1 This is gnupg.info, produced by makeinfo version 6.5 from gnupg.texi.
3 This is the 'The GNU Privacy Guard Manual' (version 2.2.31-beta7,
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 2.2.31-beta7,
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 * Helper Tools:: Description of small helper tools
59 * Web Key Service:: Tools for the Web Key Service
61 * Howtos:: How to do certain things.
62 * System Notes:: Notes pertaining to certain OSes.
63 * Debugging:: How to solve problems
65 * Copying:: GNU General Public License says
66 how you can copy and share GnuPG
67 * Contributors:: People who have contributed to GnuPG.
69 * Glossary:: Short description of terms used.
70 * Option Index:: Index to command line options.
71 * Environment Index:: Index to environment variables and files.
72 * Index:: Index of concepts and symbol names.
75 File: gnupg.info, Node: Installation, Next: Invoking GPG-AGENT, Prev: Top, Up: Top
77 1 A short installation guide
78 ****************************
80 Unfortunately the installation guide has not been finished in time.
81 Instead of delaying the release of GnuPG 2.0 even further, I decided to
82 release without that guide. The chapter on gpg-agent and gpgsm do
83 include brief information on how to set up the whole thing. Please
84 watch the GnuPG website for updates of the documentation. In the
85 meantime you may search the GnuPG mailing list archives or ask on the
86 gnupg-users mailing list for advise on how to solve problems or how to
87 get that whole thing up and running.
89 ** Building the software
91 Building the software is described in the file 'INSTALL'. Given that
92 you are already reading this documentation we can only give some extra
95 To comply with the rules on GNU systems you should have build time
96 configured 'gnupg' using:
98 ./configure --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var
100 This is to make sure that system wide configuration files are
101 searched in the directory '/etc' and variable data below '/var'; the
102 default would be to also install them below '/usr/local' where the
103 binaries get installed. If you selected to use the '--prefix=/' you
104 obviously don't need those option as they are the default then.
106 ** Notes on setting a root CA key to trusted
108 X.509 is based on a hierarchical key infrastructure. At the root of
109 the tree a trusted anchor (root certificate) is required. There are
110 usually no other means of verifying whether this root certificate is
111 trustworthy than looking it up in a list. GnuPG uses a file
112 ('trustlist.txt') to keep track of all root certificates it knows about.
113 There are 3 ways to get certificates into this list:
115 * Use the list which comes with GnuPG. However this list only
116 contains a few root certificates. Most installations will need
119 * Let 'gpgsm' ask you whether you want to insert a new root
120 certificate. This feature is enabled by default; you may disable
121 it using the option 'no-allow-mark-trusted' into 'gpg-agent.conf'.
123 * Manually maintain the list of trusted root certificates. For a
124 multi user installation this can be done once for all users on a
125 machine. Specific changes on a per-user base are also possible.
128 File: gnupg.info, Node: Invoking GPG-AGENT, Next: Invoking DIRMNGR, Prev: Installation, Up: Top
133 'gpg-agent' is a daemon to manage secret (private) keys independently
134 from any protocol. It is used as a backend for 'gpg' and 'gpgsm' as
135 well as for a couple of other utilities.
137 The agent is automatically started on demand by 'gpg', 'gpgsm',
138 'gpgconf', or 'gpg-connect-agent'. Thus there is no reason to start it
139 manually. In case you want to use the included Secure Shell Agent you
140 may start the agent using:
142 gpg-connect-agent /bye
144 If you want to manually terminate the currently-running agent, you can
147 gpgconf --kill gpg-agent
149 You should always add the following lines to your '.bashrc' or whatever
150 initialization file is used for all shell invocations:
155 It is important that this environment variable always reflects the
156 output of the 'tty' command. For W32 systems this option is not
159 Please make sure that a proper pinentry program has been installed
160 under the default filename (which is system dependent) or use the option
161 'pinentry-program' to specify the full name of that program. It is
162 often useful to install a symbolic link from the actual used pinentry
163 (e.g. 'INSTDIR/bin/pinentry-gtk') to the expected one (e.g.
164 'INSTDIR/bin/pinentry').
166 *Note Option Index::, for an index to 'GPG-AGENT''s commands and
171 * Agent Commands:: List of all commands.
172 * Agent Options:: List of all options.
173 * Agent Configuration:: Configuration files.
174 * Agent Signals:: Use of some signals.
175 * Agent Examples:: Some usage examples.
176 * Agent Protocol:: The protocol the agent uses.
179 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent Commands, Next: Agent Options, Up: Invoking GPG-AGENT
184 Commands are not distinguished from options except for the fact that
185 only one command is allowed.
188 Print the program version and licensing information. Note that you
189 cannot abbreviate this command.
193 Print a usage message summarizing the most useful command-line
194 options. Note that you cannot abbreviate this command.
197 Print a list of all available options and commands. Note that you
198 cannot abbreviate this command.
201 Run in server mode and wait for commands on the 'stdin'. The
202 default mode is to create a socket and listen for commands there.
204 '--daemon [COMMAND LINE]'
205 Start the gpg-agent as a daemon; that is, detach it from the
206 console and run it in the background.
208 As an alternative you may create a new process as a child of
209 gpg-agent: 'gpg-agent --daemon /bin/sh'. This way you get a new
210 shell with the environment setup properly; after you exit from this
211 shell, gpg-agent terminates within a few seconds.
214 Run in the foreground, sending logs by default to stderr, and
215 listening on provided file descriptors, which must already be bound
216 to listening sockets. This command is useful when running under
217 systemd or other similar process supervision schemes. This option
218 is not supported on Windows.
220 In -supervised mode, different file descriptors can be provided for
221 use as different socket types (e.g. ssh, extra) as long as they
222 are identified in the environment variable 'LISTEN_FDNAMES' (see
223 sd_listen_fds(3) on some Linux distributions for more information
227 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent Options, Next: Agent Configuration, Prev: Agent Commands, Up: Invoking GPG-AGENT
232 Options may either be used on the command line or, after stripping off
233 the two leading dashes, in the configuration file.
236 Reads configuration from FILE instead of from the default per-user
237 configuration file. The default configuration file is named
238 'gpg-agent.conf' and expected in the '.gnupg' directory directly
239 below the home directory of the user. This option is ignored if
240 used in an options file.
243 Set the name of the home directory to DIR. If this option is not
244 used, the home directory defaults to '~/.gnupg'. It is only
245 recognized when given on the command line. It also overrides any
246 home directory stated through the environment variable 'GNUPGHOME'
247 or (on Windows systems) by means of the Registry entry
248 HKCU\SOFTWARE\GNU\GNUPG:HOMEDIR.
250 On Windows systems it is possible to install GnuPG as a portable
251 application. In this case only this command line option is
252 considered, all other ways to set a home directory are ignored.
254 To install GnuPG as a portable application under Windows, create an
255 empty file named 'gpgconf.ctl' in the same directory as the tool
256 'gpgconf.exe'. The root of the installation is then that
257 directory; or, if 'gpgconf.exe' has been installed directly below a
258 directory named 'bin', its parent directory. You also need to make
259 sure that the following directories exist and are writable:
260 'ROOT/home' for the GnuPG home and 'ROOTAPPDATA/GNU/cache/gnupg'
261 for internal cache files.
265 Outputs additional information while running. You can increase the
266 verbosity by giving several verbose commands to 'gpg-agent', such
271 Try to be as quiet as possible.
274 Don't invoke a pinentry or do any other thing requiring human
277 '--faked-system-time EPOCH'
278 This option is only useful for testing; it sets the system time
279 back or forth to EPOCH which is the number of seconds elapsed since
282 '--debug-level LEVEL'
283 Select the debug level for investigating problems. LEVEL may be a
284 numeric value or a keyword:
287 No debugging at all. A value of less than 1 may be used
288 instead of the keyword.
290 Some basic debug messages. A value between 1 and 2 may be
291 used instead of the keyword.
293 More verbose debug messages. A value between 3 and 5 may be
294 used instead of the keyword.
296 Even more detailed messages. A value between 6 and 8 may be
297 used instead of the keyword.
299 All of the debug messages you can get. A value greater than 8
300 may be used instead of the keyword. The creation of hash
301 tracing files is only enabled if the keyword is used.
303 How these messages are mapped to the actual debugging flags is not
304 specified and may change with newer releases of this program. They
305 are however carefully selected to best aid in debugging.
308 This option is only useful for debugging and the behavior may
309 change at any time without notice. FLAGS are bit encoded and may
310 be given in usual C-Syntax. The currently defined bits are:
313 X.509 or OpenPGP protocol related data
315 values of big number integers
317 low level crypto operations
323 show memory statistics
325 write hashed data to files named 'dbgmd-000*'
327 trace Assuan protocol
329 bypass all certificate validation
332 Same as '--debug=0xffffffff'
335 When running in server mode, wait N seconds before entering the
336 actual processing loop and print the pid. This gives time to
339 '--debug-quick-random'
340 This option inhibits the use of the very secure random quality
341 level (Libgcrypt’s 'GCRY_VERY_STRONG_RANDOM') and degrades all
342 request down to standard random quality. It is only used for
343 testing and should not be used for any production quality keys.
344 This option is only effective when given on the command line.
346 On GNU/Linux, another way to quickly generate insecure keys is to
347 use 'rngd' to fill the kernel's entropy pool with lower quality
348 random data. 'rngd' is typically provided by the 'rng-tools'
349 package. It can be run as follows: 'sudo rngd -f -r /dev/urandom'.
352 This option enables extra debug information pertaining to the
353 Pinentry. As of now it is only useful when used along with
357 Don't detach the process from the console. This is mainly useful
364 Format the info output in daemon mode for use with the standard
365 Bourne shell or the C-shell respectively. The default is to guess
366 it based on the environment variable 'SHELL' which is correct in
371 Tell the pinentry to grab the keyboard and mouse. This option
372 should be used on X-Servers to avoid X-sniffing attacks. Any use
373 of the option '--grab' overrides an used option '--no-grab'. The
374 default is '--no-grab'.
377 Append all logging output to FILE. This is very helpful in seeing
378 what the agent actually does. Use 'socket://' to log to socket.
379 If neither a log file nor a log file descriptor has been set on a
380 Windows platform, the Registry entry
381 'HKCU\Software\GNU\GnuPG:DefaultLogFile', if set, is used to
382 specify the logging output.
384 '--no-allow-mark-trusted'
385 Do not allow clients to mark keys as trusted, i.e. put them into
386 the 'trustlist.txt' file. This makes it harder for users to
387 inadvertently accept Root-CA keys.
389 '--allow-preset-passphrase'
390 This option allows the use of 'gpg-preset-passphrase' to seed the
391 internal cache of 'gpg-agent' with passphrases.
393 '--no-allow-loopback-pinentry'
394 '--allow-loopback-pinentry'
395 Disallow or allow clients to use the loopback pinentry features;
396 see the option 'pinentry-mode' for details. Allow is the default.
398 The '--force' option of the Assuan command 'DELETE_KEY' is also
399 controlled by this option: The option is ignored if a loopback
400 pinentry is disallowed.
402 '--no-allow-external-cache'
403 Tell Pinentry not to enable features which use an external cache
406 Some desktop environments prefer to unlock all credentials with one
407 master password and may have installed a Pinentry which employs an
408 additional external cache to implement such a policy. By using
409 this option the Pinentry is advised not to make use of such a cache
410 and instead always ask the user for the requested passphrase.
412 '--allow-emacs-pinentry'
413 Tell Pinentry to allow features to divert the passphrase entry to a
414 running Emacs instance. How this is exactly handled depends on the
415 version of the used Pinentry.
417 '--ignore-cache-for-signing'
418 This option will let 'gpg-agent' bypass the passphrase cache for
419 all signing operation. Note that there is also a per-session
420 option to control this behavior but this command line option takes
423 '--default-cache-ttl N'
424 Set the time a cache entry is valid to N seconds. The default is
425 600 seconds. Each time a cache entry is accessed, the entry's
426 timer is reset. To set an entry's maximum lifetime, use
427 'max-cache-ttl'. Note that a cached passphrase may not be evicted
428 immediately from memory if no client requests a cache operation.
429 This is due to an internal housekeeping function which is only run
432 '--default-cache-ttl-ssh N'
433 Set the time a cache entry used for SSH keys is valid to N seconds.
434 The default is 1800 seconds. Each time a cache entry is accessed,
435 the entry's timer is reset. To set an entry's maximum lifetime,
436 use 'max-cache-ttl-ssh'.
439 Set the maximum time a cache entry is valid to N seconds. After
440 this time a cache entry will be expired even if it has been
441 accessed recently or has been set using 'gpg-preset-passphrase'.
442 The default is 2 hours (7200 seconds).
444 '--max-cache-ttl-ssh N'
445 Set the maximum time a cache entry used for SSH keys is valid to N
446 seconds. After this time a cache entry will be expired even if it
447 has been accessed recently or has been set using
448 'gpg-preset-passphrase'. The default is 2 hours (7200 seconds).
450 '--enforce-passphrase-constraints'
451 Enforce the passphrase constraints by not allowing the user to
452 bypass them using the "Take it anyway" button.
454 '--min-passphrase-len N'
455 Set the minimal length of a passphrase. When entering a new
456 passphrase shorter than this value a warning will be displayed.
459 '--min-passphrase-nonalpha N'
460 Set the minimal number of digits or special characters required in
461 a passphrase. When entering a new passphrase with less than this
462 number of digits or special characters a warning will be displayed.
465 '--check-passphrase-pattern FILE'
466 '--check-sym-passphrase-pattern FILE'
467 Check the passphrase against the pattern given in FILE. When
468 entering a new passphrase matching one of these pattern a warning
469 will be displayed. If FILE does not contain any slashes and does
470 not start with "~/" it is searched in the system configuration
471 directory ('APPDATA/GNU/etc/gnupg'). The default is not to use any
472 pattern file. The second version of this option is only used when
473 creating a new symmetric key to allow the use of different patterns
474 for such passphrases.
476 Security note: It is known that checking a passphrase against a
477 list of pattern or even against a complete dictionary is not very
478 effective to enforce good passphrases. Users will soon figure up
479 ways to bypass such a policy. A better policy is to educate users
480 on good security behavior and optionally to run a passphrase
481 cracker regularly on all users passphrases to catch the very simple
484 '--max-passphrase-days N'
485 Ask the user to change the passphrase if N days have passed since
486 the last change. With '--enforce-passphrase-constraints' set the
487 user may not bypass this check.
489 '--enable-passphrase-history'
490 This option does nothing yet.
492 '--pinentry-invisible-char CHAR'
493 This option asks the Pinentry to use CHAR for displaying hidden
494 characters. CHAR must be one character UTF-8 string. A Pinentry
495 may or may not honor this request.
497 '--pinentry-timeout N'
498 This option asks the Pinentry to timeout after N seconds with no
499 user input. The default value of 0 does not ask the pinentry to
500 timeout, however a Pinentry may use its own default timeout value
501 in this case. A Pinentry may or may not honor this request.
503 '--pinentry-formatted-passphrase'
504 This option asks the Pinentry to enable passphrase formatting when
505 asking the user for a new passphrase and masking of the passphrase
508 If passphrase formatting is enabled, then all non-breaking space
509 characters are stripped from the entered passphrase. Passphrase
510 formatting is mostly useful in combination with passphrases
511 generated with the GENPIN feature of some Pinentries. Note that
512 such a generated passphrase, if not modified by the user, skips all
513 passphrase constraints checking because such constraints would
514 actually weaken the generated passphrase.
516 '--pinentry-program FILENAME'
517 Use program FILENAME as the PIN entry. The default is installation
518 dependent. With the default configuration the name of the default
519 pinentry is 'pinentry'; if that file does not exist but a
520 'pinentry-basic' exist the latter is used.
522 On a Windows platform the default is to use the first existing
523 program from this list: 'bin\pinentry.exe',
524 '..\Gpg4win\bin\pinentry.exe', '..\Gpg4win\pinentry.exe',
525 '..\GNU\GnuPG\pinentry.exe', '..\GNU\bin\pinentry.exe',
526 'bin\pinentry-basic.exe' where the file names are relative to the
527 GnuPG installation directory.
529 '--pinentry-touch-file FILENAME'
530 By default the filename of the socket gpg-agent is listening for
531 requests is passed to Pinentry, so that it can touch that file
532 before exiting (it does this only in curses mode). This option
533 changes the file passed to Pinentry to FILENAME. The special name
534 '/dev/null' may be used to completely disable this feature. Note
535 that Pinentry will not create that file, it will only change the
536 modification and access time.
538 '--scdaemon-program FILENAME'
539 Use program FILENAME as the Smartcard daemon. The default is
540 installation dependent and can be shown with the 'gpgconf' command.
543 Do not make use of the scdaemon tool. This option has the effect
544 of disabling the ability to do smartcard operations. Note, that
545 enabling this option at runtime does not kill an already forked
548 '--disable-check-own-socket'
549 'gpg-agent' employs a periodic self-test to detect a stolen socket.
550 This usually means a second instance of 'gpg-agent' has taken over
551 the socket and 'gpg-agent' will then terminate itself. This option
552 may be used to disable this self-test for debugging purposes.
554 '--use-standard-socket'
555 '--no-use-standard-socket'
556 '--use-standard-socket-p'
557 Since GnuPG 2.1 the standard socket is always used. These options
558 have no more effect. The command 'gpg-agent
559 --use-standard-socket-p' will thus always return success.
565 '--lc-messages STRING'
566 '--xauthority STRING'
567 These options are used with the server mode to pass localization
572 Ignore requests to change the current 'tty' or X window system's
573 'DISPLAY' variable respectively. This is useful to lock the
574 pinentry to pop up at the 'tty' or display you started the agent.
577 Set the size of the queue for pending connections. The default is
580 '--extra-socket NAME'
581 The extra socket is created by default, you may use this option to
582 change the name of the socket. To disable the creation of the
583 socket use "none" or "/dev/null" for NAME.
585 Also listen on native gpg-agent connections on the given socket.
586 The intended use for this extra socket is to setup a Unix domain
587 socket forwarding from a remote machine to this socket on the local
588 machine. A 'gpg' running on the remote machine may then connect to
589 the local gpg-agent and use its private keys. This enables
590 decrypting or signing data on a remote machine without exposing the
591 private keys to the remote machine.
593 '--enable-extended-key-format'
594 '--disable-extended-key-format'
595 Since version 2.2.22 keys are created in the extended private key
596 format by default. Changing the passphrase of a key will also
597 convert the key to that new format. This key format is supported
598 since GnuPG version 2.1.12 and thus there should be no need to
599 disable it. Anyway, the disable option still allows to revert to
600 the old behavior for new keys; be aware that keys are never
601 migrated back to the old format. If the enable option has been
602 used the disable option won't have an effect. The advantage of the
603 extended private key format is that it is text based and can carry
604 additional meta data. In extended key format the OCB mode is used
607 '--enable-ssh-support'
608 '--enable-putty-support'
610 The OpenSSH Agent protocol is always enabled, but 'gpg-agent' will
611 only set the 'SSH_AUTH_SOCK' variable if this flag is given.
613 In this mode of operation, the agent does not only implement the
614 gpg-agent protocol, but also the agent protocol used by OpenSSH
615 (through a separate socket). Consequently, it should be possible
616 to use the gpg-agent as a drop-in replacement for the well known
619 SSH Keys, which are to be used through the agent, need to be added
620 to the gpg-agent initially through the ssh-add utility. When a key
621 is added, ssh-add will ask for the password of the provided key
622 file and send the unprotected key material to the agent; this
623 causes the gpg-agent to ask for a passphrase, which is to be used
624 for encrypting the newly received key and storing it in a gpg-agent
627 Once a key has been added to the gpg-agent this way, the gpg-agent
628 will be ready to use the key.
630 Note: in case the gpg-agent receives a signature request, the user
631 might need to be prompted for a passphrase, which is necessary for
632 decrypting the stored key. Since the ssh-agent protocol does not
633 contain a mechanism for telling the agent on which display/terminal
634 it is running, gpg-agent's ssh-support will use the TTY or X
635 display where gpg-agent has been started. To switch this display
636 to the current one, the following command may be used:
638 gpg-connect-agent updatestartuptty /bye
640 Although all GnuPG components try to start the gpg-agent as needed,
641 this is not possible for the ssh support because ssh does not know
642 about it. Thus if no GnuPG tool which accesses the agent has been
643 run, there is no guarantee that ssh is able to use gpg-agent for
644 authentication. To fix this you may start gpg-agent if needed
645 using this simple command:
647 gpg-connect-agent /bye
649 Adding the '--verbose' shows the progress of starting the agent.
651 The '--enable-putty-support' is only available under Windows and
652 allows the use of gpg-agent with the ssh implementation 'putty'.
653 This is similar to the regular ssh-agent support but makes use of
654 Windows message queue as required by 'putty'.
656 '--ssh-fingerprint-digest'
658 Select the digest algorithm used to compute ssh fingerprints that
659 are communicated to the user, e.g. in pinentry dialogs. OpenSSH
660 has transitioned from using MD5 to the more secure SHA256.
662 '--auto-expand-secmem N'
663 Allow Libgcrypt to expand its secure memory area as required. The
664 optional value N is a non-negative integer with a suggested size in
665 bytes of each additionally allocated secure memory area. The value
666 is rounded up to the next 32 KiB; usual C style prefixes are
667 allowed. For an heavy loaded gpg-agent with many concurrent
668 connection this option avoids sign or decrypt errors due to out of
669 secure memory error returns.
671 '--s2k-calibration MILLISECONDS'
672 Change the default calibration time to MILLISECONDS. The given
673 value is capped at 60 seconds; a value of 0 resets to the
674 compiled-in default. This option is re-read on a SIGHUP (or
675 'gpgconf --reload gpg-agent') and the S2K count is then
679 Specify the iteration count used to protect the passphrase. This
680 option can be used to override the auto-calibration done by
681 default. The auto-calibration computes a count which requires by
682 default 100ms to mangle a given passphrase. See also
685 To view the actually used iteration count and the milliseconds
686 required for an S2K operation use:
688 gpg-connect-agent 'GETINFO s2k_count' /bye
689 gpg-connect-agent 'GETINFO s2k_time' /bye
691 To view the auto-calibrated count use:
693 gpg-connect-agent 'GETINFO s2k_count_cal' /bye
696 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent Configuration, Next: Agent Signals, Prev: Agent Options, Up: Invoking GPG-AGENT
701 There are a few configuration files needed for the operation of the
702 agent. By default they may all be found in the current home directory
703 (*note option --homedir::).
706 This is the standard configuration file read by 'gpg-agent' on
707 startup. It may contain any valid long option; the leading two
708 dashes may not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated.
709 This file is also read after a 'SIGHUP' however only a few options
710 will actually have an effect. This default name may be changed on
711 the command line (*note option --options::). You should backup
715 This is the list of trusted keys. You should backup this file.
717 Comment lines, indicated by a leading hash mark, as well as empty
718 lines are ignored. To mark a key as trusted you need to enter its
719 fingerprint followed by a space and a capital letter 'S'. Colons
720 may optionally be used to separate the bytes of a fingerprint; this
721 enables cutting and pasting the fingerprint from a key listing
722 output. If the line is prefixed with a '!' the key is explicitly
723 marked as not trusted.
725 Here is an example where two keys are marked as ultimately trusted
726 and one as not trusted:
728 # CN=Wurzel ZS 3,O=Intevation GmbH,C=DE
729 A6935DD34EF3087973C706FC311AA2CCF733765B S
731 # CN=PCA-1-Verwaltung-02/O=PKI-1-Verwaltung/C=DE
732 DC:BD:69:25:48:BD:BB:7E:31:6E:BB:80:D3:00:80:35:D4:F8:A6:CD S
734 # CN=Root-CA/O=Schlapphuete/L=Pullach/C=DE
735 !14:56:98:D3:FE:9C:CA:5A:31:6E:BC:81:D3:11:4E:00:90:A3:44:C2 S
737 Before entering a key into this file, you need to ensure its
738 authenticity. How to do this depends on your organisation; your
739 administrator might have already entered those keys which are
740 deemed trustworthy enough into this file. Places where to look for
741 the fingerprint of a root certificate are letters received from the
742 CA or the website of the CA (after making 100% sure that this is
743 indeed the website of that CA). You may want to consider
744 disallowing interactive updates of this file by using the *note
745 option --no-allow-mark-trusted::. It might even be advisable to
746 change the permissions to read-only so that this file can't be
747 changed inadvertently.
749 As a special feature a line 'include-default' will include a global
750 list of trusted certificates (e.g.
751 'APPDATA/GNU/etc/gnupg/trustlist.txt'). This global list is also
752 used if the local list is not available.
754 It is possible to add further flags after the 'S' for use by the
758 Relax checking of some root certificate requirements. As of
759 now this flag allows the use of root certificates with a
760 missing basicConstraints attribute (despite that it is a MUST
761 for CA certificates) and disables CRL checking for the root
765 If validation of a certificate finally issued by a CA with
766 this flag set fails, try again using the chain validation
770 This file is used when support for the secure shell agent protocol
771 has been enabled (*note option --enable-ssh-support::). Only keys
772 present in this file are used in the SSH protocol. You should
775 The 'ssh-add' tool may be used to add new entries to this file; you
776 may also add them manually. Comment lines, indicated by a leading
777 hash mark, as well as empty lines are ignored. An entry starts
778 with optional whitespace, followed by the keygrip of the key given
779 as 40 hex digits, optionally followed by the caching TTL in seconds
780 and another optional field for arbitrary flags. A non-zero TTL
781 overrides the global default as set by '--default-cache-ttl-ssh'.
783 The only flag support is 'confirm'. If this flag is found for a
784 key, each use of the key will pop up a pinentry to confirm the use
785 of that key. The flag is automatically set if a new key was loaded
786 into 'gpg-agent' using the option '-c' of the 'ssh-add' command.
788 The keygrip may be prefixed with a '!' to disable an entry.
790 The following example lists exactly one key. Note that keys
791 available through a OpenPGP smartcard in the active smartcard
792 reader are implicitly added to this list; i.e. there is no need to
795 # Key added on: 2011-07-20 20:38:46
796 # Fingerprint: 5e:8d:c4:ad:e7:af:6e:27:8a:d6:13:e4:79:ad:0b:81
797 34B62F25E277CF13D3C6BCEBFD3F85D08F0A864B 0 confirm
801 This is the directory where gpg-agent stores the private keys.
802 Each key is stored in a file with the name made up of the keygrip
803 and the suffix 'key'. You should backup all files in this
804 directory and take great care to keep this backup closed away.
806 Note that on larger installations, it is useful to put predefined
807 files into the directory 'APPDATA/GNU/etc/skel/.gnupg' so that newly
808 created users start up with a working configuration. For existing users
809 the a small helper script is provided to create these files (*note
813 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent Signals, Next: Agent Examples, Prev: Agent Configuration, Up: Invoking GPG-AGENT
815 2.4 Use of some signals
816 =======================
818 A running 'gpg-agent' may be controlled by signals, i.e. using the
819 'kill' command to send a signal to the process.
821 Here is a list of supported signals:
824 This signal flushes all cached passphrases and if the program has
825 been started with a configuration file, the configuration file is
826 read again. Only certain options are honored: 'quiet', 'verbose',
827 'debug', 'debug-all', 'debug-level', 'debug-pinentry', 'no-grab',
828 'pinentry-program', 'pinentry-invisible-char', 'default-cache-ttl',
829 'max-cache-ttl', 'ignore-cache-for-signing', 's2k-count',
830 'no-allow-external-cache', 'allow-emacs-pinentry',
831 'no-allow-mark-trusted', 'disable-scdaemon', and
832 'disable-check-own-socket'. 'scdaemon-program' is also supported
833 but due to the current implementation, which calls the scdaemon
834 only once, it is not of much use unless you manually kill the
838 Shuts down the process but waits until all current requests are
839 fulfilled. If the process has received 3 of these signals and
840 requests are still pending, a shutdown is forced.
843 Shuts down the process immediately.
846 Dump internal information to the log file.
849 This signal is used for internal purposes.
852 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent Examples, Next: Agent Protocol, Prev: Agent Signals, Up: Invoking GPG-AGENT
857 It is important to set the environment variable 'GPG_TTY' in your login
858 shell, for example in the '~/.bashrc' init script:
860 export GPG_TTY=$(tty)
862 If you enabled the Ssh Agent Support, you also need to tell ssh about
863 it by adding this to your init script:
866 if [ "${gnupg_SSH_AUTH_SOCK_by:-0}" -ne $$ ]; then
867 export SSH_AUTH_SOCK="$(gpgconf --list-dirs agent-ssh-socket)"
871 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent Protocol, Prev: Agent Examples, Up: Invoking GPG-AGENT
873 2.6 Agent's Assuan Protocol
874 ===========================
876 Note: this section does only document the protocol, which is used by
877 GnuPG components; it does not deal with the ssh-agent protocol. To see
878 the full specification of each command, use
880 gpg-connect-agent 'help COMMAND' /bye
882 or just 'help' to list all available commands.
884 The 'gpg-agent' daemon is started on demand by the GnuPG components.
886 To identify a key we use a thing called keygrip which is the SHA-1
887 hash of an canonical encoded S-Expression of the public key as used in
888 Libgcrypt. For the purpose of this interface the keygrip is given as a
889 hex string. The advantage of using this and not the hash of a
890 certificate is that it will be possible to use the same keypair for
891 different protocols, thereby saving space on the token used to keep the
894 The 'gpg-agent' may send status messages during a command or when
895 returning from a command to inform a client about the progress or result
896 of an operation. For example, the INQUIRE_MAXLEN status message may be
897 sent during a server inquire to inform the client of the maximum usable
898 length of the inquired data (which should not be exceeded).
902 * Agent PKDECRYPT:: Decrypting a session key
903 * Agent PKSIGN:: Signing a Hash
904 * Agent GENKEY:: Generating a Key
905 * Agent IMPORT:: Importing a Secret Key
906 * Agent EXPORT:: Exporting a Secret Key
907 * Agent ISTRUSTED:: Importing a Root Certificate
908 * Agent GET_PASSPHRASE:: Ask for a passphrase
909 * Agent CLEAR_PASSPHRASE:: Expire a cached passphrase
910 * Agent PRESET_PASSPHRASE:: Set a passphrase for a keygrip
911 * Agent GET_CONFIRMATION:: Ask for confirmation
912 * Agent HAVEKEY:: Check whether a key is available
913 * Agent LEARN:: Register a smartcard
914 * Agent PASSWD:: Change a Passphrase
915 * Agent UPDATESTARTUPTTY:: Change the Standard Display
916 * Agent GETEVENTCOUNTER:: Get the Event Counters
917 * Agent GETINFO:: Return information about the process
918 * Agent OPTION:: Set options for the session
921 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent PKDECRYPT, Next: Agent PKSIGN, Up: Agent Protocol
923 2.6.1 Decrypting a session key
924 ------------------------------
926 The client asks the server to decrypt a session key. The encrypted
927 session key should have all information needed to select the appropriate
928 secret key or to delegate it to a smartcard.
