222 If the option '--check' is used, the standard passphrase constraints
1223 checks are applied. A check is not done if the passphrase has been
1226 If the option '--no-ask' is used and the passphrase is not in the
1227 cache the user will not be asked to enter a passphrase but the error
1228 code 'GPG_ERR_NO_DATA' is returned.
1230 If the option '--qualitybar' is used and a minimum passphrase length
1231 has been configured, a visual indication of the entered passphrase
1234 CLEAR_PASSPHRASE CACHE_ID
1236 may be used to invalidate the cache entry for a passphrase. The
1237 function returns with OK even when there is no cached passphrase.
1240 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent CLEAR_PASSPHRASE, Next: Agent PRESET_PASSPHRASE, Prev: Agent GET_PASSPHRASE, Up: Agent Protocol
1242 2.6.8 Remove a cached passphrase
1243 --------------------------------
1245 Use this command to remove a cached passphrase.
1247 CLEAR_PASSPHRASE [--mode=normal] <cache_id>
1249 The '--mode=normal' option can be used to clear a CACHE_ID that was
1253 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent PRESET_PASSPHRASE, Next: Agent GET_CONFIRMATION, Prev: Agent CLEAR_PASSPHRASE, Up: Agent Protocol
1255 2.6.9 Set a passphrase for a keygrip
1256 ------------------------------------
1258 This command adds a passphrase to the cache for the specified KEYGRIP.
1260 PRESET_PASSPHRASE [--inquire] <string_or_keygrip> <timeout> [<hexstring>]
1262 The passphrase is a hexadecimal string when specified. When not
1263 specified, the passphrase will be retrieved from the pinentry module
1264 unless the '--inquire' option was specified in which case the passphrase
1265 will be retrieved from the client.
1267 The TIMEOUT parameter keeps the passphrase cached for the specified
1268 number of seconds. A value of '-1' means infinite while '0' means the
1269 default (currently only a timeout of -1 is allowed, which means to never
1273 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent GET_CONFIRMATION, Next: Agent HAVEKEY, Prev: Agent PRESET_PASSPHRASE, Up: Agent Protocol
1275 2.6.10 Ask for confirmation
1276 ---------------------------
1278 This command may be used to ask for a simple confirmation by presenting
1279 a text and 2 buttons: Okay and Cancel.
1281 GET_CONFIRMATION DESCRIPTION
1283 DESCRIPTIONis displayed along with a Okay and Cancel button. Blanks
1284 must be percent escaped or replaced by '+'. A 'X' may be used to
1285 display confirmation dialog with a default text.
1287 The agent either returns with an error or with a OK. Note, that the
1288 length of DESCRIPTION is implicitly limited by the maximum length of a
1292 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent HAVEKEY, Next: Agent LEARN, Prev: Agent GET_CONFIRMATION, Up: Agent Protocol
1294 2.6.11 Check whether a key is available
1295 ---------------------------------------
1297 This can be used to see whether a secret key is available. It does not
1298 return any information on whether the key is somehow protected.
1302 The agent answers either with OK or 'No_Secret_Key' (208). The
1303 caller may want to check for other error codes as well. More than one
1304 keygrip may be given. In this case the command returns success if at
1305 least one of the keygrips corresponds to an available secret key.
1308 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent LEARN, Next: Agent PASSWD, Prev: Agent HAVEKEY, Up: Agent Protocol
1310 2.6.12 Register a smartcard
1311 ---------------------------
1315 This command is used to register a smartcard. With the '--send'
1316 option given the certificates are sent back.
1319 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent PASSWD, Next: Agent UPDATESTARTUPTTY, Prev: Agent LEARN, Up: Agent Protocol
1321 2.6.13 Change a Passphrase
1322 --------------------------
1324 PASSWD [--cache-nonce=<c>] [--passwd-nonce=<s>] [--preset] KEYGRIP
1326 This command is used to interactively change the passphrase of the
1327 key identified by the hex string KEYGRIP. The '--preset' option may be
1328 used to add the new passphrase to the cache using the default cache
1332 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent UPDATESTARTUPTTY, Next: Agent GETEVENTCOUNTER, Prev: Agent PASSWD, Up: Agent Protocol
1334 2.6.14 Change the standard display
1335 ----------------------------------
1339 Set the startup TTY and X-DISPLAY variables to the values of this
1340 session. This command is useful to direct future pinentry invocations
1341 to another screen. It is only required because there is no way in the
1342 ssh-agent protocol to convey this information.
1345 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent GETEVENTCOUNTER, Next: Agent GETINFO, Prev: Agent UPDATESTARTUPTTY, Up: Agent Protocol
1347 2.6.15 Get the Event Counters
1348 -----------------------------
1352 This function return one status line with the current values of the
1353 event counters. The event counters are useful to avoid polling by
1354 delaying a poll until something has changed. The values are decimal
1355 numbers in the range '0' to 'UINT_MAX' and wrapping around to 0. The
1356 actual values should not be relied upon; they shall only be used to
1359 The currently defined counters are:
1361 Incremented with any change of any of the other counters.
1363 Incremented for added or removed private keys.
1365 Incremented for each change of the card reader's status.
1368 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent GETINFO, Next: Agent OPTION, Prev: Agent GETEVENTCOUNTER, Up: Agent Protocol
1370 2.6.16 Return information about the process
1371 -------------------------------------------
1373 This is a multipurpose function to return a variety of information.
1377 The value of WHAT specifies the kind of information returned:
1379 Return the version of the program.
1381 Return the process id of the process.
1383 Return the name of the socket used to connect the agent.
1385 Return the name of the socket used for SSH connections. If SSH
1386 support has not been enabled the error 'GPG_ERR_NO_DATA' will be
1390 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent OPTION, Prev: Agent GETINFO, Up: Agent Protocol
1392 2.6.17 Set options for the session
1393 ----------------------------------
1395 Here is a list of session options which are not yet described with other
1396 commands. The general syntax for an Assuan option is:
1403 This may be used to tell gpg-agent of which gpg-agent version the
1404 client is aware of. gpg-agent uses this information to enable
1405 features which might break older clients.
1408 Change the session's environment to be used for the Pinentry.
1414 Set envvar NAME to the empty string
1416 Set envvar NAME to the string VALUE.
1418 'use-cache-for-signing'
1419 See Assuan command 'PKSIGN'.
1421 'allow-pinentry-notify'
1422 This does not need any value. It is used to enable the
1423 PINENTRY_LAUNCHED inquiry.
1426 This option is used to change the operation mode of the pinentry.
1427 The following values are defined:
1430 This is the default mode which pops up a pinentry as needed.
1433 Instead of popping up a pinentry, return the error code
1437 Instead of popping up a pinentry, return the error code
1438 'GPG_ERR_NO_PIN_ENTRY'.
1441 Use a loopback pinentry. This fakes a pinentry by using
1442 inquiries back to the caller to ask for a passphrase. This
1443 option may only be set if the agent has been configured for
1444 that. To disable this feature use *note option
1445 --no-allow-loopback-pinentry::.
1447 'cache-ttl-opt-preset'
1448 This option sets the cache TTL for new entries created by GENKEY
1449 and PASSWD commands when using the '--preset' option. It is not
1450 used a default value is used.
1453 Instead of using the standard S2K count (which is computed on the
1454 fly), the given S2K count is used for new keys or when changing the
1455 passphrase of a key. Values below 65536 are considered to be 0.
1456 This option is valid for the entire session or until reset to 0.
1457 This option is useful if the key is later used on boxes which are
1458 either much slower or faster than the actual box.
1460 'pretend-request-origin'
1461 This option switches the connection into a restricted mode which
1462 handles all further commands in the same way as they would be
1463 handled when originating from the extra or browser socket. Note
1464 that this option is not available in the restricted mode. Valid
1465 values for this option are:
1469 This is a NOP and leaves the connection in the standard way.
1472 Pretend to come from a remote origin in the same way as
1473 connections from the '--extra-socket'.
1476 Pretend to come from a local web browser in the same way as
1477 connections from the '--browser-socket'.
1480 File: gnupg.info, Node: Invoking DIRMNGR, Next: Invoking GPG, Prev: Invoking GPG-AGENT, Up: Top
1485 Since version 2.1 of GnuPG, 'dirmngr' takes care of accessing the
1486 OpenPGP keyservers. As with previous versions it is also used as a
1487 server for managing and downloading certificate revocation lists (CRLs)
1488 for X.509 certificates, downloading X.509 certificates, and providing
1489 access to OCSP providers. Dirmngr is invoked internally by 'gpg',
1490 'gpgsm', or via the 'gpg-connect-agent' tool.
1492 *Note Option Index::,for an index to 'DIRMNGR''s commands and options.
1496 * Dirmngr Commands:: List of all commands.
1497 * Dirmngr Options:: List of all options.
1498 * Dirmngr Configuration:: Configuration files.
1499 * Dirmngr Signals:: Use of signals.
1500 * Dirmngr Examples:: Some usage examples.
1501 * Dirmngr Protocol:: The protocol dirmngr uses.
1504 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Commands, Next: Dirmngr Options, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
1509 Commands are not distinguished from options except for the fact that
1510 only one command is allowed.
1513 Print the program version and licensing information. Note that you
1514 cannot abbreviate this command.
1517 Print a usage message summarizing the most useful command-line
1518 options. Note that you cannot abbreviate this command.
1521 Print a list of all available options and commands. Note that you
1522 cannot abbreviate this command.
1525 Run in server mode and wait for commands on the 'stdin'. The
1526 default mode is to create a socket and listen for commands there.
1527 This is only used for testing.
1530 Run in background daemon mode and listen for commands on a socket.
1531 This is the way 'dirmngr' is started on demand by the other GnuPG
1532 components. To force starting 'dirmngr' it is in general best to
1533 use 'gpgconf --launch dirmngr'.
1536 Run in the foreground, sending logs to stderr, and listening on
1537 file descriptor 3, which must already be bound to a listening
1538 socket. This is useful when running under systemd or other similar
1539 process supervision schemes. This option is not supported on
1543 List the contents of the CRL cache on 'stdout'. This is probably
1544 only useful for debugging purposes.
1547 This command requires a filename as additional argument, and it
1548 will make Dirmngr try to import the CRL in FILE into it's cache.
1549 Note, that this is only possible if Dirmngr is able to retrieve the
1550 CA's certificate directly by its own means. In general it is
1551 better to use 'gpgsm''s '--call-dirmngr loadcrl filename' command
1552 so that 'gpgsm' can help dirmngr.
1555 This command requires an URL as additional argument, and it will
1556 make dirmngr try to retrieve and import the CRL from that URL into
1557 it's cache. This is mainly useful for debugging purposes. The
1558 'dirmngr-client' provides the same feature for a running dirmngr.
1561 This commands shuts down an running instance of Dirmngr. This
1562 command has currently no effect.
1565 This command removes all CRLs from Dirmngr's cache. Client
1566 requests will thus trigger reading of fresh CRLs.
1569 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Options, Next: Dirmngr Configuration, Prev: Dirmngr Commands, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
1574 Note that all long options with the exception of '--options' and
1575 '--homedir' may also be given in the configuration file after stripping
1576 off the two leading dashes.
1579 Reads configuration from FILE instead of from the default per-user
1580 configuration file. The default configuration file is named
1581 'dirmngr.conf' and expected in the home directory.
1584 Set the name of the home directory to DIR. This option is only
1585 effective when used on the command line. The default is the
1586 directory named '.gnupg' directly below the home directory of the
1587 user unless the environment variable 'GNUPGHOME' has been set in
1588 which case its value will be used. Many kinds of data are stored
1589 within this directory.
1593 Outputs additional information while running. You can increase the
1594 verbosity by giving several verbose commands to DIRMNGR, such as
1598 Append all logging output to FILE. This is very helpful in seeing
1599 what the agent actually does. Use 'socket://' to log to socket.
1601 '--debug-level LEVEL'
1602 Select the debug level for investigating problems. LEVEL may be a
1603 numeric value or by a keyword:
1606 No debugging at all. A value of less than 1 may be used
1607 instead of the keyword.
1609 Some basic debug messages. A value between 1 and 2 may be
1610 used instead of the keyword.
1612 More verbose debug messages. A value between 3 and 5 may be
1613 used instead of the keyword.
1615 Even more detailed messages. A value between 6 and 8 may be
1616 used instead of the keyword.
1618 All of the debug messages you can get. A value greater than 8
1619 may be used instead of the keyword. The creation of hash
1620 tracing files is only enabled if the keyword is used.
1622 How these messages are mapped to the actual debugging flags is not
1623 specified and may change with newer releases of this program. They
1624 are however carefully selected to best aid in debugging.
1627 Set debug flags. All flags are or-ed and FLAGS may be given in C
1628 syntax (e.g. 0x0042) or as a comma separated list of flag names.
1629 To get a list of all supported flags the single word "help" can be
1630 used. This option is only useful for debugging and the behavior
1631 may change at any time without notice.
1634 Same as '--debug=0xffffffff'
1637 Enable debugging of the TLS layer at LEVEL. The details of the
1638 debug level depend on the used TLS library and are not set in
1642 When running in server mode, wait N seconds before entering the
1643 actual processing loop and print the pid. This gives time to
1646 '--disable-check-own-socket'
1647 On some platforms 'dirmngr' is able to detect the removal of its
1648 socket file and shutdown itself. This option disable this
1649 self-test for debugging purposes.
1655 Format the info output in daemon mode for use with the standard
1656 Bourne shell respective the C-shell. The default is to guess it
1657 based on the environment variable 'SHELL' which is in almost all
1661 Enabling this option forces loading of expired CRLs; this is only
1662 useful for debugging.
1666 The option '--use-tor' switches Dirmngr and thus GnuPG into "Tor
1667 mode" to route all network access via Tor (an anonymity network).
1668 Certain other features are disabled in this mode. The effect of
1669 '--use-tor' cannot be overridden by any other command or even by
1670 reloading dirmngr. The use of '--no-use-tor' disables the use of
1671 Tor. The default is to use Tor if it is available on startup or
1672 after reloading dirmngr. The test on the availability of Tor is
1673 done by trying to connect to a SOCKS proxy at either port 9050 or
1674 9150; if another type of proxy is listening on one of these ports,
1675 you should use '--no-use-tor'.
1677 '--standard-resolver'
1678 This option forces the use of the system's standard DNS resolver
1679 code. This is mainly used for debugging. Note that on Windows a
1680 standard resolver is not used and all DNS access will return the
1681 error "Not Implemented" if this option is used. Using this
1682 together with enabled Tor mode returns the error "Not Enabled".
1684 '--recursive-resolver'
1685 When possible use a recursive resolver instead of a stub resolver.
1687 '--resolver-timeout N'
1688 Set the timeout for the DNS resolver to N seconds. The default are
1691 '--connect-timeout N'
1692 '--connect-quick-timeout N'
1693 Set the timeout for HTTP and generic TCP connection attempts to N
1694 seconds. The value set with the quick variant is used when the
1695 -quick option has been given to certain Assuan commands. The quick
1696 value is capped at the value of the regular connect timeout. The
1697 default values are 15 and 2 seconds. Note that the timeout values
1698 are for each connection attempt; the connection code will attempt
1699 to connect all addresses listed for a server.
1701 '--listen-backlog N'
1702 Set the size of the queue for pending connections. The default is
1705 '--allow-version-check'
1706 Allow Dirmngr to connect to 'https://versions.gnupg.org' to get the
1707 list of current software versions. If this option is enabled the
1708 list is retrieved in case the local copy does not exist or is older
1709 than 5 to 7 days. See the option '--query-swdb' of the command
1710 'gpgconf' for more details. Note, that regardless of this option a
1711 version check can always be triggered using this command:
1713 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'loadswdb --force' /bye
1716 Use NAME as your keyserver. This is the server that 'gpg'
1717 communicates with to receive keys, send keys, and search for keys.
1718 The format of the NAME is a URI: 'scheme:[//]keyservername[:port]'
1719 The scheme is the type of keyserver: "hkp" for the HTTP (or
1720 compatible) keyservers, "ldap" for the LDAP keyservers, or "mailto"
1721 for the Graff email keyserver. Note that your particular
1722 installation of GnuPG may have other keyserver types available as
1723 well. Keyserver schemes are case-insensitive. After the keyserver
1724 name, optional keyserver configuration options may be provided.
1725 These are the same as the '--keyserver-options' of 'gpg', but apply
1726 only to this particular keyserver.
1728 Most keyservers synchronize with each other, so there is generally
1729 no need to send keys to more than one server. Somes keyservers use
1730 round robin DNS to give a different keyserver each time you use it.
1732 If exactly two keyservers are configured and only one is a Tor
1733 hidden service (.onion), Dirmngr selects the keyserver to use
1734 depending on whether Tor is locally running or not. The check for
1735 a running Tor is done for each new connection.
1737 If no keyserver is explicitly configured, dirmngr will use the
1738 built-in default of 'https://keyserver.ubuntu.com'.
1740 Windows users with a keyserver running on their Active Directory
1741 may use the short form 'ldap:///' for NAME to access this
1744 For accessing anonymous LDAP keyservers NAME is in general just a
1745 'ldaps://ldap.example.com'. A BaseDN parameter should never be
1746 specified. If authentication is required things are more
1747 complicated and two methods are available:
1749 The modern method (since version 2.2.28) is to use the very same
1750 syntax as used with the option '--ldapserver'. Please see over
1751 there for details; here is an example:
1753 keyserver ldap:ldap.example.com::uid=USERNAME,ou=GnuPG Users,
1754 dc=example,dc=com:PASSWORD::starttls
1756 The other method is to use a full URL for NAME; for example:
1758 keyserver ldaps://ldap.example.com/????bindname=uid=USERNAME
1759 %2Cou=GnuPG%20Users%2Cdc=example%2Cdc=com,password=PASSWORD
1761 Put this all on one line without any spaces and keep the '%2C' as
1762 given. Replace USERNAME, PASSWORD, and the 'dc' parts according to
1763 the instructions received from your LDAP administrator. Note that
1764 only simple authentication (i.e. cleartext passwords) is supported
1765 and thus using ldaps is strongly suggested (since 2.2.28 "ldaps"
1766 defaults to port 389 and uses STARTTLS). On Windows authentication
1767 via AD can be requested by adding 'gpgNtds=1' after the fourth
1768 question mark instead of the bindname and password parameter.
1770 '--nameserver IPADDR'
1771 In "Tor mode" Dirmngr uses a public resolver via Tor to resolve DNS
1772 names. If the default public resolver, which is '8.8.8.8', shall
1773 not be used a different one can be given using this option. Note
1774 that a numerical IP address must be given (IPv6 or IPv4) and that
1775 no error checking is done for IPADDR.
1779 Disable the use of all IPv4 or IPv6 addresses.
1782 Entirely disables the use of LDAP.
1785 Entirely disables the use of HTTP.
1788 When looking for the location of a CRL, the to be tested
1789 certificate usually contains so called "CRL Distribution Point"
1790 (DP) entries which are URLs describing the way to access the CRL.
1791 The first found DP entry is used. With this option all entries
1792 using the HTTP scheme are ignored when looking for a suitable DP.
1795 This is similar to '--ignore-http-dp' but ignores entries using the
1796 LDAP scheme. Both options may be combined resulting in ignoring
1799 '--ignore-ocsp-service-url'
1800 Ignore all OCSP URLs contained in the certificate. The effect is
1801 to force the use of the default responder.
1803 '--honor-http-proxy'
1804 If the environment variable 'http_proxy' has been set, use its
1805 value to access HTTP servers.
1807 '--http-proxy HOST[:PORT]'
1808 Use HOST and PORT to access HTTP servers. The use of this option
1809 overrides the environment variable 'http_proxy' regardless whether
1810 '--honor-http-proxy' has been set.
1812 '--ldap-proxy HOST[:PORT]'
1813 Use HOST and PORT to connect to LDAP servers. If PORT is omitted,
1814 port 389 (standard LDAP port) is used. This overrides any
1815 specified host and port part in a LDAP URL and will also be used if
1816 host and port have been omitted from the URL.
1819 Never use anything else but the LDAP "proxy" as configured with
1820 '--ldap-proxy'. Usually 'dirmngr' tries to use other configured
1821 LDAP server if the connection using the "proxy" failed.
1823 '--ldapserverlist-file FILE'
1824 Read the list of LDAP servers to consult for CRLs and X.509
1825 certificates from file instead of the default per-user ldap server
1826 list file. The default value for FILE is
1827 'dirmngr_ldapservers.conf'.
1829 This server list file contains one LDAP server per line in the
1832 HOSTNAME:PORT:USERNAME:PASSWORD:BASE_DN:FLAGS
1834 Lines starting with a '#' are comments.
1836 Note that as usual all strings entered are expected to be UTF-8
1837 encoded. Obviously this will lead to problems if the password has
1838 originally been encoded as Latin-1. There is no other solution
1839 here than to put such a password in the binary encoding into the
1840 file (i.e. non-ascii characters won't show up readable).(1)
1843 This is an alternative way to specify LDAP servers for CRL and
1844 X.509 certificate retrieval. If this option is used the servers
1845 configured in 'dirmngr_ldapservers.conf' (or the file given by
1846 '--ldapserverlist-file') are cleared. Note that
1847 'dirmngr_ldapservers.conf' is not read again by a reload signal.
1848 However, '--ldapserver' options are read again.
1850 SPEC is either a proper LDAP URL or a colon delimited list of the
1853 HOSTNAME:PORT:USERNAME:PASSWORD:BASE_DN:FLAGS:
1855 with an optional prefix of 'ldap:' (but without the two slashes
1856 which would turn this into a proper LDAP URL). FLAGS is a list of
1857 one or more comma delimited keywords:
1859 The default: Do not use a TLS secured connection at all; the
1860 default port is 389.
1862 Use STARTTLS to secure the connection; the default port is
1865 Tunnel LDAP through a TLS connection; the default port is 636.
1867 On Windows authenticate the LDAP connection using the Active
1868 Directory with the current user.
1870 Note that in an URL style specification the scheme 'ldaps://'
1871 refers to STARTTLS and _not_ to LDAP-over-TLS.
1873 '--ldaptimeout SECS'
1874 Specify the number of seconds to wait for an LDAP query before
1875 timing out. The default are 15 seconds. 0 will never timeout.
1878 This option makes dirmngr add any servers it discovers when
1879 validating certificates against CRLs to the internal list of
1880 servers to consult for certificates and CRLs. This option should
1881 in general not be used.
1883 This option might be useful when trying to validate a certificate
1884 that has a CRL distribution point that points to a server that is
1885 not already listed in the ldapserverlist. Dirmngr will always go
1886 to this server and try to download the CRL, but chances are high
1887 that the certificate used to sign the CRL is located on the same
1888 server. So if dirmngr doesn't add that new server to list, it will
1889 often not be able to verify the signature of the CRL unless the
1890 '--add-servers' option is used.
1892 Caveat emptor: Using this option may enable denial-of-service
1893 attacks and leak search requests to unknown third parties. This is
1894 because arbitrary servers are added to the internal list of LDAP
1895 servers which in turn is used for all unspecific LDAP queries as
1896 well as a fallback for queries which did not return a result.
1899 This option enables OCSP support if requested by the client.
1901 OCSP requests are rejected by default because they may violate the
1902 privacy of the user; for example it is possible to track the time
1903 when a user is reading a mail.
1905 '--ocsp-responder URL'
1906 Use URL as the default OCSP Responder if the certificate does not
1907 contain information about an assigned responder. Note, that
1908 '--ocsp-signer' must also be set to a valid certificate.
1910 '--ocsp-signer FPR|FILE'
1911 Use the certificate with the fingerprint FPR to check the responses
1912 of the default OCSP Responder. Alternatively a filename can be
1913 given in which case the response is expected to be signed by one of
1914 the certificates described in that file. Any argument which
1915 contains a slash, dot or tilde is considered a filename. Usual
1916 filename expansion takes place: A tilde at the start followed by a
1917 slash is replaced by the content of 'HOME', no slash at start
1918 describes a relative filename which will be searched at the home
1919 directory. To make sure that the FILE is searched in the home
1920 directory, either prepend the name with "./" or use a name which
1923 If a response has been signed by a certificate described by these
1924 fingerprints no further check upon the validity of this certificate
1927 The format of the FILE is a list of SHA-1 fingerprint, one per line
1928 with optional colons between the bytes. Empty lines and lines
1929 prefix with a hash mark are ignored.
1931 '--ocsp-max-clock-skew N'
1932 The number of seconds a skew between the OCSP responder and them
1933 local clock is accepted. Default is 600 (10 minutes).
1935 '--ocsp-max-period N'
1936 Seconds a response is at maximum considered valid after the time
1937 given in the thisUpdate field. Default is 7776000 (90 days).
1939 '--ocsp-current-period N'
1940 The number of seconds an OCSP response is considered valid after
1941 the time given in the NEXT_UPDATE datum. Default is 10800 (3
1945 Do not return more that N items in one query. The default is 10.
1947 '--ignore-cert-extension OID'
1948 Add OID to the list of ignored certificate extensions. The OID is
1949 expected to be in dotted decimal form, like '2.5.29.3'. This
1950 option may be used more than once. Critical flagged certificate
1951 extensions matching one of the OIDs in the list are treated as if
1952 they are actually handled and thus the certificate won't be
1953 rejected due to an unknown critical extension. Use this option
1954 with care because extensions are usually flagged as critical for a
1957 '--ignore-cert FPR|FILE'
1958 Entirely ignore certificates with the fingerprint FPR. As an
1959 alternative to the fingerprint a filename can be given in which
1960 case all certificates described in that file are ignored. Any
1961 argument which contains a slash, dot or tilde is considered a
1962 filename. Usual filename expansion takes place: A tilde at the
1963 start followed by a slash is replaced by the content of 'HOME', no
1964 slash at start describes a relative filename which will be searched
1965 at the home directory. To make sure that the FILE is searched in
1966 the home directory, either prepend the name with "./" or use a name
1967 which contains a dot. The format of such a file is a list of SHA-1
1968 fingerprint, one per line with optional colons between the bytes.
1969 Empty lines and lines prefixed with a hash mark are ignored.
1971 This option is useful as a quick workaround to exclude certain
1972 certificates from the system store.
