1 This is gnupg.info, produced by makeinfo version 6.5 from gnupg.texi.
3 This is the 'The GNU Privacy Guard Manual' (version 2.2.30-beta2, August
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 2.2.30-beta2, August
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. '/usr/local/bin/pinentry-gtk') to the expected one (e.g.
164 '/usr/local/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 'ROOT/usr/local/var/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 ('/etc/gnupg'). The default is not to use any pattern
472 file. The second version of this option is only used when creating
473 a new symmetric key to allow the use of different patterns for such
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. '/etc/gnupg/trustlist.txt').
751 This global list is also used if the local list is not available.
753 It is possible to add further flags after the 'S' for use by the
757 Relax checking of some root certificate requirements. As of
758 now this flag allows the use of root certificates with a
759 missing basicConstraints attribute (despite that it is a MUST
760 for CA certificates) and disables CRL checking for the root
764 If validation of a certificate finally issued by a CA with
765 this flag set fails, try again using the chain validation
769 This file is used when support for the secure shell agent protocol
770 has been enabled (*note option --enable-ssh-support::). Only keys
771 present in this file are used in the SSH protocol. You should
774 The 'ssh-add' tool may be used to add new entries to this file; you
775 may also add them manually. Comment lines, indicated by a leading
776 hash mark, as well as empty lines are ignored. An entry starts
777 with optional whitespace, followed by the keygrip of the key given
778 as 40 hex digits, optionally followed by the caching TTL in seconds
779 and another optional field for arbitrary flags. A non-zero TTL
780 overrides the global default as set by '--default-cache-ttl-ssh'.
782 The only flag support is 'confirm'. If this flag is found for a
783 key, each use of the key will pop up a pinentry to confirm the use
784 of that key. The flag is automatically set if a new key was loaded
785 into 'gpg-agent' using the option '-c' of the 'ssh-add' command.
787 The keygrip may be prefixed with a '!' to disable an entry.
789 The following example lists exactly one key. Note that keys
790 available through a OpenPGP smartcard in the active smartcard
791 reader are implicitly added to this list; i.e. there is no need to
794 # Key added on: 2011-07-20 20:38:46
795 # Fingerprint: 5e:8d:c4:ad:e7:af:6e:27:8a:d6:13:e4:79:ad:0b:81
796 34B62F25E277CF13D3C6BCEBFD3F85D08F0A864B 0 confirm
800 This is the directory where gpg-agent stores the private keys.
801 Each key is stored in a file with the name made up of the keygrip
802 and the suffix 'key'. You should backup all files in this
803 directory and take great care to keep this backup closed away.
805 Note that on larger installations, it is useful to put predefined
806 files into the directory '/etc/skel/.gnupg' so that newly created users
807 start up with a working configuration. For existing users the a small
808 helper script is provided to create these files (*note addgnupghome::).
811 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent Signals, Next: Agent Examples, Prev: Agent Configuration, Up: Invoking GPG-AGENT
813 2.4 Use of some signals
814 =======================
816 A running 'gpg-agent' may be controlled by signals, i.e. using the
817 'kill' command to send a signal to the process.
819 Here is a list of supported signals:
822 This signal flushes all cached passphrases and if the program has
823 been started with a configuration file, the configuration file is
824 read again. Only certain options are honored: 'quiet', 'verbose',
825 'debug', 'debug-all', 'debug-level', 'debug-pinentry', 'no-grab',
826 'pinentry-program', 'pinentry-invisible-char', 'default-cache-ttl',
827 'max-cache-ttl', 'ignore-cache-for-signing', 's2k-count',
828 'no-allow-external-cache', 'allow-emacs-pinentry',
829 'no-allow-mark-trusted', 'disable-scdaemon', and
830 'disable-check-own-socket'. 'scdaemon-program' is also supported
831 but due to the current implementation, which calls the scdaemon
832 only once, it is not of much use unless you manually kill the
836 Shuts down the process but waits until all current requests are
837 fulfilled. If the process has received 3 of these signals and
838 requests are still pending, a shutdown is forced.
841 Shuts down the process immediately.
844 Dump internal information to the log file.
847 This signal is used for internal purposes.
850 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent Examples, Next: Agent Protocol, Prev: Agent Signals, Up: Invoking GPG-AGENT
855 It is important to set the environment variable 'GPG_TTY' in your login
856 shell, for example in the '~/.bashrc' init script:
858 export GPG_TTY=$(tty)
860 If you enabled the Ssh Agent Support, you also need to tell ssh about
861 it by adding this to your init script:
864 if [ "${gnupg_SSH_AUTH_SOCK_by:-0}" -ne $$ ]; then
865 export SSH_AUTH_SOCK="$(gpgconf --list-dirs agent-ssh-socket)"
869 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent Protocol, Prev: Agent Examples, Up: Invoking GPG-AGENT
871 2.6 Agent's Assuan Protocol
872 ===========================
874 Note: this section does only document the protocol, which is used by
875 GnuPG components; it does not deal with the ssh-agent protocol. To see
876 the full specification of each command, use
878 gpg-connect-agent 'help COMMAND' /bye
880 or just 'help' to list all available commands.
882 The 'gpg-agent' daemon is started on demand by the GnuPG components.
884 To identify a key we use a thing called keygrip which is the SHA-1
885 hash of an canonical encoded S-Expression of the public key as used in
886 Libgcrypt. For the purpose of this interface the keygrip is given as a
887 hex string. The advantage of using this and not the hash of a
888 certificate is that it will be possible to use the same keypair for
889 different protocols, thereby saving space on the token used to keep the
892 The 'gpg-agent' may send status messages during a command or when
893 returning from a command to inform a client about the progress or result
894 of an operation. For example, the INQUIRE_MAXLEN status message may be
895 sent during a server inquire to inform the client of the maximum usable
896 length of the inquired data (which should not be exceeded).
900 * Agent PKDECRYPT:: Decrypting a session key
901 * Agent PKSIGN:: Signing a Hash
902 * Agent GENKEY:: Generating a Key
903 * Agent IMPORT:: Importing a Secret Key
904 * Agent EXPORT:: Exporting a Secret Key
905 * Agent ISTRUSTED:: Importing a Root Certificate
906 * Agent GET_PASSPHRASE:: Ask for a passphrase
907 * Agent CLEAR_PASSPHRASE:: Expire a cached passphrase
908 * Agent PRESET_PASSPHRASE:: Set a passphrase for a keygrip
909 * Agent GET_CONFIRMATION:: Ask for confirmation
910 * Agent HAVEKEY:: Check whether a key is available
911 * Agent LEARN:: Register a smartcard
912 * Agent PASSWD:: Change a Passphrase
913 * Agent UPDATESTARTUPTTY:: Change the Standard Display
914 * Agent GETEVENTCOUNTER:: Get the Event Counters
915 * Agent GETINFO:: Return information about the process
916 * Agent OPTION:: Set options for the session
919 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent PKDECRYPT, Next: Agent PKSIGN, Up: Agent Protocol
921 2.6.1 Decrypting a session key
922 ------------------------------
924 The client asks the server to decrypt a session key. The encrypted
925 session key should have all information needed to select the appropriate
926 secret key or to delegate it to a smartcard.
930 Tell the server about the key to be used for decryption. If this is
931 not used, 'gpg-agent' may try to figure out the key by trying to decrypt
932 the message with each key available.
936 The agent checks whether this command is allowed and then does an
937 INQUIRY to get the ciphertext the client should then send the cipher
940 S: INQUIRE CIPHERTEXT
945 Please note that the server may send status info lines while reading
946 the data lines from the client. The data send is a SPKI like S-Exp with
951 (<param_name1> <mpi>)
953 (<param_namen> <mpi>)))
955 Where algo is a string with the name of the algorithm; see the
956 libgcrypt documentation for a list of valid algorithms. The number and
957 names of the parameters depend on the algorithm. The agent does return
958 an error if there is an inconsistency.
960 If the decryption was successful the decrypted data is returned by
963 Here is an example session:
965 S: INQUIRE CIPHERTEXT
966 C: D (enc-val elg (a 349324324)
967 C: D (b 3F444677CA)))
969 S: # session key follows
971 S: D (value 1234567890ABCDEF0)
972 S: OK decryption successful
974 The “PADDING” status line is only send if gpg-agent can tell what
975 kind of padding is used. As of now only the value 0 is used to indicate
976 that the padding has been removed.