932 Tell the server about the key to be used for decryption. If this is
933 not used, 'gpg-agent' may try to figure out the key by trying to decrypt
934 the message with each key available.
938 The agent checks whether this command is allowed and then does an
939 INQUIRY to get the ciphertext the client should then send the cipher
942 S: INQUIRE CIPHERTEXT
947 Please note that the server may send status info lines while reading
948 the data lines from the client. The data send is a SPKI like S-Exp with
953 (<param_name1> <mpi>)
955 (<param_namen> <mpi>)))
957 Where algo is a string with the name of the algorithm; see the
958 libgcrypt documentation for a list of valid algorithms. The number and
959 names of the parameters depend on the algorithm. The agent does return
960 an error if there is an inconsistency.
962 If the decryption was successful the decrypted data is returned by
965 Here is an example session:
967 S: INQUIRE CIPHERTEXT
968 C: D (enc-val elg (a 349324324)
969 C: D (b 3F444677CA)))
971 S: # session key follows
973 S: D (value 1234567890ABCDEF0)
974 S: OK decryption successful
976 The “PADDING” status line is only send if gpg-agent can tell what
977 kind of padding is used. As of now only the value 0 is used to indicate
978 that the padding has been removed.
981 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent PKSIGN, Next: Agent GENKEY, Prev: Agent PKDECRYPT, Up: Agent Protocol
986 The client asks the agent to sign a given hash value. A default key
987 will be chosen if no key has been set. To set a key a client first
992 This can be used multiple times to create multiple signature, the
993 list of keys is reset with the next PKSIGN command or a RESET. The
994 server tests whether the key is a valid key to sign something and
997 SETHASH --hash=<name>|<algo> <hexstring>
999 The client can use this command to tell the server about the data
1000 <hexstring> (which usually is a hash) to be signed. <algo> is the
1001 decimal encoded hash algorithm number as used by Libgcrypt. Either
1002 <algo> or -hash=<name> must be given. Valid names for <name> are:
1005 The SHA-1 hash algorithm
1007 The SHA-256 hash algorithm
1009 The RIPE-MD160 hash algorithm
1011 The old and broken MD5 hash algorithm
1013 A combined hash algorithm as used by the TLS protocol.
1015 The actual signing is done using
1019 Options are not yet defined, but may later be used to choose among
1020 different algorithms. The agent does then some checks, asks for the
1021 passphrase and as a result the server returns the signature as an SPKI
1022 like S-expression in "D" lines:
1026 (<param_name1> <mpi>)
1028 (<param_namen> <mpi>)))
1030 The operation is affected by the option
1032 OPTION use-cache-for-signing=0|1
1034 The default of '1' uses the cache. Setting this option to '0' will
1035 lead 'gpg-agent' to ignore the passphrase cache. Note, that there is
1036 also a global command line option for 'gpg-agent' to globally disable
1039 Here is an example session:
1045 S: # I did ask the user whether he really wants to sign
1046 S: # I did ask the user for the passphrase
1048 C: D ABCDEF012345678901234
1050 S: # signature follows
1051 S: D (sig-val rsa (s 45435453654612121212))
1055 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent GENKEY, Next: Agent IMPORT, Prev: Agent PKSIGN, Up: Agent Protocol
1057 2.6.3 Generating a Key
1058 ----------------------
1060 This is used to create a new keypair and store the secret key inside the
1061 active PSE -- which is in most cases a Soft-PSE. A not-yet-defined
1062 option allows choosing the storage location. To get the secret key out
1063 of the PSE, a special export tool has to be used.
1065 GENKEY [--no-protection] [--preset] [<cache_nonce>]
1067 Invokes the key generation process and the server will then inquire
1068 on the generation parameters, like:
1071 C: D (genkey (rsa (nbits 1024)))
1074 The format of the key parameters which depends on the algorithm is of
1079 (parameter_name_1 ....)
1081 (parameter_name_n ....)))
1083 If everything succeeds, the server returns the *public key* in a SPKI
1084 like S-Expression like this:
1091 Here is an example session:
1094 C: D (genkey (rsa (nbits 1024)))
1097 S: D (rsa (n 326487324683264) (e 10001)))
1100 The '--no-protection' option may be used to prevent prompting for a
1101 passphrase to protect the secret key while leaving the secret key
1102 unprotected. The '--preset' option may be used to add the passphrase to
1103 the cache using the default cache parameters.
1105 The '--inq-passwd' option may be used to create the key with a
1106 supplied passphrase. When used the agent does an inquiry with the
1107 keyword 'NEWPASSWD' to retrieve that passphrase. This option takes
1108 precedence over '--no-protection'; however if the client sends a empty
1109 (zero-length) passphrase, this is identical to '--no-protection'.
1112 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent IMPORT, Next: Agent EXPORT, Prev: Agent GENKEY, Up: Agent Protocol
1114 2.6.4 Importing a Secret Key
1115 ----------------------------
1117 This operation is not yet supported by GpgAgent. Specialized tools are
1118 to be used for this.
1120 There is no actual need because we can expect that secret keys
1121 created by a 3rd party are stored on a smartcard. If we have generated
1122 the key ourselves, we do not need to import it.
1125 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent EXPORT, Next: Agent ISTRUSTED, Prev: Agent IMPORT, Up: Agent Protocol
1127 2.6.5 Export a Secret Key
1128 -------------------------
1132 Should be done by an extra tool.
1135 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent ISTRUSTED, Next: Agent GET_PASSPHRASE, Prev: Agent EXPORT, Up: Agent Protocol
1137 2.6.6 Importing a Root Certificate
1138 ----------------------------------
1140 Actually we do not import a Root Cert but provide a way to validate any
1141 piece of data by storing its Hash along with a description and an
1142 identifier in the PSE. Here is the interface description:
1144 ISTRUSTED <fingerprint>
1146 Check whether the OpenPGP primary key or the X.509 certificate with
1147 the given fingerprint is an ultimately trusted key or a trusted Root CA
1148 certificate. The fingerprint should be given as a hexstring (without
1149 any blanks or colons or whatever in between) and may be left padded with
1150 00 in case of an MD5 fingerprint. GPGAgent will answer with:
1154 The key is in the table of trusted keys.
1156 ERR 304 (Not Trusted)
1158 The key is not in this table.
1160 Gpg needs the entire list of trusted keys to maintain the web of
1161 trust; the following command is therefore quite helpful:
1165 GpgAgent returns a list of trusted keys line by line:
1167 S: D 000000001234454556565656677878AF2F1ECCFF P
1168 S: D 340387563485634856435645634856438576457A P
1169 S: D FEDC6532453745367FD83474357495743757435D S
1172 The first item on a line is the hexified fingerprint where MD5
1173 fingerprints are '00' padded to the left and the second item is a flag
1174 to indicate the type of key (so that gpg is able to only take care of
1175 PGP keys). P = OpenPGP, S = S/MIME. A client should ignore the rest of
1176 the line, so that we can extend the format in the future.
1178 Finally a client should be able to mark a key as trusted:
1180 MARKTRUSTED FINGERPRINT "P"|"S"
1182 The server will then pop up a window to ask the user whether she
1183 really trusts this key. For this it will probably ask for a text to be
1184 displayed like this:
1186 S: INQUIRE TRUSTDESC
1187 C: D Do you trust the key with the fingerprint @FPR@
1188 C: D bla fasel blurb.
1192 Known sequences with the pattern @foo@ are replaced according to this
1196 Format the fingerprint according to gpg rules for a v3 keys.
1198 Format the fingerprint according to gpg rules for a v4 keys.
1200 Choose an appropriate format to format the fingerprint.
1202 Replaced by a single '@'.
1205 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent GET_PASSPHRASE, Next: Agent CLEAR_PASSPHRASE, Prev: Agent ISTRUSTED, Up: Agent Protocol
1207 2.6.7 Ask for a passphrase
1208 --------------------------
1210 This function is usually used to ask for a passphrase to be used for
1211 symmetric encryption, but may also be used by programs which need
1212 special handling of passphrases. This command uses a syntax which helps
1213 clients to use the agent with minimum effort.
1215 GET_PASSPHRASE [--data] [--check] [--no-ask] [--repeat[=N]] \
1216 [--qualitybar] CACHE_ID \
1217 [ERROR_MESSAGE PROMPT DESCRIPTION]
1219 CACHE_ID is expected to be a string used to identify a cached
1220 passphrase. Use a 'X' to bypass the cache. With no other arguments the
1221 agent returns a cached passphrase or an error. By convention either the
1222 hexified fingerprint of the key shall be used for CACHE_ID or an
1223 arbitrary string prefixed with the name of the calling application and a
1224 colon: Like 'gpg:somestring'.
1226 ERROR_MESSAGE is either a single 'X' for no error message or a string
1227 to be shown as an error message like (e.g. "invalid passphrase").
1228 Blanks must be percent escaped or replaced by '+''.
1230 PROMPT is either a single 'X' for a default prompt or the text to be
1231 shown as the prompt. Blanks must be percent escaped or replaced by '+'.
1233 DESCRIPTION is a text shown above the entry field. Blanks must be
1234 percent escaped or replaced by '+'.
1236 The agent either returns with an error or with a OK followed by the
1237 hex encoded passphrase. Note that the length of the strings is
1238 implicitly limited by the maximum length of a command. If the option
1239 '--data' is used, the passphrase is not returned on the OK line but by
1240 regular data lines; this is the preferred method.
1242 If the option '--check' is used, the standard passphrase constraints
1243 checks are applied. A check is not done if the passphrase has been
1246 If the option '--no-ask' is used and the passphrase is not in the
1247 cache the user will not be asked to enter a passphrase but the error
1248 code 'GPG_ERR_NO_DATA' is returned.
1250 If the option '--qualitybar' is used and a minimum passphrase length
1251 has been configured, a visual indication of the entered passphrase
1254 CLEAR_PASSPHRASE CACHE_ID
1256 may be used to invalidate the cache entry for a passphrase. The
1257 function returns with OK even when there is no cached passphrase.
1260 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent CLEAR_PASSPHRASE, Next: Agent PRESET_PASSPHRASE, Prev: Agent GET_PASSPHRASE, Up: Agent Protocol
1262 2.6.8 Remove a cached passphrase
1263 --------------------------------
1265 Use this command to remove a cached passphrase.
1267 CLEAR_PASSPHRASE [--mode=normal] <cache_id>
1269 The '--mode=normal' option can be used to clear a CACHE_ID that was
1273 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent PRESET_PASSPHRASE, Next: Agent GET_CONFIRMATION, Prev: Agent CLEAR_PASSPHRASE, Up: Agent Protocol
1275 2.6.9 Set a passphrase for a keygrip
1276 ------------------------------------
1278 This command adds a passphrase to the cache for the specified KEYGRIP.
1280 PRESET_PASSPHRASE [--inquire] <string_or_keygrip> <timeout> [<hexstring>]
1282 The passphrase is a hexadecimal string when specified. When not
1283 specified, the passphrase will be retrieved from the pinentry module
1284 unless the '--inquire' option was specified in which case the passphrase
1285 will be retrieved from the client.
1287 The TIMEOUT parameter keeps the passphrase cached for the specified
1288 number of seconds. A value of '-1' means infinite while '0' means the
1289 default (currently only a timeout of -1 is allowed, which means to never
1293 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent GET_CONFIRMATION, Next: Agent HAVEKEY, Prev: Agent PRESET_PASSPHRASE, Up: Agent Protocol
1295 2.6.10 Ask for confirmation
1296 ---------------------------
1298 This command may be used to ask for a simple confirmation by presenting
1299 a text and 2 buttons: Okay and Cancel.
1301 GET_CONFIRMATION DESCRIPTION
1303 DESCRIPTIONis displayed along with a Okay and Cancel button. Blanks
1304 must be percent escaped or replaced by '+'. A 'X' may be used to
1305 display confirmation dialog with a default text.
1307 The agent either returns with an error or with a OK. Note, that the
1308 length of DESCRIPTION is implicitly limited by the maximum length of a
1312 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent HAVEKEY, Next: Agent LEARN, Prev: Agent GET_CONFIRMATION, Up: Agent Protocol
1314 2.6.11 Check whether a key is available
1315 ---------------------------------------
1317 This can be used to see whether a secret key is available. It does not
1318 return any information on whether the key is somehow protected.
1322 The agent answers either with OK or 'No_Secret_Key' (208). The
1323 caller may want to check for other error codes as well. More than one
1324 keygrip may be given. In this case the command returns success if at
1325 least one of the keygrips corresponds to an available secret key.
1328 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent LEARN, Next: Agent PASSWD, Prev: Agent HAVEKEY, Up: Agent Protocol
1330 2.6.12 Register a smartcard
1331 ---------------------------
1335 This command is used to register a smartcard. With the '--send'
1336 option given the certificates are sent back.
1339 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent PASSWD, Next: Agent UPDATESTARTUPTTY, Prev: Agent LEARN, Up: Agent Protocol
1341 2.6.13 Change a Passphrase
1342 --------------------------
1344 PASSWD [--cache-nonce=<c>] [--passwd-nonce=<s>] [--preset] KEYGRIP
1346 This command is used to interactively change the passphrase of the
1347 key identified by the hex string KEYGRIP. The '--preset' option may be
1348 used to add the new passphrase to the cache using the default cache
1352 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent UPDATESTARTUPTTY, Next: Agent GETEVENTCOUNTER, Prev: Agent PASSWD, Up: Agent Protocol
1354 2.6.14 Change the standard display
1355 ----------------------------------
1359 Set the startup TTY and X-DISPLAY variables to the values of this
1360 session. This command is useful to direct future pinentry invocations
1361 to another screen. It is only required because there is no way in the
1362 ssh-agent protocol to convey this information.
1365 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent GETEVENTCOUNTER, Next: Agent GETINFO, Prev: Agent UPDATESTARTUPTTY, Up: Agent Protocol
1367 2.6.15 Get the Event Counters
1368 -----------------------------
1372 This function return one status line with the current values of the
1373 event counters. The event counters are useful to avoid polling by
1374 delaying a poll until something has changed. The values are decimal
1375 numbers in the range '0' to 'UINT_MAX' and wrapping around to 0. The
1376 actual values should not be relied upon; they shall only be used to
1379 The currently defined counters are:
1381 Incremented with any change of any of the other counters.
1383 Incremented for added or removed private keys.
1385 Incremented for changes of the card readers stati.
1388 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent GETINFO, Next: Agent OPTION, Prev: Agent GETEVENTCOUNTER, Up: Agent Protocol
1390 2.6.16 Return information about the process
1391 -------------------------------------------
1393 This is a multipurpose function to return a variety of information.
1397 The value of WHAT specifies the kind of information returned:
1399 Return the version of the program.
1401 Return the process id of the process.
1403 Return the name of the socket used to connect the agent.
1405 Return the name of the socket used for SSH connections. If SSH
1406 support has not been enabled the error 'GPG_ERR_NO_DATA' will be
1410 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent OPTION, Prev: Agent GETINFO, Up: Agent Protocol
1412 2.6.17 Set options for the session
1413 ----------------------------------
1415 Here is a list of session options which are not yet described with other
1416 commands. The general syntax for an Assuan option is:
1423 This may be used to tell gpg-agent of which gpg-agent version the
1424 client is aware of. gpg-agent uses this information to enable
1425 features which might break older clients.
1428 Change the session's environment to be used for the Pinentry.
1434 Set envvar NAME to the empty string
1436 Set envvar NAME to the string VALUE.
1438 'use-cache-for-signing'
1439 See Assuan command 'PKSIGN'.
1441 'allow-pinentry-notify'
1442 This does not need any value. It is used to enable the
1443 PINENTRY_LAUNCHED inquiry.
1446 This option is used to change the operation mode of the pinentry.
1447 The following values are defined:
1450 This is the default mode which pops up a pinentry as needed.
1453 Instead of popping up a pinentry, return the error code
1457 Instead of popping up a pinentry, return the error code
1458 'GPG_ERR_NO_PIN_ENTRY'.
1461 Use a loopback pinentry. This fakes a pinentry by using
1462 inquiries back to the caller to ask for a passphrase. This
1463 option may only be set if the agent has been configured for
1464 that. To disable this feature use *note option
1465 --no-allow-loopback-pinentry::.
1467 'cache-ttl-opt-preset'
1468 This option sets the cache TTL for new entries created by GENKEY
1469 and PASSWD commands when using the '--preset' option. It is not
1470 used a default value is used.
1473 Instead of using the standard S2K count (which is computed on the
1474 fly), the given S2K count is used for new keys or when changing the
1475 passphrase of a key. Values below 65536 are considered to be 0.
1476 This option is valid for the entire session or until reset to 0.
1477 This option is useful if the key is later used on boxes which are
1478 either much slower or faster than the actual box.
1480 'pretend-request-origin'
1481 This option switches the connection into a restricted mode which
1482 handles all further commands in the same way as they would be
1483 handled when originating from the extra or browser socket. Note
1484 that this option is not available in the restricted mode. Valid
1485 values for this option are:
1489 This is a NOP and leaves the connection in the standard way.
1492 Pretend to come from a remote origin in the same way as
1493 connections from the '--extra-socket'.
1496 Pretend to come from a local web browser in the same way as
1497 connections from the '--browser-socket'.
1500 File: gnupg.info, Node: Invoking DIRMNGR, Next: Invoking GPG, Prev: Invoking GPG-AGENT, Up: Top
1505 Since version 2.1 of GnuPG, 'dirmngr' takes care of accessing the
1506 OpenPGP keyservers. As with previous versions it is also used as a
1507 server for managing and downloading certificate revocation lists (CRLs)
1508 for X.509 certificates, downloading X.509 certificates, and providing
1509 access to OCSP providers. Dirmngr is invoked internally by 'gpg',
1510 'gpgsm', or via the 'gpg-connect-agent' tool.
1512 *Note Option Index::,for an index to 'DIRMNGR''s commands and options.
1516 * Dirmngr Commands:: List of all commands.
1517 * Dirmngr Options:: List of all options.
1518 * Dirmngr Configuration:: Configuration files.
1519 * Dirmngr Signals:: Use of signals.
1520 * Dirmngr Examples:: Some usage examples.
1521 * Dirmngr Protocol:: The protocol dirmngr uses.
1524 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Commands, Next: Dirmngr Options, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
1529 Commands are not distinguished from options except for the fact that
1530 only one command is allowed.
1533 Print the program version and licensing information. Note that you
1534 cannot abbreviate this command.
1537 Print a usage message summarizing the most useful command-line
1538 options. Note that you cannot abbreviate this command.
1541 Print a list of all available options and commands. Note that you
1542 cannot abbreviate this command.
1545 Run in server mode and wait for commands on the 'stdin'. The
1546 default mode is to create a socket and listen for commands there.
1547 This is only used for testing.
1550 Run in background daemon mode and listen for commands on a socket.
1551 This is the way 'dirmngr' is started on demand by the other GnuPG
1552 components. To force starting 'dirmngr' it is in general best to
1553 use 'gpgconf --launch dirmngr'.
1556 Run in the foreground, sending logs to stderr, and listening on
1557 file descriptor 3, which must already be bound to a listening
1558 socket. This is useful when running under systemd or other similar
1559 process supervision schemes. This option is not supported on
1563 List the contents of the CRL cache on 'stdout'. This is probably
1564 only useful for debugging purposes.
1567 This command requires a filename as additional argument, and it
1568 will make Dirmngr try to import the CRL in FILE into it's cache.
1569 Note, that this is only possible if Dirmngr is able to retrieve the
1570 CA's certificate directly by its own means. In general it is
1571 better to use 'gpgsm''s '--call-dirmngr loadcrl filename' command
1572 so that 'gpgsm' can help dirmngr.
1575 This command requires an URL as additional argument, and it will
1576 make dirmngr try to retrieve and import the CRL from that URL into
1577 it's cache. This is mainly useful for debugging purposes. The
1578 'dirmngr-client' provides the same feature for a running dirmngr.
1581 This commands shuts down an running instance of Dirmngr. This
1582 command has currently no effect.
1585 This command removes all CRLs from Dirmngr's cache. Client
1586 requests will thus trigger reading of fresh CRLs.
1589 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Options, Next: Dirmngr Configuration, Prev: Dirmngr Commands, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
1594 Note that all long options with the exception of '--options' and
1595 '--homedir' may also be given in the configuration file after stripping
1596 off the two leading dashes.
1599 Reads configuration from FILE instead of from the default per-user
1600 configuration file. The default configuration file is named
1601 'dirmngr.conf' and expected in the home directory.
1604 Set the name of the home directory to DIR. This option is only
1605 effective when used on the command line. The default is the
1606 directory named '.gnupg' directly below the home directory of the
1607 user unless the environment variable 'GNUPGHOME' has been set in
1608 which case its value will be used. Many kinds of data are stored
1609 within this directory.
1613 Outputs additional information while running. You can increase the
1614 verbosity by giving several verbose commands to DIRMNGR, such as
1618 Append all logging output to FILE. This is very helpful in seeing
1619 what the agent actually does. Use 'socket://' to log to socket.
1621 '--debug-level LEVEL'
1622 Select the debug level for investigating problems. LEVEL may be a
1623 numeric value or by a keyword:
1626 No debugging at all. A value of less than 1 may be used
1627 instead of the keyword.
1629 Some basic debug messages. A value between 1 and 2 may be
1630 used instead of the keyword.
1632 More verbose debug messages. A value between 3 and 5 may be
1633 used instead of the keyword.
1635 Even more detailed messages. A value between 6 and 8 may be
1636 used instead of the keyword.
1638 All of the debug messages you can get. A value greater than 8
1639 may be used instead of the keyword. The creation of hash
1640 tracing files is only enabled if the keyword is used.
1642 How these messages are mapped to the actual debugging flags is not
1643 specified and may change with newer releases of this program. They
1644 are however carefully selected to best aid in debugging.
1647 Set debugging flags. This option is only useful for debugging and
1648 its behavior may change with a new release. All flags are or-ed
1649 and may be given in C syntax (e.g. 0x0042) or as a comma separated
1650 list of flag names. To get a list of all supported flags the
1651 single word "help" can be used.
1654 Same as '--debug=0xffffffff'
1657 Enable debugging of the TLS layer at LEVEL. The details of the
1658 debug level depend on the used TLS library and are not set in
1662 When running in server mode, wait N seconds before entering the
1663 actual processing loop and print the pid. This gives time to
1666 '--disable-check-own-socket'
1667 On some platforms 'dirmngr' is able to detect the removal of its
1668 socket file and shutdown itself. This option disable this
1669 self-test for debugging purposes.
1675 Format the info output in daemon mode for use with the standard
1676 Bourne shell respective the C-shell. The default is to guess it
1677 based on the environment variable 'SHELL' which is in almost all
1681 Enabling this option forces loading of expired CRLs; this is only
1682 useful for debugging.
1686 The option '--use-tor' switches Dirmngr and thus GnuPG into "Tor
1687 mode" to route all network access via Tor (an anonymity network).
1688 Certain other features are disabled in this mode. The effect of
1689 '--use-tor' cannot be overridden by any other command or even by
1690 reloading dirmngr. The use of '--no-use-tor' disables the use of
1691 Tor. The default is to use Tor if it is available on startup or
1692 after reloading dirmngr. The test on the available of Tor is done
1693 by trying to connects to a SOCKS proxy at either port 9050 or
1694 9150); if another type of proxy is listening on one of these ports,
1695 you should use '--no-use-tor'.
1697 '--standard-resolver'
1698 This option forces the use of the system's standard DNS resolver
1699 code. This is mainly used for debugging. Note that on Windows a
1700 standard resolver is not used and all DNS access will return the
1701 error "Not Implemented" if this option is used. Using this
1702 together with enabled Tor mode returns the error "Not Enabled".
1704 '--recursive-resolver'
1705 When possible use a recursive resolver instead of a stub resolver.
1707 '--resolver-timeout N'
1708 Set the timeout for the DNS resolver to N seconds. The default are
1711 '--connect-timeout N'
1712 '--connect-quick-timeout N'
1713 Set the timeout for HTTP and generic TCP connection attempts to N
1714 seconds. The value set with the quick variant is used when the
1715 -quick option has been given to certain Assuan commands. The quick
1716 value is capped at the value of the regular connect timeout. The
1717 default values are 15 and 2 seconds. Note that the timeout values
1718 are for each connection attempt; the connection code will attempt
1719 to connect all addresses listed for a server.
1721 '--listen-backlog N'
1722 Set the size of the queue for pending connections. The default is
1725 '--allow-version-check'
1726 Allow Dirmngr to connect to 'https://versions.gnupg.org' to get the
1727 list of current software versions. If this option is enabled the
1728 list is retrieved in case the local copy does not exist or is older
1729 than 5 to 7 days. See the option '--query-swdb' of the command
1730 'gpgconf' for more details. Note, that regardless of this option a
1731 version check can always be triggered using this command:
1733 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'loadswdb --force' /bye
1736 Use NAME as your keyserver. This is the server that 'gpg'
1737 communicates with to receive keys, send keys, and search for keys.
1738 The format of the NAME is a URI: 'scheme:[//]keyservername[:port]'
1739 The scheme is the type of keyserver: "hkp" for the HTTP (or
1740 compatible) keyservers, "ldap" for the LDAP keyservers, or "mailto"
1741 for the Graff email keyserver. Note that your particular
1742 installation of GnuPG may have other keyserver types available as
1743 well. Keyserver schemes are case-insensitive. After the keyserver
1744 name, optional keyserver configuration options may be provided.
1745 These are the same as the '--keyserver-options' of 'gpg', but apply
1746 only to this particular keyserver.
1748 Most keyservers synchronize with each other, so there is generally
1749 no need to send keys to more than one server. Somes keyservers use
1750 round robin DNS to give a different keyserver each time you use it.
1752 If exactly two keyservers are configured and only one is a Tor
1753 hidden service (.onion), Dirmngr selects the keyserver to use
1754 depending on whether Tor is locally running or not. The check for
1755 a running Tor is done for each new connection.
1757 If no keyserver is explicitly configured, dirmngr will use the
1758 built-in default of 'https://keyserver.ubuntu.com'.
1760 Windows users with a keyserver running on their Active Directory
1761 may use the short form 'ldap:///' for NAME to access this
1764 For accessing anonymous LDAP keyservers NAME is in general just a
1765 'ldaps://ldap.example.com'. A BaseDN parameter should never be
1766 specified. If authentication is required things are more
1767 complicated and two methods are available:
1769 The modern method (since version 2.2.28) is to use the very same
1770 syntax as used with the option '--ldapserver'. Please see over
1771 there for details; here is an example:
1773 keyserver ldap:ldap.example.com::uid=USERNAME,ou=GnuPG Users,
1774 dc=example,dc=com:PASSWORD::starttls
1776 The other method is to use a full URL for NAME; for example:
1778 keyserver ldaps://ldap.example.com/????bindname=uid=USERNAME
1779 %2Cou=GnuPG%20Users%2Cdc=example%2Cdc=com,password=PASSWORD
1781 Put this all on one line without any spaces and keep the '%2C' as
1782 given. Replace USERNAME, PASSWORD, and the 'dc' parts according to
1783 the instructions received from your LDAP administrator. Note that
1784 only simple authentication (i.e. cleartext passwords) is supported
1785 and thus using ldaps is strongly suggested (since 2.2.28 "ldaps"
1786 defaults to port 389 and uses STARTTLS). On Windows authentication
1787 via AD can be requested by adding 'gpgNtds=1' after the fourth
1788 question mark instead of the bindname and password parameter.
1790 '--nameserver IPADDR'
1791 In "Tor mode" Dirmngr uses a public resolver via Tor to resolve DNS
1792 names. If the default public resolver, which is '8.8.8.8', shall
1793 not be used a different one can be given using this option. Note
1794 that a numerical IP address must be given (IPv6 or IPv4) and that
1795 no error checking is done for IPADDR.
1799 Disable the use of all IPv4 or IPv6 addresses.
1802 Entirely disables the use of LDAP.
1805 Entirely disables the use of HTTP.
1808 When looking for the location of a CRL, the to be tested
1809 certificate usually contains so called "CRL Distribution Point"
1810 (DP) entries which are URLs describing the way to access the CRL.
1811 The first found DP entry is used. With this option all entries
1812 using the HTTP scheme are ignored when looking for a suitable DP.
1815 This is similar to '--ignore-http-dp' but ignores entries using the
1816 LDAP scheme. Both options may be combined resulting in ignoring
1819 '--ignore-ocsp-service-url'
1820 Ignore all OCSP URLs contained in the certificate. The effect is
1821 to force the use of the default responder.
1823 '--honor-http-proxy'
1824 If the environment variable 'http_proxy' has been set, use its
1825 value to access HTTP servers.
1827 '--http-proxy HOST[:PORT]'
1828 Use HOST and PORT to access HTTP servers. The use of this option
1829 overrides the environment variable 'http_proxy' regardless whether
1830 '--honor-http-proxy' has been set.
1832 '--ldap-proxy HOST[:PORT]'
1833 Use HOST and PORT to connect to LDAP servers. If PORT is omitted,
1834 port 389 (standard LDAP port) is used. This overrides any
1835 specified host and port part in a LDAP URL and will also be used if
1836 host and port have been omitted from the URL.
1839 Never use anything else but the LDAP "proxy" as configured with
1840 '--ldap-proxy'. Usually 'dirmngr' tries to use other configured
1841 LDAP server if the connection using the "proxy" failed.
1843 '--ldapserverlist-file FILE'
1844 Read the list of LDAP servers to consult for CRLs and X.509
1845 certificates from file instead of the default per-user ldap server
1846 list file. The default value for FILE is
1847 'dirmngr_ldapservers.conf'.
1849 This server list file contains one LDAP server per line in the
1852 HOSTNAME:PORT:USERNAME:PASSWORD:BASE_DN:FLAGS
1854 Lines starting with a '#' are comments.
1856 Note that as usual all strings entered are expected to be UTF-8
1857 encoded. Obviously this will lead to problems if the password has
1858 originally been encoded as Latin-1. There is no other solution
1859 here than to put such a password in the binary encoding into the
1860 file (i.e. non-ascii characters won't show up readable).(1)
1863 This is an alternative way to specify LDAP servers for CRL and
1864 X.509 certificate retrieval. If this option is used the servers
1865 configured in 'dirmngr_ldapservers.conf' (or the file given by
1866 '--ldapserverlist-file') are cleared. Note that
1867 'dirmngr_ldapservers.conf' is not read again by a reload signal.
1868 However, '--ldapserver' options are read again.
1870 SPEC is either a proper LDAP URL or a colon delimited list of the
1873 HOSTNAME:PORT:USERNAME:PASSWORD:BASE_DN:FLAGS:
1875 with an optional prefix of 'ldap:' (but without the two slashes
1876 which would turn this into a proper LDAP URL). FLAGS is a list of
1877 one or more comma delimited keywords:
1879 The default: Do not use a TLS secured connection at all; the
1880 default port is 389.