1975 Use the root certificates in FILE for verification of the TLS
1976 certificates used with 'hkps' (keyserver access over TLS). If the
1977 file is in PEM format a suffix of '.pem' is expected for FILE.
1978 This option may be given multiple times to add more root
1979 certificates. Tilde expansion is supported.
1981 If no 'hkp-cacert' directive is present, dirmngr will use the
1984 ---------- Footnotes ----------
1986 (1) The 'gpgconf' tool might be helpful for frontends as it enables
1987 editing this configuration file using percent-escaped strings.
1990 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Configuration, Next: Dirmngr Signals, Prev: Dirmngr Options, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
1995 Dirmngr makes use of several directories when running in daemon mode:
1996 There are a few configuration files to control the operation of dirmngr.
1997 By default they may all be found in the current home directory (*note
1998 option --homedir::).
2001 This is the standard configuration file read by 'dirmngr' on
2002 startup. It may contain any valid long option; the leading two
2003 dashes may not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated.
2004 This file is also read after a 'SIGHUP' however not all options
2005 will actually have an effect. This default name may be changed on
2006 the command line (*note option --options::). You should backup
2009 '/etc/gnupg/trusted-certs'
2010 This directory should be filled with certificates of Root CAs you
2011 are trusting in checking the CRLs and signing OCSP Responses.
2013 Usually these are the same certificates you use with the
2014 applications making use of dirmngr. It is expected that each of
2015 these certificate files contain exactly one DER encoded certificate
2016 in a file with the suffix '.crt' or '.der'. 'dirmngr' reads those
2017 certificates on startup and when given a SIGHUP. Certificates which
2018 are not readable or do not make up a proper X.509 certificate are
2019 ignored; see the log file for details.
2021 Applications using dirmngr (e.g. gpgsm) can request these
2022 certificates to complete a trust chain in the same way as with the
2023 extra-certs directory (see below).
2025 Note that for OCSP responses the certificate specified using the
2026 option '--ocsp-signer' is always considered valid to sign OCSP
2029 '/etc/gnupg/extra-certs'
2030 This directory may contain extra certificates which are preloaded
2031 into the internal cache on startup. Applications using dirmngr
2032 (e.g. gpgsm) can request cached certificates to complete a trust
2033 chain. This is convenient in cases you have a couple intermediate
2034 CA certificates or certificates usually used to sign OCSP
2035 responses. These certificates are first tried before going out to
2036 the net to look for them. These certificates must also be DER
2037 encoded and suffixed with '.crt' or '.der'.
2040 This directory is used to store cached CRLs. The 'crls.d' part
2041 will be created by dirmngr if it does not exists but you need to
2042 make sure that the upper directory exists.
2044 Several options control the use of trusted certificates for TLS and
2045 CRLs. Here is an Overview on the use and origin of those Root CA
2050 These System root certificates are used by: FIXME
2052 The origin of the system provided certificates depends on the
2053 platform. On Windows all certificates from the Windows System
2054 Stores 'ROOT' and 'CA' are used.
2056 On other platforms the certificates are read from the first file
2057 found form this list: '/etc/ssl/ca-bundle.pem',
2058 '/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt', '/etc/pki/tls/cert.pem',
2059 '/usr/local/share/certs/ca-root-nss.crt', '/etc/ssl/cert.pem'.
2063 The GnuPG specific certificates stored in the directory
2064 '/etc/gnupg/trusted-certs' are only used to validate CRLs.
2068 For accessing the OpenPGP keyservers the only certificates used are
2069 those set with the configuration option 'hkp-cacert'.
2071 OpenPGP keyserver pool
2073 This is usually only one certificate read from the file
2074 '/usr/local/share/gnupg/gnupg/sks-keyservers.netCA.pem'. If this
2075 certificate exists it is used to access the special keyservers
2076 'hkps.pool.sks-keyservers.net' (or 'hkps://keys.gnupg.net').
2078 Please note that 'gpgsm' accepts Root CA certificates for its own
2079 purposes only if they are listed in its file 'trustlist.txt'. 'dirmngr'
2080 does not make use of this list - except FIXME.
2082 To be able to see diagnostics it is often useful to put at least the
2083 following lines into the configuration file '~/gnupg/dirmngr.conf':
2085 log-file ~/dirmngr.log
2088 You may want to check the log file to see whether all desired root CA
2089 certificates are correctly loaded.
2091 To be able to perform OCSP requests you probably want to add the
2096 To make sure that new options are read or that after the installation
2097 of a new GnuPG versions the right dirmngr version is running, you should
2098 kill an existing dirmngr so that a new instance is started as needed by
2099 the otehr components:
2101 gpgconf --kill dirmngr
2103 Direct interfaction with the dirmngr is possible by using the command
2105 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr
2107 Enter 'HELP' at the prompt to see a list of commands and enter 'HELP'
2108 followed by a command name to get help on that command.
2111 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Signals, Next: Dirmngr Examples, Prev: Dirmngr Configuration, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
2116 A running 'dirmngr' may be controlled by signals, i.e. using the 'kill'
2117 command to send a signal to the process.
2119 Here is a list of supported signals:
2122 This signal flushes all internally cached CRLs as well as any
2123 cached certificates. Then the certificate cache is reinitialized
2124 as on startup. Options are re-read from the configuration file.
2125 Instead of sending this signal it is better to use
2126 gpgconf --reload dirmngr
2129 Shuts down the process but waits until all current requests are
2130 fulfilled. If the process has received 3 of these signals and
2131 requests are still pending, a shutdown is forced. You may also use
2132 gpgconf --kill dirmngr
2133 instead of this signal
2136 Shuts down the process immediately.
2139 This prints some caching statistics to the log file.
2142 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Examples, Next: Dirmngr Protocol, Prev: Dirmngr Signals, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
2147 Here is an example on how to show dirmngr's internal table of OpenPGP
2148 keyserver addresses. The output is intended for debugging purposes and
2149 not part of a defined API.
2151 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'keyserver --hosttable' /bye
2153 To inhibit the use of a particular host you have noticed in one of
2154 the keyserver pools, you may use
2156 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'keyserver --dead pgpkeys.bnd.de' /bye
2158 The description of the 'keyserver' command can be printed using
2160 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'help keyserver' /bye
2163 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Protocol, Prev: Dirmngr Examples, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
2165 3.6 Dirmngr's Assuan Protocol
2166 =============================
2168 Assuan is the IPC protocol used to access dirmngr. This is a
2169 description of the commands implemented by dirmngr.
2173 * Dirmngr LOOKUP:: Look up a certificate via LDAP
2174 * Dirmngr ISVALID:: Validate a certificate using a CRL or OCSP.
2175 * Dirmngr CHECKCRL:: Validate a certificate using a CRL.
2176 * Dirmngr CHECKOCSP:: Validate a certificate using OCSP.
2177 * Dirmngr CACHECERT:: Put a certificate into the internal cache.
2178 * Dirmngr VALIDATE:: Validate a certificate for debugging.
2181 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr LOOKUP, Next: Dirmngr ISVALID, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2183 3.6.1 Return the certificate(s) found
2184 -------------------------------------
2186 Lookup certificate. To allow multiple patterns (which are ORed) quoting
2187 is required: Spaces are to be translated into "+" or into "%20";
2188 obviously this requires that the usual escape quoting rules are applied.
2189 The server responds with:
2191 S: D <DER encoded certificate>
2193 S: D <second DER encoded certificate>
2197 In this example 2 certificates are returned. The server may return
2198 any number of certificates; OK will also be returned when no
2199 certificates were found. The dirmngr might return a status line
2203 To indicate that the output was truncated to N items due to a
2204 limitation of the server or by an arbitrary set limit.
2206 The option '--url' may be used if instead of a search pattern a
2207 complete URL to the certificate is known:
2209 C: LOOKUP --url CN%3DWerner%20Koch,o%3DIntevation%20GmbH,c%3DDE?userCertificate
2211 If the option '--cache-only' is given, no external lookup is done so
2212 that only certificates from the cache are returned.
2214 With the option '--single', the first and only the first match will
2215 be returned. Unless option '--cache-only' is also used, no local lookup
2216 will be done in this case.
2219 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr ISVALID, Next: Dirmngr CHECKCRL, Prev: Dirmngr LOOKUP, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2221 3.6.2 Validate a certificate using a CRL or OCSP
2222 ------------------------------------------------
2224 ISVALID [--only-ocsp] [--force-default-responder] CERTID|CERTFPR
2226 Check whether the certificate described by the CERTID has been
2227 revoked. Due to caching, the Dirmngr is able to answer immediately in
2230 The CERTID is a hex encoded string consisting of two parts, delimited
2231 by a single dot. The first part is the SHA-1 hash of the issuer name
2232 and the second part the serial number.
2234 Alternatively the certificate's SHA-1 fingerprint CERTFPR may be
2235 given in which case an OCSP request is done before consulting the CRL.
2236 If the option '--only-ocsp' is given, no fallback to a CRL check will be
2237 used. If the option '--force-default-responder' is given, only the
2238 default OCSP responder will be used and any other methods of obtaining
2239 an OCSP responder URL won't be used.
2241 Common return values are:
2243 'GPG_ERR_NO_ERROR (0)'
2244 This is the positive answer: The certificate is not revoked and we
2245 have an up-to-date revocation list for that certificate. If OCSP
2246 was used the responder confirmed that the certificate has not been
2249 'GPG_ERR_CERT_REVOKED'
2250 This is the negative answer: The certificate has been revoked.
2251 Either it is in a CRL and that list is up to date or an OCSP
2252 responder informed us that it has been revoked.
2254 'GPG_ERR_NO_CRL_KNOWN'
2255 No CRL is known for this certificate or the CRL is not valid or out
2259 The OCSP responder returned an "unknown" status. This means that
2260 it is not aware of the certificate's status.
2262 'GPG_ERR_NOT_SUPPORTED'
2263 This is commonly seen if OCSP support has not been enabled in the
2266 If DirMngr has not enough information about the given certificate
2267 (which is the case for not yet cached certificates), it will inquire the
2270 S: INQUIRE SENDCERT <CertID>
2271 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2274 A client should be aware that DirMngr may ask for more than one
2277 If Dirmngr has a certificate but the signature of the certificate
2278 could not been validated because the root certificate is not known to
2279 dirmngr as trusted, it may ask back to see whether the client trusts
2280 this the root certificate:
2282 S: INQUIRE ISTRUSTED <CertHexfpr>
2286 Only this answer will let Dirmngr consider the certificate as valid.
2289 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr CHECKCRL, Next: Dirmngr CHECKOCSP, Prev: Dirmngr ISVALID, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2291 3.6.3 Validate a certificate using a CRL
2292 ----------------------------------------
2294 Check whether the certificate with FINGERPRINT (SHA-1 hash of the entire
2295 X.509 certificate blob) is valid or not by consulting the CRL
2296 responsible for this certificate. If the fingerprint has not been given
2297 or the certificate is not known, the function inquires the certificate
2300 S: INQUIRE TARGETCERT
2301 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2304 Thus the caller is expected to return the certificate for the request
2305 (which should match FINGERPRINT) as a binary blob. Processing then
2306 takes place without further interaction; in particular dirmngr tries to
2307 locate other required certificate by its own mechanism which includes a
2308 local certificate store as well as a list of trusted root certificates.
2310 The return code is 0 for success; i.e. the certificate has not been
2311 revoked or one of the usual error codes from libgpg-error.
2314 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr CHECKOCSP, Next: Dirmngr CACHECERT, Prev: Dirmngr CHECKCRL, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2316 3.6.4 Validate a certificate using OCSP
2317 ---------------------------------------
2319 CHECKOCSP [--force-default-responder] [FINGERPRINT]
2321 Check whether the certificate with FINGERPRINT (the SHA-1 hash of the
2322 entire X.509 certificate blob) is valid by consulting the appropriate
2323 OCSP responder. If the fingerprint has not been given or the
2324 certificate is not known by Dirmngr, the function inquires the
2327 S: INQUIRE TARGETCERT
2328 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2331 Thus the caller is expected to return the certificate for the request
2332 (which should match FINGERPRINT) as a binary blob. Processing then
2333 takes place without further interaction; in particular dirmngr tries to
2334 locate other required certificates by its own mechanism which includes a
2335 local certificate store as well as a list of trusted root certificates.
2337 If the option '--force-default-responder' is given, only the default
2338 OCSP responder is used. This option is the per-command variant of the
2339 global option '--ignore-ocsp-service-url'.
2341 The return code is 0 for success; i.e. the certificate has not been
2342 revoked or one of the usual error codes from libgpg-error.
2345 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr CACHECERT, Next: Dirmngr VALIDATE, Prev: Dirmngr CHECKOCSP, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2347 3.6.5 Put a certificate into the internal cache
2348 -----------------------------------------------
2350 Put a certificate into the internal cache. This command might be useful
2351 if a client knows in advance certificates required for a test and wants
2352 to make sure they get added to the internal cache. It is also helpful
2353 for debugging. To get the actual certificate, this command immediately
2356 S: INQUIRE TARGETCERT
2357 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2360 Thus the caller is expected to return the certificate for the request
2363 The return code is 0 for success; i.e. the certificate has not been
2364 successfully cached or one of the usual error codes from libgpg-error.
2367 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr VALIDATE, Prev: Dirmngr CACHECERT, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2369 3.6.6 Validate a certificate for debugging
2370 ------------------------------------------
2372 Validate a certificate using the certificate validation function used
2373 internally by dirmngr. This command is only useful for debugging. To
2374 get the actual certificate, this command immediately inquires it using
2376 S: INQUIRE TARGETCERT
2377 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2380 Thus the caller is expected to return the certificate for the request
2384 File: gnupg.info, Node: Invoking GPG, Next: Invoking GPGSM, Prev: Invoking DIRMNGR, Up: Top
2389 'gpg' is the OpenPGP part of the GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG). It is a tool
2390 to provide digital encryption and signing services using the OpenPGP
2391 standard. 'gpg' features complete key management and all the bells and
2392 whistles you would expect from a full OpenPGP implementation.
2394 There are two main versions of GnuPG: GnuPG 1.x and GnuPG 2.x. GnuPG
2395 2.x supports modern encryption algorithms and thus should be preferred
2396 over GnuPG 1.x. You only need to use GnuPG 1.x if your platform doesn't
2397 support GnuPG 2.x, or you need support for some features that GnuPG 2.x
2398 has deprecated, e.g., decrypting data created with PGP-2 keys.
2400 If you are looking for version 1 of GnuPG, you may find that version
2401 installed under the name 'gpg1'.
2403 *Note Option Index::, for an index to 'gpg''s commands and options.
2407 * GPG Commands:: List of all commands.
2408 * GPG Options:: List of all options.
2409 * GPG Configuration:: Configuration files.
2410 * GPG Examples:: Some usage examples.
2412 Developer information:
2413 * Unattended Usage of GPG:: Using 'gpg' from other programs.
2416 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Commands, Next: GPG Options, Up: Invoking GPG
2421 Commands are not distinguished from options except for the fact that
2422 only one command is allowed. Generally speaking, irrelevant options are
2423 silently ignored, and may not be checked for correctness.
2425 'gpg' may be run with no commands. In this case it will print a
2426 warning perform a reasonable action depending on the type of file it is
2427 given as input (an encrypted message is decrypted, a signature is
2428 verified, a file containing keys is listed, etc.).
2430 If you run into any problems, please add the option '--verbose' to
2431 the invocation to see more diagnostics.
2435 * General GPG Commands:: Commands not specific to the functionality.
2436 * Operational GPG Commands:: Commands to select the type of operation.
2437 * OpenPGP Key Management:: How to manage your keys.
2440 File: gnupg.info, Node: General GPG Commands, Next: Operational GPG Commands, Up: GPG Commands
2442 4.1.1 Commands not specific to the function
2443 -------------------------------------------
2446 Print the program version and licensing information. Note that you
2447 cannot abbreviate this command.
2451 Print a usage message summarizing the most useful command-line
2452 options. Note that you cannot arbitrarily abbreviate this command
2453 (though you can use its short form '-h').
2456 Print warranty information.
2459 Print a list of all available options and commands. Note that you
2460 cannot abbreviate this command.
2463 File: gnupg.info, Node: Operational GPG Commands, Next: OpenPGP Key Management, Prev: General GPG Commands, Up: GPG Commands
2465 4.1.2 Commands to select the type of operation
2466 ----------------------------------------------
2470 Sign a message. This command may be combined with '--encrypt' (to
2471 sign and encrypt a message), '--symmetric' (to sign and
2472 symmetrically encrypt a message), or both '--encrypt' and
2473 '--symmetric' (to sign and encrypt a message that can be decrypted
2474 using a secret key or a passphrase). The signing key is chosen by
2475 default or can be set explicitly using the '--local-user' and
2476 '--default-key' options.
2480 Make a cleartext signature. The content in a cleartext signature
2481 is readable without any special software. OpenPGP software is only
2482 needed to verify the signature. cleartext signatures may modify
2483 end-of-line whitespace for platform independence and are not
2484 intended to be reversible. The signing key is chosen by default or
2485 can be set explicitly using the '--local-user' and '--default-key'
2490 Make a detached signature.
2494 Encrypt data to one or more public keys. This command may be
2495 combined with '--sign' (to sign and encrypt a message),
2496 '--symmetric' (to encrypt a message that can be decrypted using a
2497 secret key or a passphrase), or '--sign' and '--symmetric' together
2498 (for a signed message that can be decrypted using a secret key or a
2499 passphrase). '--recipient' and related options specify which
2500 public keys to use for encryption.
2504 Encrypt with a symmetric cipher using a passphrase. The default
2505 symmetric cipher used is AES-128, but may be chosen with the
2506 '--cipher-algo' option. This command may be combined with '--sign'
2507 (for a signed and symmetrically encrypted message), '--encrypt'
2508 (for a message that may be decrypted via a secret key or a
2509 passphrase), or '--sign' and '--encrypt' together (for a signed
2510 message that may be decrypted via a secret key or a passphrase).
2511 'gpg' caches the passphrase used for symmetric encryption so that a
2512 decrypt operation may not require that the user needs to enter the
2513 passphrase. The option '--no-symkey-cache' can be used to disable
2517 Store only (make a simple literal data packet).
2521 Decrypt the file given on the command line (or STDIN if no file is
2522 specified) and write it to STDOUT (or the file specified with
2523 '--output'). If the decrypted file is signed, the signature is
2524 also verified. This command differs from the default operation, as
2525 it never writes to the filename which is included in the file and
2526 it rejects files that don't begin with an encrypted message.
2529 Assume that the first argument is a signed file and verify it
2530 without generating any output. With no arguments, the signature
2531 packet is read from STDIN. If only one argument is given, the
2532 specified file is expected to include a complete signature.
2534 With more than one argument, the first argument should specify a
2535 file with a detached signature and the remaining files should
2536 contain the signed data. To read the signed data from STDIN, use
2537 '-' as the second filename. For security reasons, a detached
2538 signature will not read the signed material from STDIN if not
2539 explicitly specified.
2541 Note: If the option '--batch' is not used, 'gpg' may assume that a
2542 single argument is a file with a detached signature, and it will
2543 try to find a matching data file by stripping certain suffixes.
2544 Using this historical feature to verify a detached signature is
2545 strongly discouraged; you should always specify the data file
2548 Note: When verifying a cleartext signature, 'gpg' verifies only
2549 what makes up the cleartext signed data and not any extra data
2550 outside of the cleartext signature or the header lines directly
2551 following the dash marker line. The option '--output' may be used
2552 to write out the actual signed data, but there are other pitfalls
2553 with this format as well. It is suggested to avoid cleartext
2554 signatures in favor of detached signatures.
2556 Note: Sometimes the use of the 'gpgv' tool is easier than using the
2557 full-fledged 'gpg' with this option. 'gpgv' is designed to compare
2558 signed data against a list of trusted keys and returns with success
2559 only for a good signature. It has its own manual page.
2562 This modifies certain other commands to accept multiple files for
2563 processing on the command line or read from STDIN with each
2564 filename on a separate line. This allows for many files to be
2565 processed at once. '--multifile' may currently be used along with
2566 '--verify', '--encrypt', and '--decrypt'. Note that '--multifile
2567 --verify' may not be used with detached signatures.
2570 Identical to '--multifile --verify'.
2573 Identical to '--multifile --encrypt'.
2576 Identical to '--multifile --decrypt'.
2580 '--list-public-keys'
2581 List the specified keys. If no keys are specified, then all keys
2582 from the configured public keyrings are listed.
2584 Never use the output of this command in scripts or other programs.
2585 The output is intended only for humans and its format is likely to
2586 change. The '--with-colons' option emits the output in a stable,
2587 machine-parseable format, which is intended for use by scripts and
2590 '--list-secret-keys'
2592 List the specified secret keys. If no keys are specified, then all
2593 known secret keys are listed. A '#' after the initial tags 'sec'
2594 or 'ssb' means that the secret key or subkey is currently not
2595 usable. We also say that this key has been taken offline (for
2596 example, a primary key can be taken offline by exporting the key
2597 using the command '--export-secret-subkeys'). A '>' after these
2598 tags indicate that the key is stored on a smartcard. See also
2601 '--check-signatures'
2603 Same as '--list-keys', but the key signatures are verified and
2604 listed too. Note that for performance reasons the revocation
2605 status of a signing key is not shown. This command has the same
2606 effect as using '--list-keys' with '--with-sig-check'.
2608 The status of the verification is indicated by a flag directly
2609 following the "sig" tag (and thus before the flags described below.
2610 A "!" indicates that the signature has been successfully verified,
2611 a "-" denotes a bad signature and a "%" is used if an error
2612 occurred while checking the signature (e.g. a non supported
2613 algorithm). Signatures where the public key is not available are
2614 not listed; to see their keyids the command '--list-sigs' can be
2617 For each signature listed, there are several flags in between the
2618 signature status flag and keyid. These flags give additional
2619 information about each key signature. From left to right, they are
2620 the numbers 1-3 for certificate check level (see
2621 '--ask-cert-level'), "L" for a local or non-exportable signature
2622 (see '--lsign-key'), "R" for a nonRevocable signature (see the
2623 '--edit-key' command "nrsign"), "P" for a signature that contains a
2624 policy URL (see '--cert-policy-url'), "N" for a signature that
2625 contains a notation (see '--cert-notation'), "X" for an eXpired
2626 signature (see '--ask-cert-expire'), and the numbers 1-9 or "T" for
2627 10 and above to indicate trust signature levels (see the
2628 '--edit-key' command "tsign").
2631 '--locate-external-keys'
2632 Locate the keys given as arguments. This command basically uses
2633 the same algorithm as used when locating keys for encryption and
2634 may thus be used to see what keys 'gpg' might use. In particular
2635 external methods as defined by '--auto-key-locate' are used to
2636 locate a key if the arguments comain valid mail addresses. Only
2637 public keys are listed.
2639 The variant '--locate-external-keys' does not consider a locally
2640 existing key and can thus be used to force the refresh of a key via
2641 the defined external methods. If a fingerprint is given and and
2642 the methods defined by -auto-key-locate define LDAP servers, the
2643 key is fetched from these resources; defined non-LDAP keyservers
2647 This commands takes OpenPGP keys as input and prints information
2648 about them in the same way the command '--list-keys' does for
2649 locally stored key. In addition the list options
2650 'show-unusable-uids', 'show-unusable-subkeys', 'show-notations' and
2651 'show-policy-urls' are also enabled. As usual for automated
2652 processing, this command should be combined with the option
2656 List all keys (or the specified ones) along with their
2657 fingerprints. This is the same output as '--list-keys' but with
2658 the additional output of a line with the fingerprint. May also be
2659 combined with '--check-signatures'. If this command is given
2660 twice, the fingerprints of all secondary keys are listed too. This
2661 command also forces pretty printing of fingerprints if the keyid
2662 format has been set to "none".
2665 List only the sequence of packets. This command is only useful for
2666 debugging. When used with option '--verbose' the actual MPI values
2667 are dumped and not only their lengths. Note that the output of
2668 this command may change with new releases.
2672 Present a menu to work with a smartcard. The subcommand "help"
2673 provides an overview on available commands. For a detailed
2674 description, please see the Card HOWTO at
2675 https://gnupg.org/documentation/howtos.html#GnuPG-cardHOWTO .
2678 Show the content of the smart card.
2681 Present a menu to allow changing the PIN of a smartcard. This
2682 functionality is also available as the subcommand "passwd" with the
2683 '--edit-card' command.
2685 '--delete-keys NAME'
2686 Remove key from the public keyring. In batch mode either '--yes'
2687 is required or the key must be specified by fingerprint. This is a
2688 safeguard against accidental deletion of multiple keys. If the
2689 exclamation mark syntax is used with the fingerprint of a subkey
2690 only that subkey is deleted; if the exclamation mark is used with
2691 the fingerprint of the primary key the entire public key is
2694 '--delete-secret-keys NAME'
2695 Remove key from the secret keyring. In batch mode the key must be
2696 specified by fingerprint. The option '--yes' can be used to advise
2697 gpg-agent not to request a confirmation. This extra pre-caution is
2698 done because 'gpg' can't be sure that the secret key (as controlled
2699 by gpg-agent) is only used for the given OpenPGP public key. If
2700 the exclamation mark syntax is used with the fingerprint of a
2701 subkey only the secret part of that subkey is deleted; if the
2702 exclamation mark is used with the fingerprint of the primary key
2703 only the secret part of the primary key is deleted.
2705 '--delete-secret-and-public-key NAME'
2706 Same as '--delete-key', but if a secret key exists, it will be
2707 removed first. In batch mode the key must be specified by
2708 fingerprint. The option '--yes' can be used to advise gpg-agent
2709 not to request a confirmation.
2712 Either export all keys from all keyrings (default keyring and those
2713 registered via option '--keyring'), or if at least one name is
2714 given, those of the given name. The exported keys are written to
2715 STDOUT or to the file given with option '--output'. Use together
2716 with '--armor' to mail those keys.