979 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent PKSIGN, Next: Agent GENKEY, Prev: Agent PKDECRYPT, Up: Agent Protocol
984 The client asks the agent to sign a given hash value. A default key
985 will be chosen if no key has been set. To set a key a client first
990 This can be used multiple times to create multiple signature, the
991 list of keys is reset with the next PKSIGN command or a RESET. The
992 server tests whether the key is a valid key to sign something and
995 SETHASH --hash=<name>|<algo> <hexstring>
997 The client can use this command to tell the server about the data
998 <hexstring> (which usually is a hash) to be signed. <algo> is the
999 decimal encoded hash algorithm number as used by Libgcrypt. Either
1000 <algo> or -hash=<name> must be given. Valid names for <name> are:
1003 The SHA-1 hash algorithm
1005 The SHA-256 hash algorithm
1007 The RIPE-MD160 hash algorithm
1009 The old and broken MD5 hash algorithm
1011 A combined hash algorithm as used by the TLS protocol.
1013 The actual signing is done using
1017 Options are not yet defined, but may later be used to choose among
1018 different algorithms. The agent does then some checks, asks for the
1019 passphrase and as a result the server returns the signature as an SPKI
1020 like S-expression in "D" lines:
1024 (<param_name1> <mpi>)
1026 (<param_namen> <mpi>)))
1028 The operation is affected by the option
1030 OPTION use-cache-for-signing=0|1
1032 The default of '1' uses the cache. Setting this option to '0' will
1033 lead 'gpg-agent' to ignore the passphrase cache. Note, that there is
1034 also a global command line option for 'gpg-agent' to globally disable
1037 Here is an example session:
1043 S: # I did ask the user whether he really wants to sign
1044 S: # I did ask the user for the passphrase
1046 C: D ABCDEF012345678901234
1048 S: # signature follows
1049 S: D (sig-val rsa (s 45435453654612121212))
1053 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent GENKEY, Next: Agent IMPORT, Prev: Agent PKSIGN, Up: Agent Protocol
1055 2.6.3 Generating a Key
1056 ----------------------
1058 This is used to create a new keypair and store the secret key inside the
1059 active PSE -- which is in most cases a Soft-PSE. A not-yet-defined
1060 option allows choosing the storage location. To get the secret key out
1061 of the PSE, a special export tool has to be used.
1063 GENKEY [--no-protection] [--preset] [<cache_nonce>]
1065 Invokes the key generation process and the server will then inquire
1066 on the generation parameters, like:
1069 C: D (genkey (rsa (nbits 1024)))
1072 The format of the key parameters which depends on the algorithm is of
1077 (parameter_name_1 ....)
1079 (parameter_name_n ....)))
1081 If everything succeeds, the server returns the *public key* in a SPKI
1082 like S-Expression like this:
1089 Here is an example session:
1092 C: D (genkey (rsa (nbits 1024)))
1095 S: D (rsa (n 326487324683264) (e 10001)))
1098 The '--no-protection' option may be used to prevent prompting for a
1099 passphrase to protect the secret key while leaving the secret key
1100 unprotected. The '--preset' option may be used to add the passphrase to
1101 the cache using the default cache parameters.
1103 The '--inq-passwd' option may be used to create the key with a
1104 supplied passphrase. When used the agent does an inquiry with the
1105 keyword 'NEWPASSWD' to retrieve that passphrase. This option takes
1106 precedence over '--no-protection'; however if the client sends a empty
1107 (zero-length) passphrase, this is identical to '--no-protection'.
1110 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent IMPORT, Next: Agent EXPORT, Prev: Agent GENKEY, Up: Agent Protocol
1112 2.6.4 Importing a Secret Key
1113 ----------------------------
1115 This operation is not yet supported by GpgAgent. Specialized tools are
1116 to be used for this.
1118 There is no actual need because we can expect that secret keys
1119 created by a 3rd party are stored on a smartcard. If we have generated
1120 the key ourselves, we do not need to import it.
1123 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent EXPORT, Next: Agent ISTRUSTED, Prev: Agent IMPORT, Up: Agent Protocol
1125 2.6.5 Export a Secret Key
1126 -------------------------
1130 Should be done by an extra tool.
1133 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent ISTRUSTED, Next: Agent GET_PASSPHRASE, Prev: Agent EXPORT, Up: Agent Protocol
1135 2.6.6 Importing a Root Certificate
1136 ----------------------------------
1138 Actually we do not import a Root Cert but provide a way to validate any
1139 piece of data by storing its Hash along with a description and an
1140 identifier in the PSE. Here is the interface description:
1142 ISTRUSTED <fingerprint>
1144 Check whether the OpenPGP primary key or the X.509 certificate with
1145 the given fingerprint is an ultimately trusted key or a trusted Root CA
1146 certificate. The fingerprint should be given as a hexstring (without
1147 any blanks or colons or whatever in between) and may be left padded with
1148 00 in case of an MD5 fingerprint. GPGAgent will answer with:
1152 The key is in the table of trusted keys.
1154 ERR 304 (Not Trusted)
1156 The key is not in this table.
1158 Gpg needs the entire list of trusted keys to maintain the web of
1159 trust; the following command is therefore quite helpful:
1163 GpgAgent returns a list of trusted keys line by line:
1165 S: D 000000001234454556565656677878AF2F1ECCFF P
1166 S: D 340387563485634856435645634856438576457A P
1167 S: D FEDC6532453745367FD83474357495743757435D S
1170 The first item on a line is the hexified fingerprint where MD5
1171 fingerprints are '00' padded to the left and the second item is a flag
1172 to indicate the type of key (so that gpg is able to only take care of
1173 PGP keys). P = OpenPGP, S = S/MIME. A client should ignore the rest of
1174 the line, so that we can extend the format in the future.
1176 Finally a client should be able to mark a key as trusted:
1178 MARKTRUSTED FINGERPRINT "P"|"S"
1180 The server will then pop up a window to ask the user whether she
1181 really trusts this key. For this it will probably ask for a text to be
1182 displayed like this:
1184 S: INQUIRE TRUSTDESC
1185 C: D Do you trust the key with the fingerprint @FPR@
1186 C: D bla fasel blurb.
1190 Known sequences with the pattern @foo@ are replaced according to this
1194 Format the fingerprint according to gpg rules for a v3 keys.
1196 Format the fingerprint according to gpg rules for a v4 keys.
1198 Choose an appropriate format to format the fingerprint.
1200 Replaced by a single '@'.
1203 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent GET_PASSPHRASE, Next: Agent CLEAR_PASSPHRASE, Prev: Agent ISTRUSTED, Up: Agent Protocol
1205 2.6.7 Ask for a passphrase
1206 --------------------------
1208 This function is usually used to ask for a passphrase to be used for
1209 symmetric encryption, but may also be used by programs which need
1210 special handling of passphrases. This command uses a syntax which helps
1211 clients to use the agent with minimum effort.
1213 GET_PASSPHRASE [--data] [--check] [--no-ask] [--repeat[=N]] \
1214 [--qualitybar] CACHE_ID \
1215 [ERROR_MESSAGE PROMPT DESCRIPTION]
1217 CACHE_ID is expected to be a string used to identify a cached
1218 passphrase. Use a 'X' to bypass the cache. With no other arguments the
1219 agent returns a cached passphrase or an error. By convention either the
1220 hexified fingerprint of the key shall be used for CACHE_ID or an
1221 arbitrary string prefixed with the name of the calling application and a
1222 colon: Like 'gpg:somestring'.
1224 ERROR_MESSAGE is either a single 'X' for no error message or a string
1225 to be shown as an error message like (e.g. "invalid passphrase").
1226 Blanks must be percent escaped or replaced by '+''.
1228 PROMPT is either a single 'X' for a default prompt or the text to be
1229 shown as the prompt. Blanks must be percent escaped or replaced by '+'.
1231 DESCRIPTION is a text shown above the entry field. Blanks must be
1232 percent escaped or replaced by '+'.
1234 The agent either returns with an error or with a OK followed by the
1235 hex encoded passphrase. Note that the length of the strings is
1236 implicitly limited by the maximum length of a command. If the option
1237 '--data' is used, the passphrase is not returned on the OK line but by
1238 regular data lines; this is the preferred method.
1240 If the option '--check' is used, the standard passphrase constraints
1241 checks are applied. A check is not done if the passphrase has been
1244 If the option '--no-ask' is used and the passphrase is not in the
1245 cache the user will not be asked to enter a passphrase but the error
1246 code 'GPG_ERR_NO_DATA' is returned.