1882 Use STARTTLS to secure the connection; the default port is
1885 Tunnel LDAP through a TLS connection; the default port is 636.
1887 On Windows authenticate the LDAP connection using the Active
1888 Directory with the current user.
1890 Note that in an URL style specification the scheme 'ldaps://'
1891 refers to STARTTLS and _not_ to LDAP-over-TLS.
1893 '--ldaptimeout SECS'
1894 Specify the number of seconds to wait for an LDAP query before
1895 timing out. The default are 15 seconds. 0 will never timeout.
1898 This option makes dirmngr add any servers it discovers when
1899 validating certificates against CRLs to the internal list of
1900 servers to consult for certificates and CRLs.
1902 This option is useful when trying to validate a certificate that
1903 has a CRL distribution point that points to a server that is not
1904 already listed in the ldapserverlist. Dirmngr will always go to
1905 this server and try to download the CRL, but chances are high that
1906 the certificate used to sign the CRL is located on the same server.
1907 So if dirmngr doesn't add that new server to list, it will often
1908 not be able to verify the signature of the CRL unless the
1909 '--add-servers' option is used.
1911 Note: The current version of dirmngr has this option disabled by
1915 This option enables OCSP support if requested by the client.
1917 OCSP requests are rejected by default because they may violate the
1918 privacy of the user; for example it is possible to track the time
1919 when a user is reading a mail.
1921 '--ocsp-responder URL'
1922 Use URL as the default OCSP Responder if the certificate does not
1923 contain information about an assigned responder. Note, that
1924 '--ocsp-signer' must also be set to a valid certificate.
1926 '--ocsp-signer FPR|FILE'
1927 Use the certificate with the fingerprint FPR to check the responses
1928 of the default OCSP Responder. Alternatively a filename can be
1929 given in which case the response is expected to be signed by one of
1930 the certificates described in that file. Any argument which
1931 contains a slash, dot or tilde is considered a filename. Usual
1932 filename expansion takes place: A tilde at the start followed by a
1933 slash is replaced by the content of 'HOME', no slash at start
1934 describes a relative filename which will be searched at the home
1935 directory. To make sure that the FILE is searched in the home
1936 directory, either prepend the name with "./" or use a name which
1939 If a response has been signed by a certificate described by these
1940 fingerprints no further check upon the validity of this certificate
1943 The format of the FILE is a list of SHA-1 fingerprint, one per line
1944 with optional colons between the bytes. Empty lines and lines
1945 prefix with a hash mark are ignored.
1947 '--ocsp-max-clock-skew N'
1948 The number of seconds a skew between the OCSP responder and them
1949 local clock is accepted. Default is 600 (10 minutes).
1951 '--ocsp-max-period N'
1952 Seconds a response is at maximum considered valid after the time
1953 given in the thisUpdate field. Default is 7776000 (90 days).
1955 '--ocsp-current-period N'
1956 The number of seconds an OCSP response is considered valid after
1957 the time given in the NEXT_UPDATE datum. Default is 10800 (3
1961 Do not return more that N items in one query. The default is 10.
1963 '--ignore-cert-extension OID'
1964 Add OID to the list of ignored certificate extensions. The OID is
1965 expected to be in dotted decimal form, like '2.5.29.3'. This
1966 option may be used more than once. Critical flagged certificate
1967 extensions matching one of the OIDs in the list are treated as if
1968 they are actually handled and thus the certificate won't be
1969 rejected due to an unknown critical extension. Use this option
1970 with care because extensions are usually flagged as critical for a
1974 Use the root certificates in FILE for verification of the TLS
1975 certificates used with 'hkps' (keyserver access over TLS). If the
1976 file is in PEM format a suffix of '.pem' is expected for FILE.
1977 This option may be given multiple times to add more root
1978 certificates. Tilde expansion is supported.
1980 If no 'hkp-cacert' directive is present, dirmngr will use the
1983 ---------- Footnotes ----------
1985 (1) The 'gpgconf' tool might be helpful for frontends as it enables
1986 editing this configuration file using percent-escaped strings.
1989 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Configuration, Next: Dirmngr Signals, Prev: Dirmngr Options, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
1994 Dirmngr makes use of several directories when running in daemon mode:
1995 There are a few configuration files whih control the operation of
1996 dirmngr. By default they may all be found in the current home directory
1997 (*note option --homedir::).
2000 This is the standard configuration file read by 'dirmngr' on
2001 startup. It may contain any valid long option; the leading two
2002 dashes may not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated.
2003 This file is also read after a 'SIGHUP' however not all options
2004 will actually have an effect. This default name may be changed on
2005 the command line (*note option --options::). You should backup
2008 '/etc/gnupg/trusted-certs'
2009 This directory should be filled with certificates of Root CAs you
2010 are trusting in checking the CRLs and signing OCSP Responses.
2012 Usually these are the same certificates you use with the
2013 applications making use of dirmngr. It is expected that each of
2014 these certificate files contain exactly one DER encoded certificate
2015 in a file with the suffix '.crt' or '.der'. 'dirmngr' reads those
2016 certificates on startup and when given a SIGHUP. Certificates which
2017 are not readable or do not make up a proper X.509 certificate are
2018 ignored; see the log file for details.
2020 Applications using dirmngr (e.g. gpgsm) can request these
2021 certificates to complete a trust chain in the same way as with the
2022 extra-certs directory (see below).
2024 Note that for OCSP responses the certificate specified using the
2025 option '--ocsp-signer' is always considered valid to sign OCSP
2028 '/etc/gnupg/extra-certs'
2029 This directory may contain extra certificates which are preloaded
2030 into the internal cache on startup. Applications using dirmngr
2031 (e.g. gpgsm) can request cached certificates to complete a trust
2032 chain. This is convenient in cases you have a couple intermediate
2033 CA certificates or certificates usually used to sign OCSP
2034 responses. These certificates are first tried before going out to
2035 the net to look for them. These certificates must also be DER
2036 encoded and suffixed with '.crt' or '.der'.
2039 This directory is used to store cached CRLs. The 'crls.d' part
2040 will be created by dirmngr if it does not exists but you need to
2041 make sure that the upper directory exists.
2043 To be able to see what's going on you should create the configure
2044 file '~/gnupg/dirmngr.conf' with at least one line:
2046 log-file ~/dirmngr.log
2048 To be able to perform OCSP requests you probably want to add the
2053 To make sure that new options are read and that after the
2054 installation of a new GnuPG versions the installed dirmngr is running,
2055 you may want to kill an existing dirmngr first:
2057 gpgconf --kill dirmngr
2059 You may check the log file to see whether all desired root
2060 certificates have been loaded correctly.
2063 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Signals, Next: Dirmngr Examples, Prev: Dirmngr Configuration, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
2068 A running 'dirmngr' may be controlled by signals, i.e. using the 'kill'
2069 command to send a signal to the process.
2071 Here is a list of supported signals:
2074 This signal flushes all internally cached CRLs as well as any
2075 cached certificates. Then the certificate cache is reinitialized
2076 as on startup. Options are re-read from the configuration file.
2077 Instead of sending this signal it is better to use
2078 gpgconf --reload dirmngr
2081 Shuts down the process but waits until all current requests are
2082 fulfilled. If the process has received 3 of these signals and
2083 requests are still pending, a shutdown is forced. You may also use
2084 gpgconf --kill dirmngr
2085 instead of this signal
2088 Shuts down the process immediately.
2091 This prints some caching statistics to the log file.
2094 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Examples, Next: Dirmngr Protocol, Prev: Dirmngr Signals, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
2099 Here is an example on how to show dirmngr's internal table of OpenPGP
2100 keyserver addresses. The output is intended for debugging purposes and
2101 not part of a defined API.
2103 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'keyserver --hosttable' /bye
2105 To inhibit the use of a particular host you have noticed in one of
2106 the keyserver pools, you may use
2108 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'keyserver --dead pgpkeys.bnd.de' /bye
2110 The description of the 'keyserver' command can be printed using
2112 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'help keyserver' /bye
2115 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Protocol, Prev: Dirmngr Examples, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
2117 3.6 Dirmngr's Assuan Protocol
2118 =============================
2120 Assuan is the IPC protocol used to access dirmngr. This is a
2121 description of the commands implemented by dirmngr.
2125 * Dirmngr LOOKUP:: Look up a certificate via LDAP
2126 * Dirmngr ISVALID:: Validate a certificate using a CRL or OCSP.
2127 * Dirmngr CHECKCRL:: Validate a certificate using a CRL.
2128 * Dirmngr CHECKOCSP:: Validate a certificate using OCSP.
2129 * Dirmngr CACHECERT:: Put a certificate into the internal cache.
2130 * Dirmngr VALIDATE:: Validate a certificate for debugging.
2133 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr LOOKUP, Next: Dirmngr ISVALID, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2135 3.6.1 Return the certificate(s) found
2136 -------------------------------------
2138 Lookup certificate. To allow multiple patterns (which are ORed) quoting
2139 is required: Spaces are to be translated into "+" or into "%20";
2140 obviously this requires that the usual escape quoting rules are applied.
2141 The server responds with:
2143 S: D <DER encoded certificate>
2145 S: D <second DER encoded certificate>
2149 In this example 2 certificates are returned. The server may return
2150 any number of certificates; OK will also be returned when no
2151 certificates were found. The dirmngr might return a status line
2155 To indicate that the output was truncated to N items due to a
2156 limitation of the server or by an arbitrary set limit.
2158 The option '--url' may be used if instead of a search pattern a
2159 complete URL to the certificate is known:
2161 C: LOOKUP --url CN%3DWerner%20Koch,o%3DIntevation%20GmbH,c%3DDE?userCertificate
2163 If the option '--cache-only' is given, no external lookup is done so
2164 that only certificates from the cache are returned.
2166 With the option '--single', the first and only the first match will
2167 be returned. Unless option '--cache-only' is also used, no local lookup
2168 will be done in this case.
2171 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr ISVALID, Next: Dirmngr CHECKCRL, Prev: Dirmngr LOOKUP, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2173 3.6.2 Validate a certificate using a CRL or OCSP
2174 ------------------------------------------------
2176 ISVALID [--only-ocsp] [--force-default-responder] CERTID|CERTFPR
2178 Check whether the certificate described by the CERTID has been
2179 revoked. Due to caching, the Dirmngr is able to answer immediately in
2182 The CERTID is a hex encoded string consisting of two parts, delimited
2183 by a single dot. The first part is the SHA-1 hash of the issuer name
2184 and the second part the serial number.
2186 Alternatively the certificate's SHA-1 fingerprint CERTFPR may be
2187 given in which case an OCSP request is done before consulting the CRL.
2188 If the option '--only-ocsp' is given, no fallback to a CRL check will be
2189 used. If the option '--force-default-responder' is given, only the
2190 default OCSP responder will be used and any other methods of obtaining
2191 an OCSP responder URL won't be used.
2193 Common return values are:
2195 'GPG_ERR_NO_ERROR (0)'
2196 This is the positive answer: The certificate is not revoked and we
2197 have an up-to-date revocation list for that certificate. If OCSP
2198 was used the responder confirmed that the certificate has not been
2201 'GPG_ERR_CERT_REVOKED'
2202 This is the negative answer: The certificate has been revoked.
2203 Either it is in a CRL and that list is up to date or an OCSP
2204 responder informed us that it has been revoked.
2206 'GPG_ERR_NO_CRL_KNOWN'
2207 No CRL is known for this certificate or the CRL is not valid or out
2211 The OCSP responder returned an "unknown" status. This means that
2212 it is not aware of the certificate's status.
2214 'GPG_ERR_NOT_SUPPORTED'
2215 This is commonly seen if OCSP support has not been enabled in the
2218 If DirMngr has not enough information about the given certificate
2219 (which is the case for not yet cached certificates), it will inquire the
2222 S: INQUIRE SENDCERT <CertID>
2223 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2226 A client should be aware that DirMngr may ask for more than one
2229 If Dirmngr has a certificate but the signature of the certificate
2230 could not been validated because the root certificate is not known to
2231 dirmngr as trusted, it may ask back to see whether the client trusts
2232 this the root certificate:
2234 S: INQUIRE ISTRUSTED <CertHexfpr>
2238 Only this answer will let Dirmngr consider the certificate as valid.
2241 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr CHECKCRL, Next: Dirmngr CHECKOCSP, Prev: Dirmngr ISVALID, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2243 3.6.3 Validate a certificate using a CRL
2244 ----------------------------------------
2246 Check whether the certificate with FINGERPRINT (SHA-1 hash of the entire
2247 X.509 certificate blob) is valid or not by consulting the CRL
2248 responsible for this certificate. If the fingerprint has not been given
2249 or the certificate is not known, the function inquires the certificate
2252 S: INQUIRE TARGETCERT
2253 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2256 Thus the caller is expected to return the certificate for the request
2257 (which should match FINGERPRINT) as a binary blob. Processing then
2258 takes place without further interaction; in particular dirmngr tries to
2259 locate other required certificate by its own mechanism which includes a
2260 local certificate store as well as a list of trusted root certificates.
2262 The return code is 0 for success; i.e. the certificate has not been
2263 revoked or one of the usual error codes from libgpg-error.
2266 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr CHECKOCSP, Next: Dirmngr CACHECERT, Prev: Dirmngr CHECKCRL, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2268 3.6.4 Validate a certificate using OCSP
2269 ---------------------------------------
2271 CHECKOCSP [--force-default-responder] [FINGERPRINT]
2273 Check whether the certificate with FINGERPRINT (the SHA-1 hash of the
2274 entire X.509 certificate blob) is valid by consulting the appropriate
2275 OCSP responder. If the fingerprint has not been given or the
2276 certificate is not known by Dirmngr, the function inquires the
2279 S: INQUIRE TARGETCERT
2280 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2283 Thus the caller is expected to return the certificate for the request
2284 (which should match FINGERPRINT) as a binary blob. Processing then
2285 takes place without further interaction; in particular dirmngr tries to
2286 locate other required certificates by its own mechanism which includes a
2287 local certificate store as well as a list of trusted root certificates.
2289 If the option '--force-default-responder' is given, only the default
2290 OCSP responder is used. This option is the per-command variant of the
2291 global option '--ignore-ocsp-service-url'.
2293 The return code is 0 for success; i.e. the certificate has not been
2294 revoked or one of the usual error codes from libgpg-error.
2297 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr CACHECERT, Next: Dirmngr VALIDATE, Prev: Dirmngr CHECKOCSP, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2299 3.6.5 Put a certificate into the internal cache
2300 -----------------------------------------------
2302 Put a certificate into the internal cache. This command might be useful
2303 if a client knows in advance certificates required for a test and wants
2304 to make sure they get added to the internal cache. It is also helpful
2305 for debugging. To get the actual certificate, this command immediately
2308 S: INQUIRE TARGETCERT
2309 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2312 Thus the caller is expected to return the certificate for the request
2315 The return code is 0 for success; i.e. the certificate has not been
2316 successfully cached or one of the usual error codes from libgpg-error.
2319 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr VALIDATE, Prev: Dirmngr CACHECERT, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2321 3.6.6 Validate a certificate for debugging
2322 ------------------------------------------
2324 Validate a certificate using the certificate validation function used
2325 internally by dirmngr. This command is only useful for debugging. To
2326 get the actual certificate, this command immediately inquires it using
2328 S: INQUIRE TARGETCERT
2329 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2332 Thus the caller is expected to return the certificate for the request
2336 File: gnupg.info, Node: Invoking GPG, Next: Invoking GPGSM, Prev: Invoking DIRMNGR, Up: Top
2341 'gpg' is the OpenPGP part of the GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG). It is a tool
2342 to provide digital encryption and signing services using the OpenPGP
2343 standard. 'gpg' features complete key management and all the bells and
2344 whistles you would expect from a full OpenPGP implementation.
2346 There are two main versions of GnuPG: GnuPG 1.x and GnuPG 2.x. GnuPG
2347 2.x supports modern encryption algorithms and thus should be preferred
2348 over GnuPG 1.x. You only need to use GnuPG 1.x if your platform doesn't
2349 support GnuPG 2.x, or you need support for some features that GnuPG 2.x
2350 has deprecated, e.g., decrypting data created with PGP-2 keys.
2352 If you are looking for version 1 of GnuPG, you may find that version
2353 installed under the name 'gpg1'.
2355 *Note Option Index::, for an index to 'gpg''s commands and options.
2359 * GPG Commands:: List of all commands.
2360 * GPG Options:: List of all options.
2361 * GPG Configuration:: Configuration files.
2362 * GPG Examples:: Some usage examples.
2364 Developer information:
2365 * Unattended Usage of GPG:: Using 'gpg' from other programs.
2368 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Commands, Next: GPG Options, Up: Invoking GPG
2373 Commands are not distinguished from options except for the fact that
2374 only one command is allowed. Generally speaking, irrelevant options are
2375 silently ignored, and may not be checked for correctness.
2377 'gpg' may be run with no commands. In this case it will print a
2378 warning perform a reasonable action depending on the type of file it is
2379 given as input (an encrypted message is decrypted, a signature is
2380 verified, a file containing keys is listed, etc.).
2382 If you run into any problems, please add the option '--verbose' to
2383 the invocation to see more diagnostics.
2387 * General GPG Commands:: Commands not specific to the functionality.
2388 * Operational GPG Commands:: Commands to select the type of operation.
2389 * OpenPGP Key Management:: How to manage your keys.
2392 File: gnupg.info, Node: General GPG Commands, Next: Operational GPG Commands, Up: GPG Commands
2394 4.1.1 Commands not specific to the function
2395 -------------------------------------------
2398 Print the program version and licensing information. Note that you
2399 cannot abbreviate this command.
2403 Print a usage message summarizing the most useful command-line
2404 options. Note that you cannot arbitrarily abbreviate this command
2405 (though you can use its short form '-h').
2408 Print warranty information.
2411 Print a list of all available options and commands. Note that you
2412 cannot abbreviate this command.
2415 File: gnupg.info, Node: Operational GPG Commands, Next: OpenPGP Key Management, Prev: General GPG Commands, Up: GPG Commands
2417 4.1.2 Commands to select the type of operation
2418 ----------------------------------------------
2422 Sign a message. This command may be combined with '--encrypt' (to
2423 sign and encrypt a message), '--symmetric' (to sign and
2424 symmetrically encrypt a message), or both '--encrypt' and
2425 '--symmetric' (to sign and encrypt a message that can be decrypted
2426 using a secret key or a passphrase). The signing key is chosen by
2427 default or can be set explicitly using the '--local-user' and
2428 '--default-key' options.
2432 Make a cleartext signature. The content in a cleartext signature
2433 is readable without any special software. OpenPGP software is only
2434 needed to verify the signature. cleartext signatures may modify
2435 end-of-line whitespace for platform independence and are not
2436 intended to be reversible. The signing key is chosen by default or
2437 can be set explicitly using the '--local-user' and '--default-key'
2442 Make a detached signature.
2446 Encrypt data to one or more public keys. This command may be
2447 combined with '--sign' (to sign and encrypt a message),
2448 '--symmetric' (to encrypt a message that can be decrypted using a
2449 secret key or a passphrase), or '--sign' and '--symmetric' together
2450 (for a signed message that can be decrypted using a secret key or a
2451 passphrase). '--recipient' and related options specify which
2452 public keys to use for encryption.
2456 Encrypt with a symmetric cipher using a passphrase. The default
2457 symmetric cipher used is AES-128, but may be chosen with the
2458 '--cipher-algo' option. This command may be combined with '--sign'
2459 (for a signed and symmetrically encrypted message), '--encrypt'
2460 (for a message that may be decrypted via a secret key or a
2461 passphrase), or '--sign' and '--encrypt' together (for a signed
2462 message that may be decrypted via a secret key or a passphrase).
2463 'gpg' caches the passphrase used for symmetric encryption so that a
2464 decrypt operation may not require that the user needs to enter the
2465 passphrase. The option '--no-symkey-cache' can be used to disable
2469 Store only (make a simple literal data packet).
2473 Decrypt the file given on the command line (or STDIN if no file is
2474 specified) and write it to STDOUT (or the file specified with
2475 '--output'). If the decrypted file is signed, the signature is
2476 also verified. This command differs from the default operation, as
2477 it never writes to the filename which is included in the file and
2478 it rejects files that don't begin with an encrypted message.
2481 Assume that the first argument is a signed file and verify it
2482 without generating any output. With no arguments, the signature
2483 packet is read from STDIN. If only one argument is given, the
2484 specified file is expected to include a complete signature.
2486 With more than one argument, the first argument should specify a
2487 file with a detached signature and the remaining files should
2488 contain the signed data. To read the signed data from STDIN, use
2489 '-' as the second filename. For security reasons, a detached
2490 signature will not read the signed material from STDIN if not
2491 explicitly specified.
2493 Note: If the option '--batch' is not used, 'gpg' may assume that a
2494 single argument is a file with a detached signature, and it will
2495 try to find a matching data file by stripping certain suffixes.
2496 Using this historical feature to verify a detached signature is
2497 strongly discouraged; you should always specify the data file
2500 Note: When verifying a cleartext signature, 'gpg' verifies only
2501 what makes up the cleartext signed data and not any extra data
2502 outside of the cleartext signature or the header lines directly
2503 following the dash marker line. The option '--output' may be used
2504 to write out the actual signed data, but there are other pitfalls
2505 with this format as well. It is suggested to avoid cleartext
2506 signatures in favor of detached signatures.
2508 Note: Sometimes the use of the 'gpgv' tool is easier than using the
2509 full-fledged 'gpg' with this option. 'gpgv' is designed to compare
2510 signed data against a list of trusted keys and returns with success
2511 only for a good signature. It has its own manual page.
2514 This modifies certain other commands to accept multiple files for
2515 processing on the command line or read from STDIN with each
2516 filename on a separate line. This allows for many files to be
2517 processed at once. '--multifile' may currently be used along with
2518 '--verify', '--encrypt', and '--decrypt'. Note that '--multifile
2519 --verify' may not be used with detached signatures.
2522 Identical to '--multifile --verify'.
2525 Identical to '--multifile --encrypt'.
2528 Identical to '--multifile --decrypt'.
2532 '--list-public-keys'
2533 List the specified keys. If no keys are specified, then all keys
2534 from the configured public keyrings are listed.
2536 Never use the output of this command in scripts or other programs.
2537 The output is intended only for humans and its format is likely to
2538 change. The '--with-colons' option emits the output in a stable,
2539 machine-parseable format, which is intended for use by scripts and
2542 '--list-secret-keys'
2544 List the specified secret keys. If no keys are specified, then all
2545 known secret keys are listed. A '#' after the initial tags 'sec'
2546 or 'ssb' means that the secret key or subkey is currently not
2547 usable. We also say that this key has been taken offline (for
2548 example, a primary key can be taken offline by exporting the key
2549 using the command '--export-secret-subkeys'). A '>' after these
2550 tags indicate that the key is stored on a smartcard. See also
2553 '--check-signatures'
2555 Same as '--list-keys', but the key signatures are verified and
2556 listed too. Note that for performance reasons the revocation
2557 status of a signing key is not shown. This command has the same
2558 effect as using '--list-keys' with '--with-sig-check'.
2560 The status of the verification is indicated by a flag directly
2561 following the "sig" tag (and thus before the flags described below.
2562 A "!" indicates that the signature has been successfully verified,
2563 a "-" denotes a bad signature and a "%" is used if an error
2564 occurred while checking the signature (e.g. a non supported
2565 algorithm). Signatures where the public key is not available are
2566 not listed; to see their keyids the command '--list-sigs' can be
2569 For each signature listed, there are several flags in between the
2570 signature status flag and keyid. These flags give additional
2571 information about each key signature. From left to right, they are
2572 the numbers 1-3 for certificate check level (see
2573 '--ask-cert-level'), "L" for a local or non-exportable signature
2574 (see '--lsign-key'), "R" for a nonRevocable signature (see the
2575 '--edit-key' command "nrsign"), "P" for a signature that contains a
2576 policy URL (see '--cert-policy-url'), "N" for a signature that
2577 contains a notation (see '--cert-notation'), "X" for an eXpired
2578 signature (see '--ask-cert-expire'), and the numbers 1-9 or "T" for
2579 10 and above to indicate trust signature levels (see the
2580 '--edit-key' command "tsign").
2583 '--locate-external-keys'
2584 Locate the keys given as arguments. This command basically uses
2585 the same algorithm as used when locating keys for encryption and
2586 may thus be used to see what keys 'gpg' might use. In particular
2587 external methods as defined by '--auto-key-locate' are used to
2588 locate a key if the arguments comain valid mail addresses. Only
2589 public keys are listed.
2591 The variant '--locate-external-keys' does not consider a locally
2592 existing key and can thus be used to force the refresh of a key via
2593 the defined external methods. If a fingerprint is given and and
2594 the methods defined by -auto-key-locate define LDAP servers, the
2595 key is fetched from these resources; defined non-LDAP keyservers
2599 This commands takes OpenPGP keys as input and prints information
2600 about them in the same way the command '--list-keys' does for
2601 locally stored key. In addition the list options
2602 'show-unusable-uids', 'show-unusable-subkeys', 'show-notations' and
2603 'show-policy-urls' are also enabled. As usual for automated
2604 processing, this command should be combined with the option
2608 List all keys (or the specified ones) along with their
2609 fingerprints. This is the same output as '--list-keys' but with
2610 the additional output of a line with the fingerprint. May also be
2611 combined with '--check-signatures'. If this command is given
2612 twice, the fingerprints of all secondary keys are listed too. This
2613 command also forces pretty printing of fingerprints if the keyid
2614 format has been set to "none".
2617 List only the sequence of packets. This command is only useful for
2618 debugging. When used with option '--verbose' the actual MPI values
2619 are dumped and not only their lengths. Note that the output of
2620 this command may change with new releases.
2624 Present a menu to work with a smartcard. The subcommand "help"
2625 provides an overview on available commands. For a detailed
2626 description, please see the Card HOWTO at
2627 https://gnupg.org/documentation/howtos.html#GnuPG-cardHOWTO .
2630 Show the content of the smart card.
2633 Present a menu to allow changing the PIN of a smartcard. This
2634 functionality is also available as the subcommand "passwd" with the
2635 '--edit-card' command.
2637 '--delete-keys NAME'
2638 Remove key from the public keyring. In batch mode either '--yes'
2639 is required or the key must be specified by fingerprint. This is a
2640 safeguard against accidental deletion of multiple keys. If the
2641 exclamation mark syntax is used with the fingerprint of a subkey
2642 only that subkey is deleted; if the exclamation mark is used with
2643 the fingerprint of the primary key the entire public key is
2646 '--delete-secret-keys NAME'
2647 Remove key from the secret keyring. In batch mode the key must be
2648 specified by fingerprint. The option '--yes' can be used to advise
2649 gpg-agent not to request a confirmation. This extra pre-caution is
2650 done because 'gpg' can't be sure that the secret key (as controlled
2651 by gpg-agent) is only used for the given OpenPGP public key. If
2652 the exclamation mark syntax is used with the fingerprint of a
2653 subkey only the secret part of that subkey is deleted; if the
2654 exclamation mark is used with the fingerprint of the primary key
2655 only the secret part of the primary key is deleted.
2657 '--delete-secret-and-public-key NAME'
2658 Same as '--delete-key', but if a secret key exists, it will be
2659 removed first. In batch mode the key must be specified by
2660 fingerprint. The option '--yes' can be used to advise gpg-agent
2661 not to request a confirmation.
2664 Either export all keys from all keyrings (default keyring and those
2665 registered via option '--keyring'), or if at least one name is
2666 given, those of the given name. The exported keys are written to
2667 STDOUT or to the file given with option '--output'. Use together
2668 with '--armor' to mail those keys.
2670 '--send-keys KEYIDS'
2671 Similar to '--export' but sends the keys to a keyserver.
2672 Fingerprints may be used instead of key IDs. Don't send your
2673 complete keyring to a keyserver -- select only those keys which are
2674 new or changed by you. If no KEYIDS are given, 'gpg' does nothing.
2676 Take care: Keyservers are by design write only systems and thus it
2677 is not possible to ever delete keys once they have been send to a
2680 '--export-secret-keys'
2681 '--export-secret-subkeys'
2682 Same as '--export', but exports the secret keys instead. The
2683 exported keys are written to STDOUT or to the file given with
2684 option '--output'. This command is often used along with the
2685 option '--armor' to allow for easy printing of the key for paper
2686 backup; however the external tool 'paperkey' does a better job of
2687 creating backups on paper. Note that exporting a secret key can be
2688 a security risk if the exported keys are sent over an insecure
2691 The second form of the command has the special property to render
2692 the secret part of the primary key useless; this is a GNU extension
2693 to OpenPGP and other implementations can not be expected to
2694 successfully import such a key. Its intended use is in generating
2695 a full key with an additional signing subkey on a dedicated
2696 machine. This command then exports the key without the primary key
2697 to the main machine.
2699 GnuPG may ask you to enter the passphrase for the key. This is
2700 required, because the internal protection method of the secret key
2701 is different from the one specified by the OpenPGP protocol.
2704 This command is used to export a key in the OpenSSH public key
2705 format. It requires the specification of one key by the usual
2706 means and exports the latest valid subkey which has an
2707 authentication capability to STDOUT or to the file given with
2708 option '--output'. That output can directly be added to ssh's
2709 'authorized_key' file.
2711 By specifying the key to export using a key ID or a fingerprint
2712 suffixed with an exclamation mark (!), a specific subkey or the
2713 primary key can be exported. This does not even require that the
2714 key has the authentication capability flag set.
2718 Import/merge keys. This adds the given keys to the keyring. The
2719 fast version is currently just a synonym.
2721 There are a few other options which control how this command works.
2722 Most notable here is the '--import-options merge-only' option which
2723 does not insert new keys but does only the merging of new
2724 signatures, user-IDs and subkeys.
2726 '--receive-keys KEYIDS'
2727 '--recv-keys KEYIDS'
2728 Import the keys with the given KEYIDS from a keyserver.
2731 Request updates from a keyserver for keys that already exist on the
2732 local keyring. This is useful for updating a key with the latest
2733 signatures, user IDs, etc. Calling this with no arguments will
2734 refresh the entire keyring.
2736 '--search-keys NAMES'
2737 Search the keyserver for the given NAMES. Multiple names given
2738 here will be joined together to create the search string for the
2739 keyserver. Note that keyservers search for NAMES in a different
2740 and simpler way than gpg does. The best choice is to use a mail
2741 address. Due to data privacy reasons keyservers may even not even
2742 allow searching by user id or mail address and thus may only return
2743 results when being used with the '--recv-key' command to search by
2744 key fingerprint or keyid.
2747 Retrieve keys located at the specified URIS. Note that different
2748 installations of GnuPG may support different protocols (HTTP, FTP,
2749 LDAP, etc.). When using HTTPS the system provided root
2750 certificates are used by this command.
2753 Do trust database maintenance. This command iterates over all keys
2754 and builds the Web of Trust. This is an interactive command
2755 because it may have to ask for the "ownertrust" values for keys.
2756 The user has to give an estimation of how far she trusts the owner
2757 of the displayed key to correctly certify (sign) other keys. GnuPG
2758 only asks for the ownertrust value if it has not yet been assigned
2759 to a key. Using the '--edit-key' menu, the assigned value can be
2760 changed at any time.