2718 '--send-keys KEYIDS'
2719 Similar to '--export' but sends the keys to a keyserver.
2720 Fingerprints may be used instead of key IDs. Don't send your
2721 complete keyring to a keyserver -- select only those keys which are
2722 new or changed by you. If no KEYIDS are given, 'gpg' does nothing.
2724 Take care: Keyservers are by design write only systems and thus it
2725 is not possible to ever delete keys once they have been send to a
2728 '--export-secret-keys'
2729 '--export-secret-subkeys'
2730 Same as '--export', but exports the secret keys instead. The
2731 exported keys are written to STDOUT or to the file given with
2732 option '--output'. This command is often used along with the
2733 option '--armor' to allow for easy printing of the key for paper
2734 backup; however the external tool 'paperkey' does a better job of
2735 creating backups on paper. Note that exporting a secret key can be
2736 a security risk if the exported keys are sent over an insecure
2739 The second form of the command has the special property to render
2740 the secret part of the primary key useless; this is a GNU extension
2741 to OpenPGP and other implementations can not be expected to
2742 successfully import such a key. Its intended use is in generating
2743 a full key with an additional signing subkey on a dedicated
2744 machine. This command then exports the key without the primary key
2745 to the main machine.
2747 GnuPG may ask you to enter the passphrase for the key. This is
2748 required, because the internal protection method of the secret key
2749 is different from the one specified by the OpenPGP protocol.
2752 This command is used to export a key in the OpenSSH public key
2753 format. It requires the specification of one key by the usual
2754 means and exports the latest valid subkey which has an
2755 authentication capability to STDOUT or to the file given with
2756 option '--output'. That output can directly be added to ssh's
2757 'authorized_key' file.
2759 By specifying the key to export using a key ID or a fingerprint
2760 suffixed with an exclamation mark (!), a specific subkey or the
2761 primary key can be exported. This does not even require that the
2762 key has the authentication capability flag set.
2766 Import/merge keys. This adds the given keys to the keyring. The
2767 fast version is currently just a synonym.
2769 There are a few other options which control how this command works.
2770 Most notable here is the '--import-options merge-only' option which
2771 does not insert new keys but does only the merging of new
2772 signatures, user-IDs and subkeys.
2774 '--receive-keys KEYIDS'
2775 '--recv-keys KEYIDS'
2776 Import the keys with the given KEYIDS from a keyserver.
2779 Request updates from a keyserver for keys that already exist on the
2780 local keyring. This is useful for updating a key with the latest
2781 signatures, user IDs, etc. Calling this with no arguments will
2782 refresh the entire keyring.
2784 '--search-keys NAMES'
2785 Search the keyserver for the given NAMES. Multiple names given
2786 here will be joined together to create the search string for the
2787 keyserver. Note that keyservers search for NAMES in a different
2788 and simpler way than gpg does. The best choice is to use a mail
2789 address. Due to data privacy reasons keyservers may even not even
2790 allow searching by user id or mail address and thus may only return
2791 results when being used with the '--recv-key' command to search by
2792 key fingerprint or keyid.
2795 Retrieve keys located at the specified URIS. Note that different
2796 installations of GnuPG may support different protocols (HTTP, FTP,
2797 LDAP, etc.). When using HTTPS the system provided root
2798 certificates are used by this command.
2801 Do trust database maintenance. This command iterates over all keys
2802 and builds the Web of Trust. This is an interactive command
2803 because it may have to ask for the "ownertrust" values for keys.
2804 The user has to give an estimation of how far she trusts the owner
2805 of the displayed key to correctly certify (sign) other keys. GnuPG
2806 only asks for the ownertrust value if it has not yet been assigned
2807 to a key. Using the '--edit-key' menu, the assigned value can be
2808 changed at any time.
2811 Do trust database maintenance without user interaction. From time
2812 to time the trust database must be updated so that expired keys or
2813 signatures and the resulting changes in the Web of Trust can be
2814 tracked. Normally, GnuPG will calculate when this is required and
2815 do it automatically unless '--no-auto-check-trustdb' is set. This
2816 command can be used to force a trust database check at any time.
2817 The processing is identical to that of '--update-trustdb' but it
2818 skips keys with a not yet defined "ownertrust".
2820 For use with cron jobs, this command can be used together with
2821 '--batch' in which case the trust database check is done only if a
2822 check is needed. To force a run even in batch mode add the option
2825 '--export-ownertrust'
2826 Send the ownertrust values to STDOUT. This is useful for backup
2827 purposes as these values are the only ones which can't be
2828 re-created from a corrupted trustdb. Example:
2829 gpg --export-ownertrust > otrust.txt
2831 '--import-ownertrust'
2832 Update the trustdb with the ownertrust values stored in 'files' (or
2833 STDIN if not given); existing values will be overwritten. In case
2834 of a severely damaged trustdb and if you have a recent backup of
2835 the ownertrust values (e.g. in the file 'otrust.txt'), you may
2836 re-create the trustdb using these commands:
2839 gpg --import-ownertrust < otrust.txt
2841 '--rebuild-keydb-caches'
2842 When updating from version 1.0.6 to 1.0.7 this command should be
2843 used to create signature caches in the keyring. It might be handy
2844 in other situations too.
2848 Print message digest of algorithm ALGO for all given files or
2849 STDIN. With the second form (or a deprecated "*" for ALGO) digests
2850 for all available algorithms are printed.
2852 '--gen-random 0|1|2 COUNT'
2853 Emit COUNT random bytes of the given quality level 0, 1 or 2. If
2854 COUNT is not given or zero, an endless sequence of random bytes
2855 will be emitted. If used with '--armor' the output will be base64
2856 encoded. PLEASE, don't use this command unless you know what you
2857 are doing; it may remove precious entropy from the system!
2859 '--gen-prime MODE BITS'
2860 Use the source, Luke :-). The output format is subject to change
2865 Pack or unpack an arbitrary input into/from an OpenPGP ASCII armor.
2866 This is a GnuPG extension to OpenPGP and in general not very
2870 This command is similar to '--decrypt' with the change that the
2871 output is not the usual plaintext but the original message with the
2872 decryption layer removed. Thus the output will be an OpenPGP data
2873 structure which often means a signed OpenPGP message. Note that
2874 this command may or may not remove a compression layer which is
2875 often found beneath the encryption layer.
2877 '--tofu-policy {auto|good|unknown|bad|ask} KEYS'
2878 Set the TOFU policy for all the bindings associated with the
2879 specified KEYS. For more information about the meaning of the
2880 policies, *note trust-model-tofu::. The KEYS may be specified
2881 either by their fingerprint (preferred) or their keyid.
2884 File: gnupg.info, Node: OpenPGP Key Management, Prev: Operational GPG Commands, Up: GPG Commands
2886 4.1.3 How to manage your keys
2887 -----------------------------
2889 This section explains the main commands for key management.
2891 '--quick-generate-key USER-ID [ALGO [USAGE [EXPIRE]]]'
2893 This is a simple command to generate a standard key with one user
2894 id. In contrast to '--generate-key' the key is generated directly
2895 without the need to answer a bunch of prompts. Unless the option
2896 '--yes' is given, the key creation will be canceled if the given
2897 user id already exists in the keyring.
2899 If invoked directly on the console without any special options an
2900 answer to a "Continue?" style confirmation prompt is required. In
2901 case the user id already exists in the keyring a second prompt to
2902 force the creation of the key will show up.
2904 If ALGO or USAGE are given, only the primary key is created and no
2905 prompts are shown. To specify an expiration date but still create
2906 a primary and subkey use "default" or "future-default" for ALGO and
2907 "default" for USAGE. For a description of these optional arguments
2908 see the command '--quick-add-key'. The USAGE accepts also the
2909 value "cert" which can be used to create a certification only
2910 primary key; the default is to a create certification and signing
2913 The EXPIRE argument can be used to specify an expiration date for
2914 the key. Several formats are supported; commonly the ISO formats
2915 "YYYY-MM-DD" or "YYYYMMDDThhmmss" are used. To make the key expire
2916 in N seconds, N days, N weeks, N months, or N years use
2917 "seconds=N", "Nd", "Nw", "Nm", or "Ny" respectively. Not
2918 specifying a value, or using "-" results in a key expiring in a
2919 reasonable default interval. The values "never", "none" can be
2920 used for no expiration date.
2922 If this command is used with '--batch', '--pinentry-mode' has been
2923 set to 'loopback', and one of the passphrase options
2924 ('--passphrase', '--passphrase-fd', or '--passphrase-file') is
2925 used, the supplied passphrase is used for the new key and the agent
2926 does not ask for it. To create a key without any protection
2927 '--passphrase ''' may be used.
2929 To create an OpenPGP key from the keys available on the currently
2930 inserted smartcard, the special string "card" can be used for ALGO.
2931 If the card features an encryption and a signing key, gpg will
2932 figure them out and creates an OpenPGP key consisting of the usual
2933 primary key and one subkey. This works only with certain
2934 smartcards. Note that the interactive '--full-gen-key' command
2935 allows to do the same but with greater flexibility in the selection
2936 of the smartcard keys.
2938 Note that it is possible to create a primary key and a subkey using
2939 non-default algorithms by using "default" and changing the default
2940 parameters using the option '--default-new-key-algo'.
2942 '--quick-set-expire FPR EXPIRE [*|SUBFPRS]'
2943 With two arguments given, directly set the expiration time of the
2944 primary key identified by FPR to EXPIRE. To remove the expiration
2945 time '0' can be used. With three arguments and the third given as
2946 an asterisk, the expiration time of all non-revoked and not yet
2947 expired subkeys are set to EXPIRE. With more than two arguments
2948 and a list of fingerprints given for SUBFPRS, all non-revoked
2949 subkeys matching these fingerprints are set to EXPIRE.
2951 '--quick-add-key FPR [ALGO [USAGE [EXPIRE]]]'
2952 Directly add a subkey to the key identified by the fingerprint FPR.
2953 Without the optional arguments an encryption subkey is added. If
2954 any of the arguments are given a more specific subkey is added.
2956 ALGO may be any of the supported algorithms or curve names given in
2957 the format as used by key listings. To use the default algorithm
2958 the string "default" or "-" can be used. Supported algorithms are
2959 "rsa", "dsa", "elg", "ed25519", "cv25519", and other ECC curves.
2960 For example the string "rsa" adds an RSA key with the default key
2961 length; a string "rsa4096" requests that the key length is 4096
2962 bits. The string "future-default" is an alias for the algorithm
2963 which will likely be used as default algorithm in future versions
2964 of gpg. To list the supported ECC curves the command 'gpg
2965 --with-colons --list-config curve' can be used.
2967 Depending on the given ALGO the subkey may either be an encryption
2968 subkey or a signing subkey. If an algorithm is capable of signing
2969 and encryption and such a subkey is desired, a USAGE string must be
2970 given. This string is either "default" or "-" to keep the default
2971 or a comma delimited list (or space delimited list) of keywords:
2972 "sign" for a signing subkey, "auth" for an authentication subkey,
2973 and "encr" for an encryption subkey ("encrypt" can be used as alias
2974 for "encr"). The valid combinations depend on the algorithm.
2976 The EXPIRE argument can be used to specify an expiration date for
2977 the key. Several formats are supported; commonly the ISO formats
2978 "YYYY-MM-DD" or "YYYYMMDDThhmmss" are used. To make the key expire
2979 in N seconds, N days, N weeks, N months, or N years use
2980 "seconds=N", "Nd", "Nw", "Nm", or "Ny" respectively. Not
2981 specifying a value, or using "-" results in a key expiring in a
2982 reasonable default interval. The values "never", "none" can be
2983 used for no expiration date.
2987 Generate a new key pair using the current default parameters. This
2988 is the standard command to create a new key. In addition to the
2989 key a revocation certificate is created and stored in the
2990 'openpgp-revocs.d' directory below the GnuPG home directory.
2992 '--full-generate-key'
2994 Generate a new key pair with dialogs for all options. This is an
2995 extended version of '--generate-key'.
2997 There is also a feature which allows you to create keys in batch
2998 mode. See the manual section "Unattended key generation" on how to
3001 '--generate-revocation NAME'
3003 Generate a revocation certificate for the complete key. To only
3004 revoke a subkey or a key signature, use the '--edit' command.
3006 This command merely creates the revocation certificate so that it
3007 can be used to revoke the key if that is ever needed. To actually
3008 revoke a key the created revocation certificate needs to be merged
3009 with the key to revoke. This is done by importing the revocation
3010 certificate using the '--import' command. Then the revoked key
3011 needs to be published, which is best done by sending the key to a
3012 keyserver (command '--send-key') and by exporting ('--export') it
3013 to a file which is then send to frequent communication partners.
3015 '--generate-designated-revocation NAME'
3016 '--desig-revoke NAME'
3017 Generate a designated revocation certificate for a key. This
3018 allows a user (with the permission of the keyholder) to revoke
3022 Present a menu which enables you to do most of the key management
3023 related tasks. It expects the specification of a key on the
3027 Toggle selection of user ID or photographic user ID with index
3028 N. Use '*' to select all and '0' to deselect all.
3031 Toggle selection of subkey with index N or key ID N. Use '*'
3032 to select all and '0' to deselect all.
3035 Make a signature on key of user 'name'. If the key is not yet
3036 signed by the default user (or the users given with '-u'), the
3037 program displays the information of the key again, together
3038 with its fingerprint and asks whether it should be signed.
3039 This question is repeated for all users specified with '-u'.
3042 Same as "sign" but the signature is marked as non-exportable
3043 and will therefore never be used by others. This may be used
3044 to make keys valid only in the local environment.
3047 Same as "sign" but the signature is marked as non-revocable
3048 and can therefore never be revoked.
3051 Make a trust signature. This is a signature that combines the
3052 notions of certification (like a regular signature), and trust
3053 (like the "trust" command). It is generally only useful in
3054 distinct communities or groups. For more information please
3055 read the sections "Trust Signature" and "Regular Expression"
3058 Note that "l" (for local / non-exportable), "nr" (for
3059 non-revocable, and "t" (for trust) may be freely mixed and prefixed
3060 to "sign" to create a signature of any type desired.
3062 If the option '--only-sign-text-ids' is specified, then any
3063 non-text based user ids (e.g., photo IDs) will not be selected for
3067 Delete a signature. Note that it is not possible to retract a
3068 signature, once it has been send to the public (i.e. to a
3069 keyserver). In that case you better use 'revsig'.
3072 Revoke a signature. For every signature which has been
3073 generated by one of the secret keys, GnuPG asks whether a
3074 revocation certificate should be generated.
3077 Check the signatures on all selected user IDs. With the extra
3078 option 'selfsig' only self-signatures are shown.
3081 Create an additional user ID.
3084 Create a photographic user ID. This will prompt for a JPEG
3085 file that will be embedded into the user ID. Note that a very
3086 large JPEG will make for a very large key. Also note that
3087 some programs will display your JPEG unchanged (GnuPG), and
3088 some programs will scale it to fit in a dialog box (PGP).
3091 Display the selected photographic user ID.
3094 Delete a user ID or photographic user ID. Note that it is not
3095 possible to retract a user id, once it has been send to the
3096 public (i.e. to a keyserver). In that case you better use
3100 Revoke a user ID or photographic user ID.
3103 Flag the current user id as the primary one, removes the
3104 primary user id flag from all other user ids and sets the
3105 timestamp of all affected self-signatures one second ahead.
3106 Note that setting a photo user ID as primary makes it primary
3107 over other photo user IDs, and setting a regular user ID as
3108 primary makes it primary over other regular user IDs.
3111 Set a preferred keyserver for the specified user ID(s). This
3112 allows other users to know where you prefer they get your key
3113 from. See '--keyserver-options honor-keyserver-url' for more
3114 on how this works. Setting a value of "none" removes an
3115 existing preferred keyserver.
3118 Set a name=value notation for the specified user ID(s). See
3119 '--cert-notation' for more on how this works. Setting a value
3120 of "none" removes all notations, setting a notation prefixed
3121 with a minus sign (-) removes that notation, and setting a
3122 notation name (without the =value) prefixed with a minus sign
3123 removes all notations with that name.
3126 List preferences from the selected user ID. This shows the
3127 actual preferences, without including any implied preferences.
3130 More verbose preferences listing for the selected user ID.
3131 This shows the preferences in effect by including the implied
3132 preferences of 3DES (cipher), SHA-1 (digest), and Uncompressed
3133 (compression) if they are not already included in the
3134 preference list. In addition, the preferred keyserver and
3135 signature notations (if any) are shown.
3138 Set the list of user ID preferences to STRING for all (or just
3139 the selected) user IDs. Calling setpref with no arguments
3140 sets the preference list to the default (either built-in or
3141 set via '--default-preference-list'), and calling setpref with
3142 "none" as the argument sets an empty preference list. Use
3143 'gpg --version' to get a list of available algorithms. Note
3144 that while you can change the preferences on an attribute user
3145 ID (aka "photo ID"), GnuPG does not select keys via attribute
3146 user IDs so these preferences will not be used by GnuPG.
3148 When setting preferences, you should list the algorithms in
3149 the order which you'd like to see them used by someone else
3150 when encrypting a message to your key. If you don't include
3151 3DES, it will be automatically added at the end. Note that
3152 there are many factors that go into choosing an algorithm (for
3153 example, your key may not be the only recipient), and so the
3154 remote OpenPGP application being used to send to you may or
3155 may not follow your exact chosen order for a given message.
3156 It will, however, only choose an algorithm that is present on
3157 the preference list of every recipient key. See also the
3158 INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER OPENPGP PROGRAMS section below.
3161 Add a subkey to this key.
3164 Generate a subkey on a card and add it to this key.
3167 Transfer the selected secret subkey (or the primary key if no
3168 subkey has been selected) to a smartcard. The secret key in
3169 the keyring will be replaced by a stub if the key could be
3170 stored successfully on the card and you use the save command
3171 later. Only certain key types may be transferred to the card.
3172 A sub menu allows you to select on what card to store the key.
3173 Note that it is not possible to get that key back from the
3174 card - if the card gets broken your secret key will be lost
3175 unless you have a backup somewhere.
3178 Restore the given FILE to a card. This command may be used to
3179 restore a backup key (as generated during card initialization)
3180 to a new card. In almost all cases this will be the
3181 encryption key. You should use this command only with the
3182 corresponding public key and make sure that the file given as
3183 argument is indeed the backup to restore. You should then
3184 select 2 to restore as encryption key. You will first be
3185 asked to enter the passphrase of the backup key and then for
3186 the Admin PIN of the card.
3189 Transfer the selected secret subkey (or the primary key if no
3190 subkey has been selected) to TPM form. The secret key in the
3191 keyring will be replaced by the TPM representation of that
3192 key, which can only be read by the particular TPM that created
3193 it (so the keyfile now becomes locked to the laptop containing
3194 the TPM). Only certain key types may be transferred to the TPM
3195 (all TPM 2.0 systems are mandated to have the rsa2048 and
3196 nistp256 algorithms but newer TPMs may have more). Note that
3197 the key itself is not transferred into the TPM, merely
3198 encrypted by the TPM in-place, so if the keyfile is deleted,
3199 the key will be lost. Once transferred to TPM representation,
3200 the key file can never be converted back to non-TPM form and
3201 the key will die when the TPM does, so you should first have a
3202 backup on secure offline storage of the actual secret key file
3203 before conversion. It is essential to use the physical system
3204 TPM that you have rw permission on the TPM resource manager
3205 device (/dev/tpmrm0). Usually this means you must be a member
3209 Remove a subkey (secondary key). Note that it is not possible
3210 to retract a subkey, once it has been send to the public (i.e.
3211 to a keyserver). In that case you better use 'revkey'. Also
3212 note that this only deletes the public part of a key.
3218 Change the key or subkey expiration time. If a subkey is
3219 selected, the expiration time of this subkey will be changed.
3220 With no selection, the key expiration of the primary key is
3224 Change the owner trust value for the key. This updates the
3225 trust-db immediately and no save is required.
3229 Disable or enable an entire key. A disabled key can not
3230 normally be used for encryption.
3233 Add a designated revoker to the key. This takes one optional
3234 argument: "sensitive". If a designated revoker is marked as
3235 sensitive, it will not be exported by default (see
3239 Change the passphrase of the secret key.
3242 This is dummy command which exists only for backward
3246 Compact (by removing all signatures except the selfsig) any
3247 user ID that is no longer usable (e.g. revoked, or expired).
3248 Then, remove any signatures that are not usable by the trust
3249 calculations. Specifically, this removes any signature that
3250 does not validate, any signature that is superseded by a later
3251 signature, revoked signatures, and signatures issued by keys
3252 that are not present on the keyring.
3255 Make the key as small as possible. This removes all
3256 signatures from each user ID except for the most recent
3260 Change the usage flags (capabilities) of the primary key or of
3261 subkeys. These usage flags (e.g. Certify, Sign,
3262 Authenticate, Encrypt) are set during key creation. Sometimes
3263 it is useful to have the opportunity to change them (for
3264 example to add Authenticate) after they have been created.
3265 Please take care when doing this; the allowed usage flags
3266 depend on the key algorithm.
3269 Add cross-certification signatures to signing subkeys that may
3270 not currently have them. Cross-certification signatures
3271 protect against a subtle attack against signing subkeys. See
3272 '--require-cross-certification'. All new keys generated have
3273 this signature by default, so this command is only useful to
3274 bring older keys up to date.
3277 Save all changes to the keyring and quit.
3280 Quit the program without updating the keyring.
3282 The listing shows you the key with its secondary keys and all user
3283 IDs. The primary user ID is indicated by a dot, and selected keys
3284 or user IDs are indicated by an asterisk. The trust value is
3285 displayed with the primary key: "trust" is the assigned owner trust
3286 and "validity" is the calculated validity of the key. Validity
3287 values are also displayed for all user IDs. For possible values of
3288 trust, *note trust-values::.
3291 Signs a public key with your secret key. This is a shortcut
3292 version of the subcommand "sign" from '--edit-key'.
3295 Signs a public key with your secret key but marks it as
3296 non-exportable. This is a shortcut version of the subcommand
3297 "lsign" from '--edit-key'.
3299 '--quick-sign-key FPR [NAMES]'
3300 '--quick-lsign-key FPR [NAMES]'
3301 Directly sign a key from the passphrase without any further user
3302 interaction. The FPR must be the verified primary fingerprint of a
3303 key in the local keyring. If no NAMES are given, all useful user
3304 ids are signed; with given [NAMES] only useful user ids matching
3305 one of these names are signed. By default, or if a name is
3306 prefixed with a '*', a case insensitive substring match is used.
3307 If a name is prefixed with a '=' a case sensitive exact match is
3310 The command '--quick-lsign-key' marks the signatures as
3311 non-exportable. If such a non-exportable signature already exists
3312 the '--quick-sign-key' turns it into a exportable signature. If
3313 you need to update an existing signature, for example to add or
3314 change notation data, you need to use the option
3317 This command uses reasonable defaults and thus does not provide the
3318 full flexibility of the "sign" subcommand from '--edit-key'. Its
3319 intended use is to help unattended key signing by utilizing a list
3320 of verified fingerprints.
3322 '--quick-add-uid USER-ID NEW-USER-ID'
3323 This command adds a new user id to an existing key. In contrast to
3324 the interactive sub-command 'adduid' of '--edit-key' the
3325 NEW-USER-ID is added verbatim with only leading and trailing white
3326 space removed, it is expected to be UTF-8 encoded, and no checks on
3327 its form are applied.
3329 '--quick-revoke-uid USER-ID USER-ID-TO-REVOKE'
3330 This command revokes a user ID on an existing key. It cannot be
3331 used to revoke the last user ID on key (some non-revoked user ID
3332 must remain), with revocation reason "User ID is no longer valid".
3333 If you want to specify a different revocation reason, or to supply
3334 supplementary revocation text, you should use the interactive
3335 sub-command 'revuid' of '--edit-key'.
3337 '--quick-revoke-sig FPR SIGNING-FPR [NAMES]'
3338 This command revokes the key signatures made by SIGNING-FPR from
3339 the key specified by the fingerprint FPR. With NAMES given only
3340 the signatures on user ids of the key matching any of the given
3341 names are affected (see '--quick-sign-key'). If a revocation
3342 already exists a notice is printed instead of creating a new
3343 revocation; no error is returned in this case. Note that key
3344 signature revocations may be superseded by a newer key signature
3345 and in turn again revoked.
3347 '--quick-set-primary-uid USER-ID PRIMARY-USER-ID'
3348 This command sets or updates the primary user ID flag on an
3349 existing key. USER-ID specifies the key and PRIMARY-USER-ID the
3350 user ID which shall be flagged as the primary user ID. The primary
3351 user ID flag is removed from all other user ids and the timestamp
3352 of all affected self-signatures is set one second ahead.
3354 '--change-passphrase USER-ID'
3356 Change the passphrase of the secret key belonging to the
3357 certificate specified as USER-ID. This is a shortcut for the
3358 sub-command 'passwd' of the '--edit-key' menu. When using together
3359 with the option '--dry-run' this will not actually change the
3360 passphrase but check that the current passphrase is correct.
3363 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Options, Next: GPG Configuration, Prev: GPG Commands, Up: Invoking GPG
3368 'gpg' features a bunch of options to control the exact behaviour and to
3369 change the default configuration.
3373 * GPG Configuration Options:: How to change the configuration.
3374 * GPG Key related Options:: Key related options.
3375 * GPG Input and Output:: Input and Output.
3376 * OpenPGP Options:: OpenPGP protocol specific options.
3377 * Compliance Options:: Compliance options.
3378 * GPG Esoteric Options:: Doing things one usually doesn't want to do.
3379 * Deprecated Options:: Deprecated options.
3381 Long options can be put in an options file (default
3382 "~/.gnupg/gpg.conf"). Short option names will not work - for example,
3383 "armor" is a valid option for the options file, while "a" is not. Do
3384 not write the 2 dashes, but simply the name of the option and any
3385 required arguments. Lines with a hash ('#') as the first
3386 non-white-space character are ignored. Commands may be put in this file
3387 too, but that is not generally useful as the command will execute
3388 automatically with every execution of gpg.