1248 If the option '--qualitybar' is used and a minimum passphrase length
1249 has been configured, a visual indication of the entered passphrase
1252 CLEAR_PASSPHRASE CACHE_ID
1254 may be used to invalidate the cache entry for a passphrase. The
1255 function returns with OK even when there is no cached passphrase.
1258 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent CLEAR_PASSPHRASE, Next: Agent PRESET_PASSPHRASE, Prev: Agent GET_PASSPHRASE, Up: Agent Protocol
1260 2.6.8 Remove a cached passphrase
1261 --------------------------------
1263 Use this command to remove a cached passphrase.
1265 CLEAR_PASSPHRASE [--mode=normal] <cache_id>
1267 The '--mode=normal' option can be used to clear a CACHE_ID that was
1271 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent PRESET_PASSPHRASE, Next: Agent GET_CONFIRMATION, Prev: Agent CLEAR_PASSPHRASE, Up: Agent Protocol
1273 2.6.9 Set a passphrase for a keygrip
1274 ------------------------------------
1276 This command adds a passphrase to the cache for the specified KEYGRIP.
1278 PRESET_PASSPHRASE [--inquire] <string_or_keygrip> <timeout> [<hexstring>]
1280 The passphrase is a hexadecimal string when specified. When not
1281 specified, the passphrase will be retrieved from the pinentry module
1282 unless the '--inquire' option was specified in which case the passphrase
1283 will be retrieved from the client.
1285 The TIMEOUT parameter keeps the passphrase cached for the specified
1286 number of seconds. A value of '-1' means infinite while '0' means the
1287 default (currently only a timeout of -1 is allowed, which means to never
1291 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent GET_CONFIRMATION, Next: Agent HAVEKEY, Prev: Agent PRESET_PASSPHRASE, Up: Agent Protocol
1293 2.6.10 Ask for confirmation
1294 ---------------------------
1296 This command may be used to ask for a simple confirmation by presenting
1297 a text and 2 buttons: Okay and Cancel.
1299 GET_CONFIRMATION DESCRIPTION
1301 DESCRIPTIONis displayed along with a Okay and Cancel button. Blanks
1302 must be percent escaped or replaced by '+'. A 'X' may be used to
1303 display confirmation dialog with a default text.
1305 The agent either returns with an error or with a OK. Note, that the
1306 length of DESCRIPTION is implicitly limited by the maximum length of a
1310 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent HAVEKEY, Next: Agent LEARN, Prev: Agent GET_CONFIRMATION, Up: Agent Protocol
1312 2.6.11 Check whether a key is available
1313 ---------------------------------------
1315 This can be used to see whether a secret key is available. It does not
1316 return any information on whether the key is somehow protected.
1320 The agent answers either with OK or 'No_Secret_Key' (208). The
1321 caller may want to check for other error codes as well. More than one
1322 keygrip may be given. In this case the command returns success if at
1323 least one of the keygrips corresponds to an available secret key.
1326 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent LEARN, Next: Agent PASSWD, Prev: Agent HAVEKEY, Up: Agent Protocol
1328 2.6.12 Register a smartcard
1329 ---------------------------
1333 This command is used to register a smartcard. With the '--send'
1334 option given the certificates are sent back.
1337 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent PASSWD, Next: Agent UPDATESTARTUPTTY, Prev: Agent LEARN, Up: Agent Protocol
1339 2.6.13 Change a Passphrase
1340 --------------------------
1342 PASSWD [--cache-nonce=<c>] [--passwd-nonce=<s>] [--preset] KEYGRIP
1344 This command is used to interactively change the passphrase of the
1345 key identified by the hex string KEYGRIP. The '--preset' option may be
1346 used to add the new passphrase to the cache using the default cache
1350 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent UPDATESTARTUPTTY, Next: Agent GETEVENTCOUNTER, Prev: Agent PASSWD, Up: Agent Protocol
1352 2.6.14 Change the standard display
1353 ----------------------------------
1357 Set the startup TTY and X-DISPLAY variables to the values of this
1358 session. This command is useful to direct future pinentry invocations
1359 to another screen. It is only required because there is no way in the
1360 ssh-agent protocol to convey this information.
1363 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent GETEVENTCOUNTER, Next: Agent GETINFO, Prev: Agent UPDATESTARTUPTTY, Up: Agent Protocol
1365 2.6.15 Get the Event Counters
1366 -----------------------------
1370 This function return one status line with the current values of the
1371 event counters. The event counters are useful to avoid polling by
1372 delaying a poll until something has changed. The values are decimal
1373 numbers in the range '0' to 'UINT_MAX' and wrapping around to 0. The
1374 actual values should not be relied upon; they shall only be used to
1377 The currently defined counters are:
1379 Incremented with any change of any of the other counters.
1381 Incremented for added or removed private keys.
1383 Incremented for changes of the card readers stati.
1386 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent GETINFO, Next: Agent OPTION, Prev: Agent GETEVENTCOUNTER, Up: Agent Protocol
1388 2.6.16 Return information about the process
1389 -------------------------------------------
1391 This is a multipurpose function to return a variety of information.
1395 The value of WHAT specifies the kind of information returned:
1397 Return the version of the program.
1399 Return the process id of the process.
1401 Return the name of the socket used to connect the agent.
1403 Return the name of the socket used for SSH connections. If SSH
1404 support has not been enabled the error 'GPG_ERR_NO_DATA' will be
1408 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent OPTION, Prev: Agent GETINFO, Up: Agent Protocol
1410 2.6.17 Set options for the session
1411 ----------------------------------
1413 Here is a list of session options which are not yet described with other
1414 commands. The general syntax for an Assuan option is:
1421 This may be used to tell gpg-agent of which gpg-agent version the
1422 client is aware of. gpg-agent uses this information to enable
1423 features which might break older clients.
1426 Change the session's environment to be used for the Pinentry.
1432 Set envvar NAME to the empty string
1434 Set envvar NAME to the string VALUE.
1436 'use-cache-for-signing'
1437 See Assuan command 'PKSIGN'.
1439 'allow-pinentry-notify'
1440 This does not need any value. It is used to enable the
1441 PINENTRY_LAUNCHED inquiry.
1444 This option is used to change the operation mode of the pinentry.
1445 The following values are defined:
1448 This is the default mode which pops up a pinentry as needed.
1451 Instead of popping up a pinentry, return the error code
1455 Instead of popping up a pinentry, return the error code
1456 'GPG_ERR_NO_PIN_ENTRY'.
1459 Use a loopback pinentry. This fakes a pinentry by using
1460 inquiries back to the caller to ask for a passphrase. This
1461 option may only be set if the agent has been configured for
1462 that. To disable this feature use *note option
1463 --no-allow-loopback-pinentry::.
1465 'cache-ttl-opt-preset'
1466 This option sets the cache TTL for new entries created by GENKEY
1467 and PASSWD commands when using the '--preset' option. It is not
1468 used a default value is used.
1471 Instead of using the standard S2K count (which is computed on the
1472 fly), the given S2K count is used for new keys or when changing the
1473 passphrase of a key. Values below 65536 are considered to be 0.
1474 This option is valid for the entire session or until reset to 0.
1475 This option is useful if the key is later used on boxes which are
1476 either much slower or faster than the actual box.
1478 'pretend-request-origin'
1479 This option switches the connection into a restricted mode which
1480 handles all further commands in the same way as they would be
1481 handled when originating from the extra or browser socket. Note
1482 that this option is not available in the restricted mode. Valid
1483 values for this option are:
1487 This is a NOP and leaves the connection in the standard way.
1490 Pretend to come from a remote origin in the same way as
1491 connections from the '--extra-socket'.
1494 Pretend to come from a local web browser in the same way as
1495 connections from the '--browser-socket'.
1498 File: gnupg.info, Node: Invoking DIRMNGR, Next: Invoking GPG, Prev: Invoking GPG-AGENT, Up: Top
1503 Since version 2.1 of GnuPG, 'dirmngr' takes care of accessing the
1504 OpenPGP keyservers. As with previous versions it is also used as a
1505 server for managing and downloading certificate revocation lists (CRLs)
1506 for X.509 certificates, downloading X.509 certificates, and providing
1507 access to OCSP providers. Dirmngr is invoked internally by 'gpg',
1508 'gpgsm', or via the 'gpg-connect-agent' tool.
1510 *Note Option Index::,for an index to 'DIRMNGR''s commands and options.