2763 Do trust database maintenance without user interaction. From time
2764 to time the trust database must be updated so that expired keys or
2765 signatures and the resulting changes in the Web of Trust can be
2766 tracked. Normally, GnuPG will calculate when this is required and
2767 do it automatically unless '--no-auto-check-trustdb' is set. This
2768 command can be used to force a trust database check at any time.
2769 The processing is identical to that of '--update-trustdb' but it
2770 skips keys with a not yet defined "ownertrust".
2772 For use with cron jobs, this command can be used together with
2773 '--batch' in which case the trust database check is done only if a
2774 check is needed. To force a run even in batch mode add the option
2777 '--export-ownertrust'
2778 Send the ownertrust values to STDOUT. This is useful for backup
2779 purposes as these values are the only ones which can't be
2780 re-created from a corrupted trustdb. Example:
2781 gpg --export-ownertrust > otrust.txt
2783 '--import-ownertrust'
2784 Update the trustdb with the ownertrust values stored in 'files' (or
2785 STDIN if not given); existing values will be overwritten. In case
2786 of a severely damaged trustdb and if you have a recent backup of
2787 the ownertrust values (e.g. in the file 'otrust.txt'), you may
2788 re-create the trustdb using these commands:
2791 gpg --import-ownertrust < otrust.txt
2793 '--rebuild-keydb-caches'
2794 When updating from version 1.0.6 to 1.0.7 this command should be
2795 used to create signature caches in the keyring. It might be handy
2796 in other situations too.
2800 Print message digest of algorithm ALGO for all given files or
2801 STDIN. With the second form (or a deprecated "*" for ALGO) digests
2802 for all available algorithms are printed.
2804 '--gen-random 0|1|2 COUNT'
2805 Emit COUNT random bytes of the given quality level 0, 1 or 2. If
2806 COUNT is not given or zero, an endless sequence of random bytes
2807 will be emitted. If used with '--armor' the output will be base64
2808 encoded. PLEASE, don't use this command unless you know what you
2809 are doing; it may remove precious entropy from the system!
2811 '--gen-prime MODE BITS'
2812 Use the source, Luke :-). The output format is subject to change
2817 Pack or unpack an arbitrary input into/from an OpenPGP ASCII armor.
2818 This is a GnuPG extension to OpenPGP and in general not very
2821 '--tofu-policy {auto|good|unknown|bad|ask} KEYS'
2822 Set the TOFU policy for all the bindings associated with the
2823 specified KEYS. For more information about the meaning of the
2824 policies, *note trust-model-tofu::. The KEYS may be specified
2825 either by their fingerprint (preferred) or their keyid.
2828 File: gnupg.info, Node: OpenPGP Key Management, Prev: Operational GPG Commands, Up: GPG Commands
2830 4.1.3 How to manage your keys
2831 -----------------------------
2833 This section explains the main commands for key management.
2835 '--quick-generate-key USER-ID [ALGO [USAGE [EXPIRE]]]'
2837 This is a simple command to generate a standard key with one user
2838 id. In contrast to '--generate-key' the key is generated directly
2839 without the need to answer a bunch of prompts. Unless the option
2840 '--yes' is given, the key creation will be canceled if the given
2841 user id already exists in the keyring.
2843 If invoked directly on the console without any special options an
2844 answer to a "Continue?" style confirmation prompt is required. In
2845 case the user id already exists in the keyring a second prompt to
2846 force the creation of the key will show up.
2848 If ALGO or USAGE are given, only the primary key is created and no
2849 prompts are shown. To specify an expiration date but still create
2850 a primary and subkey use "default" or "future-default" for ALGO and
2851 "default" for USAGE. For a description of these optional arguments
2852 see the command '--quick-add-key'. The USAGE accepts also the
2853 value "cert" which can be used to create a certification only
2854 primary key; the default is to a create certification and signing
2857 The EXPIRE argument can be used to specify an expiration date for
2858 the key. Several formats are supported; commonly the ISO formats
2859 "YYYY-MM-DD" or "YYYYMMDDThhmmss" are used. To make the key expire
2860 in N seconds, N days, N weeks, N months, or N years use
2861 "seconds=N", "Nd", "Nw", "Nm", or "Ny" respectively. Not
2862 specifying a value, or using "-" results in a key expiring in a
2863 reasonable default interval. The values "never", "none" can be
2864 used for no expiration date.
2866 If this command is used with '--batch', '--pinentry-mode' has been
2867 set to 'loopback', and one of the passphrase options
2868 ('--passphrase', '--passphrase-fd', or '--passphrase-file') is
2869 used, the supplied passphrase is used for the new key and the agent
2870 does not ask for it. To create a key without any protection
2871 '--passphrase ''' may be used.
2873 To create an OpenPGP key from the keys available on the currently
2874 inserted smartcard, the special string "card" can be used for ALGO.
2875 If the card features an encryption and a signing key, gpg will
2876 figure them out and creates an OpenPGP key consisting of the usual
2877 primary key and one subkey. This works only with certain
2878 smartcards. Note that the interactive '--full-gen-key' command
2879 allows to do the same but with greater flexibility in the selection
2880 of the smartcard keys.
2882 Note that it is possible to create a primary key and a subkey using
2883 non-default algorithms by using "default" and changing the default
2884 parameters using the option '--default-new-key-algo'.
2886 '--quick-set-expire FPR EXPIRE [*|SUBFPRS]'
2887 With two arguments given, directly set the expiration time of the
2888 primary key identified by FPR to EXPIRE. To remove the expiration
2889 time '0' can be used. With three arguments and the third given as
2890 an asterisk, the expiration time of all non-revoked and not yet
2891 expired subkeys are set to EXPIRE. With more than two arguments
2892 and a list of fingerprints given for SUBFPRS, all non-revoked
2893 subkeys matching these fingerprints are set to EXPIRE.
2895 '--quick-add-key FPR [ALGO [USAGE [EXPIRE]]]'
2896 Directly add a subkey to the key identified by the fingerprint FPR.
2897 Without the optional arguments an encryption subkey is added. If
2898 any of the arguments are given a more specific subkey is added.
2900 ALGO may be any of the supported algorithms or curve names given in
2901 the format as used by key listings. To use the default algorithm
2902 the string "default" or "-" can be used. Supported algorithms are
2903 "rsa", "dsa", "elg", "ed25519", "cv25519", and other ECC curves.
2904 For example the string "rsa" adds an RSA key with the default key
2905 length; a string "rsa4096" requests that the key length is 4096
2906 bits. The string "future-default" is an alias for the algorithm
2907 which will likely be used as default algorithm in future versions
2908 of gpg. To list the supported ECC curves the command 'gpg
2909 --with-colons --list-config curve' can be used.
2911 Depending on the given ALGO the subkey may either be an encryption
2912 subkey or a signing subkey. If an algorithm is capable of signing
2913 and encryption and such a subkey is desired, a USAGE string must be
2914 given. This string is either "default" or "-" to keep the default
2915 or a comma delimited list (or space delimited list) of keywords:
2916 "sign" for a signing subkey, "auth" for an authentication subkey,
2917 and "encr" for an encryption subkey ("encrypt" can be used as alias
2918 for "encr"). The valid combinations depend on the algorithm.
2920 The EXPIRE argument can be used to specify an expiration date for
2921 the key. Several formats are supported; commonly the ISO formats
2922 "YYYY-MM-DD" or "YYYYMMDDThhmmss" are used. To make the key expire
2923 in N seconds, N days, N weeks, N months, or N years use
2924 "seconds=N", "Nd", "Nw", "Nm", or "Ny" respectively. Not
2925 specifying a value, or using "-" results in a key expiring in a
2926 reasonable default interval. The values "never", "none" can be
2927 used for no expiration date.
2931 Generate a new key pair using the current default parameters. This
2932 is the standard command to create a new key. In addition to the
2933 key a revocation certificate is created and stored in the
2934 'openpgp-revocs.d' directory below the GnuPG home directory.
2936 '--full-generate-key'
2938 Generate a new key pair with dialogs for all options. This is an
2939 extended version of '--generate-key'.
2941 There is also a feature which allows you to create keys in batch
2942 mode. See the manual section "Unattended key generation" on how to
2945 '--generate-revocation NAME'
2947 Generate a revocation certificate for the complete key. To only
2948 revoke a subkey or a key signature, use the '--edit' command.
2950 This command merely creates the revocation certificate so that it
2951 can be used to revoke the key if that is ever needed. To actually
2952 revoke a key the created revocation certificate needs to be merged
2953 with the key to revoke. This is done by importing the revocation
2954 certificate using the '--import' command. Then the revoked key
2955 needs to be published, which is best done by sending the key to a
2956 keyserver (command '--send-key') and by exporting ('--export') it
2957 to a file which is then send to frequent communication partners.
2959 '--generate-designated-revocation NAME'
2960 '--desig-revoke NAME'
2961 Generate a designated revocation certificate for a key. This
2962 allows a user (with the permission of the keyholder) to revoke
2966 Present a menu which enables you to do most of the key management
2967 related tasks. It expects the specification of a key on the
2971 Toggle selection of user ID or photographic user ID with index
2972 N. Use '*' to select all and '0' to deselect all.
2975 Toggle selection of subkey with index N or key ID N. Use '*'
2976 to select all and '0' to deselect all.
2979 Make a signature on key of user 'name'. If the key is not yet
2980 signed by the default user (or the users given with '-u'), the
2981 program displays the information of the key again, together
2982 with its fingerprint and asks whether it should be signed.
2983 This question is repeated for all users specified with '-u'.
2986 Same as "sign" but the signature is marked as non-exportable
2987 and will therefore never be used by others. This may be used
2988 to make keys valid only in the local environment.
2991 Same as "sign" but the signature is marked as non-revocable
2992 and can therefore never be revoked.
2995 Make a trust signature. This is a signature that combines the
2996 notions of certification (like a regular signature), and trust
2997 (like the "trust" command). It is generally only useful in
2998 distinct communities or groups. For more information please
2999 read the sections "Trust Signature" and "Regular Expression"
3002 Note that "l" (for local / non-exportable), "nr" (for
3003 non-revocable, and "t" (for trust) may be freely mixed and prefixed
3004 to "sign" to create a signature of any type desired.
3006 If the option '--only-sign-text-ids' is specified, then any
3007 non-text based user ids (e.g., photo IDs) will not be selected for
3011 Delete a signature. Note that it is not possible to retract a
3012 signature, once it has been send to the public (i.e. to a
3013 keyserver). In that case you better use 'revsig'.
3016 Revoke a signature. For every signature which has been
3017 generated by one of the secret keys, GnuPG asks whether a
3018 revocation certificate should be generated.
3021 Check the signatures on all selected user IDs. With the extra
3022 option 'selfsig' only self-signatures are shown.
3025 Create an additional user ID.
3028 Create a photographic user ID. This will prompt for a JPEG
3029 file that will be embedded into the user ID. Note that a very
3030 large JPEG will make for a very large key. Also note that
3031 some programs will display your JPEG unchanged (GnuPG), and
3032 some programs will scale it to fit in a dialog box (PGP).
3035 Display the selected photographic user ID.
3038 Delete a user ID or photographic user ID. Note that it is not
3039 possible to retract a user id, once it has been send to the
3040 public (i.e. to a keyserver). In that case you better use
3044 Revoke a user ID or photographic user ID.
3047 Flag the current user id as the primary one, removes the
3048 primary user id flag from all other user ids and sets the
3049 timestamp of all affected self-signatures one second ahead.
3050 Note that setting a photo user ID as primary makes it primary
3051 over other photo user IDs, and setting a regular user ID as
3052 primary makes it primary over other regular user IDs.
3055 Set a preferred keyserver for the specified user ID(s). This
3056 allows other users to know where you prefer they get your key
3057 from. See '--keyserver-options honor-keyserver-url' for more
3058 on how this works. Setting a value of "none" removes an
3059 existing preferred keyserver.
3062 Set a name=value notation for the specified user ID(s). See
3063 '--cert-notation' for more on how this works. Setting a value
3064 of "none" removes all notations, setting a notation prefixed
3065 with a minus sign (-) removes that notation, and setting a
3066 notation name (without the =value) prefixed with a minus sign
3067 removes all notations with that name.
3070 List preferences from the selected user ID. This shows the
3071 actual preferences, without including any implied preferences.
3074 More verbose preferences listing for the selected user ID.
3075 This shows the preferences in effect by including the implied
3076 preferences of 3DES (cipher), SHA-1 (digest), and Uncompressed
3077 (compression) if they are not already included in the
3078 preference list. In addition, the preferred keyserver and
3079 signature notations (if any) are shown.
3082 Set the list of user ID preferences to STRING for all (or just
3083 the selected) user IDs. Calling setpref with no arguments
3084 sets the preference list to the default (either built-in or
3085 set via '--default-preference-list'), and calling setpref with
3086 "none" as the argument sets an empty preference list. Use
3087 'gpg --version' to get a list of available algorithms. Note
3088 that while you can change the preferences on an attribute user
3089 ID (aka "photo ID"), GnuPG does not select keys via attribute
3090 user IDs so these preferences will not be used by GnuPG.
3092 When setting preferences, you should list the algorithms in
3093 the order which you'd like to see them used by someone else
3094 when encrypting a message to your key. If you don't include
3095 3DES, it will be automatically added at the end. Note that
3096 there are many factors that go into choosing an algorithm (for
3097 example, your key may not be the only recipient), and so the
3098 remote OpenPGP application being used to send to you may or
3099 may not follow your exact chosen order for a given message.
3100 It will, however, only choose an algorithm that is present on
3101 the preference list of every recipient key. See also the
3102 INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER OPENPGP PROGRAMS section below.
3105 Add a subkey to this key.
3108 Generate a subkey on a card and add it to this key.
3111 Transfer the selected secret subkey (or the primary key if no
3112 subkey has been selected) to a smartcard. The secret key in
3113 the keyring will be replaced by a stub if the key could be
3114 stored successfully on the card and you use the save command
3115 later. Only certain key types may be transferred to the card.
3116 A sub menu allows you to select on what card to store the key.
3117 Note that it is not possible to get that key back from the
3118 card - if the card gets broken your secret key will be lost
3119 unless you have a backup somewhere.
3122 Restore the given FILE to a card. This command may be used to
3123 restore a backup key (as generated during card initialization)
3124 to a new card. In almost all cases this will be the
3125 encryption key. You should use this command only with the
3126 corresponding public key and make sure that the file given as
3127 argument is indeed the backup to restore. You should then
3128 select 2 to restore as encryption key. You will first be
3129 asked to enter the passphrase of the backup key and then for
3130 the Admin PIN of the card.
3133 Remove a subkey (secondary key). Note that it is not possible
3134 to retract a subkey, once it has been send to the public (i.e.
3135 to a keyserver). In that case you better use 'revkey'. Also
3136 note that this only deletes the public part of a key.
3142 Change the key or subkey expiration time. If a subkey is
3143 selected, the expiration time of this subkey will be changed.
3144 With no selection, the key expiration of the primary key is
3148 Change the owner trust value for the key. This updates the
3149 trust-db immediately and no save is required.
3153 Disable or enable an entire key. A disabled key can not
3154 normally be used for encryption.
3157 Add a designated revoker to the key. This takes one optional
3158 argument: "sensitive". If a designated revoker is marked as
3159 sensitive, it will not be exported by default (see
3163 Change the passphrase of the secret key.
3166 This is dummy command which exists only for backward
3170 Compact (by removing all signatures except the selfsig) any
3171 user ID that is no longer usable (e.g. revoked, or expired).
3172 Then, remove any signatures that are not usable by the trust
3173 calculations. Specifically, this removes any signature that
3174 does not validate, any signature that is superseded by a later
3175 signature, revoked signatures, and signatures issued by keys
3176 that are not present on the keyring.
3179 Make the key as small as possible. This removes all
3180 signatures from each user ID except for the most recent
3184 Change the usage flags (capabilities) of the primary key or of
3185 subkeys. These usage flags (e.g. Certify, Sign,
3186 Authenticate, Encrypt) are set during key creation. Sometimes
3187 it is useful to have the opportunity to change them (for
3188 example to add Authenticate) after they have been created.
3189 Please take care when doing this; the allowed usage flags
3190 depend on the key algorithm.
3193 Add cross-certification signatures to signing subkeys that may
3194 not currently have them. Cross-certification signatures
3195 protect against a subtle attack against signing subkeys. See
3196 '--require-cross-certification'. All new keys generated have
3197 this signature by default, so this command is only useful to
3198 bring older keys up to date.
3201 Save all changes to the keyring and quit.
3204 Quit the program without updating the keyring.
3206 The listing shows you the key with its secondary keys and all user
3207 IDs. The primary user ID is indicated by a dot, and selected keys
3208 or user IDs are indicated by an asterisk. The trust value is
3209 displayed with the primary key: "trust" is the assigned owner trust
3210 and "validity" is the calculated validity of the key. Validity
3211 values are also displayed for all user IDs. For possible values of
3212 trust, *note trust-values::.
3215 Signs a public key with your secret key. This is a shortcut
3216 version of the subcommand "sign" from '--edit'.
3219 Signs a public key with your secret key but marks it as
3220 non-exportable. This is a shortcut version of the subcommand
3221 "lsign" from '--edit-key'.
3223 '--quick-sign-key FPR [NAMES]'
3224 '--quick-lsign-key FPR [NAMES]'
3225 Directly sign a key from the passphrase without any further user
3226 interaction. The FPR must be the verified primary fingerprint of a
3227 key in the local keyring. If no NAMES are given, all useful user
3228 ids are signed; with given [NAMES] only useful user ids matching
3229 one of theses names are signed. By default, or if a name is
3230 prefixed with a '*', a case insensitive substring match is used.
3231 If a name is prefixed with a '=' a case sensitive exact match is
3234 The command '--quick-lsign-key' marks the signatures as
3235 non-exportable. If such a non-exportable signature already exists
3236 the '--quick-sign-key' turns it into a exportable signature. If
3237 you need to update an existing signature, for example to add or
3238 change notation data, you need to use the option
3241 This command uses reasonable defaults and thus does not provide the
3242 full flexibility of the "sign" subcommand from '--edit-key'. Its
3243 intended use is to help unattended key signing by utilizing a list
3244 of verified fingerprints.
3246 '--quick-add-uid USER-ID NEW-USER-ID'
3247 This command adds a new user id to an existing key. In contrast to
3248 the interactive sub-command 'adduid' of '--edit-key' the
3249 NEW-USER-ID is added verbatim with only leading and trailing white
3250 space removed, it is expected to be UTF-8 encoded, and no checks on
3251 its form are applied.
3253 '--quick-revoke-uid USER-ID USER-ID-TO-REVOKE'
3254 This command revokes a user ID on an existing key. It cannot be
3255 used to revoke the last user ID on key (some non-revoked user ID
3256 must remain), with revocation reason "User ID is no longer valid".
3257 If you want to specify a different revocation reason, or to supply
3258 supplementary revocation text, you should use the interactive
3259 sub-command 'revuid' of '--edit-key'.
3261 '--quick-revoke-sig FPR SIGNING-FPR [NAMES]'
3262 This command revokes the key signatures made by SIGNING-FPR from
3263 the key specified by the fingerprint FPR. With NAMES given only
3264 the signatures on user ids of the key matching any of the given
3265 names are affected (see '--quick-sign-key'). If a revocation
3266 already exists a notice is printed instead of creating a new
3267 revocation; no error is returned in this case. Note that key
3268 signature revocations may be superseded by a newer key signature
3269 and in turn again revoked.
3271 '--quick-set-primary-uid USER-ID PRIMARY-USER-ID'
3272 This command sets or updates the primary user ID flag on an
3273 existing key. USER-ID specifies the key and PRIMARY-USER-ID the
3274 user ID which shall be flagged as the primary user ID. The primary
3275 user ID flag is removed from all other user ids and the timestamp
3276 of all affected self-signatures is set one second ahead.
3278 '--change-passphrase USER-ID'
3280 Change the passphrase of the secret key belonging to the
3281 certificate specified as USER-ID. This is a shortcut for the
3282 sub-command 'passwd' of the edit key menu. When using together
3283 with the option '--dry-run' this will not actually change the
3284 passphrase but check that the current passphrase is correct.
3287 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Options, Next: GPG Configuration, Prev: GPG Commands, Up: Invoking GPG
3292 'gpg' features a bunch of options to control the exact behaviour and to
3293 change the default configuration.
3297 * GPG Configuration Options:: How to change the configuration.
3298 * GPG Key related Options:: Key related options.
3299 * GPG Input and Output:: Input and Output.
3300 * OpenPGP Options:: OpenPGP protocol specific options.
3301 * Compliance Options:: Compliance options.
3302 * GPG Esoteric Options:: Doing things one usually doesn't want to do.
3303 * Deprecated Options:: Deprecated options.
3305 Long options can be put in an options file (default
3306 "~/.gnupg/gpg.conf"). Short option names will not work - for example,
3307 "armor" is a valid option for the options file, while "a" is not. Do
3308 not write the 2 dashes, but simply the name of the option and any
3309 required arguments. Lines with a hash ('#') as the first
3310 non-white-space character are ignored. Commands may be put in this file
3311 too, but that is not generally useful as the command will execute
3312 automatically with every execution of gpg.
3314 Please remember that option parsing stops as soon as a non-option is
3315 encountered, you can explicitly stop parsing by using the special option
3319 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Configuration Options, Next: GPG Key related Options, Up: GPG Options
3321 4.2.1 How to change the configuration
3322 -------------------------------------
3324 These options are used to change the configuration and most of them are
3325 usually found in the option file.
3327 '--default-key NAME'
3328 Use NAME as the default key to sign with. If this option is not
3329 used, the default key is the first key found in the secret keyring.
3330 Note that '-u' or '--local-user' overrides this option. This
3331 option may be given multiple times. In this case, the last key for
3332 which a secret key is available is used. If there is no secret key
3333 available for any of the specified values, GnuPG will not emit an
3334 error message but continue as if this option wasn't given.
3336 '--default-recipient NAME'
3337 Use NAME as default recipient if option '--recipient' is not used
3338 and don't ask if this is a valid one. NAME must be non-empty.
3340 '--default-recipient-self'
3341 Use the default key as default recipient if option '--recipient' is
3342 not used and don't ask if this is a valid one. The default key is
3343 the first one from the secret keyring or the one set with
3346 '--no-default-recipient'
3347 Reset '--default-recipient' and '--default-recipient-self'. Should
3348 not be used in an option file.
3351 Give more information during processing. If used twice, the input
3352 data is listed in detail.
3355 Reset verbose level to 0. Should not be used in an option file.
3358 Try to be as quiet as possible. Should not be used in an option
3363 Use batch mode. Never ask, do not allow interactive commands.
3364 '--no-batch' disables this option. Note that even with a filename
3365 given on the command line, gpg might still need to read from STDIN
3366 (in particular if gpg figures that the input is a detached
3367 signature and no data file has been specified). Thus if you do not
3368 want to feed data via STDIN, you should connect STDIN to
3371 It is highly recommended to use this option along with the options
3372 '--status-fd' and '--with-colons' for any unattended use of 'gpg'.
3373 Should not be used in an option file.
3376 Make sure that the TTY (terminal) is never used for any output.
3377 This option is needed in some cases because GnuPG sometimes prints
3378 warnings to the TTY even if '--batch' is used.
3381 Assume "yes" on most questions. Should not be used in an option
3385 Assume "no" on most questions. Should not be used in an option
3388 '--list-options PARAMETERS'
3389 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options used
3390 when listing keys and signatures (that is, '--list-keys',
3391 '--check-signatures', '--list-public-keys', '--list-secret-keys',
3392 and the '--edit-key' functions). Options can be prepended with a
3393 'no-' (after the two dashes) to give the opposite meaning. The
3397 Causes '--list-keys', '--check-signatures',
3398 '--list-public-keys', and '--list-secret-keys' to display any
3399 photo IDs attached to the key. Defaults to no. See also
3400 '--photo-viewer'. Does not work with '--with-colons': see
3401 '--attribute-fd' for the appropriate way to get photo data for
3402 scripts and other frontends.
3405 Show usage information for keys and subkeys in the standard
3406 key listing. This is a list of letters indicating the allowed
3407 usage for a key ('E'=encryption, 'S'=signing,
3408 'C'=certification, 'A'=authentication). Defaults to yes.
3411 Show policy URLs in the '--check-signatures' listings.
3417 Show all, IETF standard, or user-defined signature notations
3418 in the '--check-signatures' listings. Defaults to no.
3421 Show any preferred keyserver URL in the '--check-signatures'
3422 listings. Defaults to no.
3425 Display the calculated validity of user IDs during key
3426 listings. Defaults to yes.
3429 Show revoked and expired user IDs in key listings. Defaults
3432 show-unusable-subkeys
3433 Show revoked and expired subkeys in key listings. Defaults to
3437 Display the keyring name at the head of key listings to show
3438 which keyring a given key resides on. Defaults to no.
3441 Show signature expiration dates (if any) during
3442 '--check-signatures' listings. Defaults to no.
3445 Include signature subpackets in the key listing. This option
3446 can take an optional argument list of the subpackets to list.
3447 If no argument is passed, list all subpackets. Defaults to
3448 no. This option is only meaningful when using '--with-colons'
3449 along with '--check-signatures'.
3452 For each user-id which has a valid mail address print only the
3453 fingerprint followed by the mail address.
3455 '--verify-options PARAMETERS'
3456 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options used
3457 when verifying signatures. Options can be prepended with a 'no-'
3458 to give the opposite meaning. The options are:
3461 Display any photo IDs present on the key that issued the
3462 signature. Defaults to no. See also '--photo-viewer'.
3465 Show policy URLs in the signature being verified. Defaults to
3471 Show all, IETF standard, or user-defined signature notations
3472 in the signature being verified. Defaults to IETF standard.
3475 Show any preferred keyserver URL in the signature being
3476 verified. Defaults to yes.
3479 Display the calculated validity of the user IDs on the key
3480 that issued the signature. Defaults to yes.
3483 Show revoked and expired user IDs during signature
3484 verification. Defaults to no.
3486 show-primary-uid-only
3487 Show only the primary user ID during signature verification.
3488 That is all the AKA lines as well as photo Ids are not shown
3489 with the signature verification status.
3492 Enable PKA lookups to verify sender addresses. Note that PKA
3493 is based on DNS, and so enabling this option may disclose
3494 information on when and what signatures are verified or to
3495 whom data is encrypted. This is similar to the "web bug"
3496 described for the '--auto-key-retrieve' option.
3499 Raise the trust in a signature to full if the signature passes
3500 PKA validation. This option is only meaningful if pka-lookups
3503 '--enable-large-rsa'
3504 '--disable-large-rsa'
3505 With -generate-key and -batch, enable the creation of RSA secret
3506 keys as large as 8192 bit. Note: 8192 bit is more than is
3507 generally recommended. These large keys don't significantly
3508 improve security, but they are more expensive to use, and their
3509 signatures and certifications are larger. This option is only
3510 available if the binary was build with large-secmem support.
3514 Enable hash truncation for all DSA keys even for old DSA Keys up to
3515 1024 bit. This is also the default with '--openpgp'. Note that
3516 older versions of GnuPG also required this flag to allow the
3517 generation of DSA larger than 1024 bit.
3519 '--photo-viewer STRING'
3520 This is the command line that should be run to view a photo ID.
3521 "%i" will be expanded to a filename containing the photo. "%I"
3522 does the same, except the file will not be deleted once the viewer
3523 exits. Other flags are "%k" for the key ID, "%K" for the long key
3524 ID, "%f" for the key fingerprint, "%t" for the extension of the
3525 image type (e.g. "jpg"), "%T" for the MIME type of the image (e.g.
3526 "image/jpeg"), "%v" for the single-character calculated validity of
3527 the image being viewed (e.g. "f"), "%V" for the calculated
3528 validity as a string (e.g. "full"), "%U" for a base32 encoded hash
3529 of the user ID, and "%%" for an actual percent sign. If neither %i
3530 or %I are present, then the photo will be supplied to the viewer on
3533 On Unix the default viewer is 'xloadimage -fork -quiet -title
3534 'KeyID 0x%k' STDIN' with a fallback to 'display -title 'KeyID 0x%k'
3535 %i' and finally to 'xdg-open %i'. On Windows '!ShellExecute 400
3536 %i' is used; here the command is a meta command to use that API
3537 call followed by a wait time in milliseconds which is used to give
3538 the viewer time to read the temporary image file before gpg deletes
3539 it again. Note that if your image viewer program is not secure,
3540 then executing it from gpg does not make it secure.
3542 '--exec-path STRING'
3543 Sets a list of directories to search for photo viewers If not
3544 provided photo viewers use the 'PATH' environment variable.
3547 Add FILE to the current list of keyrings. If FILE begins with a
3548 tilde and a slash, these are replaced by the $HOME directory. If
3549 the filename does not contain a slash, it is assumed to be in the
3550 GnuPG home directory ("~/.gnupg" unless '--homedir' or $GNUPGHOME
3553 Note that this adds a keyring to the current list. If the intent
3554 is to use the specified keyring alone, use '--keyring' along with
3555 '--no-default-keyring'.
3557 If the option '--no-keyring' has been used no keyrings will be used
3560 '--primary-keyring FILE'
3561 This is a varian of '--keyring' and designates FILE as the primary
3562 public keyring. This means that newly imported keys (via
3563 '--import' or keyserver '--recv-from') will go to this keyring.
3565 '--secret-keyring FILE'
3566 This is an obsolete option and ignored. All secret keys are stored
3567 in the 'private-keys-v1.d' directory below the GnuPG home
3570 '--trustdb-name FILE'
3571 Use FILE instead of the default trustdb. If FILE begins with a
3572 tilde and a slash, these are replaced by the $HOME directory. If
3573 the filename does not contain a slash, it is assumed to be in the
3574 GnuPG home directory ('~/.gnupg' if '--homedir' or $GNUPGHOME is
3578 Set the name of the home directory to DIR. If this option is not
3579 used, the home directory defaults to '~/.gnupg'. It is only
3580 recognized when given on the command line. It also overrides any
3581 home directory stated through the environment variable 'GNUPGHOME'
3582 or (on Windows systems) by means of the Registry entry
3583 HKCU\SOFTWARE\GNU\GNUPG:HOMEDIR.
3585 On Windows systems it is possible to install GnuPG as a portable
3586 application. In this case only this command line option is
3587 considered, all other ways to set a home directory are ignored.
3589 To install GnuPG as a portable application under Windows, create an
3590 empty file named 'gpgconf.ctl' in the same directory as the tool
3591 'gpgconf.exe'. The root of the installation is then that
3592 directory; or, if 'gpgconf.exe' has been installed directly below a
3593 directory named 'bin', its parent directory. You also need to make
3594 sure that the following directories exist and are writable:
3595 'ROOT/home' for the GnuPG home and 'ROOTAPPDATA/GNU/cache/gnupg'
3596 for internal cache files.