3390 Please remember that option parsing stops as soon as a non-option is
3391 encountered, you can explicitly stop parsing by using the special option
3395 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Configuration Options, Next: GPG Key related Options, Up: GPG Options
3397 4.2.1 How to change the configuration
3398 -------------------------------------
3400 These options are used to change the configuration and most of them are
3401 usually found in the option file.
3403 '--default-key NAME'
3404 Use NAME as the default key to sign with. If this option is not
3405 used, the default key is the first key found in the secret keyring.
3406 Note that '-u' or '--local-user' overrides this option. This
3407 option may be given multiple times. In this case, the last key for
3408 which a secret key is available is used. If there is no secret key
3409 available for any of the specified values, GnuPG will not emit an
3410 error message but continue as if this option wasn't given.
3412 '--default-recipient NAME'
3413 Use NAME as default recipient if option '--recipient' is not used
3414 and don't ask if this is a valid one. NAME must be non-empty.
3416 '--default-recipient-self'
3417 Use the default key as default recipient if option '--recipient' is
3418 not used and don't ask if this is a valid one. The default key is
3419 the first one from the secret keyring or the one set with
3422 '--no-default-recipient'
3423 Reset '--default-recipient' and '--default-recipient-self'. Should
3424 not be used in an option file.
3427 Give more information during processing. If used twice, the input
3428 data is listed in detail.
3431 Reset verbose level to 0. Should not be used in an option file.
3434 Try to be as quiet as possible. Should not be used in an option
3439 Use batch mode. Never ask, do not allow interactive commands.
3440 '--no-batch' disables this option. Note that even with a filename
3441 given on the command line, gpg might still need to read from STDIN
3442 (in particular if gpg figures that the input is a detached
3443 signature and no data file has been specified). Thus if you do not
3444 want to feed data via STDIN, you should connect STDIN to
3447 It is highly recommended to use this option along with the options
3448 '--status-fd' and '--with-colons' for any unattended use of 'gpg'.
3449 Should not be used in an option file.
3452 Make sure that the TTY (terminal) is never used for any output.
3453 This option is needed in some cases because GnuPG sometimes prints
3454 warnings to the TTY even if '--batch' is used.
3457 Assume "yes" on most questions. Should not be used in an option
3461 Assume "no" on most questions. Should not be used in an option
3464 '--list-options PARAMETERS'
3465 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options used
3466 when listing keys and signatures (that is, '--list-keys',
3467 '--check-signatures', '--list-public-keys', '--list-secret-keys',
3468 and the '--edit-key' functions). Options can be prepended with a
3469 'no-' (after the two dashes) to give the opposite meaning. The
3473 Causes '--list-keys', '--check-signatures',
3474 '--list-public-keys', and '--list-secret-keys' to display any
3475 photo IDs attached to the key. Defaults to no. See also
3476 '--photo-viewer'. Does not work with '--with-colons': see
3477 '--attribute-fd' for the appropriate way to get photo data for
3478 scripts and other frontends.
3481 Show usage information for keys and subkeys in the standard
3482 key listing. This is a list of letters indicating the allowed
3483 usage for a key ('E'=encryption, 'S'=signing,
3484 'C'=certification, 'A'=authentication). Defaults to yes.
3487 Show policy URLs in the '--check-signatures' listings.
3493 Show all, IETF standard, or user-defined signature notations
3494 in the '--check-signatures' listings. Defaults to no.
3497 Show any preferred keyserver URL in the '--check-signatures'
3498 listings. Defaults to no.
3501 Display the calculated validity of user IDs during key
3502 listings. Defaults to yes.
3505 Show revoked and expired user IDs in key listings. Defaults
3508 show-unusable-subkeys
3509 Show revoked and expired subkeys in key listings. Defaults to
3513 Display the keyring name at the head of key listings to show
3514 which keyring a given key resides on. Defaults to no.
3517 Show signature expiration dates (if any) during
3518 '--check-signatures' listings. Defaults to no.
3521 Include signature subpackets in the key listing. This option
3522 can take an optional argument list of the subpackets to list.
3523 If no argument is passed, list all subpackets. Defaults to
3524 no. This option is only meaningful when using '--with-colons'
3525 along with '--check-signatures'.
3528 For each user-id which has a valid mail address print only the
3529 fingerprint followed by the mail address.
3532 With -list-sigs and -check-sigs sort the signatures by keyID
3533 and creation time to make it easier to view the history of
3534 these signatures. The self-signature is also listed before
3535 other signatures. Defaults to yes.
3537 '--verify-options PARAMETERS'
3538 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options used
3539 when verifying signatures. Options can be prepended with a 'no-'
3540 to give the opposite meaning. The options are:
3543 Display any photo IDs present on the key that issued the
3544 signature. Defaults to no. See also '--photo-viewer'.
3547 Show policy URLs in the signature being verified. Defaults to
3553 Show all, IETF standard, or user-defined signature notations
3554 in the signature being verified. Defaults to IETF standard.
3557 Show any preferred keyserver URL in the signature being
3558 verified. Defaults to yes.
3561 Display the calculated validity of the user IDs on the key
3562 that issued the signature. Defaults to yes.
3565 Show revoked and expired user IDs during signature
3566 verification. Defaults to no.
3568 show-primary-uid-only
3569 Show only the primary user ID during signature verification.
3570 That is all the AKA lines as well as photo Ids are not shown
3571 with the signature verification status.
3573 '--enable-large-rsa'
3574 '--disable-large-rsa'
3575 With -generate-key and -batch, enable the creation of RSA secret
3576 keys as large as 8192 bit. Note: 8192 bit is more than is
3577 generally recommended. These large keys don't significantly
3578 improve security, but they are more expensive to use, and their
3579 signatures and certifications are larger. This option is only
3580 available if the binary was build with large-secmem support.
3584 Enable hash truncation for all DSA keys even for old DSA Keys up to
3585 1024 bit. This is also the default with '--openpgp'. Note that
3586 older versions of GnuPG also required this flag to allow the
3587 generation of DSA larger than 1024 bit.
3589 '--photo-viewer STRING'
3590 This is the command line that should be run to view a photo ID.
3591 "%i" will be expanded to a filename containing the photo. "%I"
3592 does the same, except the file will not be deleted once the viewer
3593 exits. Other flags are "%k" for the key ID, "%K" for the long key
3594 ID, "%f" for the key fingerprint, "%t" for the extension of the
3595 image type (e.g. "jpg"), "%T" for the MIME type of the image (e.g.
3596 "image/jpeg"), "%v" for the single-character calculated validity of
3597 the image being viewed (e.g. "f"), "%V" for the calculated
3598 validity as a string (e.g. "full"), "%U" for a base32 encoded hash
3599 of the user ID, and "%%" for an actual percent sign. If neither %i
3600 or %I are present, then the photo will be supplied to the viewer on
3603 On Unix the default viewer is 'xloadimage -fork -quiet -title
3604 'KeyID 0x%k' STDIN' with a fallback to 'display -title 'KeyID 0x%k'
3605 %i' and finally to 'xdg-open %i'. On Windows '!ShellExecute 400
3606 %i' is used; here the command is a meta command to use that API
3607 call followed by a wait time in milliseconds which is used to give
3608 the viewer time to read the temporary image file before gpg deletes
3609 it again. Note that if your image viewer program is not secure,
3610 then executing it from gpg does not make it secure.
3612 '--exec-path STRING'
3613 Sets a list of directories to search for photo viewers If not
3614 provided photo viewers use the 'PATH' environment variable.
3617 Add FILE to the current list of keyrings. If FILE begins with a
3618 tilde and a slash, these are replaced by the $HOME directory. If
3619 the filename does not contain a slash, it is assumed to be in the
3620 GnuPG home directory ("~/.gnupg" unless '--homedir' or $GNUPGHOME
3623 Note that this adds a keyring to the current list. If the intent
3624 is to use the specified keyring alone, use '--keyring' along with
3625 '--no-default-keyring'.
3627 If the option '--no-keyring' has been used no keyrings will be used
3630 Note that if the option 'use-keyboxd' is enabled in 'common.conf',
3631 no keyrings are used at all and keys are all maintained by the
3632 keyboxd process in its own database.
3634 '--primary-keyring FILE'
3635 This is a varian of '--keyring' and designates FILE as the primary
3636 public keyring. This means that newly imported keys (via
3637 '--import' or keyserver '--recv-from') will go to this keyring.
3639 '--secret-keyring FILE'
3640 This is an obsolete option and ignored. All secret keys are stored
3641 in the 'private-keys-v1.d' directory below the GnuPG home
3644 '--trustdb-name FILE'
3645 Use FILE instead of the default trustdb. If FILE begins with a
3646 tilde and a slash, these are replaced by the $HOME directory. If
3647 the filename does not contain a slash, it is assumed to be in the
3648 GnuPG home directory ('~/.gnupg' if '--homedir' or $GNUPGHOME is
3652 Set the name of the home directory to DIR. If this option is not
3653 used, the home directory defaults to '~/.gnupg'. It is only
3654 recognized when given on the command line. It also overrides any
3655 home directory stated through the environment variable 'GNUPGHOME'
3656 or (on Windows systems) by means of the Registry entry
3657 HKCU\SOFTWARE\GNU\GNUPG:HOMEDIR.
3659 On Windows systems it is possible to install GnuPG as a portable
3660 application. In this case only this command line option is
3661 considered, all other ways to set a home directory are ignored.
3663 To install GnuPG as a portable application under Windows, create an
3664 empty file named 'gpgconf.ctl' in the same directory as the tool
3665 'gpgconf.exe'. The root of the installation is then that
3666 directory; or, if 'gpgconf.exe' has been installed directly below a
3667 directory named 'bin', its parent directory. You also need to make
3668 sure that the following directories exist and are writable:
3669 'ROOT/home' for the GnuPG home and 'ROOT/usr/local/var/cache/gnupg'
3670 for internal cache files.
3672 '--display-charset NAME'
3673 Set the name of the native character set. This is used to convert
3674 some informational strings like user IDs to the proper UTF-8
3675 encoding. Note that this has nothing to do with the character set
3676 of data to be encrypted or signed; GnuPG does not recode
3677 user-supplied data. If this option is not used, the default
3678 character set is determined from the current locale. A verbosity
3679 level of 3 shows the chosen set. This option should not be used on
3680 Windows. Valid values for NAME are:
3683 This is the Latin 1 set.
3689 This is currently an alias for the Latin 1 set.
3692 The usual Russian set (RFC-1489).
3695 Bypass all translations and assume that the OS uses native
3700 Assume that command line arguments are given as UTF-8 strings. The
3701 default ('--no-utf8-strings') is to assume that arguments are
3702 encoded in the character set as specified by '--display-charset'.
3703 These options affect all following arguments. Both options may be
3704 used multiple times. This option should not be used in an option
3707 This option has no effect on Windows. There the internal used
3708 UTF-8 encoding is translated for console input and output. The
3709 command line arguments are expected as Unicode and translated to
3710 UTF-8. Thus when calling this program from another, make sure to
3711 use the Unicode version of CreateProcess.
3714 Read options from FILE and do not try to read them from the default
3715 options file in the homedir (see '--homedir'). This option is
3716 ignored if used in an options file.
3719 Shortcut for '--options /dev/null'. This option is detected before
3720 an attempt to open an option file. Using this option will also
3721 prevent the creation of a '~/.gnupg' homedir.
3724 '--compress-level N'
3725 '--bzip2-compress-level N'
3726 Set compression level to N for the ZIP and ZLIB compression
3727 algorithms. The default is to use the default compression level of
3728 zlib (normally 6). '--bzip2-compress-level' sets the compression
3729 level for the BZIP2 compression algorithm (defaulting to 6 as
3730 well). This is a different option from '--compress-level' since
3731 BZIP2 uses a significant amount of memory for each additional
3732 compression level. '-z' sets both. A value of 0 for N disables
3735 '--bzip2-decompress-lowmem'
3736 Use a different decompression method for BZIP2 compressed files.
3737 This alternate method uses a bit more than half the memory, but
3738 also runs at half the speed. This is useful under extreme low
3739 memory circumstances when the file was originally compressed at a
3740 high '--bzip2-compress-level'.
3742 '--mangle-dos-filenames'
3743 '--no-mangle-dos-filenames'
3744 Older version of Windows cannot handle filenames with more than one
3745 dot. '--mangle-dos-filenames' causes GnuPG to replace (rather than
3746 add to) the extension of an output filename to avoid this problem.
3747 This option is off by default and has no effect on non-Windows
3751 '--no-ask-cert-level'
3752 When making a key signature, prompt for a certification level. If
3753 this option is not specified, the certification level used is set
3754 via '--default-cert-level'. See '--default-cert-level' for
3755 information on the specific levels and how they are used.
3756 '--no-ask-cert-level' disables this option. This option defaults
3759 '--default-cert-level N'
3760 The default to use for the check level when signing a key.
3762 0 means you make no particular claim as to how carefully you
3765 1 means you believe the key is owned by the person who claims to
3766 own it but you could not, or did not verify the key at all. This
3767 is useful for a "persona" verification, where you sign the key of a
3770 2 means you did casual verification of the key. For example, this
3771 could mean that you verified the key fingerprint and checked the
3772 user ID on the key against a photo ID.
3774 3 means you did extensive verification of the key. For example,
3775 this could mean that you verified the key fingerprint with the
3776 owner of the key in person, and that you checked, by means of a
3777 hard to forge document with a photo ID (such as a passport) that
3778 the name of the key owner matches the name in the user ID on the
3779 key, and finally that you verified (by exchange of email) that the
3780 email address on the key belongs to the key owner.
3782 Note that the examples given above for levels 2 and 3 are just
3783 that: examples. In the end, it is up to you to decide just what
3784 "casual" and "extensive" mean to you.
3786 This option defaults to 0 (no particular claim).
3789 When building the trust database, treat any signatures with a
3790 certification level below this as invalid. Defaults to 2, which
3791 disregards level 1 signatures. Note that level 0 "no particular
3792 claim" signatures are always accepted.
3794 '--trusted-key LONG KEY ID OR FINGERPRINT'
3795 Assume that the specified key (which should be given as
3796 fingerprint) is as trustworthy as one of your own secret keys.
3797 This option is useful if you don't want to keep your secret keys
3798 (or one of them) online but still want to be able to check the
3799 validity of a given recipient's or signator's key. If the given
3800 key is not locally available but an LDAP keyserver is configured
3801 the missing key is imported from that server.
3803 '--trust-model {pgp|classic|tofu|tofu+pgp|direct|always|auto}'
3804 Set what trust model GnuPG should follow. The models are:
3807 This is the Web of Trust combined with trust signatures as
3808 used in PGP 5.x and later. This is the default trust model
3809 when creating a new trust database.
3812 This is the standard Web of Trust as introduced by PGP 2.
3815 TOFU stands for Trust On First Use. In this trust model, the
3816 first time a key is seen, it is memorized. If later another
3817 key with a user id with the same email address is seen, both
3818 keys are marked as suspect. In that case, the next time
3819 either is used, a warning is displayed describing the
3820 conflict, why it might have occurred (either the user
3821 generated a new key and failed to cross sign the old and new
3822 keys, the key is forgery, or a man-in-the-middle attack is
3823 being attempted), and the user is prompted to manually confirm
3824 the validity of the key in question.
3826 Because a potential attacker is able to control the email
3827 address and thereby circumvent the conflict detection
3828 algorithm by using an email address that is similar in
3829 appearance to a trusted email address, whenever a message is
3830 verified, statistics about the number of messages signed with
3831 the key are shown. In this way, a user can easily identify
3832 attacks using fake keys for regular correspondents.
3834 When compared with the Web of Trust, TOFU offers significantly
3835 weaker security guarantees. In particular, TOFU only helps
3836 ensure consistency (that is, that the binding between a key
3837 and email address doesn't change). A major advantage of TOFU
3838 is that it requires little maintenance to use correctly. To
3839 use the web of trust properly, you need to actively sign keys
3840 and mark users as trusted introducers. This is a
3841 time-consuming process and anecdotal evidence suggests that
3842 even security-conscious users rarely take the time to do this
3843 thoroughly and instead rely on an ad-hoc TOFU process.
3845 In the TOFU model, policies are associated with bindings
3846 between keys and email addresses (which are extracted from
3847 user ids and normalized). There are five policies, which can
3848 be set manually using the '--tofu-policy' option. The default
3849 policy can be set using the '--tofu-default-policy' option.
3851 The TOFU policies are: 'auto', 'good', 'unknown', 'bad' and
3852 'ask'. The 'auto' policy is used by default (unless
3853 overridden by '--tofu-default-policy') and marks a binding as
3854 marginally trusted. The 'good', 'unknown' and 'bad' policies
3855 mark a binding as fully trusted, as having unknown trust or as
3856 having trust never, respectively. The 'unknown' policy is
3857 useful for just using TOFU to detect conflicts, but to never
3858 assign positive trust to a binding. The final policy, 'ask'
3859 prompts the user to indicate the binding's trust. If batch
3860 mode is enabled (or input is inappropriate in the context),
3861 then the user is not prompted and the 'undefined' trust level
3865 This trust model combines TOFU with the Web of Trust. This is
3866 done by computing the trust level for each model and then
3867 taking the maximum trust level where the trust levels are
3868 ordered as follows: 'unknown < undefined < marginal < fully <
3869 ultimate < expired < never'.
3871 By setting '--tofu-default-policy=unknown', this model can be
3872 used to implement the web of trust with TOFU's conflict
3873 detection algorithm, but without its assignment of positive
3874 trust values, which some security-conscious users don't like.
3877 Key validity is set directly by the user and not calculated
3878 via the Web of Trust. This model is solely based on the key
3879 and does not distinguish user IDs. Note that when changing to
3880 another trust model the trust values assigned to a key are
3881 transformed into ownertrust values, which also indicate how
3882 you trust the owner of the key to sign other keys.
3885 Skip key validation and assume that used keys are always fully
3886 valid. You generally won't use this unless you are using some
3887 external validation scheme. This option also suppresses the
3888 "[uncertain]" tag printed with signature checks when there is
3889 no evidence that the user ID is bound to the key. Note that
3890 this trust model still does not allow the use of expired,
3891 revoked, or disabled keys.
3894 Select the trust model depending on whatever the internal
3895 trust database says. This is the default model if such a
3896 database already exists. Note that a tofu trust model is not
3897 considered here and must be enabled explicitly.
3899 '--auto-key-locate MECHANISMS'
3900 '--no-auto-key-locate'
3901 GnuPG can automatically locate and retrieve keys as needed using
3902 this option. This happens when encrypting to an email address (in
3903 the "user@example.com" form), and there are no "user@example.com"
3904 keys on the local keyring. This option takes any number of the
3905 mechanisms listed below, in the order they are to be tried.
3906 Instead of listing the mechanisms as comma delimited arguments, the
3907 option may also be given several times to add more mechanism. The
3908 option '--no-auto-key-locate' or the mechanism "clear" resets the
3909 list. The default is "local,wkd".
3912 Locate a key using DNS CERT, as specified in RFC-4398.
3915 Locate a key using DANE, as specified in
3916 draft-ietf-dane-openpgpkey-05.txt.
3919 Locate a key using the Web Key Directory protocol.
3922 Using DNS Service Discovery, check the domain in question for
3923 any LDAP keyservers to use. If this fails, attempt to locate
3924 the key using the PGP Universal method of checking
3925 'ldap://keys.(thedomain)'.
3928 Locate the key using the Active Directory (Windows only).
3929 This method also allows to search by fingerprint using the
3930 command '--locate-external-key'.
3933 Locate a key using a keyserver. This method also allows to
3934 search by fingerprint using the command
3935 '--locate-external-key' if any of the configured keyservers is
3939 In addition, a keyserver URL as used in the 'dirmngr'
3940 configuration may be used here to query that particular
3941 keyserver. This method also allows to search by fingerprint
3942 using the command '--locate-external-key' if the URL specifies
3946 Locate the key using the local keyrings. This mechanism
3947 allows the user to select the order a local key lookup is
3948 done. Thus using '--auto-key-locate local' is identical to
3949 '--no-auto-key-locate'.
3952 This flag disables the standard local key lookup, done before
3953 any of the mechanisms defined by the '--auto-key-locate' are
3954 tried. The position of this mechanism in the list does not
3955 matter. It is not required if 'local' is also used.
3958 Clear all defined mechanisms. This is useful to override
3959 mechanisms given in a config file. Note that a 'nodefault' in
3960 MECHANISMS will also be cleared unless it is given after the
3964 '--no-auto-key-import'
3965 This is an offline mechanism to get a missing key for signature
3966 verification and for later encryption to this key. If this option
3967 is enabled and a signature includes an embedded key, that key is
3968 used to verify the signature and on verification success the key is
3969 imported. The default is '--no-auto-key-import'.
3971 On the sender (signing) site the option '--include-key-block' needs
3972 to be used to put the public part of the signing key as “Key Block
3973 subpacket” into the signature.
3975 '--auto-key-retrieve'
3976 '--no-auto-key-retrieve'
3977 These options enable or disable the automatic retrieving of keys
3978 from a keyserver when verifying signatures made by keys that are
3979 not on the local keyring. The default is '--no-auto-key-retrieve'.
3981 The order of methods tried to lookup the key is:
3983 1. If the option '--auto-key-import' is set and the signatures
3984 includes an embedded key, that key is used to verify the signature
3985 and on verification success that key is imported.
3987 2. If a preferred keyserver is specified in the signature and the
3988 option 'honor-keyserver-url' is active (which is not the default),
3989 that keyserver is tried. Note that the creator of the signature
3990 uses the option '--sig-keyserver-url' to specify the preferred
3991 keyserver for data signatures.
3993 3. If the signature has the Signer's UID set (e.g. using
3994 '--sender' while creating the signature) a Web Key Directory (WKD)
3995 lookup is done. This is the default configuration but can be
3996 disabled by removing WKD from the auto-key-locate list or by using
3997 the option '--disable-signer-uid'.
3999 4. If any keyserver is configured and the Issuer Fingerprint is
4000 part of the signature (since GnuPG 2.1.16), the configured
4001 keyservers are tried.
4003 Note that this option makes a "web bug" like behavior possible.
4004 Keyserver or Web Key Directory operators can see which keys you
4005 request, so by sending you a message signed by a brand new key
4006 (which you naturally will not have on your local keyring), the
4007 operator can tell both your IP address and the time when you
4008 verified the signature.
4010 '--keyid-format {none|short|0xshort|long|0xlong}'
4011 Select how to display key IDs. "none" does not show the key ID at
4012 all but shows the fingerprint in a separate line. "short" is the
4013 traditional 8-character key ID. "long" is the more accurate (but
4014 less convenient) 16-character key ID. Add an "0x" to either to
4015 include an "0x" at the beginning of the key ID, as in 0x99242560.
4016 Note that this option is ignored if the option '--with-colons' is
4020 This option is deprecated - please use the '--keyserver' in
4021 'dirmngr.conf' instead.
4023 Use NAME as your keyserver. This is the server that
4024 '--receive-keys', '--send-keys', and '--search-keys' will
4025 communicate with to receive keys from, send keys to, and search for
4026 keys on. The format of the NAME is a URI:
4027 'scheme:[//]keyservername[:port]' The scheme is the type of
4028 keyserver: "hkp"/"hkps" for the HTTP (or compatible) keyservers or
4029 "ldap"/"ldaps" for the LDAP keyservers. Note that your particular
4030 installation of GnuPG may have other keyserver types available as
4031 well. Keyserver schemes are case-insensitive.
4033 Most keyservers synchronize with each other, so there is generally
4034 no need to send keys to more than one server. The keyserver
4035 'hkp://keys.gnupg.net' uses round robin DNS to give a different
4036 keyserver each time you use it.
4038 '--keyserver-options {NAME=VALUE}'
4039 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
4040 the keyserver. Options can be prefixed with a 'no-' to give the
4041 opposite meaning. Valid import-options or export-options may be
4042 used here as well to apply to importing ('--recv-key') or exporting
4043 ('--send-key') a key from a keyserver. While not all options are
4044 available for all keyserver types, some common options are:
4047 When searching for a key with '--search-keys', include keys
4048 that are marked on the keyserver as revoked. Note that not
4049 all keyservers differentiate between revoked and unrevoked
4050 keys, and for such keyservers this option is meaningless.
4051 Note also that most keyservers do not have cryptographic
4052 verification of key revocations, and so turning this option
4053 off may result in skipping keys that are incorrectly marked as
4057 When searching for a key with '--search-keys', include keys
4058 that are marked on the keyserver as disabled. Note that this
4059 option is not used with HKP keyservers.
4062 This is an obsolete alias for the option 'auto-key-retrieve'.
4063 Please do not use it; it will be removed in future versions..
4066 When using '--refresh-keys', if the key in question has a
4067 preferred keyserver URL, then use that preferred keyserver to
4068 refresh the key from. In addition, if auto-key-retrieve is
4069 set, and the signature being verified has a preferred
4070 keyserver URL, then use that preferred keyserver to fetch the
4071 key from. Note that this option introduces a "web bug": The
4072 creator of the key can see when the keys is refreshed. Thus
4073 this option is not enabled by default.
4076 When receiving a key, include subkeys as potential targets.
4077 Note that this option is not used with HKP keyservers, as they
4078 do not support retrieving keys by subkey id.
4086 These options have no more function since GnuPG 2.1. Use the
4087 'dirmngr' configuration options instead.
4089 The default list of options is: "self-sigs-only, import-clean,
4090 repair-keys, repair-pks-subkey-bug, export-attributes". However,
4091 if the actual used source is an LDAP server "no-self-sigs-only" is
4092 assumed unless "self-sigs-only" has been explictly configured.
4094 '--completes-needed N'
4095 Number of completely trusted users to introduce a new key signer
4098 '--marginals-needed N'
4099 Number of marginally trusted users to introduce a new key signer
4102 '--tofu-default-policy {auto|good|unknown|bad|ask}'
4103 The default TOFU policy (defaults to 'auto'). For more information
4104 about the meaning of this option, *note trust-model-tofu::.