1514 * Dirmngr Commands:: List of all commands.
1515 * Dirmngr Options:: List of all options.
1516 * Dirmngr Configuration:: Configuration files.
1517 * Dirmngr Signals:: Use of signals.
1518 * Dirmngr Examples:: Some usage examples.
1519 * Dirmngr Protocol:: The protocol dirmngr uses.
1522 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Commands, Next: Dirmngr Options, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
1527 Commands are not distinguished from options except for the fact that
1528 only one command is allowed.
1531 Print the program version and licensing information. Note that you
1532 cannot abbreviate this command.
1535 Print a usage message summarizing the most useful command-line
1536 options. Note that you cannot abbreviate this command.
1539 Print a list of all available options and commands. Note that you
1540 cannot abbreviate this command.
1543 Run in server mode and wait for commands on the 'stdin'. The
1544 default mode is to create a socket and listen for commands there.
1545 This is only used for testing.
1548 Run in background daemon mode and listen for commands on a socket.
1549 This is the way 'dirmngr' is started on demand by the other GnuPG
1550 components. To force starting 'dirmngr' it is in general best to
1551 use 'gpgconf --launch dirmngr'.
1554 Run in the foreground, sending logs to stderr, and listening on
1555 file descriptor 3, which must already be bound to a listening
1556 socket. This is useful when running under systemd or other similar
1557 process supervision schemes. This option is not supported on
1561 List the contents of the CRL cache on 'stdout'. This is probably
1562 only useful for debugging purposes.
1565 This command requires a filename as additional argument, and it
1566 will make Dirmngr try to import the CRL in FILE into it's cache.
1567 Note, that this is only possible if Dirmngr is able to retrieve the
1568 CA's certificate directly by its own means. In general it is
1569 better to use 'gpgsm''s '--call-dirmngr loadcrl filename' command
1570 so that 'gpgsm' can help dirmngr.
1573 This command requires an URL as additional argument, and it will
1574 make dirmngr try to retrieve and import the CRL from that URL into
1575 it's cache. This is mainly useful for debugging purposes. The
1576 'dirmngr-client' provides the same feature for a running dirmngr.
1579 This commands shuts down an running instance of Dirmngr. This
1580 command has currently no effect.
1583 This command removes all CRLs from Dirmngr's cache. Client
1584 requests will thus trigger reading of fresh CRLs.
1587 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Options, Next: Dirmngr Configuration, Prev: Dirmngr Commands, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
1592 Note that all long options with the exception of '--options' and
1593 '--homedir' may also be given in the configuration file after stripping
1594 off the two leading dashes.
1597 Reads configuration from FILE instead of from the default per-user
1598 configuration file. The default configuration file is named
1599 'dirmngr.conf' and expected in the home directory.
1602 Set the name of the home directory to DIR. This option is only
1603 effective when used on the command line. The default is the
1604 directory named '.gnupg' directly below the home directory of the
1605 user unless the environment variable 'GNUPGHOME' has been set in
1606 which case its value will be used. Many kinds of data are stored
1607 within this directory.
1611 Outputs additional information while running. You can increase the
1612 verbosity by giving several verbose commands to DIRMNGR, such as
1616 Append all logging output to FILE. This is very helpful in seeing
1617 what the agent actually does. Use 'socket://' to log to socket.
1619 '--debug-level LEVEL'
1620 Select the debug level for investigating problems. LEVEL may be a
1621 numeric value or by a keyword:
1624 No debugging at all. A value of less than 1 may be used
1625 instead of the keyword.
1627 Some basic debug messages. A value between 1 and 2 may be
1628 used instead of the keyword.
1630 More verbose debug messages. A value between 3 and 5 may be
1631 used instead of the keyword.
1633 Even more detailed messages. A value between 6 and 8 may be
1634 used instead of the keyword.
1636 All of the debug messages you can get. A value greater than 8
1637 may be used instead of the keyword. The creation of hash
1638 tracing files is only enabled if the keyword is used.
1640 How these messages are mapped to the actual debugging flags is not
1641 specified and may change with newer releases of this program. They
1642 are however carefully selected to best aid in debugging.
1645 Set debugging flags. This option is only useful for debugging and
1646 its behavior may change with a new release. All flags are or-ed
1647 and may be given in C syntax (e.g. 0x0042) or as a comma separated
1648 list of flag names. To get a list of all supported flags the
1649 single word "help" can be used.
1652 Same as '--debug=0xffffffff'
1655 Enable debugging of the TLS layer at LEVEL. The details of the
1656 debug level depend on the used TLS library and are not set in
1660 When running in server mode, wait N seconds before entering the
1661 actual processing loop and print the pid. This gives time to
1664 '--disable-check-own-socket'
1665 On some platforms 'dirmngr' is able to detect the removal of its
1666 socket file and shutdown itself. This option disable this
1667 self-test for debugging purposes.
1673 Format the info output in daemon mode for use with the standard
1674 Bourne shell respective the C-shell. The default is to guess it
1675 based on the environment variable 'SHELL' which is in almost all
1679 Enabling this option forces loading of expired CRLs; this is only
1680 useful for debugging.
1684 The option '--use-tor' switches Dirmngr and thus GnuPG into "Tor
1685 mode" to route all network access via Tor (an anonymity network).
1686 Certain other features are disabled in this mode. The effect of
1687 '--use-tor' cannot be overridden by any other command or even by
1688 reloading dirmngr. The use of '--no-use-tor' disables the use of
1689 Tor. The default is to use Tor if it is available on startup or
1690 after reloading dirmngr. The test on the available of Tor is done
1691 by trying to connects to a SOCKS proxy at either port 9050 or
1692 9150); if another type of proxy is listening on one of these ports,
1693 you should use '--no-use-tor'.
1695 '--standard-resolver'
1696 This option forces the use of the system's standard DNS resolver
1697 code. This is mainly used for debugging. Note that on Windows a
1698 standard resolver is not used and all DNS access will return the
1699 error "Not Implemented" if this option is used. Using this
1700 together with enabled Tor mode returns the error "Not Enabled".
1702 '--recursive-resolver'
1703 When possible use a recursive resolver instead of a stub resolver.
1705 '--resolver-timeout N'
1706 Set the timeout for the DNS resolver to N seconds. The default are
1709 '--connect-timeout N'
1710 '--connect-quick-timeout N'
1711 Set the timeout for HTTP and generic TCP connection attempts to N
1712 seconds. The value set with the quick variant is used when the
1713 -quick option has been given to certain Assuan commands. The quick
1714 value is capped at the value of the regular connect timeout. The
1715 default values are 15 and 2 seconds. Note that the timeout values
1716 are for each connection attempt; the connection code will attempt
1717 to connect all addresses listed for a server.
1719 '--listen-backlog N'
1720 Set the size of the queue for pending connections. The default is
1723 '--allow-version-check'
1724 Allow Dirmngr to connect to 'https://versions.gnupg.org' to get the
1725 list of current software versions. If this option is enabled the
1726 list is retrieved in case the local copy does not exist or is older
1727 than 5 to 7 days. See the option '--query-swdb' of the command
1728 'gpgconf' for more details. Note, that regardless of this option a
1729 version check can always be triggered using this command:
1731 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'loadswdb --force' /bye
1734 Use NAME as your keyserver. This is the server that 'gpg'
1735 communicates with to receive keys, send keys, and search for keys.
1736 The format of the NAME is a URI: 'scheme:[//]keyservername[:port]'
1737 The scheme is the type of keyserver: "hkp" for the HTTP (or
1738 compatible) keyservers, "ldap" for the LDAP keyservers, or "mailto"
1739 for the Graff email keyserver. Note that your particular
1740 installation of GnuPG may have other keyserver types available as
1741 well. Keyserver schemes are case-insensitive. After the keyserver
1742 name, optional keyserver configuration options may be provided.
1743 These are the same as the '--keyserver-options' of 'gpg', but apply
1744 only to this particular keyserver.
1746 Most keyservers synchronize with each other, so there is generally
1747 no need to send keys to more than one server. Somes keyservers use
1748 round robin DNS to give a different keyserver each time you use it.
1750 If exactly two keyservers are configured and only one is a Tor
1751 hidden service (.onion), Dirmngr selects the keyserver to use
1752 depending on whether Tor is locally running or not. The check for
1753 a running Tor is done for each new connection.
1755 If no keyserver is explicitly configured, dirmngr will use the
1756 built-in default of 'https://keyserver.ubuntu.com'.