3598 '--display-charset NAME'
3599 Set the name of the native character set. This is used to convert
3600 some informational strings like user IDs to the proper UTF-8
3601 encoding. Note that this has nothing to do with the character set
3602 of data to be encrypted or signed; GnuPG does not recode
3603 user-supplied data. If this option is not used, the default
3604 character set is determined from the current locale. A verbosity
3605 level of 3 shows the chosen set. This option should not be used on
3606 Windows. Valid values for NAME are:
3609 This is the Latin 1 set.
3615 This is currently an alias for the Latin 1 set.
3618 The usual Russian set (RFC-1489).
3621 Bypass all translations and assume that the OS uses native
3626 Assume that command line arguments are given as UTF-8 strings. The
3627 default ('--no-utf8-strings') is to assume that arguments are
3628 encoded in the character set as specified by '--display-charset'.
3629 These options affect all following arguments. Both options may be
3630 used multiple times. This option should not be used in an option
3633 This option has no effect on Windows. There the internal used
3634 UTF-8 encoding is translated for console input and output. The
3635 command line arguments are expected as Unicode and translated to
3636 UTF-8. Thus when calling this program from another, make sure to
3637 use the Unicode version of CreateProcess.
3640 Read options from FILE and do not try to read them from the default
3641 options file in the homedir (see '--homedir'). This option is
3642 ignored if used in an options file.
3645 Shortcut for '--options /dev/null'. This option is detected before
3646 an attempt to open an option file. Using this option will also
3647 prevent the creation of a '~/.gnupg' homedir.
3650 '--compress-level N'
3651 '--bzip2-compress-level N'
3652 Set compression level to N for the ZIP and ZLIB compression
3653 algorithms. The default is to use the default compression level of
3654 zlib (normally 6). '--bzip2-compress-level' sets the compression
3655 level for the BZIP2 compression algorithm (defaulting to 6 as
3656 well). This is a different option from '--compress-level' since
3657 BZIP2 uses a significant amount of memory for each additional
3658 compression level. '-z' sets both. A value of 0 for N disables
3661 '--bzip2-decompress-lowmem'
3662 Use a different decompression method for BZIP2 compressed files.
3663 This alternate method uses a bit more than half the memory, but
3664 also runs at half the speed. This is useful under extreme low
3665 memory circumstances when the file was originally compressed at a
3666 high '--bzip2-compress-level'.
3668 '--mangle-dos-filenames'
3669 '--no-mangle-dos-filenames'
3670 Older version of Windows cannot handle filenames with more than one
3671 dot. '--mangle-dos-filenames' causes GnuPG to replace (rather than
3672 add to) the extension of an output filename to avoid this problem.
3673 This option is off by default and has no effect on non-Windows
3677 '--no-ask-cert-level'
3678 When making a key signature, prompt for a certification level. If
3679 this option is not specified, the certification level used is set
3680 via '--default-cert-level'. See '--default-cert-level' for
3681 information on the specific levels and how they are used.
3682 '--no-ask-cert-level' disables this option. This option defaults
3685 '--default-cert-level N'
3686 The default to use for the check level when signing a key.
3688 0 means you make no particular claim as to how carefully you
3691 1 means you believe the key is owned by the person who claims to
3692 own it but you could not, or did not verify the key at all. This
3693 is useful for a "persona" verification, where you sign the key of a
3696 2 means you did casual verification of the key. For example, this
3697 could mean that you verified the key fingerprint and checked the
3698 user ID on the key against a photo ID.
3700 3 means you did extensive verification of the key. For example,
3701 this could mean that you verified the key fingerprint with the
3702 owner of the key in person, and that you checked, by means of a
3703 hard to forge document with a photo ID (such as a passport) that
3704 the name of the key owner matches the name in the user ID on the
3705 key, and finally that you verified (by exchange of email) that the
3706 email address on the key belongs to the key owner.
3708 Note that the examples given above for levels 2 and 3 are just
3709 that: examples. In the end, it is up to you to decide just what
3710 "casual" and "extensive" mean to you.
3712 This option defaults to 0 (no particular claim).
3715 When building the trust database, treat any signatures with a
3716 certification level below this as invalid. Defaults to 2, which
3717 disregards level 1 signatures. Note that level 0 "no particular
3718 claim" signatures are always accepted.
3720 '--trusted-key LONG KEY ID OR FINGERPRINT'
3721 Assume that the specified key (which should be given as
3722 fingerprint) is as trustworthy as one of your own secret keys.
3723 This option is useful if you don't want to keep your secret keys
3724 (or one of them) online but still want to be able to check the
3725 validity of a given recipient's or signator's key. If the given
3726 key is not locally available but an LDAP keyserver is configured
3727 the missing key is imported from that server.
3729 '--trust-model {pgp|classic|tofu|tofu+pgp|direct|always|auto}'
3730 Set what trust model GnuPG should follow. The models are:
3733 This is the Web of Trust combined with trust signatures as
3734 used in PGP 5.x and later. This is the default trust model
3735 when creating a new trust database.
3738 This is the standard Web of Trust as introduced by PGP 2.
3741 TOFU stands for Trust On First Use. In this trust model, the
3742 first time a key is seen, it is memorized. If later another
3743 key with a user id with the same email address is seen, both
3744 keys are marked as suspect. In that case, the next time
3745 either is used, a warning is displayed describing the
3746 conflict, why it might have occurred (either the user
3747 generated a new key and failed to cross sign the old and new
3748 keys, the key is forgery, or a man-in-the-middle attack is
3749 being attempted), and the user is prompted to manually confirm
3750 the validity of the key in question.
3752 Because a potential attacker is able to control the email
3753 address and thereby circumvent the conflict detection
3754 algorithm by using an email address that is similar in
3755 appearance to a trusted email address, whenever a message is
3756 verified, statistics about the number of messages signed with
3757 the key are shown. In this way, a user can easily identify
3758 attacks using fake keys for regular correspondents.
3760 When compared with the Web of Trust, TOFU offers significantly
3761 weaker security guarantees. In particular, TOFU only helps
3762 ensure consistency (that is, that the binding between a key
3763 and email address doesn't change). A major advantage of TOFU
3764 is that it requires little maintenance to use correctly. To
3765 use the web of trust properly, you need to actively sign keys
3766 and mark users as trusted introducers. This is a
3767 time-consuming process and anecdotal evidence suggests that
3768 even security-conscious users rarely take the time to do this
3769 thoroughly and instead rely on an ad-hoc TOFU process.
3771 In the TOFU model, policies are associated with bindings
3772 between keys and email addresses (which are extracted from
3773 user ids and normalized). There are five policies, which can
3774 be set manually using the '--tofu-policy' option. The default
3775 policy can be set using the '--tofu-default-policy' option.
3777 The TOFU policies are: 'auto', 'good', 'unknown', 'bad' and
3778 'ask'. The 'auto' policy is used by default (unless
3779 overridden by '--tofu-default-policy') and marks a binding as
3780 marginally trusted. The 'good', 'unknown' and 'bad' policies
3781 mark a binding as fully trusted, as having unknown trust or as
3782 having trust never, respectively. The 'unknown' policy is
3783 useful for just using TOFU to detect conflicts, but to never
3784 assign positive trust to a binding. The final policy, 'ask'
3785 prompts the user to indicate the binding's trust. If batch
3786 mode is enabled (or input is inappropriate in the context),
3787 then the user is not prompted and the 'undefined' trust level
3791 This trust model combines TOFU with the Web of Trust. This is
3792 done by computing the trust level for each model and then
3793 taking the maximum trust level where the trust levels are
3794 ordered as follows: 'unknown < undefined < marginal < fully <
3795 ultimate < expired < never'.
3797 By setting '--tofu-default-policy=unknown', this model can be
3798 used to implement the web of trust with TOFU's conflict
3799 detection algorithm, but without its assignment of positive
3800 trust values, which some security-conscious users don't like.
3803 Key validity is set directly by the user and not calculated
3804 via the Web of Trust. This model is solely based on the key
3805 and does not distinguish user IDs. Note that when changing to
3806 another trust model the trust values assigned to a key are
3807 transformed into ownertrust values, which also indicate how
3808 you trust the owner of the key to sign other keys.
3811 Skip key validation and assume that used keys are always fully
3812 valid. You generally won't use this unless you are using some
3813 external validation scheme. This option also suppresses the
3814 "[uncertain]" tag printed with signature checks when there is
3815 no evidence that the user ID is bound to the key. Note that
3816 this trust model still does not allow the use of expired,
3817 revoked, or disabled keys.
3820 Select the trust model depending on whatever the internal
3821 trust database says. This is the default model if such a
3822 database already exists. Note that a tofu trust model is not
3823 considered here and must be enabled explicitly.
3825 '--auto-key-locate MECHANISMS'
3826 '--no-auto-key-locate'
3827 GnuPG can automatically locate and retrieve keys as needed using
3828 this option. This happens when encrypting to an email address (in
3829 the "user@example.com" form), and there are no "user@example.com"
3830 keys on the local keyring. This option takes any number of the
3831 mechanisms listed below, in the order they are to be tried.
3832 Instead of listing the mechanisms as comma delimited arguments, the
3833 option may also be given several times to add more mechanism. The
3834 option '--no-auto-key-locate' or the mechanism "clear" resets the
3835 list. The default is "local,wkd".
3838 Locate a key using DNS CERT, as specified in RFC-4398.
3841 Locate a key using DNS PKA.
3844 Locate a key using DANE, as specified in
3845 draft-ietf-dane-openpgpkey-05.txt.
3848 Locate a key using the Web Key Directory protocol.
3851 Using DNS Service Discovery, check the domain in question for
3852 any LDAP keyservers to use. If this fails, attempt to locate
3853 the key using the PGP Universal method of checking
3854 'ldap://keys.(thedomain)'.
3857 Locate the key using the Active Directory (Windows only).
3858 This method also allows to search by fingerprint using the
3859 command '--locate-external-key'.
3862 Locate a key using a keyserver. This method also allows to
3863 search by fingerprint using the command
3864 '--locate-external-key' if any of the configured keyservers is
3868 In addition, a keyserver URL as used in the 'dirmngr'
3869 configuration may be used here to query that particular
3870 keyserver. This method also allows to search by fingerprint
3871 using the command '--locate-external-key' if the URL specifies
3875 Locate the key using the local keyrings. This mechanism
3876 allows the user to select the order a local key lookup is
3877 done. Thus using '--auto-key-locate local' is identical to
3878 '--no-auto-key-locate'.
3881 This flag disables the standard local key lookup, done before
3882 any of the mechanisms defined by the '--auto-key-locate' are
3883 tried. The position of this mechanism in the list does not
3884 matter. It is not required if 'local' is also used.
3887 Clear all defined mechanisms. This is useful to override
3888 mechanisms given in a config file. Note that a 'nodefault' in
3889 MECHANISMS will also be cleared unless it is given after the
3893 '--no-auto-key-import'
3894 This is an offline mechanism to get a missing key for signature
3895 verification and for later encryption to this key. If this option
3896 is enabled and a signature includes an embedded key, that key is
3897 used to verify the signature and on verification success that key
3898 is imported. The default is '--no-auto-key-import'.
3900 On the sender (signing) site the option '--include-key-block' needs
3901 to be used to put the public part of the signing key as “Key Block
3902 subpacket” into the signature.
3904 '--auto-key-retrieve'
3905 '--no-auto-key-retrieve'
3906 These options enable or disable the automatic retrieving of keys
3907 from a keyserver when verifying signatures made by keys that are
3908 not on the local keyring. The default is '--no-auto-key-retrieve'.
3910 The order of methods tried to lookup the key is:
3912 1. If the option '--auto-key-import' is set and the signatures
3913 includes an embedded key, that key is used to verify the signature
3914 and on verification success that key is imported.
3916 2. If a preferred keyserver is specified in the signature and the
3917 option 'honor-keyserver-url' is active (which is not the default),
3918 that keyserver is tried. Note that the creator of the signature
3919 uses the option '--sig-keyserver-url' to specify the preferred
3920 keyserver for data signatures.
3922 3. If the signature has the Signer's UID set (e.g. using
3923 '--sender' while creating the signature) a Web Key Directory (WKD)
3924 lookup is done. This is the default configuration but can be
3925 disabled by removing WKD from the auto-key-locate list or by using
3926 the option '--disable-signer-uid'.
3928 4. If the option 'honor-pka-record' is active, the legacy PKA
3931 5. If any keyserver is configured and the Issuer Fingerprint is
3932 part of the signature (since GnuPG 2.1.16), the configured
3933 keyservers are tried.
3935 Note that this option makes a "web bug" like behavior possible.
3936 Keyserver or Web Key Directory operators can see which keys you
3937 request, so by sending you a message signed by a brand new key
3938 (which you naturally will not have on your local keyring), the
3939 operator can tell both your IP address and the time when you
3940 verified the signature.
3942 '--keyid-format {none|short|0xshort|long|0xlong}'
3943 Select how to display key IDs. "none" does not show the key ID at
3944 all but shows the fingerprint in a separate line. "short" is the
3945 traditional 8-character key ID. "long" is the more accurate (but
3946 less convenient) 16-character key ID. Add an "0x" to either to
3947 include an "0x" at the beginning of the key ID, as in 0x99242560.
3948 Note that this option is ignored if the option '--with-colons' is
3952 This option is deprecated - please use the '--keyserver' in
3953 'dirmngr.conf' instead.
3955 Use NAME as your keyserver. This is the server that
3956 '--receive-keys', '--send-keys', and '--search-keys' will
3957 communicate with to receive keys from, send keys to, and search for
3958 keys on. The format of the NAME is a URI:
3959 'scheme:[//]keyservername[:port]' The scheme is the type of
3960 keyserver: "hkp"/"hkps" for the HTTP (or compatible) keyservers or
3961 "ldap"/"ldaps" for the LDAP keyservers. Note that your particular
3962 installation of GnuPG may have other keyserver types available as
3963 well. Keyserver schemes are case-insensitive.
3965 Most keyservers synchronize with each other, so there is generally
3966 no need to send keys to more than one server. The keyserver
3967 'hkp://keys.gnupg.net' uses round robin DNS to give a different
3968 keyserver each time you use it.
3970 '--keyserver-options {NAME=VALUE}'
3971 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
3972 the keyserver. Options can be prefixed with a 'no-' to give the
3973 opposite meaning. Valid import-options or export-options may be
3974 used here as well to apply to importing ('--recv-key') or exporting
3975 ('--send-key') a key from a keyserver. While not all options are
3976 available for all keyserver types, some common options are:
3979 When searching for a key with '--search-keys', include keys
3980 that are marked on the keyserver as revoked. Note that not
3981 all keyservers differentiate between revoked and unrevoked
3982 keys, and for such keyservers this option is meaningless.
3983 Note also that most keyservers do not have cryptographic
3984 verification of key revocations, and so turning this option
3985 off may result in skipping keys that are incorrectly marked as
3989 When searching for a key with '--search-keys', include keys
3990 that are marked on the keyserver as disabled. Note that this
3991 option is not used with HKP keyservers.
3994 This is an obsolete alias for the option 'auto-key-retrieve'.
3995 Please do not use it; it will be removed in future versions..
3998 When using '--refresh-keys', if the key in question has a
3999 preferred keyserver URL, then use that preferred keyserver to
4000 refresh the key from. In addition, if auto-key-retrieve is
4001 set, and the signature being verified has a preferred
4002 keyserver URL, then use that preferred keyserver to fetch the
4003 key from. Note that this option introduces a "web bug": The
4004 creator of the key can see when the keys is refreshed. Thus
4005 this option is not enabled by default.
4008 If '--auto-key-retrieve' is used, and the signature being
4009 verified has a PKA record, then use the PKA information to
4010 fetch the key. Defaults to "yes".
4013 When receiving a key, include subkeys as potential targets.
4014 Note that this option is not used with HKP keyservers, as they
4015 do not support retrieving keys by subkey id.
4023 These options have no more function since GnuPG 2.1. Use the
4024 'dirmngr' configuration options instead.
4026 The default list of options is: "self-sigs-only, import-clean,
4027 repair-keys, repair-pks-subkey-bug, export-attributes,
4028 honor-pka-record". However, if the actual used source is an LDAP
4029 server "no-self-sigs-only" is assumed unless "self-sigs-only" has
4030 been explictly configured.
4032 '--completes-needed N'
4033 Number of completely trusted users to introduce a new key signer
4036 '--marginals-needed N'
4037 Number of marginally trusted users to introduce a new key signer
4040 '--tofu-default-policy {auto|good|unknown|bad|ask}'
4041 The default TOFU policy (defaults to 'auto'). For more information
4042 about the meaning of this option, *note trust-model-tofu::.
4044 '--max-cert-depth N'
4045 Maximum depth of a certification chain (default is 5).
4048 Do not cache the verification status of key signatures. Caching
4049 gives a much better performance in key listings. However, if you
4050 suspect that your public keyring is not safe against write
4051 modifications, you can use this option to disable the caching. It
4052 probably does not make sense to disable it because all kind of
4053 damage can be done if someone else has write access to your public
4056 '--auto-check-trustdb'
4057 '--no-auto-check-trustdb'
4058 If GnuPG feels that its information about the Web of Trust has to
4059 be updated, it automatically runs the '--check-trustdb' command
4060 internally. This may be a time consuming process.
4061 '--no-auto-check-trustdb' disables this option.
4065 This is dummy option. 'gpg' always requires the agent.
4068 This is dummy option. It has no effect when used with 'gpg'.
4070 '--agent-program FILE'
4071 Specify an agent program to be used for secret key operations. The
4072 default value is determined by running 'gpgconf' with the option
4073 '--list-dirs'. Note that the pipe symbol ('|') is used for a
4074 regression test suite hack and may thus not be used in the file
4077 '--dirmngr-program FILE'
4078 Specify a dirmngr program to be used for keyserver access. The
4079 default value is 'INSTDIR/bin/dirmngr'.
4082 Entirely disable the use of the Dirmngr.
4085 Do not start the gpg-agent or the dirmngr if it has not yet been
4086 started and its service is required. This option is mostly useful
4087 on machines where the connection to gpg-agent has been redirected
4088 to another machines. If dirmngr is required on the remote machine,
4089 it may be started manually using 'gpgconf --launch dirmngr'.
4092 Lock the databases the first time a lock is requested and do not
4093 release the lock until the process terminates.
4096 Release the locks every time a lock is no longer needed. Use this
4097 to override a previous '--lock-once' from a config file.
4100 Disable locking entirely. This option should be used only in very
4101 special environments, where it can be assured that only one process
4102 is accessing those files. A bootable floppy with a stand-alone
4103 encryption system will probably use this. Improper usage of this
4104 option may lead to data and key corruption.
4106 '--exit-on-status-write-error'
4107 This option will cause write errors on the status FD to immediately
4108 terminate the process. That should in fact be the default but it
4109 never worked this way and thus we need an option to enable this, so
4110 that the change won't break applications which close their end of a
4111 status fd connected pipe too early. Using this option along with
4112 '--enable-progress-filter' may be used to cleanly cancel long
4113 running gpg operations.
4115 '--limit-card-insert-tries N'
4116 With N greater than 0 the number of prompts asking to insert a
4117 smartcard gets limited to N-1. Thus with a value of 1 gpg won't at
4118 all ask to insert a card if none has been inserted at startup.
4119 This option is useful in the configuration file in case an
4120 application does not know about the smartcard support and waits ad
4121 infinitum for an inserted card.
4123 '--no-random-seed-file'
4124 GnuPG uses a file to store its internal random pool over
4125 invocations. This makes random generation faster; however
4126 sometimes write operations are not desired. This option can be
4127 used to achieve that with the cost of slower random generation.
4130 Suppress the initial copyright message.
4132 '--no-secmem-warning'
4133 Suppress the warning about "using insecure memory".
4135 '--no-permission-warning'
4136 Suppress the warning about unsafe file and home directory
4137 ('--homedir') permissions. Note that the permission checks that
4138 GnuPG performs are not intended to be authoritative, but rather
4139 they simply warn about certain common permission problems. Do not
4140 assume that the lack of a warning means that your system is secure.
4142 Note that the warning for unsafe '--homedir' permissions cannot be
4143 suppressed in the gpg.conf file, as this would allow an attacker to
4144 place an unsafe gpg.conf file in place, and use this file to
4145 suppress warnings about itself. The '--homedir' permissions
4146 warning may only be suppressed on the command line.
4149 '--no-require-secmem'
4150 Refuse to run if GnuPG cannot get secure memory. Defaults to no
4151 (i.e. run, but give a warning).
4153 '--require-cross-certification'
4154 '--no-require-cross-certification'
4155 When verifying a signature made from a subkey, ensure that the
4156 cross certification "back signature" on the subkey is present and
4157 valid. This protects against a subtle attack against subkeys that
4158 can sign. Defaults to '--require-cross-certification' for 'gpg'.
4162 Allow the user to do certain nonsensical or "silly" things like
4163 signing an expired or revoked key, or certain potentially
4164 incompatible things like generating unusual key types. This also
4165 disables certain warning messages about potentially incompatible
4166 actions. As the name implies, this option is for experts only. If
4167 you don't fully understand the implications of what it allows you
4168 to do, leave this off. '--no-expert' disables this option.
4171 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Key related Options, Next: GPG Input and Output, Prev: GPG Configuration Options, Up: GPG Options
4173 4.2.2 Key related options
4174 -------------------------
4178 Encrypt for user id NAME. If this option or '--hidden-recipient'
4179 is not specified, GnuPG asks for the user-id unless
4180 '--default-recipient' is given.
4182 '--hidden-recipient NAME'
4184 Encrypt for user ID NAME, but hide the key ID of this user's key.
4185 This option helps to hide the receiver of the message and is a
4186 limited countermeasure against traffic analysis. If this option or
4187 '--recipient' is not specified, GnuPG asks for the user ID unless
4188 '--default-recipient' is given.
4190 '--recipient-file FILE'
4192 This option is similar to '--recipient' except that it encrypts to
4193 a key stored in the given file. FILE must be the name of a file
4194 containing exactly one key. 'gpg' assumes that the key in this
4195 file is fully valid.
4197 '--hidden-recipient-file FILE'
4199 This option is similar to '--hidden-recipient' except that it
4200 encrypts to a key stored in the given file. FILE must be the name
4201 of a file containing exactly one key. 'gpg' assumes that the key
4202 in this file is fully valid.
4205 Same as '--recipient' but this one is intended for use in the
4206 options file and may be used with your own user-id as an
4207 "encrypt-to-self". These keys are only used when there are other
4208 recipients given either by use of '--recipient' or by the asked
4209 user id. No trust checking is performed for these user ids and
4210 even disabled keys can be used.
4212 '--hidden-encrypt-to NAME'
4213 Same as '--hidden-recipient' but this one is intended for use in
4214 the options file and may be used with your own user-id as a hidden
4215 "encrypt-to-self". These keys are only used when there are other
4216 recipients given either by use of '--recipient' or by the asked
4217 user id. No trust checking is performed for these user ids and
4218 even disabled keys can be used.
4221 Disable the use of all '--encrypt-to' and '--hidden-encrypt-to'
4224 '--group {NAME=VALUE}'
4225 Sets up a named group, which is similar to aliases in email
4226 programs. Any time the group name is a recipient ('-r' or
4227 '--recipient'), it will be expanded to the values specified.
4228 Multiple groups with the same name are automatically merged into a
4231 The values are 'key IDs' or fingerprints, but any key description
4232 is accepted. Note that a value with spaces in it will be treated
4233 as two different values. Note also there is only one level of
4234 expansion -- you cannot make an group that points to another group.
4235 When used from the command line, it may be necessary to quote the
4236 argument to this option to prevent the shell from treating it as
4240 Remove a given entry from the '--group' list.
4243 Remove all entries from the '--group' list.
4247 Use NAME as the key to sign with. Note that this option overrides
4251 This option has two purposes. MBOX must either be a complete user
4252 id with a proper mail address or just a mail address. When
4253 creating a signature this option tells gpg the user id of a key
4254 used to make a signature if the key was not directly specified by a
4255 user id. When verifying a signature the MBOX is used to restrict
4256 the information printed by the TOFU code to matching user ids.
4258 '--try-secret-key NAME'
4259 For hidden recipients GPG needs to know the keys to use for trial
4260 decryption. The key set with '--default-key' is always tried
4261 first, but this is often not sufficient. This option allows
4262 setting more keys to be used for trial decryption. Although any
4263 valid user-id specification may be used for NAME it makes sense to
4264 use at least the long keyid to avoid ambiguities. Note that
4265 gpg-agent might pop up a pinentry for a lot keys to do the trial
4266 decryption. If you want to stop all further trial decryption you
4267 may use close-window button instead of the cancel button.
4270 Don't look at the key ID as stored in the message but try all
4271 secret keys in turn to find the right decryption key. This option
4272 forces the behaviour as used by anonymous recipients (created by
4273 using '--throw-keyids' or '--hidden-recipient') and might come
4274 handy in case where an encrypted message contains a bogus key ID.
4276 '--skip-hidden-recipients'
4277 '--no-skip-hidden-recipients'
4278 During decryption skip all anonymous recipients. This option helps
4279 in the case that people use the hidden recipients feature to hide
4280 their own encrypt-to key from others. If one has many secret keys
4281 this may lead to a major annoyance because all keys are tried in
4282 turn to decrypt something which was not really intended for it.
4283 The drawback of this option is that it is currently not possible to
4284 decrypt a message which includes real anonymous recipients.
4287 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Input and Output, Next: OpenPGP Options, Prev: GPG Key related Options, Up: GPG Options
4289 4.2.3 Input and Output
4290 ----------------------
4294 Create ASCII armored output. The default is to create the binary
4298 Assume the input data is not in ASCII armored format.
4302 Write output to FILE. To write to stdout use '-' as the filename.
4305 This option sets a limit on the number of bytes that will be
4306 generated when processing a file. Since OpenPGP supports various
4307 levels of compression, it is possible that the plaintext of a given
4308 message may be significantly larger than the original OpenPGP
4309 message. While GnuPG works properly with such messages, there is
4310 often a desire to set a maximum file size that will be generated
4311 before processing is forced to stop by the OS limits. Defaults to
4312 0, which means "no limit".
4314 '--input-size-hint N'
4315 This option can be used to tell GPG the size of the input data in
4316 bytes. N must be a positive base-10 number. This option is only
4317 useful if the input is not taken from a file. GPG may use this
4318 hint to optimize its buffer allocation strategy. It is also used
4319 by the '--status-fd' line "PROGRESS" to provide a value for "total"
4320 if that is not available by other means.
4322 '--key-origin STRING[,URL]'
4323 gpg can track the origin of a key. Certain origins are implicitly
4324 known (e.g. keyserver, web key directory) and set. For a standard
4325 import the origin of the keys imported can be set with this option.
4326 To list the possible values use "help" for STRING. Some origins
4327 can store an optional URL argument. That URL can appended to
4328 STRING after a comma.
4330 '--import-options PARAMETERS'
4331 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
4332 importing keys. Options can be prepended with a 'no-' to give the
4333 opposite meaning. The options are:
4336 Allow importing key signatures marked as "local". This is not
4337 generally useful unless a shared keyring scheme is being used.
4341 Normally possible still existing ownertrust values of a key
4342 are cleared if a key is imported. This is in general
4343 desirable so that a formerly deleted key does not
4344 automatically gain an ownertrust values merely due to import.
4345 On the other hand it is sometimes necessary to re-import a
4346 trusted set of keys again but keeping already assigned
4347 ownertrust values. This can be achieved by using this option.
4349 repair-pks-subkey-bug
4350 During import, attempt to repair the damage caused by the PKS
4351 keyserver bug (pre version 0.9.6) that mangles keys with
4352 multiple subkeys. Note that this cannot completely repair the
4353 damaged key as some crucial data is removed by the keyserver,
4354 but it does at least give you back one subkey. Defaults to no
4355 for regular '--import' and to yes for keyserver
4360 Show a listing of the key as imported right before it is
4361 stored. This can be combined with the option '--dry-run' to
4362 only look at keys; the option 'show-only' is a shortcut for
4363 this combination. The command '--show-keys' is another
4364 shortcut for this. Note that suffixes like '#' for "sec" and
4365 "sbb" lines may or may not be printed.
4368 Run the entire import code but instead of storing the key to
4369 the local keyring write it to the output. The export options
4370 'export-pka' and 'export-dane' affect the output. This option
4371 can be used to remove all invalid parts from a key without the
4375 During import, allow key updates to existing keys, but do not
4376 allow any new keys to be imported. Defaults to no.
4379 After import, compact (remove all signatures except the
4380 self-signature) any user IDs from the new key that are not
4381 usable. Then, remove any signatures from the new key that are
4382 not usable. This includes signatures that were issued by keys
4383 that are not present on the keyring. This option is the same
4384 as running the '--edit-key' command "clean" after import.
4388 Accept only self-signatures while importing a key. All other
4389 key signatures are skipped at an early import stage. This
4390 option can be used with 'keyserver-options' to mitigate
4391 attempts to flood a key with bogus signatures from a
4392 keyserver. The drawback is that all other valid key
4393 signatures, as required by the Web of Trust are also not
4394 imported. Note that when using this option along with
4395 import-clean it suppresses the final clean step after merging
4396 the imported key into the existing key.
4399 After import, fix various problems with the keys. For
4400 example, this reorders signatures, and strips duplicate
4401 signatures. Defaults to yes.
4404 Import the smallest key possible. This removes all signatures
4405 except the most recent self-signature on each user ID. This
4406 option is the same as running the '--edit-key' command
4407 "minimize" after import. Defaults to no.
4411 Import in key restore mode. This imports all data which is
4412 usually skipped during import; including all GnuPG specific
4413 data. All other contradicting options are overridden.
4415 '--import-filter {NAME=EXPR}'
4416 '--export-filter {NAME=EXPR}'
4417 These options define an import/export filter which are applied to
4418 the imported/exported keyblock right before it will be
4419 stored/written. NAME defines the type of filter to use, EXPR the
4420 expression to evaluate. The option can be used several times which
4421 then appends more expression to the same NAME.
4423 The available filter types are:
4426 This filter will keep a user id packet and its dependent
4427 packets in the keyblock if the expression evaluates to true.
4430 This filter drops the selected subkeys. Currently only
4431 implemented for -export-filter.
4434 This filter drops the selected key signatures on user ids.
4435 Self-signatures are not considered. Currently only
4436 implemented for -import-filter.
4438 For the syntax of the expression see the chapter "FILTER
4439 EXPRESSIONS". The property names for the expressions depend on the
4440 actual filter type and are indicated in the following table.
4442 The available properties are:
4445 A string with the user id. (keep-uid)
4448 The addr-spec part of a user id with mailbox or the empty
4452 A number with the public key algorithm of a key or subkey
4453 packet. (drop-subkey)
4457 The first is the timestamp a public key or subkey packet was
4458 created. The second is the same but given as an ISO string,
4459 e.g. "2016-08-17". (drop-subkey)
4462 The hexified fingerprint of the current subkey or primary key.
4466 Boolean indicating whether the user id is the primary one.
4470 Boolean indicating whether a user id (keep-uid), a key
4471 (drop-subkey), or a signature (drop-sig) expired.