4106 '--max-cert-depth N'
4107 Maximum depth of a certification chain (default is 5).
4110 Do not cache the verification status of key signatures. Caching
4111 gives a much better performance in key listings. However, if you
4112 suspect that your public keyring is not safe against write
4113 modifications, you can use this option to disable the caching. It
4114 probably does not make sense to disable it because all kind of
4115 damage can be done if someone else has write access to your public
4118 '--auto-check-trustdb'
4119 '--no-auto-check-trustdb'
4120 If GnuPG feels that its information about the Web of Trust has to
4121 be updated, it automatically runs the '--check-trustdb' command
4122 internally. This may be a time consuming process.
4123 '--no-auto-check-trustdb' disables this option.
4127 This is dummy option. 'gpg' always requires the agent.
4130 This is dummy option. It has no effect when used with 'gpg'.
4132 '--agent-program FILE'
4133 Specify an agent program to be used for secret key operations. The
4134 default value is determined by running 'gpgconf' with the option
4135 '--list-dirs'. Note that the pipe symbol ('|') is used for a
4136 regression test suite hack and may thus not be used in the file
4139 '--dirmngr-program FILE'
4140 Specify a dirmngr program to be used for keyserver access. The
4141 default value is '/usr/local/bin/dirmngr'.
4144 Entirely disable the use of the Dirmngr.
4147 Do not start the gpg-agent or the dirmngr if it has not yet been
4148 started and its service is required. This option is mostly useful
4149 on machines where the connection to gpg-agent has been redirected
4150 to another machines. If dirmngr is required on the remote machine,
4151 it may be started manually using 'gpgconf --launch dirmngr'.
4154 Lock the databases the first time a lock is requested and do not
4155 release the lock until the process terminates.
4158 Release the locks every time a lock is no longer needed. Use this
4159 to override a previous '--lock-once' from a config file.
4162 Disable locking entirely. This option should be used only in very
4163 special environments, where it can be assured that only one process
4164 is accessing those files. A bootable floppy with a stand-alone
4165 encryption system will probably use this. Improper usage of this
4166 option may lead to data and key corruption.
4168 '--exit-on-status-write-error'
4169 This option will cause write errors on the status FD to immediately
4170 terminate the process. That should in fact be the default but it
4171 never worked this way and thus we need an option to enable this, so
4172 that the change won't break applications which close their end of a
4173 status fd connected pipe too early. Using this option along with
4174 '--enable-progress-filter' may be used to cleanly cancel long
4175 running gpg operations.
4177 '--limit-card-insert-tries N'
4178 With N greater than 0 the number of prompts asking to insert a
4179 smartcard gets limited to N-1. Thus with a value of 1 gpg won't at
4180 all ask to insert a card if none has been inserted at startup.
4181 This option is useful in the configuration file in case an
4182 application does not know about the smartcard support and waits ad
4183 infinitum for an inserted card.
4185 '--no-random-seed-file'
4186 GnuPG uses a file to store its internal random pool over
4187 invocations. This makes random generation faster; however
4188 sometimes write operations are not desired. This option can be
4189 used to achieve that with the cost of slower random generation.
4192 Suppress the initial copyright message.
4194 '--no-secmem-warning'
4195 Suppress the warning about "using insecure memory".
4197 '--no-permission-warning'
4198 Suppress the warning about unsafe file and home directory
4199 ('--homedir') permissions. Note that the permission checks that
4200 GnuPG performs are not intended to be authoritative, but rather
4201 they simply warn about certain common permission problems. Do not
4202 assume that the lack of a warning means that your system is secure.
4204 Note that the warning for unsafe '--homedir' permissions cannot be
4205 suppressed in the gpg.conf file, as this would allow an attacker to
4206 place an unsafe gpg.conf file in place, and use this file to
4207 suppress warnings about itself. The '--homedir' permissions
4208 warning may only be suppressed on the command line.
4211 '--no-require-secmem'
4212 Refuse to run if GnuPG cannot get secure memory. Defaults to no
4213 (i.e. run, but give a warning).
4215 '--require-cross-certification'
4216 '--no-require-cross-certification'
4217 When verifying a signature made from a subkey, ensure that the
4218 cross certification "back signature" on the subkey is present and
4219 valid. This protects against a subtle attack against subkeys that
4220 can sign. Defaults to '--require-cross-certification' for 'gpg'.
4224 Allow the user to do certain nonsensical or "silly" things like
4225 signing an expired or revoked key, or certain potentially
4226 incompatible things like generating unusual key types. This also
4227 disables certain warning messages about potentially incompatible
4228 actions. As the name implies, this option is for experts only. If
4229 you don't fully understand the implications of what it allows you
4230 to do, leave this off. '--no-expert' disables this option.
4233 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Key related Options, Next: GPG Input and Output, Prev: GPG Configuration Options, Up: GPG Options
4235 4.2.2 Key related options
4236 -------------------------
4240 Encrypt for user id NAME. If this option or '--hidden-recipient'
4241 is not specified, GnuPG asks for the user-id unless
4242 '--default-recipient' is given.
4244 '--hidden-recipient NAME'
4246 Encrypt for user ID NAME, but hide the key ID of this user's key.
4247 This option helps to hide the receiver of the message and is a
4248 limited countermeasure against traffic analysis. If this option or
4249 '--recipient' is not specified, GnuPG asks for the user ID unless
4250 '--default-recipient' is given.
4252 '--recipient-file FILE'
4254 This option is similar to '--recipient' except that it encrypts to
4255 a key stored in the given file. FILE must be the name of a file
4256 containing exactly one key. 'gpg' assumes that the key in this
4257 file is fully valid.
4259 '--hidden-recipient-file FILE'
4261 This option is similar to '--hidden-recipient' except that it
4262 encrypts to a key stored in the given file. FILE must be the name
4263 of a file containing exactly one key. 'gpg' assumes that the key
4264 in this file is fully valid.
4267 Same as '--recipient' but this one is intended for use in the
4268 options file and may be used with your own user-id as an
4269 "encrypt-to-self". These keys are only used when there are other
4270 recipients given either by use of '--recipient' or by the asked
4271 user id. No trust checking is performed for these user ids and
4272 even disabled keys can be used.
4274 '--hidden-encrypt-to NAME'
4275 Same as '--hidden-recipient' but this one is intended for use in
4276 the options file and may be used with your own user-id as a hidden
4277 "encrypt-to-self". These keys are only used when there are other
4278 recipients given either by use of '--recipient' or by the asked
4279 user id. No trust checking is performed for these user ids and
4280 even disabled keys can be used.
4283 Disable the use of all '--encrypt-to' and '--hidden-encrypt-to'
4286 '--group {NAME=VALUE}'
4287 Sets up a named group, which is similar to aliases in email
4288 programs. Any time the group name is a recipient ('-r' or
4289 '--recipient'), it will be expanded to the values specified.
4290 Multiple groups with the same name are automatically merged into a
4293 The values are 'key IDs' or fingerprints, but any key description
4294 is accepted. Note that a value with spaces in it will be treated
4295 as two different values. Note also there is only one level of
4296 expansion -- you cannot make an group that points to another group.
4297 When used from the command line, it may be necessary to quote the
4298 argument to this option to prevent the shell from treating it as
4302 Remove a given entry from the '--group' list.
4305 Remove all entries from the '--group' list.
4309 Use NAME as the key to sign with. Note that this option overrides
4313 This option has two purposes. MBOX must either be a complete user
4314 ID containing a proper mail address or just a plain mail address.
4315 The option can be given multiple times.
4317 When creating a signature this option tells gpg the signing key's
4318 user id used to make the signature and embeds that user ID into the
4319 created signature (using OpenPGP's "Signer's User ID" subpacket).
4320 If the option is given multiple times a suitable user ID is picked.
4321 However, if the signing key was specified directly by using a mail
4322 address (i.e. not by using a fingerprint or key ID) this option is
4323 used and the mail address is embedded in the created signature.
4325 When verifying a signature MBOX is used to restrict the information
4326 printed by the TOFU code to matching user IDs. If the option is
4327 used and the signature contains a "Signer's User ID" subpacket that
4328 information is is also used to restrict the printed information.
4329 Note that GnuPG considers only the mail address part of a User ID.
4331 If this option or the said subpacket is available the TRUST lines
4332 as printed by option 'status-fd' correspond to the corresponding
4333 User ID; if no User ID is known the TRUST lines are computed
4334 directly on the key and do not give any information about the User
4335 ID. In the latter case it his highly recommended to scripts and
4336 other frontends to evaluate the VALIDSIG line, retrieve the key and
4337 print all User IDs along with their validity (trust) information.
4339 '--try-secret-key NAME'
4340 For hidden recipients GPG needs to know the keys to use for trial
4341 decryption. The key set with '--default-key' is always tried
4342 first, but this is often not sufficient. This option allows
4343 setting more keys to be used for trial decryption. Although any
4344 valid user-id specification may be used for NAME it makes sense to
4345 use at least the long keyid to avoid ambiguities. Note that
4346 gpg-agent might pop up a pinentry for a lot keys to do the trial
4347 decryption. If you want to stop all further trial decryption you
4348 may use close-window button instead of the cancel button.
4351 Don't look at the key ID as stored in the message but try all
4352 secret keys in turn to find the right decryption key. This option
4353 forces the behaviour as used by anonymous recipients (created by
4354 using '--throw-keyids' or '--hidden-recipient') and might come
4355 handy in case where an encrypted message contains a bogus key ID.
4357 '--skip-hidden-recipients'
4358 '--no-skip-hidden-recipients'
4359 During decryption skip all anonymous recipients. This option helps
4360 in the case that people use the hidden recipients feature to hide
4361 their own encrypt-to key from others. If one has many secret keys
4362 this may lead to a major annoyance because all keys are tried in
4363 turn to decrypt something which was not really intended for it.
4364 The drawback of this option is that it is currently not possible to
4365 decrypt a message which includes real anonymous recipients.
4368 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Input and Output, Next: OpenPGP Options, Prev: GPG Key related Options, Up: GPG Options
4370 4.2.3 Input and Output
4371 ----------------------
4375 Create ASCII armored output. The default is to create the binary
4379 Assume the input data is not in ASCII armored format.
4383 Write output to FILE. To write to stdout use '-' as the filename.
4386 This option sets a limit on the number of bytes that will be
4387 generated when processing a file. Since OpenPGP supports various
4388 levels of compression, it is possible that the plaintext of a given
4389 message may be significantly larger than the original OpenPGP
4390 message. While GnuPG works properly with such messages, there is
4391 often a desire to set a maximum file size that will be generated
4392 before processing is forced to stop by the OS limits. Defaults to
4393 0, which means "no limit".
4396 The AEAD encryption mode encrypts the data in chunks so that a
4397 receiving side can check for transmission errors or tampering at
4398 the end of each chunk and does not need to delay this until all
4399 data has been received. The used chunk size is 2^N byte. The
4400 lowest allowed value for N is 6 (64 byte) and the largest is the
4401 default of 22 which creates chunks not larger than 4 MiB.
4403 '--input-size-hint N'
4404 This option can be used to tell GPG the size of the input data in
4405 bytes. N must be a positive base-10 number. This option is only
4406 useful if the input is not taken from a file. GPG may use this
4407 hint to optimize its buffer allocation strategy. It is also used
4408 by the '--status-fd' line "PROGRESS" to provide a value for "total"
4409 if that is not available by other means.
4411 '--key-origin STRING[,URL]'
4412 gpg can track the origin of a key. Certain origins are implicitly
4413 known (e.g. keyserver, web key directory) and set. For a standard
4414 import the origin of the keys imported can be set with this option.
4415 To list the possible values use "help" for STRING. Some origins
4416 can store an optional URL argument. That URL can appended to
4417 STRING after a comma.
4419 '--import-options PARAMETERS'
4420 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
4421 importing keys. Options can be prepended with a 'no-' to give the
4422 opposite meaning. The options are:
4425 Allow importing key signatures marked as "local". This is not
4426 generally useful unless a shared keyring scheme is being used.
4430 Normally possible still existing ownertrust values of a key
4431 are cleared if a key is imported. This is in general
4432 desirable so that a formerly deleted key does not
4433 automatically gain an ownertrust values merely due to import.
4434 On the other hand it is sometimes necessary to re-import a
4435 trusted set of keys again but keeping already assigned
4436 ownertrust values. This can be achieved by using this option.
4438 repair-pks-subkey-bug
4439 During import, attempt to repair the damage caused by the PKS
4440 keyserver bug (pre version 0.9.6) that mangles keys with
4441 multiple subkeys. Note that this cannot completely repair the
4442 damaged key as some crucial data is removed by the keyserver,
4443 but it does at least give you back one subkey. Defaults to no
4444 for regular '--import' and to yes for keyserver
4449 Show a listing of the key as imported right before it is
4450 stored. This can be combined with the option '--dry-run' to
4451 only look at keys; the option 'show-only' is a shortcut for
4452 this combination. The command '--show-keys' is another
4453 shortcut for this. Note that suffixes like '#' for "sec" and
4454 "sbb" lines may or may not be printed.
4457 Run the entire import code but instead of storing the key to
4458 the local keyring write it to the output. The export option
4459 'export-dane' affect the output. This option can for example
4460 be used to remove all invalid parts from a key without the
4464 During import, allow key updates to existing keys, but do not
4465 allow any new keys to be imported. Defaults to no.
4468 After import, compact (remove all signatures except the
4469 self-signature) any user IDs from the new key that are not
4470 usable. Then, remove any signatures from the new key that are
4471 not usable. This includes signatures that were issued by keys
4472 that are not present on the keyring. This option is the same
4473 as running the '--edit-key' command "clean" after import.
4477 Accept only self-signatures while importing a key. All other
4478 key signatures are skipped at an early import stage. This
4479 option can be used with 'keyserver-options' to mitigate
4480 attempts to flood a key with bogus signatures from a
4481 keyserver. The drawback is that all other valid key
4482 signatures, as required by the Web of Trust are also not
4483 imported. Note that when using this option along with
4484 import-clean it suppresses the final clean step after merging
4485 the imported key into the existing key.
4488 After import, fix various problems with the keys. For
4489 example, this reorders signatures, and strips duplicate
4490 signatures. Defaults to yes.
4493 When used the keyboxd (option 'use-keyboxd' in 'common.conf')
4494 does the import within a single transaction.
4497 Import the smallest key possible. This removes all signatures
4498 except the most recent self-signature on each user ID. This
4499 option is the same as running the '--edit-key' command
4500 "minimize" after import. Defaults to no.
4504 Import in key restore mode. This imports all data which is
4505 usually skipped during import; including all GnuPG specific
4506 data. All other contradicting options are overridden.
4508 '--import-filter {NAME=EXPR}'
4509 '--export-filter {NAME=EXPR}'
4510 These options define an import/export filter which are applied to
4511 the imported/exported keyblock right before it will be
4512 stored/written. NAME defines the type of filter to use, EXPR the
4513 expression to evaluate. The option can be used several times which
4514 then appends more expression to the same NAME.
4516 The available filter types are:
4519 This filter will keep a user id packet and its dependent
4520 packets in the keyblock if the expression evaluates to true.
4523 This filter drops the selected subkeys. Currently only
4524 implemented for -export-filter.
4527 This filter drops the selected key signatures on user ids.
4528 Self-signatures are not considered. Currently only
4529 implemented for -import-filter.
4531 For the syntax of the expression see the chapter "FILTER
4532 EXPRESSIONS". The property names for the expressions depend on the
4533 actual filter type and are indicated in the following table.
4535 The available properties are:
4538 A string with the user id. (keep-uid)
4541 The addr-spec part of a user id with mailbox or the empty
4545 A number with the public key algorithm of a key or subkey
4546 packet. (drop-subkey)
4550 The first is the timestamp a public key or subkey packet was
4551 created. The second is the same but given as an ISO string,
4552 e.g. "2016-08-17". (drop-subkey)
4555 The hexified fingerprint of the current subkey or primary key.
4559 Boolean indicating whether the user id is the primary one.
4563 Boolean indicating whether a user id (keep-uid), a key
4564 (drop-subkey), or a signature (drop-sig) expired.
4567 Boolean indicating whether a user id (keep-uid) or a key
4568 (drop-subkey) has been revoked.
4571 Boolean indicating whether a primary key is disabled. (not
4575 Boolean indicating whether a key or subkey is a secret one.
4579 A string indicating the usage flags for the subkey, from the
4580 sequence "ecsa?". For example, a subkey capable of just
4581 signing and authentication would be an exact match for "sa".
4586 The first is the timestamp a signature packet was created.
4587 The second is the same but given as an ISO date string, e.g.
4588 "2016-08-17". (drop-sig)
4591 A number with the public key algorithm of a signature packet.
4595 A number with the digest algorithm of a signature packet.
4598 '--export-options PARAMETERS'
4599 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
4600 exporting keys. Options can be prepended with a 'no-' to give the
4601 opposite meaning. The options are:
4604 Allow exporting key signatures marked as "local". This is not
4605 generally useful unless a shared keyring scheme is being used.
4609 Include attribute user IDs (photo IDs) while exporting. Not
4610 including attribute user IDs is useful to export keys that are
4611 going to be used by an OpenPGP program that does not accept
4612 attribute user IDs. Defaults to yes.
4614 export-sensitive-revkeys
4615 Include designated revoker information that was marked as
4616 "sensitive". Defaults to no.
4620 Export for use as a backup. The exported data includes all
4621 data which is needed to restore the key or keys later with
4622 GnuPG. The format is basically the OpenPGP format but enhanced
4623 with GnuPG specific data. All other contradicting options are
4627 Compact (remove all signatures from) user IDs on the key being
4628 exported if the user IDs are not usable. Also, do not export
4629 any signatures that are not usable. This includes signatures
4630 that were issued by keys that are not present on the keyring.
4631 This option is the same as running the '--edit-key' command
4632 "clean" before export except that the local copy of the key is
4633 not modified. Defaults to no.
4636 Export the smallest key possible. This removes all signatures
4637 except the most recent self-signature on each user ID. This
4638 option is the same as running the '--edit-key' command
4639 "minimize" before export except that the local copy of the key
4640 is not modified. Defaults to no.
4643 Instead of outputting the key material output OpenPGP DANE
4644 records suitable to put into DNS zone files. An ORIGIN line
4645 is printed before each record to allow diverting the records
4646 to the corresponding zone file.
4649 Print key listings delimited by colons. Note that the output will
4650 be encoded in UTF-8 regardless of any '--display-charset' setting.
4651 This format is useful when GnuPG is called from scripts and other
4652 programs as it is easily machine parsed. The details of this
4653 format are documented in the file 'doc/DETAILS', which is included
4654 in the GnuPG source distribution.
4657 Do not merge primary user ID and primary key in '--with-colon'
4658 listing mode and print all timestamps as seconds since 1970-01-01.
4659 Since GnuPG 2.0.10, this mode is always used and thus this option
4660 is obsolete; it does not harm to use it though.
4662 '--legacy-list-mode'
4663 Revert to the pre-2.1 public key list mode. This only affects the
4664 human readable output and not the machine interface (i.e.
4665 '--with-colons'). Note that the legacy format does not convey
4666 suitable information for elliptic curves.
4668 '--with-fingerprint'
4669 Same as the command '--fingerprint' but changes only the format of
4670 the output and may be used together with another command.
4672 '--with-subkey-fingerprint'
4673 If a fingerprint is printed for the primary key, this option forces
4674 printing of the fingerprint for all subkeys. This could also be
4675 achieved by using the '--with-fingerprint' twice but by using this
4676 option along with keyid-format "none" a compact fingerprint is
4679 '--with-icao-spelling'
4680 Print the ICAO spelling of the fingerprint in addition to the hex
4684 Include the keygrip in the key listings. In '--with-colons' mode
4685 this is implicitly enable for secret keys.
4688 Include the locally held information on the origin and last update
4689 of a key in a key listing. In '--with-colons' mode this is always
4690 printed. This data is currently experimental and shall not be
4691 considered part of the stable API.
4694 Print a Web Key Directory identifier along with each user ID in key
4695 listings. This is an experimental feature and semantics may
4699 Include info about the presence of a secret key in public key
4700 listings done with '--with-colons'.
4703 File: gnupg.info, Node: OpenPGP Options, Next: Compliance Options, Prev: GPG Input and Output, Up: GPG Options
4705 4.2.4 OpenPGP protocol specific options
4706 ---------------------------------------
4710 Treat input files as text and store them in the OpenPGP canonical
4711 text form with standard "CRLF" line endings. This also sets the
4712 necessary flags to inform the recipient that the encrypted or
4713 signed data is text and may need its line endings converted back to
4714 whatever the local system uses. This option is useful when
4715 communicating between two platforms that have different line ending
4716 conventions (UNIX-like to Mac, Mac to Windows, etc).
4717 '--no-textmode' disables this option, and is the default.
4720 '--no-force-v3-sigs'
4722 '--no-force-v4-certs'
4723 These options are obsolete and have no effect since GnuPG 2.1.
4726 Force the use of AEAD encryption over MDC encryption. AEAD is a
4727 modern and faster way to do authenticated encryption than the old
4728 MDC method. See also options '--aead-algo' and '--chunk-size'.
4732 These options are obsolete and have no effect since GnuPG 2.2.8.
4733 The MDC is always used unless the keys indicate that an AEAD
4734 algorithm can be used in which case AEAD is used. But note: If the
4735 creation of a legacy non-MDC message is exceptionally required, the
4736 option '--rfc2440' allows for this.
4738 '--disable-signer-uid'
4739 By default the user ID of the signing key is embedded in the data
4740 signature. As of now this is only done if the signing key has been
4741 specified with 'local-user' using a mail address, or with 'sender'.
4742 This information can be helpful for verifier to locate the key; see
4743 option '--auto-key-retrieve'.
4745 '--include-key-block'
4746 '--no-include-key-block'
4747 This option is used to embed the actual signing key into a data
4748 signature. The embedded key is stripped down to a single user id
4749 and includes only the signing subkey used to create the signature
4750 as well as as valid encryption subkeys. All other info is removed
4751 from the key to keep it and thus the signature small. This option
4752 is the OpenPGP counterpart to the 'gpgsm' option '--include-certs'
4753 and allows the recipient of a signed message to reply encrypted to
4754 the sender without using any online directories to lookup the key.
4755 The default is '--no-include-key-block'. See also the option
4756 '--auto-key-import'.
4758 '--personal-cipher-preferences STRING'
4759 Set the list of personal cipher preferences to STRING. Use 'gpg
4760 --version' to get a list of available algorithms, and use 'none' to
4761 set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely override
4762 the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as GPG will
4763 only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipients. The
4764 most highly ranked cipher in this list is also used for the
4765 '--symmetric' encryption command.
4767 '--personal-aead-preferences STRING'
4768 Set the list of personal AEAD preferences to STRING. Use 'gpg
4769 --version' to get a list of available algorithms, and use 'none' to
4770 set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely override
4771 the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as GPG will
4772 only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipients. The
4773 most highly ranked cipher in this list is also used for the
4774 '--symmetric' encryption command.
4776 '--personal-digest-preferences STRING'
4777 Set the list of personal digest preferences to STRING. Use 'gpg
4778 --version' to get a list of available algorithms, and use 'none' to
4779 set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely override
4780 the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as GPG will
4781 only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipients. The
4782 most highly ranked digest algorithm in this list is also used when
4783 signing without encryption (e.g. '--clear-sign' or '--sign').
4785 '--personal-compress-preferences STRING'
4786 Set the list of personal compression preferences to STRING. Use
4787 'gpg --version' to get a list of available algorithms, and use
4788 'none' to set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely
4789 override the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as
4790 GPG will only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipients.
4791 The most highly ranked compression algorithm in this list is also
4792 used when there are no recipient keys to consider (e.g.
4795 '--s2k-cipher-algo NAME'
4796 Use NAME as the cipher algorithm for symmetric encryption with a
4797 passphrase if '--personal-cipher-preferences' and '--cipher-algo'
4798 are not given. The default is AES-128.
4800 '--s2k-digest-algo NAME'
4801 Use NAME as the digest algorithm used to mangle the passphrases for
4802 symmetric encryption. The default is SHA-1.
4805 Selects how passphrases for symmetric encryption are mangled. If N
4806 is 0 a plain passphrase (which is in general not recommended) will
4807 be used, a 1 adds a salt (which should not be used) to the
4808 passphrase and a 3 (the default) iterates the whole process a
4809 number of times (see '--s2k-count').
4812 Specify how many times the passphrases mangling for symmetric
4813 encryption is repeated. This value may range between 1024 and
4814 65011712 inclusive. The default is inquired from gpg-agent. Note
4815 that not all values in the 1024-65011712 range are legal and if an
4816 illegal value is selected, GnuPG will round up to the nearest legal
4817 value. This option is only meaningful if '--s2k-mode' is set to
4821 File: gnupg.info, Node: Compliance Options, Next: GPG Esoteric Options, Prev: OpenPGP Options, Up: GPG Options
4823 4.2.5 Compliance options
4824 ------------------------
4826 These options control what GnuPG is compliant to. Only one of these
4827 options may be active at a time. Note that the default setting of this
4828 is nearly always the correct one. See the INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER
4829 OPENPGP PROGRAMS section below before using one of these options.
4832 Use standard GnuPG behavior. This is essentially OpenPGP behavior
4833 (see '--openpgp'), but with extension from the proposed update to
4834 OpenPGP and with some additional workarounds for common
4835 compatibility problems in different versions of PGP. This is the
4836 default option, so it is not generally needed, but it may be useful
4837 to override a different compliance option in the gpg.conf file.
4840 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict OpenPGP
4841 behavior. This option implies '--allow-old-cipher-algos'. Use
4842 this option to reset all previous options like '--s2k-*',
4843 '--cipher-algo', '--digest-algo' and '--compress-algo' to OpenPGP
4844 compliant values. All PGP workarounds are disabled.
4847 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict RFC-4880
4848 behavior. This option implies '--allow-old-cipher-algos'. Note
4849 that this is currently the same thing as '--openpgp'.
4852 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict according to
4853 the proposed updates of RFC-4880.
4856 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict RFC-2440
4857 behavior. Note that by using this option encryption packets are
4858 created in a legacy mode without MDC protection. This is dangerous
4859 and should thus only be used for experiments. This option implies
4860 '--allow-old-cipher-algos'. See also option '--ignore-mdc-error'.