1758 Windows users with a keyserver running on their Active Directory
1759 may use the short form 'ldap:///' for NAME to access this
1762 For accessing anonymous LDAP keyservers NAME is in general just a
1763 'ldaps://ldap.example.com'. A BaseDN parameter should never be
1764 specified. If authentication is required things are more
1765 complicated and two methods are available:
1767 The modern method (since version 2.2.28) is to use the very same
1768 syntax as used with the option '--ldapserver'. Please see over
1769 there for details; here is an example:
1771 keyserver ldap:ldap.example.com::uid=USERNAME,ou=GnuPG Users,
1772 dc=example,dc=com:PASSWORD::starttls
1774 The other method is to use a full URL for NAME; for example:
1776 keyserver ldaps://ldap.example.com/????bindname=uid=USERNAME
1777 %2Cou=GnuPG%20Users%2Cdc=example%2Cdc=com,password=PASSWORD
1779 Put this all on one line without any spaces and keep the '%2C' as
1780 given. Replace USERNAME, PASSWORD, and the 'dc' parts according to
1781 the instructions received from your LDAP administrator. Note that
1782 only simple authentication (i.e. cleartext passwords) is supported
1783 and thus using ldaps is strongly suggested (since 2.2.28 "ldaps"
1784 defaults to port 389 and uses STARTTLS). On Windows authentication
1785 via AD can be requested by adding 'gpgNtds=1' after the fourth
1786 question mark instead of the bindname and password parameter.
1788 '--nameserver IPADDR'
1789 In "Tor mode" Dirmngr uses a public resolver via Tor to resolve DNS
1790 names. If the default public resolver, which is '8.8.8.8', shall
1791 not be used a different one can be given using this option. Note
1792 that a numerical IP address must be given (IPv6 or IPv4) and that
1793 no error checking is done for IPADDR.
1797 Disable the use of all IPv4 or IPv6 addresses.
1800 Entirely disables the use of LDAP.
1803 Entirely disables the use of HTTP.
1806 When looking for the location of a CRL, the to be tested
1807 certificate usually contains so called "CRL Distribution Point"
1808 (DP) entries which are URLs describing the way to access the CRL.
1809 The first found DP entry is used. With this option all entries
1810 using the HTTP scheme are ignored when looking for a suitable DP.
1813 This is similar to '--ignore-http-dp' but ignores entries using the
1814 LDAP scheme. Both options may be combined resulting in ignoring
1817 '--ignore-ocsp-service-url'
1818 Ignore all OCSP URLs contained in the certificate. The effect is
1819 to force the use of the default responder.
1821 '--honor-http-proxy'
1822 If the environment variable 'http_proxy' has been set, use its
1823 value to access HTTP servers.
1825 '--http-proxy HOST[:PORT]'
1826 Use HOST and PORT to access HTTP servers. The use of this option
1827 overrides the environment variable 'http_proxy' regardless whether
1828 '--honor-http-proxy' has been set.
1830 '--ldap-proxy HOST[:PORT]'
1831 Use HOST and PORT to connect to LDAP servers. If PORT is omitted,
1832 port 389 (standard LDAP port) is used. This overrides any
1833 specified host and port part in a LDAP URL and will also be used if
1834 host and port have been omitted from the URL.
1837 Never use anything else but the LDAP "proxy" as configured with
1838 '--ldap-proxy'. Usually 'dirmngr' tries to use other configured
1839 LDAP server if the connection using the "proxy" failed.
1841 '--ldapserverlist-file FILE'
1842 Read the list of LDAP servers to consult for CRLs and X.509
1843 certificates from file instead of the default per-user ldap server
1844 list file. The default value for FILE is
1845 'dirmngr_ldapservers.conf'.
1847 This server list file contains one LDAP server per line in the
1850 HOSTNAME:PORT:USERNAME:PASSWORD:BASE_DN:FLAGS
1852 Lines starting with a '#' are comments.
1854 Note that as usual all strings entered are expected to be UTF-8
1855 encoded. Obviously this will lead to problems if the password has
1856 originally been encoded as Latin-1. There is no other solution
1857 here than to put such a password in the binary encoding into the
1858 file (i.e. non-ascii characters won't show up readable).(1)
1861 This is an alternative way to specify LDAP servers for CRL and
1862 X.509 certificate retrieval. If this option is used the servers
1863 configured in 'dirmngr_ldapservers.conf' (or the file given by
1864 '--ldapserverlist-file') are cleared. Note that
1865 'dirmngr_ldapservers.conf' is not read again by a reload signal.
1866 However, '--ldapserver' options are read again.
1868 SPEC is either a proper LDAP URL or a colon delimited list of the
1871 HOSTNAME:PORT:USERNAME:PASSWORD:BASE_DN:FLAGS:
1873 with an optional prefix of 'ldap:' (but without the two slashes
1874 which would turn this into a proper LDAP URL). FLAGS is a list of
1875 one or more comma delimited keywords:
1877 The default: Do not use a TLS secured connection at all; the
1878 default port is 389.
1880 Use STARTTLS to secure the connection; the default port is
1883 Tunnel LDAP through a TLS connection; the default port is 636.
1885 On Windows authenticate the LDAP connection using the Active
1886 Directory with the current user.
1888 Note that in an URL style specification the scheme 'ldaps://'
1889 refers to STARTTLS and _not_ to LDAP-over-TLS.
1891 '--ldaptimeout SECS'
1892 Specify the number of seconds to wait for an LDAP query before
1893 timing out. The default are 15 seconds. 0 will never timeout.
1896 This option makes dirmngr add any servers it discovers when
1897 validating certificates against CRLs to the internal list of
1898 servers to consult for certificates and CRLs.
1900 This option is useful when trying to validate a certificate that
1901 has a CRL distribution point that points to a server that is not
1902 already listed in the ldapserverlist. Dirmngr will always go to
1903 this server and try to download the CRL, but chances are high that
1904 the certificate used to sign the CRL is located on the same server.
1905 So if dirmngr doesn't add that new server to list, it will often
1906 not be able to verify the signature of the CRL unless the
1907 '--add-servers' option is used.
1909 Note: The current version of dirmngr has this option disabled by
1913 This option enables OCSP support if requested by the client.
1915 OCSP requests are rejected by default because they may violate the
1916 privacy of the user; for example it is possible to track the time
1917 when a user is reading a mail.
1919 '--ocsp-responder URL'
1920 Use URL as the default OCSP Responder if the certificate does not
1921 contain information about an assigned responder. Note, that
1922 '--ocsp-signer' must also be set to a valid certificate.
1924 '--ocsp-signer FPR|FILE'
1925 Use the certificate with the fingerprint FPR to check the responses
1926 of the default OCSP Responder. Alternatively a filename can be
1927 given in which case the response is expected to be signed by one of
1928 the certificates described in that file. Any argument which
1929 contains a slash, dot or tilde is considered a filename. Usual
1930 filename expansion takes place: A tilde at the start followed by a
1931 slash is replaced by the content of 'HOME', no slash at start
1932 describes a relative filename which will be searched at the home
1933 directory. To make sure that the FILE is searched in the home
1934 directory, either prepend the name with "./" or use a name which
1937 If a response has been signed by a certificate described by these
1938 fingerprints no further check upon the validity of this certificate
1941 The format of the FILE is a list of SHA-1 fingerprint, one per line
1942 with optional colons between the bytes. Empty lines and lines
1943 prefix with a hash mark are ignored.
1945 '--ocsp-max-clock-skew N'
1946 The number of seconds a skew between the OCSP responder and them
1947 local clock is accepted. Default is 600 (10 minutes).
1949 '--ocsp-max-period N'
1950 Seconds a response is at maximum considered valid after the time
1951 given in the thisUpdate field. Default is 7776000 (90 days).
1953 '--ocsp-current-period N'
1954 The number of seconds an OCSP response is considered valid after
1955 the time given in the NEXT_UPDATE datum. Default is 10800 (3
1959 Do not return more that N items in one query. The default is 10.
1961 '--ignore-cert-extension OID'
1962 Add OID to the list of ignored certificate extensions. The OID is
1963 expected to be in dotted decimal form, like '2.5.29.3'. This
1964 option may be used more than once. Critical flagged certificate
1965 extensions matching one of the OIDs in the list are treated as if
1966 they are actually handled and thus the certificate won't be
1967 rejected due to an unknown critical extension. Use this option
1968 with care because extensions are usually flagged as critical for a
1972 Use the root certificates in FILE for verification of the TLS
1973 certificates used with 'hkps' (keyserver access over TLS). If the
1974 file is in PEM format a suffix of '.pem' is expected for FILE.