4474 Boolean indicating whether a user id (keep-uid) or a key
4475 (drop-subkey) has been revoked.
4478 Boolean indicating whether a primary key is disabled. (not
4482 Boolean indicating whether a key or subkey is a secret one.
4486 A string indicating the usage flags for the subkey, from the
4487 sequence "ecsa?". For example, a subkey capable of just
4488 signing and authentication would be an exact match for "sa".
4493 The first is the timestamp a signature packet was created.
4494 The second is the same but given as an ISO date string, e.g.
4495 "2016-08-17". (drop-sig)
4498 A number with the public key algorithm of a signature packet.
4502 A number with the digest algorithm of a signature packet.
4505 '--export-options PARAMETERS'
4506 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
4507 exporting keys. Options can be prepended with a 'no-' to give the
4508 opposite meaning. The options are:
4511 Allow exporting key signatures marked as "local". This is not
4512 generally useful unless a shared keyring scheme is being used.
4516 Include attribute user IDs (photo IDs) while exporting. Not
4517 including attribute user IDs is useful to export keys that are
4518 going to be used by an OpenPGP program that does not accept
4519 attribute user IDs. Defaults to yes.
4521 export-sensitive-revkeys
4522 Include designated revoker information that was marked as
4523 "sensitive". Defaults to no.
4527 Export for use as a backup. The exported data includes all
4528 data which is needed to restore the key or keys later with
4529 GnuPG. The format is basically the OpenPGP format but enhanced
4530 with GnuPG specific data. All other contradicting options are
4534 Compact (remove all signatures from) user IDs on the key being
4535 exported if the user IDs are not usable. Also, do not export
4536 any signatures that are not usable. This includes signatures
4537 that were issued by keys that are not present on the keyring.
4538 This option is the same as running the '--edit-key' command
4539 "clean" before export except that the local copy of the key is
4540 not modified. Defaults to no.
4543 Export the smallest key possible. This removes all signatures
4544 except the most recent self-signature on each user ID. This
4545 option is the same as running the '--edit-key' command
4546 "minimize" before export except that the local copy of the key
4547 is not modified. Defaults to no.
4550 Instead of outputting the key material output PKA records
4551 suitable to put into DNS zone files. An ORIGIN line is
4552 printed before each record to allow diverting the records to
4553 the corresponding zone file.
4556 Instead of outputting the key material output OpenPGP DANE
4557 records suitable to put into DNS zone files. An ORIGIN line
4558 is printed before each record to allow diverting the records
4559 to the corresponding zone file.
4562 Print key listings delimited by colons. Note that the output will
4563 be encoded in UTF-8 regardless of any '--display-charset' setting.
4564 This format is useful when GnuPG is called from scripts and other
4565 programs as it is easily machine parsed. The details of this
4566 format are documented in the file 'doc/DETAILS', which is included
4567 in the GnuPG source distribution.
4570 Do not merge primary user ID and primary key in '--with-colon'
4571 listing mode and print all timestamps as seconds since 1970-01-01.
4572 Since GnuPG 2.0.10, this mode is always used and thus this option
4573 is obsolete; it does not harm to use it though.
4575 '--legacy-list-mode'
4576 Revert to the pre-2.1 public key list mode. This only affects the
4577 human readable output and not the machine interface (i.e.
4578 '--with-colons'). Note that the legacy format does not convey
4579 suitable information for elliptic curves.
4581 '--with-fingerprint'
4582 Same as the command '--fingerprint' but changes only the format of
4583 the output and may be used together with another command.
4585 '--with-subkey-fingerprint'
4586 If a fingerprint is printed for the primary key, this option forces
4587 printing of the fingerprint for all subkeys. This could also be
4588 achieved by using the '--with-fingerprint' twice but by using this
4589 option along with keyid-format "none" a compact fingerprint is
4592 '--with-icao-spelling'
4593 Print the ICAO spelling of the fingerprint in addition to the hex
4597 Include the keygrip in the key listings. In '--with-colons' mode
4598 this is implicitly enable for secret keys.
4601 Include the locally held information on the origin and last update
4602 of a key in a key listing. In '--with-colons' mode this is always
4603 printed. This data is currently experimental and shall not be
4604 considered part of the stable API.
4607 Print a Web Key Directory identifier along with each user ID in key
4608 listings. This is an experimental feature and semantics may
4612 Include info about the presence of a secret key in public key
4613 listings done with '--with-colons'.
4616 File: gnupg.info, Node: OpenPGP Options, Next: Compliance Options, Prev: GPG Input and Output, Up: GPG Options
4618 4.2.4 OpenPGP protocol specific options
4619 ---------------------------------------
4623 Treat input files as text and store them in the OpenPGP canonical
4624 text form with standard "CRLF" line endings. This also sets the
4625 necessary flags to inform the recipient that the encrypted or
4626 signed data is text and may need its line endings converted back to
4627 whatever the local system uses. This option is useful when
4628 communicating between two platforms that have different line ending
4629 conventions (UNIX-like to Mac, Mac to Windows, etc).
4630 '--no-textmode' disables this option, and is the default.
4633 '--no-force-v3-sigs'
4635 '--no-force-v4-certs'
4636 These options are obsolete and have no effect since GnuPG 2.1.
4640 These options are obsolete and have no effect since GnuPG 2.2.8.
4641 The MDC is always used. But note: If the creation of a legacy
4642 non-MDC message is exceptionally required, the option '--rfc2440'
4645 '--disable-signer-uid'
4646 By default the user ID of the signing key is embedded in the data
4647 signature. As of now this is only done if the signing key has been
4648 specified with 'local-user' using a mail address, or with 'sender'.
4649 This information can be helpful for verifier to locate the key; see
4650 option '--auto-key-retrieve'.
4652 '--include-key-block'
4653 This option is used to embed the actual signing key into a data
4654 signature. The embedded key is stripped down to a single user id
4655 and includes only the signing subkey used to create the signature
4656 as well as as valid encryption subkeys. All other info is removed
4657 from the key to keep it and thus the signature small. This option
4658 is the OpenPGP counterpart to the 'gpgsm' option '--include-certs'.
4660 '--personal-cipher-preferences STRING'
4661 Set the list of personal cipher preferences to STRING. Use 'gpg
4662 --version' to get a list of available algorithms, and use 'none' to
4663 set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely override
4664 the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as GPG will
4665 only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipients. The
4666 most highly ranked cipher in this list is also used for the
4667 '--symmetric' encryption command.
4669 '--personal-digest-preferences STRING'
4670 Set the list of personal digest preferences to STRING. Use 'gpg
4671 --version' to get a list of available algorithms, and use 'none' to
4672 set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely override
4673 the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as GPG will
4674 only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipients. The
4675 most highly ranked digest algorithm in this list is also used when
4676 signing without encryption (e.g. '--clear-sign' or '--sign').
4678 '--personal-compress-preferences STRING'
4679 Set the list of personal compression preferences to STRING. Use
4680 'gpg --version' to get a list of available algorithms, and use
4681 'none' to set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely
4682 override the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as
4683 GPG will only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipients.
4684 The most highly ranked compression algorithm in this list is also
4685 used when there are no recipient keys to consider (e.g.
4688 '--s2k-cipher-algo NAME'
4689 Use NAME as the cipher algorithm for symmetric encryption with a
4690 passphrase if '--personal-cipher-preferences' and '--cipher-algo'
4691 are not given. The default is AES-128.
4693 '--s2k-digest-algo NAME'
4694 Use NAME as the digest algorithm used to mangle the passphrases for
4695 symmetric encryption. The default is SHA-1.
4698 Selects how passphrases for symmetric encryption are mangled. If N
4699 is 0 a plain passphrase (which is in general not recommended) will
4700 be used, a 1 adds a salt (which should not be used) to the
4701 passphrase and a 3 (the default) iterates the whole process a
4702 number of times (see '--s2k-count').
4705 Specify how many times the passphrases mangling for symmetric
4706 encryption is repeated. This value may range between 1024 and
4707 65011712 inclusive. The default is inquired from gpg-agent. Note
4708 that not all values in the 1024-65011712 range are legal and if an
4709 illegal value is selected, GnuPG will round up to the nearest legal
4710 value. This option is only meaningful if '--s2k-mode' is set to
4714 File: gnupg.info, Node: Compliance Options, Next: GPG Esoteric Options, Prev: OpenPGP Options, Up: GPG Options
4716 4.2.5 Compliance options
4717 ------------------------
4719 These options control what GnuPG is compliant to. Only one of these
4720 options may be active at a time. Note that the default setting of this
4721 is nearly always the correct one. See the INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER
4722 OPENPGP PROGRAMS section below before using one of these options.
4725 Use standard GnuPG behavior. This is essentially OpenPGP behavior
4726 (see '--openpgp'), but with some additional workarounds for common
4727 compatibility problems in different versions of PGP. This is the
4728 default option, so it is not generally needed, but it may be useful
4729 to override a different compliance option in the gpg.conf file.
4732 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict OpenPGP
4733 behavior. Use this option to reset all previous options like
4734 '--s2k-*', '--cipher-algo', '--digest-algo' and '--compress-algo'
4735 to OpenPGP compliant values. All PGP workarounds are disabled.
4738 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict RFC-4880
4739 behavior. Note that this is currently the same thing as
4743 Enable experimental features from proposed updates to RFC-4880.
4744 This option can be used in addition to the other compliance
4745 options. Warning: The behavior may change with any GnuPG release
4746 and created keys or data may not be usable with future GnuPG
4750 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict RFC-2440
4751 behavior. Note that by using this option encryption packets are
4752 created in a legacy mode without MDC protection. This is dangerous
4753 and should thus only be used for experiments. See also option
4754 '--ignore-mdc-error'.
4757 Set up all options to be as PGP 6 compliant as possible. This
4758 restricts you to the ciphers IDEA (if the IDEA plugin is
4759 installed), 3DES, and CAST5, the hashes MD5, SHA1 and RIPEMD160,
4760 and the compression algorithms none and ZIP. This also disables
4761 '--throw-keyids', and making signatures with signing subkeys as PGP
4762 6 does not understand signatures made by signing subkeys.
4764 This option implies '--escape-from-lines'.
4767 Set up all options to be as PGP 7 compliant as possible. This is
4768 identical to '--pgp6' except that MDCs are not disabled, and the
4769 list of allowable ciphers is expanded to add AES128, AES192,
4770 AES256, and TWOFISH.
4773 Set up all options to be as PGP 8 compliant as possible. PGP 8 is
4774 a lot closer to the OpenPGP standard than previous versions of PGP,
4775 so all this does is disable '--throw-keyids' and set
4776 '--escape-from-lines'. All algorithms are allowed except for the
4777 SHA224, SHA384, and SHA512 digests.
4779 '--compliance STRING'
4780 This option can be used instead of one of the options above. Valid
4781 values for STRING are the above option names (without the double
4782 dash) and possibly others as shown when using "help" for VALUE.
4785 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Esoteric Options, Next: Deprecated Options, Prev: Compliance Options, Up: GPG Options
4787 4.2.6 Doing things one usually doesn't want to do
4788 -------------------------------------------------
4792 Don't make any changes (this is not completely implemented).
4795 Changes the behaviour of some commands. This is like '--dry-run'
4796 but different in some cases. The semantic of this option may be
4797 extended in the future. Currently it only skips the actual
4798 decryption pass and therefore enables a fast listing of the
4803 Prompt before overwriting any files.
4805 '--debug-level LEVEL'
4806 Select the debug level for investigating problems. LEVEL may be a
4807 numeric value or by a keyword:
4810 No debugging at all. A value of less than 1 may be used
4811 instead of the keyword.
4813 Some basic debug messages. A value between 1 and 2 may be
4814 used instead of the keyword.
4816 More verbose debug messages. A value between 3 and 5 may be
4817 used instead of the keyword.
4819 Even more detailed messages. A value between 6 and 8 may be
4820 used instead of the keyword.
4822 All of the debug messages you can get. A value greater than 8
4823 may be used instead of the keyword. The creation of hash
4824 tracing files is only enabled if the keyword is used.
4826 How these messages are mapped to the actual debugging flags is not
4827 specified and may change with newer releases of this program. They
4828 are however carefully selected to best aid in debugging.
4831 Set debugging flags. All flags are or-ed and FLAGS may be given in
4832 C syntax (e.g. 0x0042) or as a comma separated list of flag names.
4833 To get a list of all supported flags the single word "help" can be
4837 Set all useful debugging flags.
4840 Set stdout into line buffered mode. This option is only honored
4841 when given on the command line.
4843 '--faked-system-time EPOCH'
4844 This option is only useful for testing; it sets the system time
4845 back or forth to EPOCH which is the number of seconds elapsed since
4846 the year 1970. Alternatively EPOCH may be given as a full ISO time
4847 string (e.g. "20070924T154812").
4849 If you suffix EPOCH with an exclamation mark (!), the system time
4850 will appear to be frozen at the specified time.
4852 '--enable-progress-filter'
4853 Enable certain PROGRESS status outputs. This option allows
4854 frontends to display a progress indicator while gpg is processing
4855 larger files. There is a slight performance overhead using it.
4858 Write special status strings to the file descriptor N. See the
4859 file DETAILS in the documentation for a listing of them.
4861 '--status-file FILE'
4862 Same as '--status-fd', except the status data is written to file
4866 Write log output to file descriptor N and not to STDERR.
4869 '--logger-file FILE'
4870 Same as '--logger-fd', except the logger data is written to file
4871 FILE. Use 'socket://' to log to a socket. Note that in this
4872 version of gpg the option has only an effect if '--batch' is also
4876 Write attribute subpackets to the file descriptor N. This is most
4877 useful for use with '--status-fd', since the status messages are
4878 needed to separate out the various subpackets from the stream
4879 delivered to the file descriptor.
4881 '--attribute-file FILE'
4882 Same as '--attribute-fd', except the attribute data is written to
4887 Use STRING as a comment string in cleartext signatures and ASCII
4888 armored messages or keys (see '--armor'). The default behavior is
4889 not to use a comment string. '--comment' may be repeated multiple
4890 times to get multiple comment strings. '--no-comments' removes all
4891 comments. It is a good idea to keep the length of a single comment
4892 below 60 characters to avoid problems with mail programs wrapping
4893 such lines. Note that comment lines, like all other header lines,
4894 are not protected by the signature.
4898 Force inclusion of the version string in ASCII armored output. If
4899 given once only the name of the program and the major number is
4900 emitted, given twice the minor is also emitted, given thrice the
4901 micro is added, and given four times an operating system
4902 identification is also emitted. '--no-emit-version' (default)
4903 disables the version line.
4905 '--sig-notation {NAME=VALUE}'
4906 '--cert-notation {NAME=VALUE}'
4907 '-N, --set-notation {NAME=VALUE}'
4908 Put the name value pair into the signature as notation data. NAME
4909 must consist only of printable characters or spaces, and must
4910 contain a '@' character in the form keyname@domain.example.com
4911 (substituting the appropriate keyname and domain name, of course).
4912 This is to help prevent pollution of the IETF reserved notation
4913 namespace. The '--expert' flag overrides the '@' check. VALUE may
4914 be any printable string; it will be encoded in UTF-8, so you should
4915 check that your '--display-charset' is set correctly. If you
4916 prefix NAME with an exclamation mark (!), the notation data will be
4917 flagged as critical (rfc4880:5.2.3.16). '--sig-notation' sets a
4918 notation for data signatures. '--cert-notation' sets a notation
4919 for key signatures (certifications). '--set-notation' sets both.
4921 There are special codes that may be used in notation names. "%k"
4922 will be expanded into the key ID of the key being signed, "%K" into
4923 the long key ID of the key being signed, "%f" into the fingerprint
4924 of the key being signed, "%s" into the key ID of the key making the
4925 signature, "%S" into the long key ID of the key making the
4926 signature, "%g" into the fingerprint of the key making the
4927 signature (which might be a subkey), "%p" into the fingerprint of
4928 the primary key of the key making the signature, "%c" into the
4929 signature count from the OpenPGP smartcard, and "%%" results in a
4930 single "%". %k, %K, and %f are only meaningful when making a key
4931 signature (certification), and %c is only meaningful when using the
4934 '--known-notation NAME'
4935 Adds NAME to a list of known critical signature notations. The
4936 effect of this is that gpg will not mark a signature with a
4937 critical signature notation of that name as bad. Note that gpg
4938 already knows by default about a few critical signatures notation
4941 '--sig-policy-url STRING'
4942 '--cert-policy-url STRING'
4943 '--set-policy-url STRING'
4944 Use STRING as a Policy URL for signatures (rfc4880:5.2.3.20). If
4945 you prefix it with an exclamation mark (!), the policy URL packet
4946 will be flagged as critical. '--sig-policy-url' sets a policy url
4947 for data signatures. '--cert-policy-url' sets a policy url for key
4948 signatures (certifications). '--set-policy-url' sets both.
4950 The same %-expandos used for notation data are available here as
4953 '--sig-keyserver-url STRING'
4954 Use STRING as a preferred keyserver URL for data signatures. If
4955 you prefix it with an exclamation mark (!), the keyserver URL
4956 packet will be flagged as critical.
4958 The same %-expandos used for notation data are available here as
4961 '--set-filename STRING'
4962 Use STRING as the filename which is stored inside messages. This
4963 overrides the default, which is to use the actual filename of the
4964 file being encrypted. Using the empty string for STRING
4965 effectively removes the filename from the output.
4967 '--for-your-eyes-only'
4968 '--no-for-your-eyes-only'
4969 Set the 'for your eyes only' flag in the message. This causes
4970 GnuPG to refuse to save the file unless the '--output' option is
4971 given, and PGP to use a "secure viewer" with a claimed
4972 Tempest-resistant font to display the message. This option
4973 overrides '--set-filename'. '--no-for-your-eyes-only' disables
4976 '--use-embedded-filename'
4977 '--no-use-embedded-filename'
4978 Try to create a file with a name as embedded in the data. This can
4979 be a dangerous option as it enables overwriting files. Defaults to
4980 no. Note that the option '--output' overrides this option.
4982 '--cipher-algo NAME'
4983 Use NAME as cipher algorithm. Running the program with the command
4984 '--version' yields a list of supported algorithms. If this is not
4985 used the cipher algorithm is selected from the preferences stored
4986 with the key. In general, you do not want to use this option as it
4987 allows you to violate the OpenPGP standard.
4988 '--personal-cipher-preferences' is the safe way to accomplish the
4991 '--digest-algo NAME'
4992 Use NAME as the message digest algorithm. Running the program with
4993 the command '--version' yields a list of supported algorithms. In
4994 general, you do not want to use this option as it allows you to
4995 violate the OpenPGP standard. '--personal-digest-preferences' is
4996 the safe way to accomplish the same thing.
4998 '--compress-algo NAME'
4999 Use compression algorithm NAME. "zlib" is RFC-1950 ZLIB
5000 compression. "zip" is RFC-1951 ZIP compression which is used by
5001 PGP. "bzip2" is a more modern compression scheme that can compress
5002 some things better than zip or zlib, but at the cost of more memory
5003 used during compression and decompression. "uncompressed" or
5004 "none" disables compression. If this option is not used, the
5005 default behavior is to examine the recipient key preferences to see
5006 which algorithms the recipient supports. If all else fails, ZIP is
5007 used for maximum compatibility.
5009 ZLIB may give better compression results than ZIP, as the
5010 compression window size is not limited to 8k. BZIP2 may give even
5011 better compression results than that, but will use a significantly
5012 larger amount of memory while compressing and decompressing. This
5013 may be significant in low memory situations. Note, however, that
5014 PGP (all versions) only supports ZIP compression. Using any
5015 algorithm other than ZIP or "none" will make the message unreadable
5016 with PGP. In general, you do not want to use this option as it
5017 allows you to violate the OpenPGP standard.
5018 '--personal-compress-preferences' is the safe way to accomplish the
5021 '--cert-digest-algo NAME'
5022 Use NAME as the message digest algorithm used when signing a key.
5023 Running the program with the command '--version' yields a list of
5024 supported algorithms. Be aware that if you choose an algorithm
5025 that GnuPG supports but other OpenPGP implementations do not, then
5026 some users will not be able to use the key signatures you make, or
5027 quite possibly your entire key.
5029 '--disable-cipher-algo NAME'
5030 Never allow the use of NAME as cipher algorithm. The given name
5031 will not be checked so that a later loaded algorithm will still get
5034 '--disable-pubkey-algo NAME'
5035 Never allow the use of NAME as public key algorithm. The given
5036 name will not be checked so that a later loaded algorithm will
5041 Do not put the recipient key IDs into encrypted messages. This
5042 helps to hide the receivers of the message and is a limited
5043 countermeasure against traffic analysis.(1) On the receiving side,
5044 it may slow down the decryption process because all available
5045 secret keys must be tried. '--no-throw-keyids' disables this
5046 option. This option is essentially the same as using
5047 '--hidden-recipient' for all recipients.
5049 '--not-dash-escaped'
5050 This option changes the behavior of cleartext signatures so that
5051 they can be used for patch files. You should not send such an
5052 armored file via email because all spaces and line endings are
5053 hashed too. You can not use this option for data which has 5
5054 dashes at the beginning of a line, patch files don't have this. A
5055 special armor header line tells GnuPG about this cleartext
5058 '--escape-from-lines'
5059 '--no-escape-from-lines'
5060 Because some mailers change lines starting with "From " to ">From "
5061 it is good to handle such lines in a special way when creating
5062 cleartext signatures to prevent the mail system from breaking the
5063 signature. Note that all other PGP versions do it this way too.
5064 Enabled by default. '--no-escape-from-lines' disables this option.
5066 '--passphrase-repeat N'
5067 Specify how many times 'gpg' will request a new passphrase be
5068 repeated. This is useful for helping memorize a passphrase.
5069 Defaults to 1 repetition; can be set to 0 to disable any passphrase
5070 repetition. Note that a N greater than 1 will pop up the pinentry
5071 window N+1 times even if a modern pinentry with two entry fields is
5075 Read the passphrase from file descriptor N. Only the first line
5076 will be read from file descriptor N. If you use 0 for N, the
5077 passphrase will be read from STDIN. This can only be used if only
5078 one passphrase is supplied.
5080 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
5081 option '--batch' has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
5082 '--pinentry-mode' also needs to be set to 'loopback'.
5084 '--passphrase-file FILE'
5085 Read the passphrase from file FILE. Only the first line will be
5086 read from file FILE. This can only be used if only one passphrase
5087 is supplied. Obviously, a passphrase stored in a file is of
5088 questionable security if other users can read this file. Don't use
5089 this option if you can avoid it.
5091 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
5092 option '--batch' has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
5093 '--pinentry-mode' also needs to be set to 'loopback'.
5095 '--passphrase STRING'
5096 Use STRING as the passphrase. This can only be used if only one
5097 passphrase is supplied. Obviously, this is of very questionable
5098 security on a multi-user system. Don't use this option if you can
5101 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
5102 option '--batch' has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
5103 '--pinentry-mode' also needs to be set to 'loopback'.
5105 '--pinentry-mode MODE'
5106 Set the pinentry mode to MODE. Allowed values for MODE are:
5108 Use the default of the agent, which is 'ask'.
5110 Force the use of the Pinentry.
5112 Emulate use of Pinentry's cancel button.
5114 Return a Pinentry error ("No Pinentry").
5116 Redirect Pinentry queries to the caller. Note that in
5117 contrast to Pinentry the user is not prompted again if he
5118 enters a bad password.
5121 Disable the passphrase cache used for symmetrical en- and
5122 decryption. This cache is based on the message specific salt value
5125 '--request-origin ORIGIN'
5126 Tell gpg to assume that the operation ultimately originated at
5127 ORIGIN. Depending on the origin certain restrictions are applied
5128 and the Pinentry may include an extra note on the origin.
5129 Supported values for ORIGIN are: 'local' which is the default,
5130 'remote' to indicate a remote origin or 'browser' for an operation
5131 requested by a web browser.
5134 This is a replacement for the deprecated shared-memory IPC mode.
5135 If this option is enabled, user input on questions is not expected
5136 from the TTY but from the given file descriptor. It should be used
5137 together with '--status-fd'. See the file doc/DETAILS in the
5138 source distribution for details on how to use it.
5140 '--command-file FILE'
5141 Same as '--command-fd', except the commands are read out of file
5144 '--allow-non-selfsigned-uid'
5145 '--no-allow-non-selfsigned-uid'
5146 Allow the import and use of keys with user IDs which are not
5147 self-signed. This is not recommended, as a non self-signed user ID
5148 is trivial to forge. '--no-allow-non-selfsigned-uid' disables.
5150 '--allow-freeform-uid'
5151 Disable all checks on the form of the user ID while generating a
5152 new one. This option should only be used in very special
5153 environments as it does not ensure the de-facto standard format of
5156 '--ignore-time-conflict'
5157 GnuPG normally checks that the timestamps associated with keys and
5158 signatures have plausible values. However, sometimes a signature
5159 seems to be older than the key due to clock problems. This option
5160 makes these checks just a warning. See also '--ignore-valid-from'
5161 for timestamp issues on subkeys.
5163 '--ignore-valid-from'
5164 GnuPG normally does not select and use subkeys created in the
5165 future. This option allows the use of such keys and thus exhibits
5166 the pre-1.0.7 behaviour. You should not use this option unless
5167 there is some clock problem. See also '--ignore-time-conflict' for
5168 timestamp issues with signatures.
5170 '--ignore-crc-error'
5171 The ASCII armor used by OpenPGP is protected by a CRC checksum
5172 against transmission errors. Occasionally the CRC gets mangled
5173 somewhere on the transmission channel but the actual content (which
5174 is protected by the OpenPGP protocol anyway) is still okay. This
5175 option allows GnuPG to ignore CRC errors.
5177 '--ignore-mdc-error'
5178 This option changes a MDC integrity protection failure into a
5179 warning. It is required to decrypt old messages which did not use
5180 an MDC. It may also be useful if a message is partially garbled,
5181 but it is necessary to get as much data as possible out of that
5182 garbled message. Be aware that a missing or failed MDC can be an
5183 indication of an attack. Use with great caution; see also option
5186 '--allow-weak-digest-algos'
5187 Signatures made with known-weak digest algorithms are normally
5188 rejected with an "invalid digest algorithm" message. This option
5189 allows the verification of signatures made with such weak
5190 algorithms. MD5 is the only digest algorithm considered weak by
5191 default. See also '--weak-digest' to reject other digest
5194 '--weak-digest NAME'
5195 Treat the specified digest algorithm as weak. Signatures made over
5196 weak digests algorithms are normally rejected. This option can be
5197 supplied multiple times if multiple algorithms should be considered
5198 weak. See also '--allow-weak-digest-algos' to disable rejection of
5199 weak digests. MD5 is always considered weak, and does not need to
5200 be listed explicitly.
5202 '--allow-weak-key-signatures'
5203 To avoid a minor risk of collision attacks on third-party key
5204 signatures made using SHA-1, those key signatures are considered
5205 invalid. This options allows to override this restriction.
5207 '--no-default-keyring'
5208 Do not add the default keyring to the list of keyrings. Note that
5209 GnuPG needs for almost all operations a keyring. Thus if you use
5210 this option and do not provide alternate keyrings via '--keyring',
5211 then GnuPG will still use the default keyring.
5214 Do not use any keyring at all. This overrides the default and all
5215 options which specify keyrings.
5218 Skip the signature verification step. This may be used to make the
5219 decryption faster if the signature verification is not needed.
5222 Print key listings delimited by colons (like '--with-colons') and
5223 print the public key data.
5227 Same as '--list-keys', but the signatures are listed too. This
5228 command has the same effect as using '--list-keys' with
5229 '--with-sig-list'. Note that in contrast to '--check-signatures'
5230 the key signatures are not verified. This command can be used to
5231 create a list of signing keys missing in the local keyring; for
5234 gpg --list-sigs --with-colons USERID | \
5235 awk -F: '$1=="sig" && $2=="?" {if($13){print $13}else{print $5}}'
5238 Changes the output of the list commands to work faster; this is
5239 achieved by leaving some parts empty. Some applications don't need
5240 the user ID and the trust information given in the listings. By
5241 using this options they can get a faster listing. The exact
5242 behaviour of this option may change in future versions. If you are
5243 missing some information, don't use this option.
5246 This is not for normal use. Use the source to see for what it
5250 This is not for normal use. Use the source to see for what it
5253 '--show-session-key'
5254 Display the session key used for one message. See
5255 '--override-session-key' for the counterpart of this option.
5257 We think that Key Escrow is a Bad Thing; however the user should
5258 have the freedom to decide whether to go to prison or to reveal the
5259 content of one specific message without compromising all messages
5260 ever encrypted for one secret key.
5262 You can also use this option if you receive an encrypted message
5263 which is abusive or offensive, to prove to the administrators of
5264 the messaging system that the ciphertext transmitted corresponds to
5265 an inappropriate plaintext so they can take action against the
5268 '--override-session-key STRING'
5269 '--override-session-key-fd FD'
5270 Don't use the public key but the session key STRING respective the
5271 session key taken from the first line read from file descriptor FD.
5272 The format of this string is the same as the one printed by
5273 '--show-session-key'. This option is normally not used but comes
5274 handy in case someone forces you to reveal the content of an
5275 encrypted message; using this option you can do this without
5276 handing out the secret key. Note that using
5277 '--override-session-key' may reveal the session key to all local
5278 users via the global process table. Often it is useful to combine
5279 this option with '--no-keyring'.
5282 '--no-ask-sig-expire'
5283 When making a data signature, prompt for an expiration time. If
5284 this option is not specified, the expiration time set via
5285 '--default-sig-expire' is used. '--no-ask-sig-expire' disables
5288 '--default-sig-expire'
5289 The default expiration time to use for signature expiration. Valid
5290 values are "0" for no expiration, a number followed by the letter d
5291 (for days), w (for weeks), m (for months), or y (for years) (for
5292 example "2m" for two months, or "5y" for five years), or an
5293 absolute date in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to "0".
5296 '--no-ask-cert-expire'
5297 When making a key signature, prompt for an expiration time. If
5298 this option is not specified, the expiration time set via
5299 '--default-cert-expire' is used. '--no-ask-cert-expire' disables
5302 '--default-cert-expire'
5303 The default expiration time to use for key signature expiration.
5304 Valid values are "0" for no expiration, a number followed by the
5305 letter d (for days), w (for weeks), m (for months), or y (for
5306 years) (for example "2m" for two months, or "5y" for five years),
5307 or an absolute date in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to "0".
5309 '--default-new-key-algo STRING'
5310 This option can be used to change the default algorithms for key
5311 generation. The STRING is similar to the arguments required for
5312 the command '--quick-add-key' but slightly different. For example
5313 the current default of '"rsa2048/cert,sign+rsa2048/encr"' (or
5314 '"rsa3072"') can be changed to the value of what we currently call
5315 future default, which is '"ed25519/cert,sign+cv25519/encr"'. You
5316 need to consult the source code to learn the details. Note that
5317 the advanced key generation commands can always be used to specify
5318 a key algorithm directly.