4863 This option is obsolete; it is handled as an alias for '--pgp7'
4866 Set up all options to be as PGP 7 compliant as possible. This
4867 allowed the ciphers IDEA, 3DES, CAST5,AES128, AES192, AES256, and
4868 TWOFISH., the hashes MD5, SHA1 and RIPEMD160, and the compression
4869 algorithms none and ZIP. This option implies '--escape-from-lines'
4870 and disables '--throw-keyids',
4873 Set up all options to be as PGP 8 compliant as possible. PGP 8 is
4874 a lot closer to the OpenPGP standard than previous versions of PGP,
4875 so all this does is disable '--throw-keyids' and set
4876 '--escape-from-lines'. All algorithms are allowed except for the
4877 SHA224, SHA384, and SHA512 digests.
4879 '--compliance STRING'
4880 This option can be used instead of one of the options above. Valid
4881 values for STRING are the above option names (without the double
4882 dash) and possibly others as shown when using "help" for VALUE.
4885 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Esoteric Options, Next: Deprecated Options, Prev: Compliance Options, Up: GPG Options
4887 4.2.6 Doing things one usually doesn't want to do
4888 -------------------------------------------------
4892 Don't make any changes (this is not completely implemented).
4895 Changes the behaviour of some commands. This is like '--dry-run'
4896 but different in some cases. The semantic of this option may be
4897 extended in the future. Currently it only skips the actual
4898 decryption pass and therefore enables a fast listing of the
4903 Prompt before overwriting any files.
4905 '--debug-level LEVEL'
4906 Select the debug level for investigating problems. LEVEL may be a
4907 numeric value or by a keyword:
4910 No debugging at all. A value of less than 1 may be used
4911 instead of the keyword.
4913 Some basic debug messages. A value between 1 and 2 may be
4914 used instead of the keyword.
4916 More verbose debug messages. A value between 3 and 5 may be
4917 used instead of the keyword.
4919 Even more detailed messages. A value between 6 and 8 may be
4920 used instead of the keyword.
4922 All of the debug messages you can get. A value greater than 8
4923 may be used instead of the keyword. The creation of hash
4924 tracing files is only enabled if the keyword is used.
4926 How these messages are mapped to the actual debugging flags is not
4927 specified and may change with newer releases of this program. They
4928 are however carefully selected to best aid in debugging.
4931 Set debug flags. All flags are or-ed and FLAGS may be given in C
4932 syntax (e.g. 0x0042) or as a comma separated list of flag names.
4933 To get a list of all supported flags the single word "help" can be
4934 used. This option is only useful for debugging and the behavior
4935 may change at any time without notice.
4938 Set all useful debugging flags.
4941 Set stdout into line buffered mode. This option is only honored
4942 when given on the command line.
4944 '--debug-set-iobuf-size N'
4945 Change the buffer size of the IOBUFs to N kilobyte. Using 0 prints
4946 the current size. Note well: This is a maintainer only option and
4947 may thus be changed or removed at any time without notice.
4949 '--debug-allow-large-chunks'
4950 To facilitate software tests and experiments this option allows to
4951 specify a limit of up to 4 EiB ('--chunk-size 62').
4953 '--faked-system-time EPOCH'
4954 This option is only useful for testing; it sets the system time
4955 back or forth to EPOCH which is the number of seconds elapsed since
4956 the year 1970. Alternatively EPOCH may be given as a full ISO time
4957 string (e.g. "20070924T154812").
4959 If you suffix EPOCH with an exclamation mark (!), the system time
4960 will appear to be frozen at the specified time.
4962 '--full-timestrings'
4963 Change the format of printed creation and expiration times from
4964 just the date to the date and time. This is in general not useful
4965 and the same information is anyway available in '--with-colons'
4966 mode. These longer strings are also not well aligned with other
4969 '--enable-progress-filter'
4970 Enable certain PROGRESS status outputs. This option allows
4971 frontends to display a progress indicator while gpg is processing
4972 larger files. There is a slight performance overhead using it.
4975 Write special status strings to the file descriptor N. See the
4976 file DETAILS in the documentation for a listing of them.
4978 '--status-file FILE'
4979 Same as '--status-fd', except the status data is written to file
4983 Write log output to file descriptor N and not to STDERR.
4986 '--logger-file FILE'
4987 Same as '--logger-fd', except the logger data is written to file
4988 FILE. Use 'socket://' to log to s socket.
4991 Write attribute subpackets to the file descriptor N. This is most
4992 useful for use with '--status-fd', since the status messages are
4993 needed to separate out the various subpackets from the stream
4994 delivered to the file descriptor.
4996 '--attribute-file FILE'
4997 Same as '--attribute-fd', except the attribute data is written to
5002 Use STRING as a comment string in cleartext signatures and ASCII
5003 armored messages or keys (see '--armor'). The default behavior is
5004 not to use a comment string. '--comment' may be repeated multiple
5005 times to get multiple comment strings. '--no-comments' removes all
5006 comments. It is a good idea to keep the length of a single comment
5007 below 60 characters to avoid problems with mail programs wrapping
5008 such lines. Note that comment lines, like all other header lines,
5009 are not protected by the signature.
5013 Force inclusion of the version string in ASCII armored output. If
5014 given once only the name of the program and the major number is
5015 emitted, given twice the minor is also emitted, given thrice the
5016 micro is added, and given four times an operating system
5017 identification is also emitted. '--no-emit-version' (default)
5018 disables the version line.
5020 '--sig-notation {NAME=VALUE}'
5021 '--cert-notation {NAME=VALUE}'
5022 '-N, --set-notation {NAME=VALUE}'
5023 Put the name value pair into the signature as notation data. NAME
5024 must consist only of printable characters or spaces, and must
5025 contain a '@' character in the form keyname@domain.example.com
5026 (substituting the appropriate keyname and domain name, of course).
5027 This is to help prevent pollution of the IETF reserved notation
5028 namespace. The '--expert' flag overrides the '@' check. VALUE may
5029 be any printable string; it will be encoded in UTF-8, so you should
5030 check that your '--display-charset' is set correctly. If you
5031 prefix NAME with an exclamation mark (!), the notation data will be
5032 flagged as critical (rfc4880:5.2.3.16). '--sig-notation' sets a
5033 notation for data signatures. '--cert-notation' sets a notation
5034 for key signatures (certifications). '--set-notation' sets both.
5036 There are special codes that may be used in notation names. "%k"
5037 will be expanded into the key ID of the key being signed, "%K" into
5038 the long key ID of the key being signed, "%f" into the fingerprint
5039 of the key being signed, "%s" into the key ID of the key making the
5040 signature, "%S" into the long key ID of the key making the
5041 signature, "%g" into the fingerprint of the key making the
5042 signature (which might be a subkey), "%p" into the fingerprint of
5043 the primary key of the key making the signature, "%c" into the
5044 signature count from the OpenPGP smartcard, and "%%" results in a
5045 single "%". %k, %K, and %f are only meaningful when making a key
5046 signature (certification), and %c is only meaningful when using the
5049 '--known-notation NAME'
5050 Adds NAME to a list of known critical signature notations. The
5051 effect of this is that gpg will not mark a signature with a
5052 critical signature notation of that name as bad. Note that gpg
5053 already knows by default about a few critical signatures notation
5056 '--sig-policy-url STRING'
5057 '--cert-policy-url STRING'
5058 '--set-policy-url STRING'
5059 Use STRING as a Policy URL for signatures (rfc4880:5.2.3.20). If
5060 you prefix it with an exclamation mark (!), the policy URL packet
5061 will be flagged as critical. '--sig-policy-url' sets a policy url
5062 for data signatures. '--cert-policy-url' sets a policy url for key
5063 signatures (certifications). '--set-policy-url' sets both.
5065 The same %-expandos used for notation data are available here as
5068 '--sig-keyserver-url STRING'
5069 Use STRING as a preferred keyserver URL for data signatures. If
5070 you prefix it with an exclamation mark (!), the keyserver URL
5071 packet will be flagged as critical.
5073 The same %-expandos used for notation data are available here as
5076 '--set-filename STRING'
5077 Use STRING as the filename which is stored inside messages. This
5078 overrides the default, which is to use the actual filename of the
5079 file being encrypted. Using the empty string for STRING
5080 effectively removes the filename from the output.
5082 '--for-your-eyes-only'
5083 '--no-for-your-eyes-only'
5084 Set the 'for your eyes only' flag in the message. This causes
5085 GnuPG to refuse to save the file unless the '--output' option is
5086 given, and PGP to use a "secure viewer" with a claimed
5087 Tempest-resistant font to display the message. This option
5088 overrides '--set-filename'. '--no-for-your-eyes-only' disables
5091 '--use-embedded-filename'
5092 '--no-use-embedded-filename'
5093 Try to create a file with a name as embedded in the data. This can
5094 be a dangerous option as it enables overwriting files. Defaults to
5095 no. Note that the option '--output' overrides this option.
5097 '--cipher-algo NAME'
5098 Use NAME as cipher algorithm. Running the program with the command
5099 '--version' yields a list of supported algorithms. If this is not
5100 used the cipher algorithm is selected from the preferences stored
5101 with the key. In general, you do not want to use this option as it
5102 allows you to violate the OpenPGP standard. The option
5103 '--personal-cipher-preferences' is the safe way to accomplish the
5107 Specify that the AEAD algorithm NAME is to be used. This is useful
5108 for symmetric encryption where no key preference are available to
5109 select the AEAD algorithm. Running 'gpg' with option '--version'
5110 shows the available AEAD algorithms. In general, you do not want
5111 to use this option as it allows you to violate the OpenPGP
5112 standard. The option '--personal-aead-preferences' is the safe way
5113 to accomplish the same thing.
5115 '--digest-algo NAME'
5116 Use NAME as the message digest algorithm. Running the program with
5117 the command '--version' yields a list of supported algorithms. In
5118 general, you do not want to use this option as it allows you to
5119 violate the OpenPGP standard. The option
5120 '--personal-digest-preferences' is the safe way to accomplish the
5123 '--compress-algo NAME'
5124 Use compression algorithm NAME. "zlib" is RFC-1950 ZLIB
5125 compression. "zip" is RFC-1951 ZIP compression which is used by
5126 PGP. "bzip2" is a more modern compression scheme that can compress
5127 some things better than zip or zlib, but at the cost of more memory
5128 used during compression and decompression. "uncompressed" or
5129 "none" disables compression. If this option is not used, the
5130 default behavior is to examine the recipient key preferences to see
5131 which algorithms the recipient supports. If all else fails, ZIP is
5132 used for maximum compatibility.
5134 ZLIB may give better compression results than ZIP, as the
5135 compression window size is not limited to 8k. BZIP2 may give even
5136 better compression results than that, but will use a significantly
5137 larger amount of memory while compressing and decompressing. This
5138 may be significant in low memory situations. Note, however, that
5139 PGP (all versions) only supports ZIP compression. Using any
5140 algorithm other than ZIP or "none" will make the message unreadable
5141 with PGP. In general, you do not want to use this option as it
5142 allows you to violate the OpenPGP standard. The option
5143 '--personal-compress-preferences' is the safe way to accomplish the
5146 '--cert-digest-algo NAME'
5147 Use NAME as the message digest algorithm used when signing a key.
5148 Running the program with the command '--version' yields a list of
5149 supported algorithms. Be aware that if you choose an algorithm
5150 that GnuPG supports but other OpenPGP implementations do not, then
5151 some users will not be able to use the key signatures you make, or
5152 quite possibly your entire key. Note also that a public key
5153 algorithm must be compatible with the specified digest algorithm;
5154 thus selecting an arbitrary digest algorithm may result in error
5155 messages from lower crypto layers or lead to security flaws.
5157 '--disable-cipher-algo NAME'
5158 Never allow the use of NAME as cipher algorithm. The given name
5159 will not be checked so that a later loaded algorithm will still get
5162 '--disable-pubkey-algo NAME'
5163 Never allow the use of NAME as public key algorithm. The given
5164 name will not be checked so that a later loaded algorithm will
5169 Do not put the recipient key IDs into encrypted messages. This
5170 helps to hide the receivers of the message and is a limited
5171 countermeasure against traffic analysis.(1) On the receiving side,
5172 it may slow down the decryption process because all available
5173 secret keys must be tried. '--no-throw-keyids' disables this
5174 option. This option is essentially the same as using
5175 '--hidden-recipient' for all recipients.
5177 '--not-dash-escaped'
5178 This option changes the behavior of cleartext signatures so that
5179 they can be used for patch files. You should not send such an
5180 armored file via email because all spaces and line endings are
5181 hashed too. You can not use this option for data which has 5
5182 dashes at the beginning of a line, patch files don't have this. A
5183 special armor header line tells GnuPG about this cleartext
5186 '--escape-from-lines'
5187 '--no-escape-from-lines'
5188 Because some mailers change lines starting with "From " to ">From "
5189 it is good to handle such lines in a special way when creating
5190 cleartext signatures to prevent the mail system from breaking the
5191 signature. Note that all other PGP versions do it this way too.
5192 Enabled by default. '--no-escape-from-lines' disables this option.
5194 '--passphrase-repeat N'
5195 Specify how many times 'gpg' will request a new passphrase be
5196 repeated. This is useful for helping memorize a passphrase.
5197 Defaults to 1 repetition; can be set to 0 to disable any passphrase
5198 repetition. Note that a N greater than 1 will pop up the pinentry
5199 window N+1 times even if a modern pinentry with two entry fields is
5203 Read the passphrase from file descriptor N. Only the first line
5204 will be read from file descriptor N. If you use 0 for N, the
5205 passphrase will be read from STDIN. This can only be used if only
5206 one passphrase is supplied.
5208 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
5209 option '--batch' has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
5210 '--pinentry-mode' also needs to be set to 'loopback'.
5212 '--passphrase-file FILE'
5213 Read the passphrase from file FILE. Only the first line will be
5214 read from file FILE. This can only be used if only one passphrase
5215 is supplied. Obviously, a passphrase stored in a file is of
5216 questionable security if other users can read this file. Don't use
5217 this option if you can avoid it.
5219 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
5220 option '--batch' has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
5221 '--pinentry-mode' also needs to be set to 'loopback'.
5223 '--passphrase STRING'
5224 Use STRING as the passphrase. This can only be used if only one
5225 passphrase is supplied. Obviously, this is of very questionable
5226 security on a multi-user system. Don't use this option if you can
5229 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
5230 option '--batch' has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
5231 '--pinentry-mode' also needs to be set to 'loopback'.
5233 '--pinentry-mode MODE'
5234 Set the pinentry mode to MODE. Allowed values for MODE are:
5236 Use the default of the agent, which is 'ask'.
5238 Force the use of the Pinentry.
5240 Emulate use of Pinentry's cancel button.
5242 Return a Pinentry error ("No Pinentry").
5244 Redirect Pinentry queries to the caller. Note that in
5245 contrast to Pinentry the user is not prompted again if he
5246 enters a bad password.
5249 Disable the passphrase cache used for symmetrical en- and
5250 decryption. This cache is based on the message specific salt value
5253 '--request-origin ORIGIN'
5254 Tell gpg to assume that the operation ultimately originated at
5255 ORIGIN. Depending on the origin certain restrictions are applied
5256 and the Pinentry may include an extra note on the origin.
5257 Supported values for ORIGIN are: 'local' which is the default,
5258 'remote' to indicate a remote origin or 'browser' for an operation
5259 requested by a web browser.
5262 This is a replacement for the deprecated shared-memory IPC mode.
5263 If this option is enabled, user input on questions is not expected
5264 from the TTY but from the given file descriptor. It should be used
5265 together with '--status-fd'. See the file doc/DETAILS in the
5266 source distribution for details on how to use it.
5268 '--command-file FILE'
5269 Same as '--command-fd', except the commands are read out of file
5272 '--allow-non-selfsigned-uid'
5273 '--no-allow-non-selfsigned-uid'
5274 Allow the import and use of keys with user IDs which are not
5275 self-signed. This is not recommended, as a non self-signed user ID
5276 is trivial to forge. '--no-allow-non-selfsigned-uid' disables.
5278 '--allow-freeform-uid'
5279 Disable all checks on the form of the user ID while generating a
5280 new one. This option should only be used in very special
5281 environments as it does not ensure the de-facto standard format of
5284 '--ignore-time-conflict'
5285 GnuPG normally checks that the timestamps associated with keys and
5286 signatures have plausible values. However, sometimes a signature
5287 seems to be older than the key due to clock problems. This option
5288 makes these checks just a warning. See also '--ignore-valid-from'
5289 for timestamp issues on subkeys.
5291 '--ignore-valid-from'
5292 GnuPG normally does not select and use subkeys created in the
5293 future. This option allows the use of such keys and thus exhibits
5294 the pre-1.0.7 behaviour. You should not use this option unless
5295 there is some clock problem. See also '--ignore-time-conflict' for
5296 timestamp issues with signatures.
5298 '--ignore-crc-error'
5299 The ASCII armor used by OpenPGP is protected by a CRC checksum
5300 against transmission errors. Occasionally the CRC gets mangled
5301 somewhere on the transmission channel but the actual content (which
5302 is protected by the OpenPGP protocol anyway) is still okay. This
5303 option allows GnuPG to ignore CRC errors.
5305 '--ignore-mdc-error'
5306 This option changes a MDC integrity protection failure into a
5307 warning. It is required to decrypt old messages which did not use
5308 an MDC. It may also be useful if a message is partially garbled,
5309 but it is necessary to get as much data as possible out of that
5310 garbled message. Be aware that a missing or failed MDC can be an
5311 indication of an attack. Use with great caution; see also option
5314 '--allow-old-cipher-algos'
5315 Old cipher algorithms like 3DES, IDEA, or CAST5 encrypt data using
5316 blocks of 64 bits; modern algorithms use blocks of 128 bit instead.
5317 To avoid certain attack on these old algorithms it is suggested not
5318 to encrypt more than 150 MiByte using the same key. For this
5319 reason gpg does not allow the use of 64 bit block size algorithms
5320 for encryption unless this option is specified.
5322 '--allow-weak-digest-algos'
5323 Signatures made with known-weak digest algorithms are normally
5324 rejected with an "invalid digest algorithm" message. This option
5325 allows the verification of signatures made with such weak
5326 algorithms. MD5 is the only digest algorithm considered weak by
5327 default. See also '--weak-digest' to reject other digest
5330 '--weak-digest NAME'
5331 Treat the specified digest algorithm as weak. Signatures made over
5332 weak digests algorithms are normally rejected. This option can be
5333 supplied multiple times if multiple algorithms should be considered
5334 weak. See also '--allow-weak-digest-algos' to disable rejection of
5335 weak digests. MD5 is always considered weak, and does not need to
5336 be listed explicitly.
5338 '--allow-weak-key-signatures'
5339 To avoid a minor risk of collision attacks on third-party key
5340 signatures made using SHA-1, those key signatures are considered
5341 invalid. This options allows to override this restriction.
5343 '--no-default-keyring'
5344 Do not add the default keyring to the list of keyrings. Note that
5345 GnuPG needs for almost all operations a keyring. Thus if you use
5346 this option and do not provide alternate keyrings via '--keyring',
5347 then GnuPG will still use the default keyring.
5349 Note that if the option 'use-keyboxd' is enabled in 'common.conf',
5350 no keyrings are used at all and keys are all maintained by the
5351 keyboxd process in its own database.
5354 Do not use any keyring at all. This overrides the default and all
5355 options which specify keyrings.
5358 Skip the signature verification step. This may be used to make the
5359 decryption faster if the signature verification is not needed.
5362 Print key listings delimited by colons (like '--with-colons') and
5363 print the public key data.
5367 Same as '--list-keys', but the signatures are listed too. This
5368 command has the same effect as using '--list-keys' with
5369 '--with-sig-list'. Note that in contrast to '--check-signatures'
5370 the key signatures are not verified. This command can be used to
5371 create a list of signing keys missing in the local keyring; for
5374 gpg --list-sigs --with-colons USERID | \
5375 awk -F: '$1=="sig" && $2=="?" {if($13){print $13}else{print $5}}'
5378 Changes the output of the list commands to work faster; this is
5379 achieved by leaving some parts empty. Some applications don't need
5380 the user ID and the trust information given in the listings. By
5381 using this options they can get a faster listing. The exact
5382 behaviour of this option may change in future versions. If you are
5383 missing some information, don't use this option.
5386 This is not for normal use. Use the source to see for what it
5390 This is not for normal use. Use the source to see for what it
5393 '--show-session-key'
5394 Display the session key used for one message. See
5395 '--override-session-key' for the counterpart of this option.
5397 We think that Key Escrow is a Bad Thing; however the user should
5398 have the freedom to decide whether to go to prison or to reveal the
5399 content of one specific message without compromising all messages
5400 ever encrypted for one secret key.
5402 You can also use this option if you receive an encrypted message
5403 which is abusive or offensive, to prove to the administrators of
5404 the messaging system that the ciphertext transmitted corresponds to
5405 an inappropriate plaintext so they can take action against the
5408 '--override-session-key STRING'
5409 '--override-session-key-fd FD'
5410 Don't use the public key but the session key STRING respective the
5411 session key taken from the first line read from file descriptor FD.
5412 The format of this string is the same as the one printed by
5413 '--show-session-key'. This option is normally not used but comes
5414 handy in case someone forces you to reveal the content of an
5415 encrypted message; using this option you can do this without
5416 handing out the secret key. Note that using
5417 '--override-session-key' may reveal the session key to all local
5418 users via the global process table. Often it is useful to combine
5419 this option with '--no-keyring'.
5422 '--no-ask-sig-expire'
5423 When making a data signature, prompt for an expiration time. If
5424 this option is not specified, the expiration time set via
5425 '--default-sig-expire' is used. '--no-ask-sig-expire' disables
5428 '--default-sig-expire'
5429 The default expiration time to use for signature expiration. Valid
5430 values are "0" for no expiration, a number followed by the letter d
5431 (for days), w (for weeks), m (for months), or y (for years) (for
5432 example "2m" for two months, or "5y" for five years), or an
5433 absolute date in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to "0".
5436 '--no-ask-cert-expire'
5437 When making a key signature, prompt for an expiration time. If
5438 this option is not specified, the expiration time set via
5439 '--default-cert-expire' is used. '--no-ask-cert-expire' disables
5442 '--default-cert-expire'
5443 The default expiration time to use for key signature expiration.
5444 Valid values are "0" for no expiration, a number followed by the
5445 letter d (for days), w (for weeks), m (for months), or y (for
5446 years) (for example "2m" for two months, or "5y" for five years),
5447 or an absolute date in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to "0".
5449 '--default-new-key-algo STRING'
5450 This option can be used to change the default algorithms for key
5451 generation. The STRING is similar to the arguments required for
5452 the command '--quick-add-key' but slightly different. For example
5453 the current default of '"rsa2048/cert,sign+rsa2048/encr"' (or
5454 '"rsa3072"') can be changed to the value of what we currently call
5455 future default, which is '"ed25519/cert,sign+cv25519/encr"'. You
5456 need to consult the source code to learn the details. Note that
5457 the advanced key generation commands can always be used to specify
5458 a key algorithm directly.
5460 '--no-auto-trust-new-key'
5461 When creating a new key the ownertrust of the new key is set to
5462 ultimate. This option disables this and the user needs to manually
5463 assign an ownertrust value.
5466 This option modifies the behaviour of the commands
5467 '--quick-sign-key', '--quick-lsign-key', and the "sign"
5468 sub-commands of '--edit-key' by forcing the creation of a key
5469 signature, even if one already exists.
5471 '--allow-secret-key-import'
5472 This is an obsolete option and is not used anywhere.
5474 '--allow-multiple-messages'
5475 '--no-allow-multiple-messages'
5476 These are obsolete options; they have no more effect since GnuPG
5479 '--enable-special-filenames'
5480 This option enables a mode in which filenames of the form '-&n',
5481 where n is a non-negative decimal number, refer to the file
5482 descriptor n and not to a file with that name.
5484 '--no-expensive-trust-checks'
5485 Experimental use only.
5487 '--preserve-permissions'
5488 Don't change the permissions of a secret keyring back to user
5489 read/write only. Use this option only if you really know what you
5492 '--default-preference-list STRING'
5493 Set the list of default preferences to STRING. This preference
5494 list is used for new keys and becomes the default for "setpref" in
5495 the '--edit-key' menu.
5497 '--default-keyserver-url NAME'
5498 Set the default keyserver URL to NAME. This keyserver will be used
5499 as the keyserver URL when writing a new self-signature on a key,
5500 which includes key generation and changing preferences.
5503 Display various internal configuration parameters of GnuPG. This
5504 option is intended for external programs that call GnuPG to perform
5505 tasks, and is thus not generally useful. See the file
5506 'doc/DETAILS' in the source distribution for the details of which
5507 configuration items may be listed. '--list-config' is only usable
5508 with '--with-colons' set.
5510 '--list-gcrypt-config'
5511 Display various internal configuration parameters of Libgcrypt.
5514 This command is similar to '--list-config' but in general only
5515 internally used by the 'gpgconf' tool.
5518 This is more or less dummy action. However it parses the
5519 configuration file and returns with failure if the configuration
5520 file would prevent 'gpg' from startup. Thus it may be used to run
5521 a syntax check on the configuration file.
5524 Change the current user to UID which may either be a number or a
5525 name. This can be used from the root account to run gpg for
5526 another user. If UID is not the current UID a standard PATH is set
5527 and the envvar GNUPGHOME is unset. To override the latter the
5528 option '--homedir' can be used. This option has only an effect
5529 when used on the command line. This option has currently no effect
5532 ---------- Footnotes ----------
5534 (1) Using a little social engineering anyone who is able to decrypt
5535 the message can check whether one of the other recipients is the one he
5539 File: gnupg.info, Node: Deprecated Options, Prev: GPG Esoteric Options, Up: GPG Options
5541 4.2.7 Deprecated options
5542 ------------------------
5546 Causes '--list-keys', '--list-signatures', '--list-public-keys',
5547 '--list-secret-keys', and verifying a signature to also display the
5548 photo ID attached to the key, if any. See also '--photo-viewer'.