1975 This option may be given multiple times to add more root
1976 certificates. Tilde expansion is supported.
1978 If no 'hkp-cacert' directive is present, dirmngr will use the
1981 ---------- Footnotes ----------
1983 (1) The 'gpgconf' tool might be helpful for frontends as it enables
1984 editing this configuration file using percent-escaped strings.
1987 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Configuration, Next: Dirmngr Signals, Prev: Dirmngr Options, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
1992 Dirmngr makes use of several directories when running in daemon mode:
1993 There are a few configuration files whih control the operation of
1994 dirmngr. By default they may all be found in the current home directory
1995 (*note option --homedir::).
1998 This is the standard configuration file read by 'dirmngr' on
1999 startup. It may contain any valid long option; the leading two
2000 dashes may not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated.
2001 This file is also read after a 'SIGHUP' however not all options
2002 will actually have an effect. This default name may be changed on
2003 the command line (*note option --options::). You should backup
2006 '/etc/gnupg/trusted-certs'
2007 This directory should be filled with certificates of Root CAs you
2008 are trusting in checking the CRLs and signing OCSP Responses.
2010 Usually these are the same certificates you use with the
2011 applications making use of dirmngr. It is expected that each of
2012 these certificate files contain exactly one DER encoded certificate
2013 in a file with the suffix '.crt' or '.der'. 'dirmngr' reads those
2014 certificates on startup and when given a SIGHUP. Certificates which
2015 are not readable or do not make up a proper X.509 certificate are
2016 ignored; see the log file for details.
2018 Applications using dirmngr (e.g. gpgsm) can request these
2019 certificates to complete a trust chain in the same way as with the
2020 extra-certs directory (see below).
2022 Note that for OCSP responses the certificate specified using the
2023 option '--ocsp-signer' is always considered valid to sign OCSP
2026 '/etc/gnupg/extra-certs'
2027 This directory may contain extra certificates which are preloaded
2028 into the internal cache on startup. Applications using dirmngr
2029 (e.g. gpgsm) can request cached certificates to complete a trust
2030 chain. This is convenient in cases you have a couple intermediate
2031 CA certificates or certificates usually used to sign OCSP
2032 responses. These certificates are first tried before going out to
2033 the net to look for them. These certificates must also be DER
2034 encoded and suffixed with '.crt' or '.der'.
2037 This directory is used to store cached CRLs. The 'crls.d' part
2038 will be created by dirmngr if it does not exists but you need to
2039 make sure that the upper directory exists.
2041 To be able to see what's going on you should create the configure
2042 file '~/gnupg/dirmngr.conf' with at least one line:
2044 log-file ~/dirmngr.log
2046 To be able to perform OCSP requests you probably want to add the
2051 To make sure that new options are read and that after the
2052 installation of a new GnuPG versions the installed dirmngr is running,
2053 you may want to kill an existing dirmngr first:
2055 gpgconf --kill dirmngr
2057 You may check the log file to see whether all desired root
2058 certificates have been loaded correctly.
2061 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Signals, Next: Dirmngr Examples, Prev: Dirmngr Configuration, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
2066 A running 'dirmngr' may be controlled by signals, i.e. using the 'kill'
2067 command to send a signal to the process.
2069 Here is a list of supported signals:
2072 This signal flushes all internally cached CRLs as well as any
2073 cached certificates. Then the certificate cache is reinitialized
2074 as on startup. Options are re-read from the configuration file.
2075 Instead of sending this signal it is better to use
2076 gpgconf --reload dirmngr
2079 Shuts down the process but waits until all current requests are
2080 fulfilled. If the process has received 3 of these signals and
2081 requests are still pending, a shutdown is forced. You may also use
2082 gpgconf --kill dirmngr
2083 instead of this signal
2086 Shuts down the process immediately.
2089 This prints some caching statistics to the log file.
2092 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Examples, Next: Dirmngr Protocol, Prev: Dirmngr Signals, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
2097 Here is an example on how to show dirmngr's internal table of OpenPGP
2098 keyserver addresses. The output is intended for debugging purposes and
2099 not part of a defined API.
2101 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'keyserver --hosttable' /bye
2103 To inhibit the use of a particular host you have noticed in one of
2104 the keyserver pools, you may use
2106 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'keyserver --dead pgpkeys.bnd.de' /bye
2108 The description of the 'keyserver' command can be printed using
2110 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'help keyserver' /bye
2113 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Protocol, Prev: Dirmngr Examples, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
2115 3.6 Dirmngr's Assuan Protocol
2116 =============================
2118 Assuan is the IPC protocol used to access dirmngr. This is a
2119 description of the commands implemented by dirmngr.
2123 * Dirmngr LOOKUP:: Look up a certificate via LDAP
2124 * Dirmngr ISVALID:: Validate a certificate using a CRL or OCSP.
2125 * Dirmngr CHECKCRL:: Validate a certificate using a CRL.
2126 * Dirmngr CHECKOCSP:: Validate a certificate using OCSP.
2127 * Dirmngr CACHECERT:: Put a certificate into the internal cache.
2128 * Dirmngr VALIDATE:: Validate a certificate for debugging.
2131 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr LOOKUP, Next: Dirmngr ISVALID, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2133 3.6.1 Return the certificate(s) found
2134 -------------------------------------
2136 Lookup certificate. To allow multiple patterns (which are ORed) quoting
2137 is required: Spaces are to be translated into "+" or into "%20";
2138 obviously this requires that the usual escape quoting rules are applied.
2139 The server responds with:
2141 S: D <DER encoded certificate>
2143 S: D <second DER encoded certificate>
2147 In this example 2 certificates are returned. The server may return
2148 any number of certificates; OK will also be returned when no
2149 certificates were found. The dirmngr might return a status line
2153 To indicate that the output was truncated to N items due to a
2154 limitation of the server or by an arbitrary set limit.
2156 The option '--url' may be used if instead of a search pattern a
2157 complete URL to the certificate is known:
2159 C: LOOKUP --url CN%3DWerner%20Koch,o%3DIntevation%20GmbH,c%3DDE?userCertificate
2161 If the option '--cache-only' is given, no external lookup is done so
2162 that only certificates from the cache are returned.
2164 With the option '--single', the first and only the first match will
2165 be returned. Unless option '--cache-only' is also used, no local lookup
2166 will be done in this case.
2169 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr ISVALID, Next: Dirmngr CHECKCRL, Prev: Dirmngr LOOKUP, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2171 3.6.2 Validate a certificate using a CRL or OCSP
2172 ------------------------------------------------
2174 ISVALID [--only-ocsp] [--force-default-responder] CERTID|CERTFPR
2176 Check whether the certificate described by the CERTID has been
2177 revoked. Due to caching, the Dirmngr is able to answer immediately in
2180 The CERTID is a hex encoded string consisting of two parts, delimited
2181 by a single dot. The first part is the SHA-1 hash of the issuer name
2182 and the second part the serial number.
2184 Alternatively the certificate's SHA-1 fingerprint CERTFPR may be
2185 given in which case an OCSP request is done before consulting the CRL.
2186 If the option '--only-ocsp' is given, no fallback to a CRL check will be
2187 used. If the option '--force-default-responder' is given, only the
2188 default OCSP responder will be used and any other methods of obtaining
2189 an OCSP responder URL won't be used.
2191 Common return values are:
2193 'GPG_ERR_NO_ERROR (0)'
2194 This is the positive answer: The certificate is not revoked and we
2195 have an up-to-date revocation list for that certificate. If OCSP
2196 was used the responder confirmed that the certificate has not been
2199 'GPG_ERR_CERT_REVOKED'
2200 This is the negative answer: The certificate has been revoked.
2201 Either it is in a CRL and that list is up to date or an OCSP
2202 responder informed us that it has been revoked.
2204 'GPG_ERR_NO_CRL_KNOWN'
2205 No CRL is known for this certificate or the CRL is not valid or out
2209 The OCSP responder returned an "unknown" status. This means that
2210 it is not aware of the certificate's status.