5321 This option modifies the behaviour of the commands
5322 '--quick-sign-key', '--quick-lsign-key', and the "sign"
5323 sub-commands of '--edit-key' by forcing the creation of a key
5324 signature, even if one already exists.
5326 '--allow-secret-key-import'
5327 This is an obsolete option and is not used anywhere.
5329 '--allow-multiple-messages'
5330 '--no-allow-multiple-messages'
5331 Allow processing of multiple OpenPGP messages contained in a single
5332 file or stream. Some programs that call GPG are not prepared to
5333 deal with multiple messages being processed together, so this
5334 option defaults to no. Note that versions of GPG prior to 1.4.7
5335 always allowed multiple messages. Future versions of GnUPG will
5338 Warning: Do not use this option unless you need it as a temporary
5341 '--enable-special-filenames'
5342 This option enables a mode in which filenames of the form '-&n',
5343 where n is a non-negative decimal number, refer to the file
5344 descriptor n and not to a file with that name.
5346 '--no-expensive-trust-checks'
5347 Experimental use only.
5349 '--preserve-permissions'
5350 Don't change the permissions of a secret keyring back to user
5351 read/write only. Use this option only if you really know what you
5354 '--default-preference-list STRING'
5355 Set the list of default preferences to STRING. This preference
5356 list is used for new keys and becomes the default for "setpref" in
5359 '--default-keyserver-url NAME'
5360 Set the default keyserver URL to NAME. This keyserver will be used
5361 as the keyserver URL when writing a new self-signature on a key,
5362 which includes key generation and changing preferences.
5365 Display various internal configuration parameters of GnuPG. This
5366 option is intended for external programs that call GnuPG to perform
5367 tasks, and is thus not generally useful. See the file
5368 'doc/DETAILS' in the source distribution for the details of which
5369 configuration items may be listed. '--list-config' is only usable
5370 with '--with-colons' set.
5372 '--list-gcrypt-config'
5373 Display various internal configuration parameters of Libgcrypt.
5376 This command is similar to '--list-config' but in general only
5377 internally used by the 'gpgconf' tool.
5380 This is more or less dummy action. However it parses the
5381 configuration file and returns with failure if the configuration
5382 file would prevent 'gpg' from startup. Thus it may be used to run
5383 a syntax check on the configuration file.
5385 ---------- Footnotes ----------
5387 (1) Using a little social engineering anyone who is able to decrypt
5388 the message can check whether one of the other recipients is the one he
5392 File: gnupg.info, Node: Deprecated Options, Prev: GPG Esoteric Options, Up: GPG Options
5394 4.2.7 Deprecated options
5395 ------------------------
5399 Causes '--list-keys', '--list-signatures', '--list-public-keys',
5400 '--list-secret-keys', and verifying a signature to also display the
5401 photo ID attached to the key, if any. See also '--photo-viewer'.
5402 These options are deprecated. Use '--list-options
5403 [no-]show-photos' and/or '--verify-options [no-]show-photos'
5407 Display the keyring name at the head of key listings to show which
5408 keyring a given key resides on. This option is deprecated: use
5409 '--list-options [no-]show-keyring' instead.
5412 Identical to '--trust-model always'. This option is deprecated.
5415 '--no-show-notation'
5416 Show signature notations in the '--list-signatures' or
5417 '--check-signatures' listings as well as when verifying a signature
5418 with a notation in it. These options are deprecated. Use
5419 '--list-options [no-]show-notation' and/or '--verify-options
5420 [no-]show-notation' instead.
5423 '--no-show-policy-url'
5424 Show policy URLs in the '--list-signatures' or '--check-signatures'
5425 listings as well as when verifying a signature with a policy URL in
5426 it. These options are deprecated. Use '--list-options
5427 [no-]show-policy-url' and/or '--verify-options
5428 [no-]show-policy-url' instead.
5431 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Configuration, Next: GPG Examples, Prev: GPG Options, Up: Invoking GPG
5433 4.3 Configuration files
5434 =======================
5436 There are a few configuration files to control certain aspects of
5437 'gpg''s operation. Unless noted, they are expected in the current home
5438 directory (*note option --homedir::).
5441 This is the standard configuration file read by 'gpg' on startup.
5442 It may contain any valid long option; the leading two dashes may
5443 not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated. This default
5444 name may be changed on the command line (*note gpg-option
5445 --options::). You should backup this file.
5447 Note that on larger installations, it is useful to put predefined
5448 files into the directory 'APPDATA/GNU/etc/skel/.gnupg' so that newly
5449 created users start up with a working configuration. For existing users
5450 a small helper script is provided to create these files (*note
5453 For internal purposes 'gpg' creates and maintains a few other files;
5454 They all live in the current home directory (*note option --homedir::).
5455 Only the 'gpg' program may modify these files.
5458 This is the default home directory which is used if neither the
5459 environment variable 'GNUPGHOME' nor the option '--homedir' is
5462 '~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg'
5463 The public keyring using a legacy format. You should backup this
5466 If this file is not available, 'gpg' defaults to the new keybox
5467 format and creates a file 'pubring.kbx' unless that file already
5468 exists in which case that file will also be used for OpenPGP keys.
5470 Note that in the case that both files, 'pubring.gpg' and
5471 'pubring.kbx' exists but the latter has no OpenPGP keys, the legacy
5472 file 'pubring.gpg' will be used. Take care: GnuPG versions before
5473 2.1 will always use the file 'pubring.gpg' because they do not know
5474 about the new keybox format. In the case that you have to use
5475 GnuPG 1.4 to decrypt archived data you should keep this file.
5477 '~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg.lock'
5478 The lock file for the public keyring.
5480 '~/.gnupg/pubring.kbx'
5481 The public keyring using the new keybox format. This file is
5482 shared with 'gpgsm'. You should backup this file. See above for
5483 the relation between this file and it predecessor.
5485 To convert an existing 'pubring.gpg' file to the keybox format, you
5486 first backup the ownertrust values, then rename 'pubring.gpg' to
5487 'publickeys.backup', so it won’t be recognized by any GnuPG
5488 version, run import, and finally restore the ownertrust values:
5491 $ gpg --export-ownertrust >otrust.lst
5492 $ mv pubring.gpg publickeys.backup
5493 $ gpg --import-options restore --import publickeys.backups
5494 $ gpg --import-ownertrust otrust.lst
5496 '~/.gnupg/pubring.kbx.lock'
5497 The lock file for 'pubring.kbx'.
5499 '~/.gnupg/secring.gpg'
5500 The legacy secret keyring as used by GnuPG versions before 2.1. It
5501 is not used by GnuPG 2.1 and later. You may want to keep it in
5502 case you have to use GnuPG 1.4 to decrypt archived data.
5504 '~/.gnupg/secring.gpg.lock'
5505 The lock file for the legacy secret keyring.
5507 '~/.gnupg/.gpg-v21-migrated'
5508 File indicating that a migration to GnuPG 2.1 has been done.
5510 '~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg'
5511 The trust database. There is no need to backup this file; it is
5512 better to backup the ownertrust values (*note option
5513 --export-ownertrust::).
5515 '~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg.lock'
5516 The lock file for the trust database.
5518 '~/.gnupg/random_seed'
5519 A file used to preserve the state of the internal random pool.
5521 '~/.gnupg/openpgp-revocs.d/'
5522 This is the directory where gpg stores pre-generated revocation
5523 certificates. The file name corresponds to the OpenPGP fingerprint
5524 of the respective key. It is suggested to backup those
5525 certificates and if the primary private key is not stored on the
5526 disk to move them to an external storage device. Anyone who can
5527 access theses files is able to revoke the corresponding key. You
5528 may want to print them out. You should backup all files in this
5529 directory and take care to keep this backup closed away.
5531 Operation is further controlled by a few environment variables:
5534 Used to locate the default home directory.
5537 If set directory used instead of "~/.gnupg".
5540 This variable is obsolete; it was used by GnuPG versions before
5544 This value is passed via gpg-agent to pinentry. It is useful to
5545 convey extra information to a custom pinentry.
5549 Used to size some displays to the full size of the screen.
5552 Apart from its use by GNU, it is used in the W32 version to
5553 override the language selection done through the Registry. If used
5554 and set to a valid and available language name (LANGID), the file
5555 with the translation is loaded from 'GPGDIR/gnupg.nls/LANGID.mo'.
5556 Here GPGDIR is the directory out of which the gpg binary has been
5557 loaded. If it can't be loaded the Registry is tried and as last
5558 resort the native Windows locale system is used.
5560 When calling the gpg-agent component 'gpg' sends a set of environment
5561 variables to gpg-agent. The names of these variables can be listed
5564 gpg-connect-agent 'getinfo std_env_names' /bye | awk '$1=="D" {print $2}'
5567 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Examples, Next: Unattended Usage of GPG, Prev: GPG Configuration, Up: Invoking GPG
5572 gpg -se -r 'Bob' 'file'
5573 sign and encrypt for user Bob
5575 gpg -clear-sign 'file'
5576 make a cleartext signature
5579 make a detached signature
5581 gpg -u 0x12345678 -sb 'file'
5582 make a detached signature with the key 0x12345678
5584 gpg -list-keys 'user_ID'
5587 gpg -fingerprint 'user_ID'
5590 gpg -verify 'pgpfile'
5591 gpg -verify 'sigfile' ['datafile']
5592 Verify the signature of the file but do not output the data unless
5593 requested. The second form is used for detached signatures, where
5594 'sigfile' is the detached signature (either ASCII armored or
5595 binary) and 'datafile' are the signed data; if this is not given,
5596 the name of the file holding the signed data is constructed by
5597 cutting off the extension (".asc" or ".sig") of 'sigfile' or by
5598 asking the user for the filename. If the option '--output' is also
5599 used the signed data is written to the file specified by that
5600 option; use '-' to write the signed data to stdout.
5605 The options '--import-filter' and '--export-filter' use expressions with
5606 this syntax (square brackets indicate an optional part and curly braces
5607 a repetition, white space between the elements are allowed):
5609 [lc] {[{flag}] PROPNAME op VALUE [lc]}
5611 The name of a property (PROPNAME) may only consist of letters, digits
5612 and underscores. The description for the filter type describes which
5613 properties are defined. If an undefined property is used it evaluates
5614 to the empty string. Unless otherwise noted, the VALUE must always be
5615 given and may not be the empty string. No quoting is defined for the
5616 value, thus the value may not contain the strings '&&' or '||', which
5617 are used as logical connection operators. The flag '--' can be used to
5618 remove this restriction.
5620 Numerical values are computed as long int; standard C notation
5621 applies. LC is the logical connection operator; either '&&' for a
5622 conjunction or '||' for a disjunction. A conjunction is assumed at the
5623 begin of an expression. Conjunctions have higher precedence than
5624 disjunctions. If VALUE starts with one of the characters used in any OP
5625 a space after the OP is required.
5627 The supported operators (OP) are:
5630 Substring must match.
5633 Substring must not match.
5636 The full string must match.
5639 The full string must not match.
5642 The numerical value must match.
5645 The numerical value must not match.
5648 The numerical value of the field must be LE than the value.
5651 The numerical value of the field must be LT than the value.
5654 The numerical value of the field must be GT than the value.
5657 The numerical value of the field must be GE than the value.
5660 The string value of the field must be less or equal than the value.
5663 The string value of the field must be less than the value.
5666 The string value of the field must be greater than the value.
5669 The string value of the field must be greater or equal than the
5673 True if value is not empty (no value allowed).
5676 True if value is empty (no value allowed).
5679 Alias for "PROPNAME != 0" (no value allowed).
5682 Alias for "PROPNAME == 0" (no value allowed).
5684 Values for FLAG must be space separated. The supported flags are:
5687 VALUE spans to the end of the expression.
5689 The string match in this part is done case-sensitive.
5691 Leading and trailing spaces are not removed from VALUE. The
5692 optional single space after OP is here required.
5694 The filter options concatenate several specifications for a filter of
5695 the same type. For example the four options in this example:
5697 --import-filter keep-uid="uid =~ Alfa"
5698 --import-filter keep-uid="&& uid !~ Test"
5699 --import-filter keep-uid="|| uid =~ Alpha"
5700 --import-filter keep-uid="uid !~ Test"
5702 which is equivalent to
5705 keep-uid="uid =~ Alfa" && uid !~ Test" || uid =~ Alpha" && "uid !~ Test"
5707 imports only the user ids of a key containing the strings "Alfa" or
5708 "Alpha" but not the string "test".
5713 The program returns 0 if there are no severe errors, 1 if at least a
5714 signature was bad, and other error codes for fatal errors.
5716 Note that signature verification requires exact knowledge of what has
5717 been signed and by whom it has beensigned. Using only the return code
5718 is thus not an appropriate way to verify a signature by a script.
5719 Either make proper use or the status codes or use the 'gpgv' tool which
5720 has been designed to make signature verification easy for scripts.
5725 Use a good password for your user account and make sure that all
5726 security issues are always fixed on your machine. Also employ diligent
5727 physical protection to your machine. Consider to use a good passphrase
5728 as a last resort protection to your secret key in the case your machine
5729 gets stolen. It is important that your secret key is never leaked.
5730 Using an easy to carry around token or smartcard with the secret key is
5733 If you are going to verify detached signatures, make sure that the
5734 program knows about it; either give both filenames on the command line
5735 or use '-' to specify STDIN.
5737 For scripted or other unattended use of 'gpg' make sure to use the
5738 machine-parseable interface and not the default interface which is
5739 intended for direct use by humans. The machine-parseable interface
5740 provides a stable and well documented API independent of the locale or
5741 future changes of 'gpg'. To enable this interface use the options
5742 '--with-colons' and '--status-fd'. For certain operations the option
5743 '--command-fd' may come handy too. See this man page and the file
5744 'DETAILS' for the specification of the interface. Note that the GnuPG
5745 "info" pages as well as the PDF version of the GnuPG manual features a
5746 chapter on unattended use of GnuPG. As an alternative the library
5747 'GPGME' can be used as a high-level abstraction on top of that
5750 INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER OPENPGP PROGRAMS
5751 ********************************************
5753 GnuPG tries to be a very flexible implementation of the OpenPGP
5754 standard. In particular, GnuPG implements many of the optional parts of
5755 the standard, such as the SHA-512 hash, and the ZLIB and BZIP2
5756 compression algorithms. It is important to be aware that not all
5757 OpenPGP programs implement these optional algorithms and that by forcing
5758 their use via the '--cipher-algo', '--digest-algo',
5759 '--cert-digest-algo', or '--compress-algo' options in GnuPG, it is
5760 possible to create a perfectly valid OpenPGP message, but one that
5761 cannot be read by the intended recipient.
5763 There are dozens of variations of OpenPGP programs available, and
5764 each supports a slightly different subset of these optional algorithms.
5765 For example, until recently, no (unhacked) version of PGP supported the
5766 BLOWFISH cipher algorithm. A message using BLOWFISH simply could not be
5767 read by a PGP user. By default, GnuPG uses the standard OpenPGP
5768 preferences system that will always do the right thing and create
5769 messages that are usable by all recipients, regardless of which OpenPGP
5770 program they use. Only override this safe default if you really know
5773 If you absolutely must override the safe default, or if the
5774 preferences on a given key are invalid for some reason, you are far
5775 better off using the '--pgp6', '--pgp7', or '--pgp8' options. These
5776 options are safe as they do not force any particular algorithms in
5777 violation of OpenPGP, but rather reduce the available algorithms to a
5783 On older systems this program should be installed as setuid(root). This
5784 is necessary to lock memory pages. Locking memory pages prevents the
5785 operating system from writing memory pages (which may contain
5786 passphrases or other sensitive material) to disk. If you get no warning
5787 message about insecure memory your operating system supports locking
5788 without being root. The program drops root privileges as soon as locked
5789 memory is allocated.
5791 Note also that some systems (especially laptops) have the ability to
5792 "suspend to disk" (also known as "safe sleep" or "hibernate"). This
5793 writes all memory to disk before going into a low power or even powered
5794 off mode. Unless measures are taken in the operating system to protect
5795 the saved memory, passphrases or other sensitive material may be
5796 recoverable from it later.
5798 Before you report a bug you should first search the mailing list
5799 archives for similar problems and second check whether such a bug has
5800 already been reported to our bug tracker at <https://bugs.gnupg.org>.
5803 File: gnupg.info, Node: Unattended Usage of GPG, Prev: GPG Examples, Up: Invoking GPG
5805 4.5 Unattended Usage
5806 ====================
5808 'gpg' is often used as a backend engine by other software. To help with
5809 this a machine interface has been defined to have an unambiguous way to
5810 do this. The options '--status-fd' and '--batch' are almost always
5815 * Programmatic use of GnuPG:: Programmatic use of GnuPG
5816 * Ephemeral home directories:: Ephemeral home directories
5817 * The quick key manipulation interface:: The quick key manipulation interface
5818 * Unattended GPG key generation:: Unattended key generation
5821 File: gnupg.info, Node: Programmatic use of GnuPG, Next: Ephemeral home directories, Up: Unattended Usage of GPG
5823 4.5.1 Programmatic use of GnuPG
5824 -------------------------------
5826 Please consider using GPGME instead of calling 'gpg' directly. GPGME
5827 offers a stable, backend-independent interface for many cryptographic
5828 operations. It supports OpenPGP and S/MIME, and also allows interaction
5829 with various GnuPG components.
5831 GPGME provides a C-API, and comes with bindings for C++, Qt, and
5832 Python. Bindings for other languages are available.
5835 File: gnupg.info, Node: Ephemeral home directories, Next: The quick key manipulation interface, Prev: Programmatic use of GnuPG, Up: Unattended Usage of GPG
5837 4.5.2 Ephemeral home directories
5838 --------------------------------
5840 Sometimes you want to contain effects of some operation, for example you
5841 want to import a key to inspect it, but you do not want this key to be
5842 added to your keyring. In earlier versions of GnuPG, it was possible to
5843 specify alternate keyring files for both public and secret keys. In
5844 modern GnuPG versions, however, we changed how secret keys are stored in
5845 order to better protect secret key material, and it was not possible to
5846 preserve this interface.
5848 The preferred way to do this is to use ephemeral home directories.
5849 This technique works across all versions of GnuPG.
5851 Create a temporary directory, create (or copy) a configuration that
5852 meets your needs, make 'gpg' use this directory either using the
5853 environment variable GNUPGHOME, or the option '--homedir'. GPGME
5854 supports this too on a per-context basis, by modifying the engine info
5855 of contexts. Now execute whatever operation you like, import and export
5856 key material as necessary. Once finished, you can delete the directory.
5857 All GnuPG backend services that were started will detect this and shut
5861 File: gnupg.info, Node: The quick key manipulation interface, Next: Unattended GPG key generation, Prev: Ephemeral home directories, Up: Unattended Usage of GPG
5863 4.5.3 The quick key manipulation interface
5864 ------------------------------------------
5866 Recent versions of GnuPG have an interface to manipulate keys without
5867 using the interactive command '--edit-key'. This interface was added
5868 mainly for the benefit of GPGME (please consider using GPGME, see the
5869 manual subsection "Programmatic use of GnuPG"). This interface is
5870 described in the subsection "How to manage your keys".
5873 File: gnupg.info, Node: Unattended GPG key generation, Prev: The quick key manipulation interface, Up: Unattended Usage of GPG
5875 4.5.4 Unattended key generation
5876 -------------------------------
5878 The command '--generate-key' may be used along with the option '--batch'
5879 for unattended key generation. This is the most flexible way of
5880 generating keys, but it is also the most complex one. Consider using
5881 the quick key manipulation interface described in the previous
5882 subsection "The quick key manipulation interface".
5884 The parameters for the key are either read from stdin or given as a
5885 file on the command line. The format of the parameter file is as
5888 * Text only, line length is limited to about 1000 characters.
5889 * UTF-8 encoding must be used to specify non-ASCII characters.
5890 * Empty lines are ignored.
5891 * Leading and trailing white space is ignored.
5892 * A hash sign as the first non white space character indicates a
5894 * Control statements are indicated by a leading percent sign, the
5895 arguments are separated by white space from the keyword.
5896 * Parameters are specified by a keyword, followed by a colon.
5897 Arguments are separated by white space.
5898 * The first parameter must be 'Key-Type'; control statements may be
5900 * The order of the parameters does not matter except for 'Key-Type'
5901 which must be the first parameter. The parameters are only used
5902 for the generated keyblock (primary and subkeys); parameters from
5903 previous sets are not used. Some syntactically checks may be
5905 * Key generation takes place when either the end of the parameter
5906 file is reached, the next 'Key-Type' parameter is encountered or at
5907 the control statement '%commit' is encountered.
5912 Print TEXT as diagnostic.
5915 Suppress actual key generation (useful for syntax checking).
5918 Perform the key generation. Note that an implicit commit is done
5919 at the next Key-Type parameter.
5922 Do not write the key to the default or commandline given keyring
5923 but to FILENAME. This must be given before the first commit to
5924 take place, duplicate specification of the same filename is
5925 ignored, the last filename before a commit is used. The filename
5926 is used until a new filename is used (at commit points) and all
5927 keys are written to that file. If a new filename is given, this
5928 file is created (and overwrites an existing one).
5930 See the previous subsection "Ephemeral home directories" for a more
5931 robust way to contain side-effects.
5934 This option is a no-op for GnuPG 2.1 and later.
5936 See the previous subsection "Ephemeral home directories".
5940 This option is a no-op for GnuPG 2.1 and later.
5943 Using this option allows the creation of keys without any
5944 passphrase protection. This option is mainly intended for
5948 If given the keys are created using a faster and a somewhat less
5949 secure random number generator. This option may be used for keys
5950 which are only used for a short time and do not require full
5951 cryptographic strength. It takes only effect if used together with
5952 the control statement '%no-protection'.
5957 Starts a new parameter block by giving the type of the primary key.
5958 The algorithm must be capable of signing. This is a required
5959 parameter. ALGO may either be an OpenPGP algorithm number or a
5960 string with the algorithm name. The special value 'default' may be
5961 used for ALGO to create the default key type; in this case a
5962 'Key-Usage' shall not be given and 'default' also be used for
5966 The requested length of the generated key in bits. The default is
5967 returned by running the command 'gpg --gpgconf-list'. For ECC keys
5968 this parameter is ignored.
5971 The requested elliptic curve of the generated key. This is a
5972 required parameter for ECC keys. It is ignored for non-ECC keys.
5975 This is optional and used to generate a CSR or certificate for an
5976 already existing key. Key-Length will be ignored when given.
5978 Key-Usage: USAGE-LIST
5979 Space or comma delimited list of key usages. Allowed values are
5980 'encrypt', 'sign', and 'auth'. This is used to generate the key
5981 flags. Please make sure that the algorithm is capable of this
5982 usage. Note that OpenPGP requires that all primary keys are
5983 capable of certification, so no matter what usage is given here,
5984 the 'cert' flag will be on. If no 'Key-Usage' is specified and the
5985 'Key-Type' is not 'default', all allowed usages for that particular
5986 algorithm are used; if it is not given but 'default' is used the
5987 usage will be 'sign'.
5990 This generates a secondary key (subkey). Currently only one subkey
5991 can be handled. See also 'Key-Type' above.
5993 Subkey-Length: NBITS
5994 Length of the secondary key (subkey) in bits. The default is
5995 returned by running the command 'gpg --gpgconf-list'.
5998 Key curve for a subkey; similar to 'Key-Curve'.
6000 Subkey-Usage: USAGE-LIST
6001 Key usage lists for a subkey; similar to 'Key-Usage'.
6004 If you want to specify a passphrase for the secret key, enter it
6005 here. Default is to use the Pinentry dialog to ask for a
6009 Name-Comment: COMMENT
6011 The three parts of a user name. Remember to use UTF-8 encoding
6012 here. If you don't give any of them, no user ID is created.
6014 Expire-Date: ISO-DATE|(NUMBER[d|w|m|y])
6015 Set the expiration date for the key (and the subkey). It may
6016 either be entered in ISO date format (e.g. "20000815T145012") or
6017 as number of days, weeks, month or years after the creation date.
6018 The special notation "seconds=N" is also allowed to specify a
6019 number of seconds since creation. Without a letter days are
6020 assumed. Note that there is no check done on the overflow of the
6021 type used by OpenPGP for timestamps. Thus you better make sure
6022 that the given value make sense. Although OpenPGP works with time
6023 intervals, GnuPG uses an absolute value internally and thus the
6024 last year we can represent is 2105.
6026 Creation-Date: ISO-DATE
6027 Set the creation date of the key as stored in the key information
6028 and which is also part of the fingerprint calculation. Either a
6029 date like "1986-04-26" or a full timestamp like "19860426T042640"
6030 may be used. The time is considered to be UTC. The special
6031 notation "seconds=N" may be used to directly specify a the number
6032 of seconds since Epoch (Unix time). If it is not given the current
6036 Set the cipher, hash, and compression preference values for this
6037 key. This expects the same type of string as the sub-command
6038 'setpref' in the '--edit-key' menu.
6040 Revoker: ALGO:FPR [sensitive]
6041 Add a designated revoker to the generated key. Algo is the public
6042 key algorithm of the designated revoker (i.e. RSA=1, DSA=17, etc.)
6043 FPR is the fingerprint of the designated revoker. The optional
6044 'sensitive' flag marks the designated revoker as sensitive
6045 information. Only v4 keys may be designated revokers.
6048 This is an optional parameter that specifies the preferred
6049 keyserver URL for the key.
6052 This is an optional parameter only used with the status lines
6053 KEY_CREATED and KEY_NOT_CREATED. STRING may be up to 100 characters
6054 and should not contain spaces. It is useful for batch key
6055 generation to associate a key parameter block with a status line.
6057 Here is an example on how to create a key in an ephemeral home
6059 $ export GNUPGHOME="$(mktemp -d)"
6061 %echo Generating a basic OpenPGP key
6066 Name-Real: Joe Tester
6067 Name-Comment: with stupid passphrase
6068 Name-Email: joe@foo.bar
6071 # Do a commit here, so that we can later print "done" :-)
6075 $ gpg --batch --generate-key foo
6077 $ gpg --list-secret-keys
6078 /tmp/tmp.0NQxB74PEf/pubring.kbx
6079 -------------------------------
6080 sec dsa1024 2016-12-16 [SCA]
6081 768E895903FC1C44045C8CB95EEBDB71E9E849D0
6082 uid [ultimate] Joe Tester (with stupid passphrase) <joe@foo.bar>
6083 ssb elg1024 2016-12-16 [E]
6085 If you want to create a key with the default algorithms you would use
6087 %echo Generating a default key
6089 Subkey-Type: default
6090 Name-Real: Joe Tester
6091 Name-Comment: with stupid passphrase
6092 Name-Email: joe@foo.bar
6095 # Do a commit here, so that we can later print "done" :-)
6100 File: gnupg.info, Node: Invoking GPGSM, Next: Invoking SCDAEMON, Prev: Invoking GPG, Up: Top
6105 'gpgsm' is a tool similar to 'gpg' to provide digital encryption and
6106 signing services on X.509 certificates and the CMS protocol. It is
6107 mainly used as a backend for S/MIME mail processing. 'gpgsm' includes a
6108 full featured certificate management and complies with all rules defined
6109 for the German Sphinx project.
6111 *Note Option Index::, for an index to 'GPGSM''s commands and options.
6115 * GPGSM Commands:: List of all commands.
6116 * GPGSM Options:: List of all options.
6117 * GPGSM Configuration:: Configuration files.
6118 * GPGSM Examples:: Some usage examples.
6120 Developer information:
6121 * Unattended Usage:: Using 'gpgsm' from other programs.
6122 * GPGSM Protocol:: The protocol the server mode uses.
6125 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Commands, Next: GPGSM Options, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6130 Commands are not distinguished from options except for the fact that
6131 only one command is allowed.
6135 * General GPGSM Commands:: Commands not specific to the functionality.
6136 * Operational GPGSM Commands:: Commands to select the type of operation.
6137 * Certificate Management:: How to manage certificates.
6140 File: gnupg.info, Node: General GPGSM Commands, Next: Operational GPGSM Commands, Up: GPGSM Commands
6142 5.1.1 Commands not specific to the function
6143 -------------------------------------------
6146 Print the program version and licensing information. Note that you
6147 cannot abbreviate this command.
6150 Print a usage message summarizing the most useful command-line
6151 options. Note that you cannot abbreviate this command.
6154 Print warranty information. Note that you cannot abbreviate this
6158 Print a list of all available options and commands. Note that you
6159 cannot abbreviate this command.
6162 File: gnupg.info, Node: Operational GPGSM Commands, Next: Certificate Management, Prev: General GPGSM Commands, Up: GPGSM Commands
6164 5.1.2 Commands to select the type of operation
6165 ----------------------------------------------
6168 Perform an encryption. The keys the data is encrypted to must be
6169 set using the option '--recipient'.
6172 Perform a decryption; the type of input is automatically
6173 determined. It may either be in binary form or PEM encoded;
6174 automatic determination of base-64 encoding is not done.
6177 Create a digital signature. The key used is either the fist one
6178 found in the keybox or those set with the '--local-user' option.
6181 Check a signature file for validity. Depending on the arguments a
6182 detached signature may also be checked.
6185 Run in server mode and wait for commands on the 'stdin'.
6187 '--call-dirmngr COMMAND [ARGS]'
6188 Behave as a Dirmngr client issuing the request COMMAND with the
6189 optional list of ARGS. The output of the Dirmngr is printed
6190 stdout. Please note that file names given as arguments should have
6191 an absolute file name (i.e. commencing with '/') because they are
6192 passed verbatim to the Dirmngr and the working directory of the
6193 Dirmngr might not be the same as the one of this client. Currently
6194 it is not possible to pass data via stdin to the Dirmngr. COMMAND
6195 should not contain spaces.
6197 This is command is required for certain maintaining tasks of the
6198 dirmngr where a dirmngr must be able to call back to 'gpgsm'. See
6199 the Dirmngr manual for details.
6201 '--call-protect-tool ARGUMENTS'
6202 Certain maintenance operations are done by an external program call
6203 'gpg-protect-tool'; this is usually not installed in a directory
6204 listed in the PATH variable. This command provides a simple
6205 wrapper to access this tool. ARGUMENTS are passed verbatim to this
6206 command; use '--help' to get a list of supported operations.
6209 File: gnupg.info, Node: Certificate Management, Prev: Operational GPGSM Commands, Up: GPGSM Commands
6211 5.1.3 How to manage the certificates and keys
6212 ---------------------------------------------
6216 This command allows the creation of a certificate signing request
6217 or a self-signed certificate. It is commonly used along with the
6218 '--output' option to save the created CSR or certificate into a
6219 file. If used with the '--batch' a parameter file is used to
6220 create the CSR or certificate and it is further possible to create
6221 non-self-signed certificates.
6225 List all available certificates stored in the local key database.
6226 Note that the displayed data might be reformatted for better human
6227 readability and illegal characters are replaced by safe
6230 '--list-secret-keys'
6232 List all available certificates for which a corresponding a secret
6235 '--list-external-keys PATTERN'
6236 List certificates matching PATTERN using an external server. This
6237 utilizes the 'dirmngr' service.