5549 These options are deprecated. Use '--list-options
5550 [no-]show-photos' and/or '--verify-options [no-]show-photos'
5554 Display the keyring name at the head of key listings to show which
5555 keyring a given key resides on. This option is deprecated: use
5556 '--list-options [no-]show-keyring' instead.
5559 Identical to '--trust-model always'. This option is deprecated.
5562 '--no-show-notation'
5563 Show signature notations in the '--list-signatures' or
5564 '--check-signatures' listings as well as when verifying a signature
5565 with a notation in it. These options are deprecated. Use
5566 '--list-options [no-]show-notation' and/or '--verify-options
5567 [no-]show-notation' instead.
5570 '--no-show-policy-url'
5571 Show policy URLs in the '--list-signatures' or '--check-signatures'
5572 listings as well as when verifying a signature with a policy URL in
5573 it. These options are deprecated. Use '--list-options
5574 [no-]show-policy-url' and/or '--verify-options
5575 [no-]show-policy-url' instead.
5578 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Configuration, Next: GPG Examples, Prev: GPG Options, Up: Invoking GPG
5580 4.3 Configuration files
5581 =======================
5583 There are a few configuration files to control certain aspects of
5584 'gpg''s operation. Unless noted, they are expected in the current home
5585 directory (*note option --homedir::).
5588 This is the standard configuration file read by 'gpg' on startup.
5589 It may contain any valid long option; the leading two dashes may
5590 not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated. This default
5591 name may be changed on the command line (*note gpg-option
5592 --options::). You should backup this file.
5595 This is an optional configuration file read by 'gpg' on startup.
5596 It may contain options pertaining to all components of GnuPG. Its
5597 current main use is for the "use-keyboxd" option.
5599 Note that on larger installations, it is useful to put predefined
5600 files into the directory '/etc/skel/.gnupg' so that newly created users
5601 start up with a working configuration. For existing users a small
5602 helper script is provided to create these files (*note addgnupghome::).
5604 For internal purposes 'gpg' creates and maintains a few other files;
5605 They all live in the current home directory (*note option --homedir::).
5606 Only the 'gpg' program may modify these files.
5609 This is the default home directory which is used if neither the
5610 environment variable 'GNUPGHOME' nor the option '--homedir' is
5613 '~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg'
5614 The public keyring using a legacy format. You should backup this
5617 If this file is not available, 'gpg' defaults to the new keybox
5618 format and creates a file 'pubring.kbx' unless that file already
5619 exists in which case that file will also be used for OpenPGP keys.
5621 Note that in the case that both files, 'pubring.gpg' and
5622 'pubring.kbx' exists but the latter has no OpenPGP keys, the legacy
5623 file 'pubring.gpg' will be used. Take care: GnuPG versions before
5624 2.1 will always use the file 'pubring.gpg' because they do not know
5625 about the new keybox format. In the case that you have to use
5626 GnuPG 1.4 to decrypt archived data you should keep this file.
5628 '~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg.lock'
5629 The lock file for the public keyring.
5631 '~/.gnupg/pubring.kbx'
5632 The public keyring using the new keybox format. This file is
5633 shared with 'gpgsm'. You should backup this file. See above for
5634 the relation between this file and it predecessor.
5636 To convert an existing 'pubring.gpg' file to the keybox format, you
5637 first backup the ownertrust values, then rename 'pubring.gpg' to
5638 'publickeys.backup', so it won’t be recognized by any GnuPG
5639 version, run import, and finally restore the ownertrust values:
5642 $ gpg --export-ownertrust >otrust.lst
5643 $ mv pubring.gpg publickeys.backup
5644 $ gpg --import-options restore --import publickeys.backups
5645 $ gpg --import-ownertrust otrust.lst
5647 '~/.gnupg/pubring.kbx.lock'
5648 The lock file for 'pubring.kbx'.
5650 '~/.gnupg/secring.gpg'
5651 The legacy secret keyring as used by GnuPG versions before 2.1. It
5652 is not used by GnuPG 2.1 and later. You may want to keep it in
5653 case you have to use GnuPG 1.4 to decrypt archived data.
5655 '~/.gnupg/secring.gpg.lock'
5656 The lock file for the legacy secret keyring.
5658 '~/.gnupg/.gpg-v21-migrated'
5659 File indicating that a migration to GnuPG 2.1 has been done.
5661 '~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg'
5662 The trust database. There is no need to backup this file; it is
5663 better to backup the ownertrust values (*note option
5664 --export-ownertrust::).
5666 '~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg.lock'
5667 The lock file for the trust database.
5669 '~/.gnupg/random_seed'
5670 A file used to preserve the state of the internal random pool.
5672 '~/.gnupg/openpgp-revocs.d/'
5673 This is the directory where gpg stores pre-generated revocation
5674 certificates. The file name corresponds to the OpenPGP fingerprint
5675 of the respective key. It is suggested to backup those
5676 certificates and if the primary private key is not stored on the
5677 disk to move them to an external storage device. Anyone who can
5678 access these files is able to revoke the corresponding key. You
5679 may want to print them out. You should backup all files in this
5680 directory and take care to keep this backup closed away.
5682 Operation is further controlled by a few environment variables:
5685 Used to locate the default home directory.
5688 If set directory used instead of "~/.gnupg".
5691 This variable is obsolete; it was used by GnuPG versions before
5695 This value is passed via gpg-agent to pinentry. It is useful to
5696 convey extra information to a custom pinentry.
5700 Used to size some displays to the full size of the screen.
5703 Apart from its use by GNU, it is used in the W32 version to
5704 override the language selection done through the Registry. If used
5705 and set to a valid and available language name (LANGID), the file
5706 with the translation is loaded from 'GPGDIR/gnupg.nls/LANGID.mo'.
5707 Here GPGDIR is the directory out of which the gpg binary has been
5708 loaded. If it can't be loaded the Registry is tried and as last
5709 resort the native Windows locale system is used.
5712 This variable is only used by the regression test suite as a helper
5713 under operating systems without proper support to figure out the
5714 name of a process' text file.
5716 When calling the gpg-agent component 'gpg' sends a set of environment
5717 variables to gpg-agent. The names of these variables can be listed
5720 gpg-connect-agent 'getinfo std_env_names' /bye | awk '$1=="D" {print $2}'
5723 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Examples, Next: Unattended Usage of GPG, Prev: GPG Configuration, Up: Invoking GPG
5728 gpg -se -r 'Bob' 'file'
5729 sign and encrypt for user Bob
5731 gpg -clear-sign 'file'
5732 make a cleartext signature
5735 make a detached signature
5737 gpg -u 0x12345678 -sb 'file'
5738 make a detached signature with the key 0x12345678
5740 gpg -list-keys 'user_ID'
5743 gpg -fingerprint 'user_ID'
5746 gpg -verify 'pgpfile'
5747 gpg -verify 'sigfile' ['datafile']
5748 Verify the signature of the file but do not output the data unless
5749 requested. The second form is used for detached signatures, where
5750 'sigfile' is the detached signature (either ASCII armored or
5751 binary) and 'datafile' are the signed data; if this is not given,
5752 the name of the file holding the signed data is constructed by
5753 cutting off the extension (".asc" or ".sig") of 'sigfile' or by
5754 asking the user for the filename. If the option '--output' is also
5755 used the signed data is written to the file specified by that
5756 option; use '-' to write the signed data to stdout.
5761 The options '--import-filter' and '--export-filter' use expressions with
5762 this syntax (square brackets indicate an optional part and curly braces
5763 a repetition, white space between the elements are allowed):
5765 [lc] {[{flag}] PROPNAME op VALUE [lc]}
5767 The name of a property (PROPNAME) may only consist of letters, digits
5768 and underscores. The description for the filter type describes which
5769 properties are defined. If an undefined property is used it evaluates
5770 to the empty string. Unless otherwise noted, the VALUE must always be
5771 given and may not be the empty string. No quoting is defined for the
5772 value, thus the value may not contain the strings '&&' or '||', which
5773 are used as logical connection operators. The flag '--' can be used to
5774 remove this restriction.
5776 Numerical values are computed as long int; standard C notation
5777 applies. LC is the logical connection operator; either '&&' for a
5778 conjunction or '||' for a disjunction. A conjunction is assumed at the
5779 begin of an expression. Conjunctions have higher precedence than
5780 disjunctions. If VALUE starts with one of the characters used in any OP
5781 a space after the OP is required.
5783 The supported operators (OP) are:
5786 Substring must match.
5789 Substring must not match.
5792 The full string must match.
5795 The full string must not match.
5798 The numerical value must match.
5801 The numerical value must not match.
5804 The numerical value of the field must be LE than the value.
5807 The numerical value of the field must be LT than the value.
5810 The numerical value of the field must be GT than the value.
5813 The numerical value of the field must be GE than the value.
5816 The string value of the field must be less or equal than the value.
5819 The string value of the field must be less than the value.
5822 The string value of the field must be greater than the value.
5825 The string value of the field must be greater or equal than the
5829 True if value is not empty (no value allowed).
5832 True if value is empty (no value allowed).
5835 Alias for "PROPNAME != 0" (no value allowed).
5838 Alias for "PROPNAME == 0" (no value allowed).
5840 Values for FLAG must be space separated. The supported flags are:
5843 VALUE spans to the end of the expression.
5845 The string match in this part is done case-sensitive.
5847 Leading and trailing spaces are not removed from VALUE. The
5848 optional single space after OP is here required.
5850 The filter options concatenate several specifications for a filter of
5851 the same type. For example the four options in this example:
5853 --import-filter keep-uid="uid =~ Alfa"
5854 --import-filter keep-uid="&& uid !~ Test"
5855 --import-filter keep-uid="|| uid =~ Alpha"
5856 --import-filter keep-uid="uid !~ Test"
5858 which is equivalent to
5861 keep-uid="uid =~ Alfa" && uid !~ Test" || uid =~ Alpha" && "uid !~ Test"
5863 imports only the user ids of a key containing the strings "Alfa" or
5864 "Alpha" but not the string "test".
5869 The program returns 0 if there are no severe errors, 1 if at least a
5870 signature was bad, and other error codes for fatal errors.
5872 Note that signature verification requires exact knowledge of what has
5873 been signed and by whom it has been signed. Using only the return code
5874 is thus not an appropriate way to verify a signature by a script.
5875 Either make proper use or the status codes or use the 'gpgv' tool which
5876 has been designed to make signature verification easy for scripts.
5881 Use a good password for your user account and make sure that all
5882 security issues are always fixed on your machine. Also employ diligent
5883 physical protection to your machine. Consider to use a good passphrase
5884 as a last resort protection to your secret key in the case your machine
5885 gets stolen. It is important that your secret key is never leaked.
5886 Using an easy to carry around token or smartcard with the secret key is
5889 If you are going to verify detached signatures, make sure that the
5890 program knows about it; either give both filenames on the command line
5891 or use '-' to specify STDIN.
5893 For scripted or other unattended use of 'gpg' make sure to use the
5894 machine-parseable interface and not the default interface which is
5895 intended for direct use by humans. The machine-parseable interface
5896 provides a stable and well documented API independent of the locale or
5897 future changes of 'gpg'. To enable this interface use the options
5898 '--with-colons' and '--status-fd'. For certain operations the option
5899 '--command-fd' may come handy too. See this man page and the file
5900 'DETAILS' for the specification of the interface. Note that the GnuPG
5901 "info" pages as well as the PDF version of the GnuPG manual features a
5902 chapter on unattended use of GnuPG. As an alternative the library
5903 'GPGME' can be used as a high-level abstraction on top of that
5906 INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER OPENPGP PROGRAMS
5907 ********************************************
5909 GnuPG tries to be a very flexible implementation of the OpenPGP
5910 standard. In particular, GnuPG implements many of the optional parts of
5911 the standard, such as the SHA-512 hash, and the ZLIB and BZIP2
5912 compression algorithms. It is important to be aware that not all
5913 OpenPGP programs implement these optional algorithms and that by forcing
5914 their use via the '--cipher-algo', '--digest-algo',
5915 '--cert-digest-algo', or '--compress-algo' options in GnuPG, it is
5916 possible to create a perfectly valid OpenPGP message, but one that
5917 cannot be read by the intended recipient.
5919 There are dozens of variations of OpenPGP programs available, and
5920 each supports a slightly different subset of these optional algorithms.
5921 For example, until recently, no (unhacked) version of PGP supported the
5922 BLOWFISH cipher algorithm. A message using BLOWFISH simply could not be
5923 read by a PGP user. By default, GnuPG uses the standard OpenPGP
5924 preferences system that will always do the right thing and create
5925 messages that are usable by all recipients, regardless of which OpenPGP
5926 program they use. Only override this safe default if you really know
5929 If you absolutely must override the safe default, or if the
5930 preferences on a given key are invalid for some reason, you are far
5931 better off using the '--pgp6', '--pgp7', or '--pgp8' options. These
5932 options are safe as they do not force any particular algorithms in
5933 violation of OpenPGP, but rather reduce the available algorithms to a
5939 On older systems this program should be installed as setuid(root). This
5940 is necessary to lock memory pages. Locking memory pages prevents the
5941 operating system from writing memory pages (which may contain
5942 passphrases or other sensitive material) to disk. If you get no warning
5943 message about insecure memory your operating system supports locking
5944 without being root. The program drops root privileges as soon as locked
5945 memory is allocated.
5947 Note also that some systems (especially laptops) have the ability to
5948 "suspend to disk" (also known as "safe sleep" or "hibernate"). This
5949 writes all memory to disk before going into a low power or even powered
5950 off mode. Unless measures are taken in the operating system to protect
5951 the saved memory, passphrases or other sensitive material may be
5952 recoverable from it later.
5954 Before you report a bug you should first search the mailing list
5955 archives for similar problems and second check whether such a bug has
5956 already been reported to our bug tracker at <https://bugs.gnupg.org>.
5959 File: gnupg.info, Node: Unattended Usage of GPG, Prev: GPG Examples, Up: Invoking GPG
5961 4.5 Unattended Usage
5962 ====================
5964 'gpg' is often used as a backend engine by other software. To help with
5965 this a machine interface has been defined to have an unambiguous way to
5966 do this. The options '--status-fd' and '--batch' are almost always
5971 * Programmatic use of GnuPG:: Programmatic use of GnuPG
5972 * Ephemeral home directories:: Ephemeral home directories
5973 * The quick key manipulation interface:: The quick key manipulation interface
5974 * Unattended GPG key generation:: Unattended key generation
5977 File: gnupg.info, Node: Programmatic use of GnuPG, Next: Ephemeral home directories, Up: Unattended Usage of GPG
5979 4.5.1 Programmatic use of GnuPG
5980 -------------------------------
5982 Please consider using GPGME instead of calling 'gpg' directly. GPGME
5983 offers a stable, backend-independent interface for many cryptographic
5984 operations. It supports OpenPGP and S/MIME, and also allows interaction
5985 with various GnuPG components.
5987 GPGME provides a C-API, and comes with bindings for C++, Qt, and
5988 Python. Bindings for other languages are available.
5991 File: gnupg.info, Node: Ephemeral home directories, Next: The quick key manipulation interface, Prev: Programmatic use of GnuPG, Up: Unattended Usage of GPG
5993 4.5.2 Ephemeral home directories
5994 --------------------------------
5996 Sometimes you want to contain effects of some operation, for example you
5997 want to import a key to inspect it, but you do not want this key to be
5998 added to your keyring. In earlier versions of GnuPG, it was possible to
5999 specify alternate keyring files for both public and secret keys. In
6000 modern GnuPG versions, however, we changed how secret keys are stored in
6001 order to better protect secret key material, and it was not possible to
6002 preserve this interface.
6004 The preferred way to do this is to use ephemeral home directories.
6005 This technique works across all versions of GnuPG.
6007 Create a temporary directory, create (or copy) a configuration that
6008 meets your needs, make 'gpg' use this directory either using the
6009 environment variable GNUPGHOME, or the option '--homedir'. GPGME
6010 supports this too on a per-context basis, by modifying the engine info
6011 of contexts. Now execute whatever operation you like, import and export
6012 key material as necessary. Once finished, you can delete the directory.
6013 All GnuPG backend services that were started will detect this and shut
6017 File: gnupg.info, Node: The quick key manipulation interface, Next: Unattended GPG key generation, Prev: Ephemeral home directories, Up: Unattended Usage of GPG
6019 4.5.3 The quick key manipulation interface
6020 ------------------------------------------
6022 Recent versions of GnuPG have an interface to manipulate keys without
6023 using the interactive command '--edit-key'. This interface was added
6024 mainly for the benefit of GPGME (please consider using GPGME, see the
6025 manual subsection "Programmatic use of GnuPG"). This interface is
6026 described in the subsection "How to manage your keys".
6029 File: gnupg.info, Node: Unattended GPG key generation, Prev: The quick key manipulation interface, Up: Unattended Usage of GPG
6031 4.5.4 Unattended key generation
6032 -------------------------------
6034 The command '--generate-key' may be used along with the option '--batch'
6035 for unattended key generation. This is the most flexible way of
6036 generating keys, but it is also the most complex one. Consider using
6037 the quick key manipulation interface described in the previous
6038 subsection "The quick key manipulation interface".
6040 The parameters for the key are either read from stdin or given as a
6041 file on the command line. The format of the parameter file is as
6044 * Text only, line length is limited to about 1000 characters.
6045 * UTF-8 encoding must be used to specify non-ASCII characters.
6046 * Empty lines are ignored.
6047 * Leading and trailing white space is ignored.
6048 * A hash sign as the first non white space character indicates a
6050 * Control statements are indicated by a leading percent sign, the
6051 arguments are separated by white space from the keyword.
6052 * Parameters are specified by a keyword, followed by a colon.
6053 Arguments are separated by white space.
6054 * The first parameter must be 'Key-Type'; control statements may be
6056 * The order of the parameters does not matter except for 'Key-Type'
6057 which must be the first parameter. The parameters are only used
6058 for the generated keyblock (primary and subkeys); parameters from
6059 previous sets are not used. Some syntactically checks may be
6061 * Key generation takes place when either the end of the parameter
6062 file is reached, the next 'Key-Type' parameter is encountered or at
6063 the control statement '%commit' is encountered.
6068 Print TEXT as diagnostic.
6071 Suppress actual key generation (useful for syntax checking).
6074 Perform the key generation. Note that an implicit commit is done
6075 at the next Key-Type parameter.
6078 Do not write the key to the default or commandline given keyring
6079 but to FILENAME. This must be given before the first commit to
6080 take place, duplicate specification of the same filename is
6081 ignored, the last filename before a commit is used. The filename
6082 is used until a new filename is used (at commit points) and all
6083 keys are written to that file. If a new filename is given, this
6084 file is created (and overwrites an existing one).
6086 See the previous subsection "Ephemeral home directories" for a more
6087 robust way to contain side-effects.
6090 This option is a no-op for GnuPG 2.1 and later.
6092 See the previous subsection "Ephemeral home directories".
6096 This option is a no-op for GnuPG 2.1 and later.
6099 Using this option allows the creation of keys without any
6100 passphrase protection. This option is mainly intended for
6104 If given the keys are created using a faster and a somewhat less
6105 secure random number generator. This option may be used for keys
6106 which are only used for a short time and do not require full
6107 cryptographic strength. It takes only effect if used together with
6108 the control statement '%no-protection'.
6113 Starts a new parameter block by giving the type of the primary key.
6114 The algorithm must be capable of signing. This is a required
6115 parameter. ALGO may either be an OpenPGP algorithm number or a
6116 string with the algorithm name. The special value 'default' may be
6117 used for ALGO to create the default key type; in this case a
6118 'Key-Usage' shall not be given and 'default' also be used for
6122 The requested length of the generated key in bits. The default is
6123 returned by running the command 'gpg --gpgconf-list'. For ECC keys
6124 this parameter is ignored.
6127 The requested elliptic curve of the generated key. This is a
6128 required parameter for ECC keys. It is ignored for non-ECC keys.
6131 This is optional and used to generate a CSR or certificate for an
6132 already existing key. Key-Length will be ignored when given.
6134 Key-Usage: USAGE-LIST
6135 Space or comma delimited list of key usages. Allowed values are
6136 'encrypt', 'sign', and 'auth'. This is used to generate the key
6137 flags. Please make sure that the algorithm is capable of this
6138 usage. Note that OpenPGP requires that all primary keys are
6139 capable of certification, so no matter what usage is given here,
6140 the 'cert' flag will be on. If no 'Key-Usage' is specified and the
6141 'Key-Type' is not 'default', all allowed usages for that particular
6142 algorithm are used; if it is not given but 'default' is used the
6143 usage will be 'sign'.
6146 This generates a secondary key (subkey). Currently only one subkey
6147 can be handled. See also 'Key-Type' above.
6149 Subkey-Length: NBITS
6150 Length of the secondary key (subkey) in bits. The default is
6151 returned by running the command 'gpg --gpgconf-list'.
6154 Key curve for a subkey; similar to 'Key-Curve'.
6156 Subkey-Usage: USAGE-LIST
6157 Key usage lists for a subkey; similar to 'Key-Usage'.
6160 If you want to specify a passphrase for the secret key, enter it
6161 here. Default is to use the Pinentry dialog to ask for a
6165 Name-Comment: COMMENT
6167 The three parts of a user name. Remember to use UTF-8 encoding
6168 here. If you don't give any of them, no user ID is created.
6170 Expire-Date: ISO-DATE|(NUMBER[d|w|m|y])
6171 Set the expiration date for the key (and the subkey). It may
6172 either be entered in ISO date format (e.g. "20000815T145012") or
6173 as number of days, weeks, month or years after the creation date.
6174 The special notation "seconds=N" is also allowed to specify a
6175 number of seconds since creation. Without a letter days are
6176 assumed. Note that there is no check done on the overflow of the
6177 type used by OpenPGP for timestamps. Thus you better make sure
6178 that the given value make sense. Although OpenPGP works with time
6179 intervals, GnuPG uses an absolute value internally and thus the
6180 last year we can represent is 2105.
6182 Creation-Date: ISO-DATE
6183 Set the creation date of the key as stored in the key information
6184 and which is also part of the fingerprint calculation. Either a
6185 date like "1986-04-26" or a full timestamp like "19860426T042640"
6186 may be used. The time is considered to be UTC. The special
6187 notation "seconds=N" may be used to directly specify a the number
6188 of seconds since Epoch (Unix time). If it is not given the current
6192 Set the cipher, hash, and compression preference values for this
6193 key. This expects the same type of string as the sub-command
6194 'setpref' in the '--edit-key' menu.
6196 Revoker: ALGO:FPR [sensitive]
6197 Add a designated revoker to the generated key. Algo is the public
6198 key algorithm of the designated revoker (i.e. RSA=1, DSA=17, etc.)
6199 FPR is the fingerprint of the designated revoker. The optional
6200 'sensitive' flag marks the designated revoker as sensitive
6201 information. Only v4 keys may be designated revokers.
6204 This is an optional parameter that specifies the preferred
6205 keyserver URL for the key.
6208 This is an optional parameter only used with the status lines
6209 KEY_CREATED and KEY_NOT_CREATED. STRING may be up to 100 characters
6210 and should not contain spaces. It is useful for batch key
6211 generation to associate a key parameter block with a status line.
6213 Here is an example on how to create a key in an ephemeral home
6215 $ export GNUPGHOME="$(mktemp -d)"
6217 %echo Generating a basic OpenPGP key
6222 Name-Real: Joe Tester
6223 Name-Comment: with stupid passphrase
6224 Name-Email: joe@foo.bar
6227 # Do a commit here, so that we can later print "done" :-)
6231 $ gpg --batch --generate-key foo
6233 $ gpg --list-secret-keys
6234 /tmp/tmp.0NQxB74PEf/pubring.kbx
6235 -------------------------------
6236 sec dsa1024 2016-12-16 [SCA]
6237 768E895903FC1C44045C8CB95EEBDB71E9E849D0
6238 uid [ultimate] Joe Tester (with stupid passphrase) <joe@foo.bar>
6239 ssb elg1024 2016-12-16 [E]
6241 If you want to create a key with the default algorithms you would use
6243 %echo Generating a default key
6245 Subkey-Type: default
6246 Name-Real: Joe Tester
6247 Name-Comment: with stupid passphrase
6248 Name-Email: joe@foo.bar
6251 # Do a commit here, so that we can later print "done" :-)
6256 File: gnupg.info, Node: Invoking GPGSM, Next: Invoking SCDAEMON, Prev: Invoking GPG, Up: Top
6261 'gpgsm' is a tool similar to 'gpg' to provide digital encryption and
6262 signing services on X.509 certificates and the CMS protocol. It is
6263 mainly used as a backend for S/MIME mail processing. 'gpgsm' includes a
6264 full featured certificate management and complies with all rules defined
6265 for the German Sphinx project.
6267 *Note Option Index::, for an index to 'GPGSM''s commands and options.
6271 * GPGSM Commands:: List of all commands.
6272 * GPGSM Options:: List of all options.
6273 * GPGSM Configuration:: Configuration files.
6274 * GPGSM Examples:: Some usage examples.
6276 Developer information:
6277 * Unattended Usage:: Using 'gpgsm' from other programs.
6278 * GPGSM Protocol:: The protocol the server mode uses.
6281 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Commands, Next: GPGSM Options, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6286 Commands are not distinguished from options except for the fact that
6287 only one command is allowed.
6291 * General GPGSM Commands:: Commands not specific to the functionality.
6292 * Operational GPGSM Commands:: Commands to select the type of operation.
6293 * Certificate Management:: How to manage certificates.
6296 File: gnupg.info, Node: General GPGSM Commands, Next: Operational GPGSM Commands, Up: GPGSM Commands
6298 5.1.1 Commands not specific to the function
6299 -------------------------------------------
6302 Print the program version and licensing information. Note that you
6303 cannot abbreviate this command.
6306 Print a usage message summarizing the most useful command-line
6307 options. Note that you cannot abbreviate this command.
6310 Print warranty information. Note that you cannot abbreviate this
6314 Print a list of all available options and commands. Note that you
6315 cannot abbreviate this command.