2212 'GPG_ERR_NOT_SUPPORTED'
2213 This is commonly seen if OCSP support has not been enabled in the
2216 If DirMngr has not enough information about the given certificate
2217 (which is the case for not yet cached certificates), it will inquire the
2220 S: INQUIRE SENDCERT <CertID>
2221 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2224 A client should be aware that DirMngr may ask for more than one
2227 If Dirmngr has a certificate but the signature of the certificate
2228 could not been validated because the root certificate is not known to
2229 dirmngr as trusted, it may ask back to see whether the client trusts
2230 this the root certificate:
2232 S: INQUIRE ISTRUSTED <CertHexfpr>
2236 Only this answer will let Dirmngr consider the certificate as valid.
2239 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr CHECKCRL, Next: Dirmngr CHECKOCSP, Prev: Dirmngr ISVALID, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2241 3.6.3 Validate a certificate using a CRL
2242 ----------------------------------------
2244 Check whether the certificate with FINGERPRINT (SHA-1 hash of the entire
2245 X.509 certificate blob) is valid or not by consulting the CRL
2246 responsible for this certificate. If the fingerprint has not been given
2247 or the certificate is not known, the function inquires the certificate
2250 S: INQUIRE TARGETCERT
2251 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2254 Thus the caller is expected to return the certificate for the request
2255 (which should match FINGERPRINT) as a binary blob. Processing then
2256 takes place without further interaction; in particular dirmngr tries to
2257 locate other required certificate by its own mechanism which includes a
2258 local certificate store as well as a list of trusted root certificates.
2260 The return code is 0 for success; i.e. the certificate has not been
2261 revoked or one of the usual error codes from libgpg-error.
2264 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr CHECKOCSP, Next: Dirmngr CACHECERT, Prev: Dirmngr CHECKCRL, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2266 3.6.4 Validate a certificate using OCSP
2267 ---------------------------------------
2269 CHECKOCSP [--force-default-responder] [FINGERPRINT]
2271 Check whether the certificate with FINGERPRINT (the SHA-1 hash of the
2272 entire X.509 certificate blob) is valid by consulting the appropriate
2273 OCSP responder. If the fingerprint has not been given or the
2274 certificate is not known by Dirmngr, the function inquires the
2277 S: INQUIRE TARGETCERT
2278 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2281 Thus the caller is expected to return the certificate for the request
2282 (which should match FINGERPRINT) as a binary blob. Processing then
2283 takes place without further interaction; in particular dirmngr tries to
2284 locate other required certificates by its own mechanism which includes a
2285 local certificate store as well as a list of trusted root certificates.
2287 If the option '--force-default-responder' is given, only the default
2288 OCSP responder is used. This option is the per-command variant of the
2289 global option '--ignore-ocsp-service-url'.
2291 The return code is 0 for success; i.e. the certificate has not been
2292 revoked or one of the usual error codes from libgpg-error.
2295 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr CACHECERT, Next: Dirmngr VALIDATE, Prev: Dirmngr CHECKOCSP, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2297 3.6.5 Put a certificate into the internal cache
2298 -----------------------------------------------
2300 Put a certificate into the internal cache. This command might be useful
2301 if a client knows in advance certificates required for a test and wants
2302 to make sure they get added to the internal cache. It is also helpful
2303 for debugging. To get the actual certificate, this command immediately
2306 S: INQUIRE TARGETCERT
2307 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2310 Thus the caller is expected to return the certificate for the request
2313 The return code is 0 for success; i.e. the certificate has not been
2314 successfully cached or one of the usual error codes from libgpg-error.
2317 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr VALIDATE, Prev: Dirmngr CACHECERT, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2319 3.6.6 Validate a certificate for debugging
2320 ------------------------------------------
2322 Validate a certificate using the certificate validation function used
2323 internally by dirmngr. This command is only useful for debugging. To
2324 get the actual certificate, this command immediately inquires it using
2326 S: INQUIRE TARGETCERT
2327 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2330 Thus the caller is expected to return the certificate for the request
2334 File: gnupg.info, Node: Invoking GPG, Next: Invoking GPGSM, Prev: Invoking DIRMNGR, Up: Top
2339 'gpg' is the OpenPGP part of the GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG). It is a tool
2340 to provide digital encryption and signing services using the OpenPGP
2341 standard. 'gpg' features complete key management and all the bells and
2342 whistles you would expect from a full OpenPGP implementation.
2344 There are two main versions of GnuPG: GnuPG 1.x and GnuPG 2.x. GnuPG
2345 2.x supports modern encryption algorithms and thus should be preferred
2346 over GnuPG 1.x. You only need to use GnuPG 1.x if your platform doesn't
2347 support GnuPG 2.x, or you need support for some features that GnuPG 2.x
2348 has deprecated, e.g., decrypting data created with PGP-2 keys.
2350 If you are looking for version 1 of GnuPG, you may find that version
2351 installed under the name 'gpg1'.
2353 *Note Option Index::, for an index to 'gpg''s commands and options.
2357 * GPG Commands:: List of all commands.
2358 * GPG Options:: List of all options.
2359 * GPG Configuration:: Configuration files.
2360 * GPG Examples:: Some usage examples.
2362 Developer information:
2363 * Unattended Usage of GPG:: Using 'gpg' from other programs.
2366 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Commands, Next: GPG Options, Up: Invoking GPG
2371 Commands are not distinguished from options except for the fact that
2372 only one command is allowed. Generally speaking, irrelevant options are
2373 silently ignored, and may not be checked for correctness.
2375 'gpg' may be run with no commands. In this case it will print a
2376 warning perform a reasonable action depending on the type of file it is
2377 given as input (an encrypted message is decrypted, a signature is
2378 verified, a file containing keys is listed, etc.).
2380 If you run into any problems, please add the option '--verbose' to
2381 the invocation to see more diagnostics.
2385 * General GPG Commands:: Commands not specific to the functionality.
2386 * Operational GPG Commands:: Commands to select the type of operation.
2387 * OpenPGP Key Management:: How to manage your keys.
2390 File: gnupg.info, Node: General GPG Commands, Next: Operational GPG Commands, Up: GPG Commands
2392 4.1.1 Commands not specific to the function
2393 -------------------------------------------
2396 Print the program version and licensing information. Note that you
2397 cannot abbreviate this command.
2401 Print a usage message summarizing the most useful command-line
2402 options. Note that you cannot arbitrarily abbreviate this command
2403 (though you can use its short form '-h').
2406 Print warranty information.
2409 Print a list of all available options and commands. Note that you
2410 cannot abbreviate this command.
2413 File: gnupg.info, Node: Operational GPG Commands, Next: OpenPGP Key Management, Prev: General GPG Commands, Up: GPG Commands
2415 4.1.2 Commands to select the type of operation
2416 ----------------------------------------------
2420 Sign a message. This command may be combined with '--encrypt' (to
2421 sign and encrypt a message), '--symmetric' (to sign and
2422 symmetrically encrypt a message), or both '--encrypt' and
2423 '--symmetric' (to sign and encrypt a message that can be decrypted
2424 using a secret key or a passphrase). The signing key is chosen by
2425 default or can be set explicitly using the '--local-user' and
2426 '--default-key' options.
2430 Make a cleartext signature. The content in a cleartext signature
2431 is readable without any special software. OpenPGP software is only
2432 needed to verify the signature. cleartext signatures may modify
2433 end-of-line whitespace for platform independence and are not
2434 intended to be reversible. The signing key is chosen by default or
2435 can be set explicitly using the '--local-user' and '--default-key'
2440 Make a detached signature.
2444 Encrypt data to one or more public keys. This command may be
2445 combined with '--sign' (to sign and encrypt a message),
2446 '--symmetric' (to encrypt a message that can be decrypted using a
2447 secret key or a passphrase), or '--sign' and '--symmetric' together
2448 (for a signed message that can be decrypted using a secret key or a
2449 passphrase). '--recipient' and related options specify which
2450 public keys to use for encryption.
2454 Encrypt with a symmetric cipher using a passphrase. The default
2455 symmetric cipher used is AES-128, but may be chosen with the
2456 '--cipher-algo' option. This command may be combined with '--sign'
2457 (for a signed and symmetrically encrypted message), '--encrypt'
2458 (for a message that may be decrypted via a secret key or a
2459 passphrase), or '--sign' and '--encrypt' together (for a signed
2460 message that may be decrypted via a secret key or a passphrase).