6240 Same as '--list-keys' but also prints all keys making up the chain.
6244 List all available certificates stored in the local key database
6245 using a format useful mainly for debugging.
6248 Same as '--dump-keys' but also prints all keys making up the chain.
6250 '--dump-secret-keys'
6251 List all available certificates for which a corresponding a secret
6252 key is available using a format useful mainly for debugging.
6254 '--dump-external-keys PATTERN'
6255 List certificates matching PATTERN using an external server. This
6256 utilizes the 'dirmngr' service. It uses a format useful mainly for
6259 '--keydb-clear-some-cert-flags'
6260 This is a debugging aid to reset certain flags in the key database
6261 which are used to cache certain certificate stati. It is
6262 especially useful if a bad CRL or a weird running OCSP responder
6263 did accidentally revoke certificate. There is no security issue
6264 with this command because 'gpgsm' always make sure that the
6265 validity of a certificate is checked right before it is used.
6267 '--delete-keys PATTERN'
6268 Delete the keys matching PATTERN. Note that there is no command to
6269 delete the secret part of the key directly. In case you need to do
6270 this, you should run the command 'gpgsm --dump-secret-keys KEYID'
6271 before you delete the key, copy the string of hex-digits in the
6272 "keygrip" line and delete the file consisting of these hex-digits
6273 and the suffix '.key' from the 'private-keys-v1.d' directory below
6274 our GnuPG home directory (usually '~/.gnupg').
6276 '--export [PATTERN]'
6277 Export all certificates stored in the Keybox or those specified by
6278 the optional PATTERN. Those pattern consist of a list of user ids
6279 (*note how-to-specify-a-user-id::). When used along with the
6280 '--armor' option a few informational lines are prepended before
6281 each block. There is one limitation: As there is no commonly
6282 agreed upon way to pack more than one certificate into an ASN.1
6283 structure, the binary export (i.e. without using 'armor') works
6284 only for the export of one certificate. Thus it is required to
6285 specify a PATTERN which yields exactly one certificate. Ephemeral
6286 certificate are only exported if all PATTERN are given as
6287 fingerprints or keygrips.
6289 '--export-secret-key-p12 KEY-ID'
6290 Export the private key and the certificate identified by KEY-ID
6291 using the PKCS#12 format. When used with the '--armor' option a
6292 few informational lines are prepended to the output. Note, that
6293 the PKCS#12 format is not very secure and proper transport security
6294 should be used to convey the exported key. (*Note option
6297 '--export-secret-key-p8 KEY-ID'
6298 '--export-secret-key-raw KEY-ID'
6299 Export the private key of the certificate identified by KEY-ID with
6300 any encryption stripped. The '...-raw' command exports in PKCS#1
6301 format; the '...-p8' command exports in PKCS#8 format. When used
6302 with the '--armor' option a few informational lines are prepended
6303 to the output. These commands are useful to prepare a key for use
6307 Import the certificates from the PEM or binary encoded files as
6308 well as from signed-only messages. This command may also be used
6309 to import a secret key from a PKCS#12 file.
6312 Read information about the private keys from the smartcard and
6313 import the certificates from there. This command utilizes the
6314 'gpg-agent' and in turn the 'scdaemon'.
6316 '--change-passphrase USER_ID'
6318 Change the passphrase of the private key belonging to the
6319 certificate specified as USER_ID. Note, that changing the
6320 passphrase/PIN of a smartcard is not yet supported.
6323 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Options, Next: GPGSM Configuration, Prev: GPGSM Commands, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6328 'GPGSM' features a bunch of options to control the exact behaviour and
6329 to change the default configuration.
6333 * Configuration Options:: How to change the configuration.
6334 * Certificate Options:: Certificate related options.
6335 * Input and Output:: Input and Output.
6336 * CMS Options:: How to change how the CMS is created.
6337 * Esoteric Options:: Doing things one usually do not want to do.
6340 File: gnupg.info, Node: Configuration Options, Next: Certificate Options, Up: GPGSM Options
6342 5.2.1 How to change the configuration
6343 -------------------------------------
6345 These options are used to change the configuration and are usually found
6349 Reads configuration from FILE instead of from the default per-user
6350 configuration file. The default configuration file is named
6351 'gpgsm.conf' and expected in the '.gnupg' directory directly below
6352 the home directory of the user.
6355 Set the name of the home directory to DIR. If this option is not
6356 used, the home directory defaults to '~/.gnupg'. It is only
6357 recognized when given on the command line. It also overrides any
6358 home directory stated through the environment variable 'GNUPGHOME'
6359 or (on Windows systems) by means of the Registry entry
6360 HKCU\SOFTWARE\GNU\GNUPG:HOMEDIR.
6362 On Windows systems it is possible to install GnuPG as a portable
6363 application. In this case only this command line option is
6364 considered, all other ways to set a home directory are ignored.
6366 To install GnuPG as a portable application under Windows, create an
6367 empty file named 'gpgconf.ctl' in the same directory as the tool
6368 'gpgconf.exe'. The root of the installation is then that
6369 directory; or, if 'gpgconf.exe' has been installed directly below a
6370 directory named 'bin', its parent directory. You also need to make
6371 sure that the following directories exist and are writable:
6372 'ROOT/home' for the GnuPG home and 'ROOTAPPDATA/GNU/cache/gnupg'
6373 for internal cache files.
6377 Outputs additional information while running. You can increase the
6378 verbosity by giving several verbose commands to 'gpgsm', such as
6381 '--ldapserver STRING'
6382 '--keyserver STRING'
6383 Add an LDAP server to use for X.509 certificate and CRL lookup.
6384 This option can be given multiple times to configure more than one
6385 LDAP server. Note that in general 'dirmngr' should be configured
6386 with the list of LDAP servers; if this option is also configured
6387 here, it is used in addition to those configured in dirmngr. For
6388 the syntax see the description of dirmngr's ldapserver option.
6390 '--policy-file FILENAME'
6391 Change the default name of the policy file to FILENAME.
6393 '--agent-program FILE'
6394 Specify an agent program to be used for secret key operations. The
6395 default value is determined by running the command 'gpgconf'. Note
6396 that the pipe symbol ('|') is used for a regression test suite hack
6397 and may thus not be used in the file name.
6399 '--dirmngr-program FILE'
6400 Specify a dirmngr program to be used for CRL checks. The default
6401 value is 'INSTDIR/bin/dirmngr'.
6403 '--prefer-system-dirmngr'
6404 This option is obsolete and ignored.
6407 Entirely disable the use of the Dirmngr.
6410 Do not start the gpg-agent or the dirmngr if it has not yet been
6411 started and its service is required. This option is mostly useful
6412 on machines where the connection to gpg-agent has been redirected
6413 to another machines. If dirmngr is required on the remote machine,
6414 it may be started manually using 'gpgconf --launch dirmngr'.
6416 '--no-secmem-warning'
6417 Do not print a warning when the so called "secure memory" cannot be
6421 When running in server mode, append all logging output to FILE.
6422 Use 'socket://' to log to socket.
6425 File: gnupg.info, Node: Certificate Options, Next: Input and Output, Prev: Configuration Options, Up: GPGSM Options
6427 5.2.2 Certificate related options
6428 ---------------------------------
6430 '--enable-policy-checks'
6431 '--disable-policy-checks'
6432 By default policy checks are enabled. These options may be used to
6435 '--enable-crl-checks'
6436 '--disable-crl-checks'
6437 By default the CRL checks are enabled and the DirMngr is used to
6438 check for revoked certificates. The disable option is most useful
6439 with an off-line network connection to suppress this check and also
6440 to avoid that new certificates introduce a web bug by including a
6441 certificate specific CRL DP. The disable option also disables an
6442 issuer certificate lookup via the authorityInfoAccess property of
6443 the certificate; the '--enable-issuer-key-retrieve' can be used to
6444 make use of that property anyway.
6446 '--enable-trusted-cert-crl-check'
6447 '--disable-trusted-cert-crl-check'
6448 By default the CRL for trusted root certificates are checked like
6449 for any other certificates. This allows a CA to revoke its own
6450 certificates voluntary without the need of putting all ever issued
6451 certificates into a CRL. The disable option may be used to switch
6452 this extra check off. Due to the caching done by the Dirmngr,
6453 there will not be any noticeable performance gain. Note, that this
6454 also disables possible OCSP checks for trusted root certificates.
6455 A more specific way of disabling this check is by adding the
6456 "relax" keyword to the root CA line of the 'trustlist.txt'
6458 '--force-crl-refresh'
6459 Tell the dirmngr to reload the CRL for each request. For better
6460 performance, the dirmngr will actually optimize this by suppressing
6461 the loading for short time intervals (e.g. 30 minutes). This
6462 option is useful to make sure that a fresh CRL is available for
6463 certificates hold in the keybox. The suggested way of doing this
6464 is by using it along with the option '--with-validation' for a key
6465 listing command. This option should not be used in a configuration
6468 '--enable-issuer-based-crl-check'
6469 Run a CRL check even for certificates which do not have any CRL
6470 distribution point. This requires that a suitable LDAP server has
6471 been configured in Dirmngr and that the CRL can be found using the
6472 issuer. This option reverts to what GnuPG did up to version
6473 2.2.20. This option is in general not useful.
6477 By default OCSP checks are disabled. The enable option may be used
6478 to enable OCSP checks via Dirmngr. If CRL checks are also enabled,
6479 CRLs will be used as a fallback if for some reason an OCSP request
6480 will not succeed. Note, that you have to allow OCSP requests in
6481 Dirmngr's configuration too (option '--allow-ocsp') and configure
6482 Dirmngr properly. If you do not do so you will get the error code
6485 '--auto-issuer-key-retrieve'
6486 If a required certificate is missing while validating the chain of
6487 certificates, try to load that certificate from an external
6488 location. This usually means that Dirmngr is employed to search
6489 for the certificate. Note that this option makes a "web bug" like
6490 behavior possible. LDAP server operators can see which keys you
6491 request, so by sending you a message signed by a brand new key
6492 (which you naturally will not have on your local keybox), the
6493 operator can tell both your IP address and the time when you
6494 verified the signature.
6496 '--validation-model NAME'
6497 This option changes the default validation model. The only
6498 possible values are "shell" (which is the default), "chain" which
6499 forces the use of the chain model and "steed" for a new simplified
6500 model. The chain model is also used if an option in the
6501 'trustlist.txt' or an attribute of the certificate requests it.
6502 However the standard model (shell) is in that case always tried
6505 '--ignore-cert-extension OID'
6506 Add OID to the list of ignored certificate extensions. The OID is
6507 expected to be in dotted decimal form, like '2.5.29.3'. This
6508 option may be used more than once. Critical flagged certificate
6509 extensions matching one of the OIDs in the list are treated as if
6510 they are actually handled and thus the certificate will not be
6511 rejected due to an unknown critical extension. Use this option
6512 with care because extensions are usually flagged as critical for a
6516 File: gnupg.info, Node: Input and Output, Next: CMS Options, Prev: Certificate Options, Up: GPGSM Options
6518 5.2.3 Input and Output
6519 ----------------------
6523 Create PEM encoded output. Default is binary output.
6526 Create Base-64 encoded output; i.e. PEM without the header lines.
6529 Assume the input data is PEM encoded. Default is to autodetect the
6530 encoding but this is may fail.
6533 Assume the input data is plain base-64 encoded.
6536 Assume the input data is binary encoded.
6538 '--p12-charset NAME'
6539 'gpgsm' uses the UTF-8 encoding when encoding passphrases for
6540 PKCS#12 files. This option may be used to force the passphrase to
6541 be encoded in the specified encoding NAME. This is useful if the
6542 application used to import the key uses a different encoding and
6543 thus will not be able to import a file generated by 'gpgsm'.
6544 Commonly used values for NAME are 'Latin1' and 'CP850'. Note that
6545 'gpgsm' itself automagically imports any file with a passphrase
6546 encoded to the most commonly used encodings.
6548 '--default-key USER_ID'
6549 Use USER_ID as the standard key for signing. This key is used if
6550 no other key has been defined as a signing key. Note, that the
6551 first '--local-users' option also sets this key if it has not yet
6552 been set; however '--default-key' always overrides this.
6554 '--local-user USER_ID'
6556 Set the user(s) to be used for signing. The default is the first
6557 secret key found in the database.
6561 Encrypt to the user id NAME. There are several ways a user id may
6562 be given (*note how-to-specify-a-user-id::).
6566 Write output to FILE. The default is to write it to stdout.
6569 Displays extra information with the '--list-keys' commands.
6570 Especially a line tagged 'grp' is printed which tells you the
6571 keygrip of a key. This string is for example used as the file name
6572 of the secret key. Implies '--with-colons'.
6575 When doing a key listing, do a full validation check for each key
6576 and print the result. This is usually a slow operation because it
6577 requires a CRL lookup and other operations.
6579 When used along with '--import', a validation of the certificate to
6580 import is done and only imported if it succeeds the test. Note
6581 that this does not affect an already available certificate in the
6582 DB. This option is therefore useful to simply verify a certificate.
6584 '--with-md5-fingerprint'
6585 For standard key listings, also print the MD5 fingerprint of the
6589 Include the keygrip in standard key listings. Note that the
6590 keygrip is always listed in '--with-colons' mode.
6593 Include info about the presence of a secret key in public key
6594 listings done with '--with-colons'.
6597 File: gnupg.info, Node: CMS Options, Next: Esoteric Options, Prev: Input and Output, Up: GPGSM Options
6599 5.2.4 How to change how the CMS is created
6600 ------------------------------------------
6603 Using N of -2 includes all certificate except for the root cert, -1
6604 includes all certs, 0 does not include any certs, 1 includes only
6605 the signers cert and all other positive values include up to N
6606 certificates starting with the signer cert. The default is -2.
6609 Use the cipher algorithm with the ASN.1 object identifier OID for
6610 encryption. For convenience the strings '3DES', 'AES' and 'AES256'
6611 may be used instead of their OIDs. The default is 'AES'
6612 (2.16.840.1.101.3.4.1.2).
6614 '--digest-algo name'
6615 Use 'name' as the message digest algorithm. Usually this algorithm
6616 is deduced from the respective signing certificate. This option
6617 forces the use of the given algorithm and may lead to severe
6618 interoperability problems.
6621 File: gnupg.info, Node: Esoteric Options, Prev: CMS Options, Up: GPGSM Options
6623 5.2.5 Doing things one usually do not want to do
6624 ------------------------------------------------
6626 '--extra-digest-algo NAME'
6627 Sometimes signatures are broken in that they announce a different
6628 digest algorithm than actually used. 'gpgsm' uses a one-pass data
6629 processing model and thus needs to rely on the announced digest
6630 algorithms to properly hash the data. As a workaround this option
6631 may be used to tell 'gpgsm' to also hash the data using the
6632 algorithm NAME; this slows processing down a little bit but allows
6633 verification of such broken signatures. If 'gpgsm' prints an error
6634 like "digest algo 8 has not been enabled" you may want to try this
6635 option, with 'SHA256' for NAME.
6637 '--faked-system-time EPOCH'
6638 This option is only useful for testing; it sets the system time
6639 back or forth to EPOCH which is the number of seconds elapsed since
6640 the year 1970. Alternatively EPOCH may be given as a full ISO time
6641 string (e.g. "20070924T154812").
6643 '--with-ephemeral-keys'
6644 Include ephemeral flagged keys in the output of key listings. Note
6645 that they are included anyway if the key specification for a
6646 listing is given as fingerprint or keygrip.
6648 '--debug-level LEVEL'
6649 Select the debug level for investigating problems. LEVEL may be a
6650 numeric value or by a keyword:
6653 No debugging at all. A value of less than 1 may be used
6654 instead of the keyword.
6656 Some basic debug messages. A value between 1 and 2 may be
6657 used instead of the keyword.
6659 More verbose debug messages. A value between 3 and 5 may be
6660 used instead of the keyword.
6662 Even more detailed messages. A value between 6 and 8 may be
6663 used instead of the keyword.
6665 All of the debug messages you can get. A value greater than 8
6666 may be used instead of the keyword. The creation of hash
6667 tracing files is only enabled if the keyword is used.
6669 How these messages are mapped to the actual debugging flags is not
6670 specified and may change with newer releases of this program. They
6671 are however carefully selected to best aid in debugging.
6674 This option is only useful for debugging and the behaviour may
6675 change at any time without notice; using '--debug-levels' is the
6676 preferred method to select the debug verbosity. FLAGS are bit
6677 encoded and may be given in usual C-Syntax. The currently defined
6681 X.509 or OpenPGP protocol related data
6683 values of big number integers
6685 low level crypto operations
6691 show memory statistics
6693 write hashed data to files named 'dbgmd-000*'
6695 trace Assuan protocol
6697 Note, that all flags set using this option may get overridden by
6701 Same as '--debug=0xffffffff'
6703 '--debug-allow-core-dump'
6704 Usually 'gpgsm' tries to avoid dumping core by well written code
6705 and by disabling core dumps for security reasons. However, bugs
6706 are pretty durable beasts and to squash them it is sometimes useful
6707 to have a core dump. This option enables core dumps unless the Bad
6708 Thing happened before the option parsing.
6710 '--debug-no-chain-validation'
6711 This is actually not a debugging option but only useful as such.
6712 It lets 'gpgsm' bypass all certificate chain validation checks.
6714 '--debug-ignore-expiration'
6715 This is actually not a debugging option but only useful as such.
6716 It lets 'gpgsm' ignore all notAfter dates, this is used by the
6720 Read the passphrase from file descriptor 'n'. Only the first line
6721 will be read from file descriptor 'n'. If you use 0 for 'n', the
6722 passphrase will be read from STDIN. This can only be used if only
6723 one passphrase is supplied.
6725 Note that this passphrase is only used if the option '--batch' has
6728 '--pinentry-mode mode'
6729 Set the pinentry mode to 'mode'. Allowed values for 'mode' are:
6731 Use the default of the agent, which is 'ask'.
6733 Force the use of the Pinentry.
6735 Emulate use of Pinentry's cancel button.
6737 Return a Pinentry error ("No Pinentry").
6739 Redirect Pinentry queries to the caller. Note that in
6740 contrast to Pinentry the user is not prompted again if he
6741 enters a bad password.
6743 '--request-origin ORIGIN'
6744 Tell gpgsm to assume that the operation ultimately originated at
6745 ORIGIN. Depending on the origin certain restrictions are applied
6746 and the Pinentry may include an extra note on the origin.
6747 Supported values for ORIGIN are: 'local' which is the default,
6748 'remote' to indicate a remote origin or 'browser' for an operation
6749 requested by a web browser.
6751 '--no-common-certs-import'
6752 Suppress the import of common certificates on keybox creation.
6754 All the long options may also be given in the configuration file
6755 after stripping off the two leading dashes.
6758 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Configuration, Next: GPGSM Examples, Prev: GPGSM Options, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6760 5.3 Configuration files
6761 =======================
6763 There are a few configuration files to control certain aspects of
6764 'gpgsm''s operation. Unless noted, they are expected in the current
6765 home directory (*note option --homedir::).
6768 This is the standard configuration file read by 'gpgsm' on startup.
6769 It may contain any valid long option; the leading two dashes may
6770 not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated. This default
6771 name may be changed on the command line (*note gpgsm-option
6772 --options::). You should backup this file.
6775 This is a list of allowed CA policies. This file should list the
6776 object identifiers of the policies line by line. Empty lines and
6777 lines starting with a hash mark are ignored. Policies missing in
6778 this file and not marked as critical in the certificate will print
6779 only a warning; certificates with policies marked as critical and
6780 not listed in this file will fail the signature verification. You
6781 should backup this file.
6783 For example, to allow only the policy 2.289.9.9, the file should
6790 This is the list of root certificates used for qualified
6791 certificates. They are defined as certificates capable of creating
6792 legally binding signatures in the same way as handwritten
6793 signatures are. Comments start with a hash mark and empty lines
6794 are ignored. Lines do have a length limit but this is not a
6795 serious limitation as the format of the entries is fixed and
6796 checked by 'gpgsm': A non-comment line starts with optional
6797 whitespace, followed by exactly 40 hex characters, white space and
6798 a lowercased 2 letter country code. Additional data delimited with
6799 by a white space is current ignored but might late be used for
6802 Note that even if a certificate is listed in this file, this does
6803 not mean that the certificate is trusted; in general the
6804 certificates listed in this file need to be listed also in
6807 This is a global file an installed in the data directory (e.g.
6808 'INSTDIR/share/gnupg/qualified.txt'). GnuPG installs a suitable
6809 file with root certificates as used in Germany. As new Root-CA
6810 certificates may be issued over time, these entries may need to be
6811 updated; new distributions of this software should come with an
6812 updated list but it is still the responsibility of the
6813 Administrator to check that this list is correct.
6815 Every time 'gpgsm' uses a certificate for signing or verification
6816 this file will be consulted to check whether the certificate under
6817 question has ultimately been issued by one of these CAs. If this
6818 is the case the user will be informed that the verified signature
6819 represents a legally binding ("qualified") signature. When
6820 creating a signature using such a certificate an extra prompt will
6821 be issued to let the user confirm that such a legally binding
6822 signature shall really be created.
6824 Because this software has not yet been approved for use with such
6825 certificates, appropriate notices will be shown to indicate this
6829 This is plain text file with a few help entries used with
6830 'pinentry' as well as a large list of help items for 'gpg' and
6831 'gpgsm'. The standard file has English help texts; to install
6832 localized versions use filenames like 'help.LL.txt' with LL
6833 denoting the locale. GnuPG comes with a set of predefined help
6834 files in the data directory (e.g.
6835 'INSTDIR/share/gnupg/gnupg/help.de.txt') and allows overriding of
6836 any help item by help files stored in the system configuration
6837 directory (e.g. 'APPDATA/GNU/etc/gnupg/help.de.txt'). For a
6838 reference of the help file's syntax, please see the installed
6842 This file is a collection of common certificates used to populated
6843 a newly created 'pubring.kbx'. An administrator may replace this
6844 file with a custom one. The format is a concatenation of PEM
6845 encoded X.509 certificates. This global file is installed in the
6846 data directory (e.g. 'INSTDIR/share/gnupg/com-certs.pem').
6848 Note that on larger installations, it is useful to put predefined
6849 files into the directory '/etc/skel/.gnupg/' so that newly created users
6850 start up with a working configuration. For existing users a small
6851 helper script is provided to create these files (*note addgnupghome::).
6853 For internal purposes 'gpgsm' creates and maintains a few other
6854 files; they all live in the current home directory (*note option
6855 --homedir::). Only 'gpgsm' may modify these files.
6858 This a database file storing the certificates as well as meta
6859 information. For debugging purposes the tool 'kbxutil' may be used
6860 to show the internal structure of this file. You should backup
6864 This content of this file is used to maintain the internal state of
6865 the random number generator across invocations. The same file is
6866 used by other programs of this software too.
6869 If this file exists 'gpgsm' will first try to connect to this
6870 socket for accessing 'gpg-agent' before starting a new 'gpg-agent'
6871 instance. Under Windows this socket (which in reality be a plain
6872 file describing a regular TCP listening port) is the standard way
6873 of connecting the 'gpg-agent'.
6876 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Examples, Next: Unattended Usage, Prev: GPGSM Configuration, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6881 $ gpgsm -er goo@bar.net <plaintext >ciphertext
6884 File: gnupg.info, Node: Unattended Usage, Next: GPGSM Protocol, Prev: GPGSM Examples, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6886 5.5 Unattended Usage
6887 ====================
6889 'gpgsm' is often used as a backend engine by other software. To help
6890 with this a machine interface has been defined to have an unambiguous
6891 way to do this. This is most likely used with the '--server' command
6892 but may also be used in the standard operation mode by using the
6893 '--status-fd' option.
6897 * Automated signature checking:: Automated signature checking.
6898 * CSR and certificate creation:: CSR and certificate creation.
6901 File: gnupg.info, Node: Automated signature checking, Next: CSR and certificate creation, Up: Unattended Usage
6903 5.5.1 Automated signature checking
6904 ----------------------------------
6906 It is very important to understand the semantics used with signature
6907 verification. Checking a signature is not as simple as it may sound and
6908 so the operation is a bit complicated. In most cases it is required to
6909 look at several status lines. Here is a table of all cases a signed
6912 The signature is valid
6913 This does mean that the signature has been successfully verified,
6914 the certificates are all sane. However there are two subcases with
6915 important information: One of the certificates may have expired or
6916 a signature of a message itself as expired. It is a sound practise
6917 to consider such a signature still as valid but additional
6918 information should be displayed. Depending on the subcase 'gpgsm'
6919 will issue these status codes:
6920 signature valid and nothing did expire
6921 'GOODSIG', 'VALIDSIG', 'TRUST_FULLY'
6922 signature valid but at least one certificate has expired
6923 'EXPKEYSIG', 'VALIDSIG', 'TRUST_FULLY'
6924 signature valid but expired
6925 'EXPSIG', 'VALIDSIG', 'TRUST_FULLY' Note, that this case is
6926 currently not implemented.
6928 The signature is invalid
6929 This means that the signature verification failed (this is an
6930 indication of a transfer error, a program error or tampering with
6931 the message). 'gpgsm' issues one of these status codes sequences:
6933 'GOODSIG, VALIDSIG TRUST_NEVER'
6935 Error verifying a signature
6936 For some reason the signature could not be verified, i.e. it
6937 cannot be decided whether the signature is valid or invalid. A
6938 common reason for this is a missing certificate.
6941 File: gnupg.info, Node: CSR and certificate creation, Prev: Automated signature checking, Up: Unattended Usage
6943 5.5.2 CSR and certificate creation
6944 ----------------------------------
6946 The command '--generate-key' may be used along with the option '--batch'
6947 to either create a certificate signing request (CSR) or an X.509
6948 certificate. This is controlled by a parameter file; the format of this
6951 * Text only, line length is limited to about 1000 characters.
6952 * UTF-8 encoding must be used to specify non-ASCII characters.
6953 * Empty lines are ignored.
6954 * Leading and trailing while space is ignored.
6955 * A hash sign as the first non white space character indicates a
6957 * Control statements are indicated by a leading percent sign, the
6958 arguments are separated by white space from the keyword.
6959 * Parameters are specified by a keyword, followed by a colon.
6960 Arguments are separated by white space.
6961 * The first parameter must be 'Key-Type', control statements may be
6963 * The order of the parameters does not matter except for 'Key-Type'
6964 which must be the first parameter. The parameters are only used
6965 for the generated CSR/certificate; parameters from previous sets
6966 are not used. Some syntactically checks may be performed.
6967 * Key generation takes place when either the end of the parameter
6968 file is reached, the next 'Key-Type' parameter is encountered or at
6969 the control statement '%commit' is encountered.
6974 Print TEXT as diagnostic.
6977 Suppress actual key generation (useful for syntax checking).
6980 Perform the key generation. Note that an implicit commit is done
6981 at the next Key-Type parameter.
6986 Starts a new parameter block by giving the type of the primary key.
6987 The algorithm must be capable of signing. This is a required
6988 parameter. The only supported value for ALGO is 'rsa'.
6991 The requested length of a generated key in bits. Defaults to 3072.
6994 This is optional and used to generate a CSR or certificate for an
6995 already existing key. Key-Length will be ignored when given.
6997 Key-Usage: USAGE-LIST
6998 Space or comma delimited list of key usage, allowed values are
6999 'encrypt', 'sign' and 'cert'. This is used to generate the
7000 keyUsage extension. Please make sure that the algorithm is capable
7001 of this usage. Default is to allow encrypt and sign.
7003 Name-DN: SUBJECT-NAME
7004 This is the Distinguished Name (DN) of the subject in RFC-2253
7008 This is an email address for the altSubjectName. This parameter is
7009 optional but may occur several times to add several email addresses
7013 The is an DNS name for the altSubjectName. This parameter is
7014 optional but may occur several times to add several DNS names to a
7018 This is an URI for the altSubjectName. This parameter is optional
7019 but may occur several times to add several URIs to a certificate.
7021 Additional parameters used to create a certificate (in contrast to a
7022 certificate signing request):
7025 If this parameter is given an X.509 certificate will be generated.
7026 SN is expected to be a hex string representing an unsigned integer
7027 of arbitrary length. The special value 'random' can be used to
7028 create a 64 bit random serial number.
7030 Issuer-DN: ISSUER-NAME
7031 This is the DN name of the issuer in RFC-2253 format. If it is not
7032 set it will default to the subject DN and a special GnuPG extension
7033 will be included in the certificate to mark it as a standalone
7036 Creation-Date: ISO-DATE
7037 Not-Before: ISO-DATE
7038 Set the notBefore date of the certificate. Either a date like
7039 '1986-04-26' or '1986-04-26 12:00' or a standard ISO timestamp like
7040 '19860426T042640' may be used. The time is considered to be UTC.
7041 If it is not given the current date is used.
7043 Expire-Date: ISO-DATE
7045 Set the notAfter date of the certificate. Either a date like
7046 '2063-04-05' or '2063-04-05 17:00' or a standard ISO timestamp like
7047 '20630405T170000' may be used. The time is considered to be UTC.
7048 If it is not given a default value in the not too far future is
7051 Signing-Key: KEYGRIP
7052 This gives the keygrip of the key used to sign the certificate. If
7053 it is not given a self-signed certificate will be created. For
7054 compatibility with future versions, it is suggested to prefix the
7057 Hash-Algo: HASH-ALGO
7058 Use HASH-ALGO for this CSR or certificate. The supported hash
7059 algorithms are: 'sha1', 'sha256', 'sha384' and 'sha512'; they may
7060 also be specified with uppercase letters. The default is 'sha256'.
7063 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Protocol, Prev: Unattended Usage, Up: Invoking GPGSM
7065 5.6 The Protocol the Server Mode Uses
7066 =====================================
7068 Description of the protocol used to access 'GPGSM'. 'GPGSM' does
7069 implement the Assuan protocol and in addition provides a regular command
7070 line interface which exhibits a full client to this protocol (but uses
7071 internal linking). To start 'gpgsm' as a server the command line the
7072 option '--server' must be used. Additional options are provided to
7073 select the communication method (i.e. the name of the socket).
7075 We assume that the connection has already been established; see the
7076 Assuan manual for details.
7080 * GPGSM ENCRYPT:: Encrypting a message.
7081 * GPGSM DECRYPT:: Decrypting a message.
7082 * GPGSM SIGN:: Signing a message.
7083 * GPGSM VERIFY:: Verifying a message.
7084 * GPGSM GENKEY:: Generating a key.
7085 * GPGSM LISTKEYS:: List available keys.
7086 * GPGSM EXPORT:: Export certificates.
7087 * GPGSM IMPORT:: Import certificates.
7088 * GPGSM DELETE:: Delete certificates.
7089 * GPGSM GETAUDITLOG:: Retrieve an audit log.
7090 * GPGSM GETINFO:: Information about the process
7091 * GPGSM OPTION:: Session options.