6318 File: gnupg.info, Node: Operational GPGSM Commands, Next: Certificate Management, Prev: General GPGSM Commands, Up: GPGSM Commands
6320 5.1.2 Commands to select the type of operation
6321 ----------------------------------------------
6324 Perform an encryption. The keys the data is encrypted to must be
6325 set using the option '--recipient'.
6328 Perform a decryption; the type of input is automatically
6329 determined. It may either be in binary form or PEM encoded;
6330 automatic determination of base-64 encoding is not done.
6333 Create a digital signature. The key used is either the fist one
6334 found in the keybox or those set with the '--local-user' option.
6337 Check a signature file for validity. Depending on the arguments a
6338 detached signature may also be checked.
6341 Run in server mode and wait for commands on the 'stdin'.
6343 '--call-dirmngr COMMAND [ARGS]'
6344 Behave as a Dirmngr client issuing the request COMMAND with the
6345 optional list of ARGS. The output of the Dirmngr is printed
6346 stdout. Please note that file names given as arguments should have
6347 an absolute file name (i.e. commencing with '/') because they are
6348 passed verbatim to the Dirmngr and the working directory of the
6349 Dirmngr might not be the same as the one of this client. Currently
6350 it is not possible to pass data via stdin to the Dirmngr. COMMAND
6351 should not contain spaces.
6353 This is command is required for certain maintaining tasks of the
6354 dirmngr where a dirmngr must be able to call back to 'gpgsm'. See
6355 the Dirmngr manual for details.
6357 '--call-protect-tool ARGUMENTS'
6358 Certain maintenance operations are done by an external program call
6359 'gpg-protect-tool'; this is usually not installed in a directory
6360 listed in the PATH variable. This command provides a simple
6361 wrapper to access this tool. ARGUMENTS are passed verbatim to this
6362 command; use '--help' to get a list of supported operations.
6365 File: gnupg.info, Node: Certificate Management, Prev: Operational GPGSM Commands, Up: GPGSM Commands
6367 5.1.3 How to manage the certificates and keys
6368 ---------------------------------------------
6372 This command allows the creation of a certificate signing request
6373 or a self-signed certificate. It is commonly used along with the
6374 '--output' option to save the created CSR or certificate into a
6375 file. If used with the '--batch' a parameter file is used to
6376 create the CSR or certificate and it is further possible to create
6377 non-self-signed certificates.
6381 List all available certificates stored in the local key database.
6382 Note that the displayed data might be reformatted for better human
6383 readability and illegal characters are replaced by safe
6386 '--list-secret-keys'
6388 List all available certificates for which a corresponding a secret
6391 '--list-external-keys PATTERN'
6392 List certificates matching PATTERN using an external server. This
6393 utilizes the 'dirmngr' service.
6396 Same as '--list-keys' but also prints all keys making up the chain.
6400 List all available certificates stored in the local key database
6401 using a format useful mainly for debugging.
6404 Same as '--dump-keys' but also prints all keys making up the chain.
6406 '--dump-secret-keys'
6407 List all available certificates for which a corresponding a secret
6408 key is available using a format useful mainly for debugging.
6410 '--dump-external-keys PATTERN'
6411 List certificates matching PATTERN using an external server. This
6412 utilizes the 'dirmngr' service. It uses a format useful mainly for
6415 '--show-certs [FILES]'
6416 This command takes certificate files as input and prints
6417 information about them in the same format as '--dump-cert' does.
6418 Each file may either contain a single binary certificate or several
6419 PEM encoded certificates. If no files are given, the input is
6422 Please note that the listing format may be changed in future
6423 releases and that the option '--with-colons' has currently no
6426 '--keydb-clear-some-cert-flags'
6427 This is a debugging aid to reset certain flags in the key database
6428 which are used to cache certain certificate statuses. It is
6429 especially useful if a bad CRL or a weird running OCSP responder
6430 did accidentally revoke certificate. There is no security issue
6431 with this command because 'gpgsm' always make sure that the
6432 validity of a certificate is checked right before it is used.
6434 '--delete-keys PATTERN'
6435 Delete the keys matching PATTERN. Note that there is no command to
6436 delete the secret part of the key directly. In case you need to do
6437 this, you should run the command 'gpgsm --dump-secret-keys KEYID'
6438 before you delete the key, copy the string of hex-digits in the
6439 "keygrip" line and delete the file consisting of these hex-digits
6440 and the suffix '.key' from the 'private-keys-v1.d' directory below
6441 our GnuPG home directory (usually '~/.gnupg').
6443 '--export [PATTERN]'
6444 Export all certificates stored in the Keybox or those specified by
6445 the optional PATTERN. Those pattern consist of a list of user ids
6446 (*note how-to-specify-a-user-id::). When used along with the
6447 '--armor' option a few informational lines are prepended before
6448 each block. There is one limitation: As there is no commonly
6449 agreed upon way to pack more than one certificate into an ASN.1
6450 structure, the binary export (i.e. without using 'armor') works
6451 only for the export of one certificate. Thus it is required to
6452 specify a PATTERN which yields exactly one certificate. Ephemeral
6453 certificate are only exported if all PATTERN are given as
6454 fingerprints or keygrips.
6456 '--export-secret-key-p12 KEY-ID'
6457 Export the private key and the certificate identified by KEY-ID
6458 using the PKCS#12 format. When used with the '--armor' option a
6459 few informational lines are prepended to the output. Note, that
6460 the PKCS#12 format is not very secure and proper transport security
6461 should be used to convey the exported key. (*Note option
6464 '--export-secret-key-p8 KEY-ID'
6465 '--export-secret-key-raw KEY-ID'
6466 Export the private key of the certificate identified by KEY-ID with
6467 any encryption stripped. The '...-raw' command exports in PKCS#1
6468 format; the '...-p8' command exports in PKCS#8 format. When used
6469 with the '--armor' option a few informational lines are prepended
6470 to the output. These commands are useful to prepare a key for use
6474 Import the certificates from the PEM or binary encoded files as
6475 well as from signed-only messages. This command may also be used
6476 to import a secret key from a PKCS#12 file.
6479 Read information about the private keys from the smartcard and
6480 import the certificates from there. This command utilizes the
6481 'gpg-agent' and in turn the 'scdaemon'.
6483 '--change-passphrase USER_ID'
6485 Change the passphrase of the private key belonging to the
6486 certificate specified as USER_ID. Note, that changing the
6487 passphrase/PIN of a smartcard is not yet supported.
6490 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Options, Next: GPGSM Configuration, Prev: GPGSM Commands, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6495 'GPGSM' features a bunch of options to control the exact behaviour and
6496 to change the default configuration.
6500 * Configuration Options:: How to change the configuration.
6501 * Certificate Options:: Certificate related options.
6502 * Input and Output:: Input and Output.
6503 * CMS Options:: How to change how the CMS is created.
6504 * Esoteric Options:: Doing things one usually do not want to do.
6507 File: gnupg.info, Node: Configuration Options, Next: Certificate Options, Up: GPGSM Options
6509 5.2.1 How to change the configuration
6510 -------------------------------------
6512 These options are used to change the configuration and are usually found
6516 Reads configuration from FILE instead of from the default per-user
6517 configuration file. The default configuration file is named
6518 'gpgsm.conf' and expected in the '.gnupg' directory directly below
6519 the home directory of the user.
6522 Set the name of the home directory to DIR. If this option is not
6523 used, the home directory defaults to '~/.gnupg'. It is only
6524 recognized when given on the command line. It also overrides any
6525 home directory stated through the environment variable 'GNUPGHOME'
6526 or (on Windows systems) by means of the Registry entry
6527 HKCU\SOFTWARE\GNU\GNUPG:HOMEDIR.
6529 On Windows systems it is possible to install GnuPG as a portable
6530 application. In this case only this command line option is
6531 considered, all other ways to set a home directory are ignored.
6533 To install GnuPG as a portable application under Windows, create an
6534 empty file named 'gpgconf.ctl' in the same directory as the tool
6535 'gpgconf.exe'. The root of the installation is then that
6536 directory; or, if 'gpgconf.exe' has been installed directly below a
6537 directory named 'bin', its parent directory. You also need to make
6538 sure that the following directories exist and are writable:
6539 'ROOT/home' for the GnuPG home and 'ROOT/usr/local/var/cache/gnupg'
6540 for internal cache files.
6544 Outputs additional information while running. You can increase the
6545 verbosity by giving several verbose commands to 'gpgsm', such as
6548 '--ldapserver STRING'
6549 '--keyserver STRING'
6550 Add an LDAP server to use for X.509 certificate and CRL lookup.
6551 This option can be given multiple times to configure more than one
6552 LDAP server. Note that in general 'dirmngr' should be configured
6553 with the list of LDAP servers; if this option is also configured
6554 here, it is used in addition to those configured in dirmngr. For
6555 the syntax see the description of dirmngr's ldapserver option.
6557 '--policy-file FILENAME'
6558 Change the default name of the policy file to FILENAME. The
6559 default name is 'policies.txt'.
6561 '--agent-program FILE'
6562 Specify an agent program to be used for secret key operations. The
6563 default value is determined by running the command 'gpgconf'. Note
6564 that the pipe symbol ('|') is used for a regression test suite hack
6565 and may thus not be used in the file name.
6567 '--dirmngr-program FILE'
6568 Specify a dirmngr program to be used for CRL checks. The default
6569 value is '/usr/local/bin/dirmngr'.
6571 '--prefer-system-dirmngr'
6572 This option is obsolete and ignored.
6575 Entirely disable the use of the Dirmngr.
6578 Do not start the gpg-agent or the dirmngr if it has not yet been
6579 started and its service is required. This option is mostly useful
6580 on machines where the connection to gpg-agent has been redirected
6581 to another machines. If dirmngr is required on the remote machine,
6582 it may be started manually using 'gpgconf --launch dirmngr'.
6584 '--no-secmem-warning'
6585 Do not print a warning when the so called "secure memory" cannot be
6589 When running in server mode, append all logging output to FILE.
6590 Use 'socket://' to log to socket.
6593 File: gnupg.info, Node: Certificate Options, Next: Input and Output, Prev: Configuration Options, Up: GPGSM Options
6595 5.2.2 Certificate related options
6596 ---------------------------------
6598 '--enable-policy-checks'
6599 '--disable-policy-checks'
6600 By default policy checks are enabled. These options may be used to
6603 '--enable-crl-checks'
6604 '--disable-crl-checks'
6605 By default the CRL checks are enabled and the DirMngr is used to
6606 check for revoked certificates. The disable option is most useful
6607 with an off-line network connection to suppress this check and also
6608 to avoid that new certificates introduce a web bug by including a
6609 certificate specific CRL DP. The disable option also disables an
6610 issuer certificate lookup via the authorityInfoAccess property of
6611 the certificate; the '--enable-issuer-key-retrieve' can be used to
6612 make use of that property anyway.
6614 '--enable-trusted-cert-crl-check'
6615 '--disable-trusted-cert-crl-check'
6616 By default the CRL for trusted root certificates are checked like
6617 for any other certificates. This allows a CA to revoke its own
6618 certificates voluntary without the need of putting all ever issued
6619 certificates into a CRL. The disable option may be used to switch
6620 this extra check off. Due to the caching done by the Dirmngr,
6621 there will not be any noticeable performance gain. Note, that this
6622 also disables possible OCSP checks for trusted root certificates.
6623 A more specific way of disabling this check is by adding the
6624 "relax" keyword to the root CA line of the 'trustlist.txt'
6626 '--force-crl-refresh'
6627 Tell the dirmngr to reload the CRL for each request. For better
6628 performance, the dirmngr will actually optimize this by suppressing
6629 the loading for short time intervals (e.g. 30 minutes). This
6630 option is useful to make sure that a fresh CRL is available for
6631 certificates hold in the keybox. The suggested way of doing this
6632 is by using it along with the option '--with-validation' for a key
6633 listing command. This option should not be used in a configuration
6636 '--enable-issuer-based-crl-check'
6637 Run a CRL check even for certificates which do not have any CRL
6638 distribution point. This requires that a suitable LDAP server has
6639 been configured in Dirmngr and that the CRL can be found using the
6640 issuer. This option reverts to what GnuPG did up to version
6641 2.2.20. This option is in general not useful.
6645 By default OCSP checks are disabled. The enable option may be used
6646 to enable OCSP checks via Dirmngr. If CRL checks are also enabled,
6647 CRLs will be used as a fallback if for some reason an OCSP request
6648 will not succeed. Note, that you have to allow OCSP requests in
6649 Dirmngr's configuration too (option '--allow-ocsp') and configure
6650 Dirmngr properly. If you do not do so you will get the error code
6653 '--auto-issuer-key-retrieve'
6654 If a required certificate is missing while validating the chain of
6655 certificates, try to load that certificate from an external
6656 location. This usually means that Dirmngr is employed to search
6657 for the certificate. Note that this option makes a "web bug" like
6658 behavior possible. LDAP server operators can see which keys you
6659 request, so by sending you a message signed by a brand new key
6660 (which you naturally will not have on your local keybox), the
6661 operator can tell both your IP address and the time when you
6662 verified the signature.
6664 '--validation-model NAME'
6665 This option changes the default validation model. The only
6666 possible values are "shell" (which is the default), "chain" which
6667 forces the use of the chain model and "steed" for a new simplified
6668 model. The chain model is also used if an option in the
6669 'trustlist.txt' or an attribute of the certificate requests it.
6670 However the standard model (shell) is in that case always tried
6673 '--ignore-cert-extension OID'
6674 Add OID to the list of ignored certificate extensions. The OID is
6675 expected to be in dotted decimal form, like '2.5.29.3'. This
6676 option may be used more than once. Critical flagged certificate
6677 extensions matching one of the OIDs in the list are treated as if
6678 they are actually handled and thus the certificate will not be
6679 rejected due to an unknown critical extension. Use this option
6680 with care because extensions are usually flagged as critical for a
6684 File: gnupg.info, Node: Input and Output, Next: CMS Options, Prev: Certificate Options, Up: GPGSM Options
6686 5.2.3 Input and Output
6687 ----------------------
6691 Create PEM encoded output. Default is binary output.
6694 Create Base-64 encoded output; i.e. PEM without the header lines.
6697 Assume the input data is PEM encoded. Default is to autodetect the
6698 encoding but this is may fail.
6701 Assume the input data is plain base-64 encoded.
6704 Assume the input data is binary encoded.
6706 '--p12-charset NAME'
6707 'gpgsm' uses the UTF-8 encoding when encoding passphrases for
6708 PKCS#12 files. This option may be used to force the passphrase to
6709 be encoded in the specified encoding NAME. This is useful if the
6710 application used to import the key uses a different encoding and
6711 thus will not be able to import a file generated by 'gpgsm'.
6712 Commonly used values for NAME are 'Latin1' and 'CP850'. Note that
6713 'gpgsm' itself automagically imports any file with a passphrase
6714 encoded to the most commonly used encodings.
6716 '--default-key USER_ID'
6717 Use USER_ID as the standard key for signing. This key is used if
6718 no other key has been defined as a signing key. Note, that the
6719 first '--local-users' option also sets this key if it has not yet
6720 been set; however '--default-key' always overrides this.
6722 '--local-user USER_ID'
6724 Set the user(s) to be used for signing. The default is the first
6725 secret key found in the database.
6729 Encrypt to the user id NAME. There are several ways a user id may
6730 be given (*note how-to-specify-a-user-id::).
6734 Write output to FILE. The default is to write it to stdout.
6737 Displays extra information with the '--list-keys' commands.
6738 Especially a line tagged 'grp' is printed which tells you the
6739 keygrip of a key. This string is for example used as the file name
6740 of the secret key. Implies '--with-colons'.
6743 When doing a key listing, do a full validation check for each key
6744 and print the result. This is usually a slow operation because it
6745 requires a CRL lookup and other operations.
6747 When used along with '--import', a validation of the certificate to
6748 import is done and only imported if it succeeds the test. Note
6749 that this does not affect an already available certificate in the
6750 DB. This option is therefore useful to simply verify a certificate.
6752 '--with-md5-fingerprint'
6753 For standard key listings, also print the MD5 fingerprint of the
6757 Include the keygrip in standard key listings. Note that the
6758 keygrip is always listed in '--with-colons' mode.
6761 Include info about the presence of a secret key in public key
6762 listings done with '--with-colons'.
6765 File: gnupg.info, Node: CMS Options, Next: Esoteric Options, Prev: Input and Output, Up: GPGSM Options
6767 5.2.4 How to change how the CMS is created
6768 ------------------------------------------
6771 Using N of -2 includes all certificate except for the root cert, -1
6772 includes all certs, 0 does not include any certs, 1 includes only
6773 the signers cert and all other positive values include up to N
6774 certificates starting with the signer cert. The default is -2.
6777 Use the cipher algorithm with the ASN.1 object identifier OID for
6778 encryption. For convenience the strings '3DES', 'AES' and 'AES256'
6779 may be used instead of their OIDs. The default is 'AES'
6780 (2.16.840.1.101.3.4.1.2).
6782 '--digest-algo name'
6783 Use 'name' as the message digest algorithm. Usually this algorithm
6784 is deduced from the respective signing certificate. This option
6785 forces the use of the given algorithm and may lead to severe
6786 interoperability problems.
6789 File: gnupg.info, Node: Esoteric Options, Prev: CMS Options, Up: GPGSM Options
6791 5.2.5 Doing things one usually do not want to do
6792 ------------------------------------------------
6795 Change the current user to UID which may either be a number or a
6796 name. This can be used from the root account to run gpgsm for
6797 another user. If UID is not the current UID a standard PATH is set
6798 and the envvar GNUPGHOME is unset. To override the latter the
6799 option '--homedir' can be used. This option has only an effect
6800 when used on the command line. This option has currently no effect
6803 '--extra-digest-algo NAME'
6804 Sometimes signatures are broken in that they announce a different
6805 digest algorithm than actually used. 'gpgsm' uses a one-pass data
6806 processing model and thus needs to rely on the announced digest
6807 algorithms to properly hash the data. As a workaround this option
6808 may be used to tell 'gpgsm' to also hash the data using the
6809 algorithm NAME; this slows processing down a little bit but allows
6810 verification of such broken signatures. If 'gpgsm' prints an error
6811 like "digest algo 8 has not been enabled" you may want to try this
6812 option, with 'SHA256' for NAME.
6814 '--faked-system-time EPOCH'
6815 This option is only useful for testing; it sets the system time
6816 back or forth to EPOCH which is the number of seconds elapsed since
6817 the year 1970. Alternatively EPOCH may be given as a full ISO time
6818 string (e.g. "20070924T154812").
6820 '--with-ephemeral-keys'
6821 Include ephemeral flagged keys in the output of key listings. Note
6822 that they are included anyway if the key specification for a
6823 listing is given as fingerprint or keygrip.
6825 '--debug-level LEVEL'
6826 Select the debug level for investigating problems. LEVEL may be a
6827 numeric value or by a keyword:
6830 No debugging at all. A value of less than 1 may be used
6831 instead of the keyword.
6833 Some basic debug messages. A value between 1 and 2 may be
6834 used instead of the keyword.
6836 More verbose debug messages. A value between 3 and 5 may be
6837 used instead of the keyword.
6839 Even more detailed messages. A value between 6 and 8 may be
6840 used instead of the keyword.
6842 All of the debug messages you can get. A value greater than 8
6843 may be used instead of the keyword. The creation of hash
6844 tracing files is only enabled if the keyword is used.
6846 How these messages are mapped to the actual debugging flags is not
6847 specified and may change with newer releases of this program. They
6848 are however carefully selected to best aid in debugging.
6851 Set debug flags. All flags are or-ed and FLAGS may be given in C
6852 syntax (e.g. 0x0042) or as a comma separated list of flag names.
6853 To get a list of all supported flags the single word "help" can be
6854 used. This option is only useful for debugging and the behavior
6855 may change at any time without notice.
6857 Note, that all flags set using this option may get overridden by
6861 Same as '--debug=0xffffffff'
6863 '--debug-allow-core-dump'
6864 Usually 'gpgsm' tries to avoid dumping core by well written code
6865 and by disabling core dumps for security reasons. However, bugs
6866 are pretty durable beasts and to squash them it is sometimes useful
6867 to have a core dump. This option enables core dumps unless the Bad
6868 Thing happened before the option parsing.
6870 '--debug-no-chain-validation'
6871 This is actually not a debugging option but only useful as such.
6872 It lets 'gpgsm' bypass all certificate chain validation checks.
6874 '--debug-ignore-expiration'
6875 This is actually not a debugging option but only useful as such.
6876 It lets 'gpgsm' ignore all notAfter dates, this is used by the
6880 Read the passphrase from file descriptor 'n'. Only the first line
6881 will be read from file descriptor 'n'. If you use 0 for 'n', the
6882 passphrase will be read from STDIN. This can only be used if only
6883 one passphrase is supplied.
6885 Note that this passphrase is only used if the option '--batch' has
6888 '--pinentry-mode mode'
6889 Set the pinentry mode to 'mode'. Allowed values for 'mode' are:
6891 Use the default of the agent, which is 'ask'.
6893 Force the use of the Pinentry.
6895 Emulate use of Pinentry's cancel button.
6897 Return a Pinentry error ("No Pinentry").
6899 Redirect Pinentry queries to the caller. Note that in
6900 contrast to Pinentry the user is not prompted again if he
6901 enters a bad password.
6903 '--request-origin ORIGIN'
6904 Tell gpgsm to assume that the operation ultimately originated at
6905 ORIGIN. Depending on the origin certain restrictions are applied
6906 and the Pinentry may include an extra note on the origin.
6907 Supported values for ORIGIN are: 'local' which is the default,
6908 'remote' to indicate a remote origin or 'browser' for an operation
6909 requested by a web browser.
6911 '--no-common-certs-import'
6912 Suppress the import of common certificates on keybox creation.
6914 All the long options may also be given in the configuration file
6915 after stripping off the two leading dashes.
6918 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Configuration, Next: GPGSM Examples, Prev: GPGSM Options, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6920 5.3 Configuration files
6921 =======================
6923 There are a few configuration files to control certain aspects of
6924 'gpgsm''s operation. Unless noted, they are expected in the current
6925 home directory (*note option --homedir::).
6928 This is the standard configuration file read by 'gpgsm' on startup.
6929 It may contain any valid long option; the leading two dashes may
6930 not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated. This default
6931 name may be changed on the command line (*note gpgsm-option
6932 --options::). You should backup this file.
6935 This is an optional configuration file read by 'gpgsm' on startup.
6936 It may contain options pertaining to all components of GnuPG. Its
6937 current main use is for the "use-keyboxd" option.
6940 This is a list of allowed CA policies. This file should list the
6941 object identifiers of the policies line by line. Empty lines and
6942 lines starting with a hash mark are ignored. Policies missing in
6943 this file and not marked as critical in the certificate will print
6944 only a warning; certificates with policies marked as critical and
6945 not listed in this file will fail the signature verification. You
6946 should backup this file.
6948 For example, to allow only the policy 2.289.9.9, the file should
6955 This is the list of root certificates used for qualified
6956 certificates. They are defined as certificates capable of creating
6957 legally binding signatures in the same way as handwritten
6958 signatures are. Comments start with a hash mark and empty lines
6959 are ignored. Lines do have a length limit but this is not a
6960 serious limitation as the format of the entries is fixed and
6961 checked by 'gpgsm': A non-comment line starts with optional
6962 whitespace, followed by exactly 40 hex characters, white space and
6963 a lowercased 2 letter country code. Additional data delimited with
6964 by a white space is current ignored but might late be used for
6967 Note that even if a certificate is listed in this file, this does
6968 not mean that the certificate is trusted; in general the
6969 certificates listed in this file need to be listed also in
6970 'trustlist.txt'. This is a global file an installed in the sysconf
6971 directory (e.g. '/etc/gnupg/qualified.txt').
6973 Every time 'gpgsm' uses a certificate for signing or verification
6974 this file will be consulted to check whether the certificate under
6975 question has ultimately been issued by one of these CAs. If this
6976 is the case the user will be informed that the verified signature
6977 represents a legally binding ("qualified") signature. When
6978 creating a signature using such a certificate an extra prompt will
6979 be issued to let the user confirm that such a legally binding
6980 signature shall really be created.
6982 Because this software has not yet been approved for use with such
6983 certificates, appropriate notices will be shown to indicate this
6987 This is plain text file with a few help entries used with
6988 'pinentry' as well as a large list of help items for 'gpg' and
6989 'gpgsm'. The standard file has English help texts; to install
6990 localized versions use filenames like 'help.LL.txt' with LL
6991 denoting the locale. GnuPG comes with a set of predefined help
6992 files in the data directory (e.g.
6993 '/usr/local/share/gnupg/gnupg/help.de.txt') and allows overriding
6994 of any help item by help files stored in the system configuration
6995 directory (e.g. '/etc/gnupg/help.de.txt'). For a reference of the
6996 help file's syntax, please see the installed 'help.txt' file.
6999 This file is a collection of common certificates used to populated
7000 a newly created 'pubring.kbx'. An administrator may replace this
7001 file with a custom one. The format is a concatenation of PEM
7002 encoded X.509 certificates. This global file is installed in the
7003 data directory (e.g. '/usr/local/share/gnupg/com-certs.pem').
7005 Note that on larger installations, it is useful to put predefined
7006 files into the directory '/etc/skel/.gnupg/' so that newly created users
7007 start up with a working configuration. For existing users a small
7008 helper script is provided to create these files (*note addgnupghome::).
7010 For internal purposes 'gpgsm' creates and maintains a few other
7011 files; they all live in the current home directory (*note option
7012 --homedir::). Only 'gpgsm' may modify these files.
7015 This a database file storing the certificates as well as meta
7016 information. For debugging purposes the tool 'kbxutil' may be used
7017 to show the internal structure of this file. You should backup
7021 This content of this file is used to maintain the internal state of
7022 the random number generator across invocations. The same file is
7023 used by other programs of this software too.
7026 If this file exists 'gpgsm' will first try to connect to this
7027 socket for accessing 'gpg-agent' before starting a new 'gpg-agent'
7028 instance. Under Windows this socket (which in reality be a plain
7029 file describing a regular TCP listening port) is the standard way
7030 of connecting the 'gpg-agent'.
projects / platform / upstream / gpg2.git / blob