2461 'gpg' caches the passphrase used for symmetric encryption so that a
2462 decrypt operation may not require that the user needs to enter the
2463 passphrase. The option '--no-symkey-cache' can be used to disable
2467 Store only (make a simple literal data packet).
2471 Decrypt the file given on the command line (or STDIN if no file is
2472 specified) and write it to STDOUT (or the file specified with
2473 '--output'). If the decrypted file is signed, the signature is
2474 also verified. This command differs from the default operation, as
2475 it never writes to the filename which is included in the file and
2476 it rejects files that don't begin with an encrypted message.
2479 Assume that the first argument is a signed file and verify it
2480 without generating any output. With no arguments, the signature
2481 packet is read from STDIN. If only one argument is given, the
2482 specified file is expected to include a complete signature.
2484 With more than one argument, the first argument should specify a
2485 file with a detached signature and the remaining files should
2486 contain the signed data. To read the signed data from STDIN, use
2487 '-' as the second filename. For security reasons, a detached
2488 signature will not read the signed material from STDIN if not
2489 explicitly specified.
2491 Note: If the option '--batch' is not used, 'gpg' may assume that a
2492 single argument is a file with a detached signature, and it will
2493 try to find a matching data file by stripping certain suffixes.
2494 Using this historical feature to verify a detached signature is
2495 strongly discouraged; you should always specify the data file
2498 Note: When verifying a cleartext signature, 'gpg' verifies only
2499 what makes up the cleartext signed data and not any extra data
2500 outside of the cleartext signature or the header lines directly
2501 following the dash marker line. The option '--output' may be used
2502 to write out the actual signed data, but there are other pitfalls
2503 with this format as well. It is suggested to avoid cleartext
2504 signatures in favor of detached signatures.
2506 Note: Sometimes the use of the 'gpgv' tool is easier than using the
2507 full-fledged 'gpg' with this option. 'gpgv' is designed to compare
2508 signed data against a list of trusted keys and returns with success
2509 only for a good signature. It has its own manual page.
2512 This modifies certain other commands to accept multiple files for
2513 processing on the command line or read from STDIN with each
2514 filename on a separate line. This allows for many files to be
2515 processed at once. '--multifile' may currently be used along with
2516 '--verify', '--encrypt', and '--decrypt'. Note that '--multifile
2517 --verify' may not be used with detached signatures.
2520 Identical to '--multifile --verify'.
2523 Identical to '--multifile --encrypt'.
2526 Identical to '--multifile --decrypt'.
2530 '--list-public-keys'
2531 List the specified keys. If no keys are specified, then all keys
2532 from the configured public keyrings are listed.
2534 Never use the output of this command in scripts or other programs.
2535 The output is intended only for humans and its format is likely to
2536 change. The '--with-colons' option emits the output in a stable,
2537 machine-parseable format, which is intended for use by scripts and
2540 '--list-secret-keys'
2542 List the specified secret keys. If no keys are specified, then all
2543 known secret keys are listed. A '#' after the initial tags 'sec'
2544 or 'ssb' means that the secret key or subkey is currently not
2545 usable. We also say that this key has been taken offline (for
2546 example, a primary key can be taken offline by exporting the key
2547 using the command '--export-secret-subkeys'). A '>' after these
2548 tags indicate that the key is stored on a smartcard. See also
2551 '--check-signatures'
2553 Same as '--list-keys', but the key signatures are verified and
2554 listed too. Note that for performance reasons the revocation
2555 status of a signing key is not shown. This command has the same
2556 effect as using '--list-keys' with '--with-sig-check'.
2558 The status of the verification is indicated by a flag directly
2559 following the "sig" tag (and thus before the flags described below.
2560 A "!" indicates that the signature has been successfully verified,
2561 a "-" denotes a bad signature and a "%" is used if an error
2562 occurred while checking the signature (e.g. a non supported
2563 algorithm). Signatures where the public key is not available are
2564 not listed; to see their keyids the command '--list-sigs' can be
2567 For each signature listed, there are several flags in between the
2568 signature status flag and keyid. These flags give additional
2569 information about each key signature. From left to right, they are
2570 the numbers 1-3 for certificate check level (see
2571 '--ask-cert-level'), "L" for a local or non-exportable signature
2572 (see '--lsign-key'), "R" for a nonRevocable signature (see the
2573 '--edit-key' command "nrsign"), "P" for a signature that contains a
2574 policy URL (see '--cert-policy-url'), "N" for a signature that
2575 contains a notation (see '--cert-notation'), "X" for an eXpired
2576 signature (see '--ask-cert-expire'), and the numbers 1-9 or "T" for
2577 10 and above to indicate trust signature levels (see the
2578 '--edit-key' command "tsign").
2581 '--locate-external-keys'
2582 Locate the keys given as arguments. This command basically uses
2583 the same algorithm as used when locating keys for encryption and
2584 may thus be used to see what keys 'gpg' might use. In particular
2585 external methods as defined by '--auto-key-locate' are used to
2586 locate a key if the arguments comain valid mail addresses. Only
2587 public keys are listed.
2589 The variant '--locate-external-keys' does not consider a locally
2590 existing key and can thus be used to force the refresh of a key via
2591 the defined external methods. If a fingerprint is given and and
2592 the methods defined by -auto-key-locate define LDAP servers, the
2593 key is fetched from these resources; defined non-LDAP keyservers
2597 This commands takes OpenPGP keys as input and prints information
2598 about them in the same way the command '--list-keys' does for
2599 locally stored key. In addition the list options
2600 'show-unusable-uids', 'show-unusable-subkeys', 'show-notations' and
2601 'show-policy-urls' are also enabled. As usual for automated
2602 processing, this command should be combined with the option
2606 List all keys (or the specified ones) along with their
2607 fingerprints. This is the same output as '--list-keys' but with
2608 the additional output of a line with the fingerprint. May also be
2609 combined with '--check-signatures'. If this command is given
2610 twice, the fingerprints of all secondary keys are listed too. This
2611 command also forces pretty printing of fingerprints if the keyid
2612 format has been set to "none".
2615 List only the sequence of packets. This command is only useful for
2616 debugging. When used with option '--verbose' the actual MPI values
2617 are dumped and not only their lengths. Note that the output of
2618 this command may change with new releases.
2622 Present a menu to work with a smartcard. The subcommand "help"
2623 provides an overview on available commands. For a detailed
2624 description, please see the Card HOWTO at
2625 https://gnupg.org/documentation/howtos.html#GnuPG-cardHOWTO .
2628 Show the content of the smart card.
2631 Present a menu to allow changing the PIN of a smartcard. This
2632 functionality is also available as the subcommand "passwd" with the
2633 '--edit-card' command.
2635 '--delete-keys NAME'
2636 Remove key from the public keyring. In batch mode either '--yes'
2637 is required or the key must be specified by fingerprint. This is a
2638 safeguard against accidental deletion of multiple keys. If the
2639 exclamation mark syntax is used with the fingerprint of a subkey
2640 only that subkey is deleted; if the exclamation mark is used with
2641 the fingerprint of the primary key the entire public key is
2644 '--delete-secret-keys NAME'
2645 Remove key from the secret keyring. In batch mode the key must be
2646 specified by fingerprint. The option '--yes' can be used to advise
2647 gpg-agent not to request a confirmation. This extra pre-caution is
2648 done because 'gpg' can't be sure that the secret key (as controlled
2649 by gpg-agent) is only used for the given OpenPGP public key. If
2650 the exclamation mark syntax is used with the fingerprint of a
2651 subkey only the secret part of that subkey is deleted; if the
2652 exclamation mark is used with the fingerprint of the primary key
2653 only the secret part of the primary key is deleted.
2655 '--delete-secret-and-public-key NAME'
2656 Same as '--delete-key', but if a secret key exists, it will be
2657 removed first. In batch mode the key must be specified by
2658 fingerprint. The option '--yes' can be used to advise gpg-agent
2659 not to request a confirmation.
2662 Either export all keys from all keyrings (default keyrings and
2663 those registered via option '--keyring'), or if at least one name
2664 is given, those of the given name. The exported keys are written
2665 to STDOUT or to the file given with option '--output'. Use
2666 together with '--armor' to mail those keys.
2668 '--send-keys KEYIDS'
2669 Similar to '--export' but sends the keys to a keyserver.
2670 Fingerprints may be used instead of key IDs. Don't send your
2671 complete keyring to a keyserver -- select only those keys which are
2672 new or changed by you. If no KEYIDS are given, 'gpg' does nothing.
2674 Take care: Keyservers are by design write only systems and thus it
2675 is not possible to ever delete keys once they have been send to a
2678 '--export-secret-keys'
2679 '--export-secret-subkeys'
2680 Same as '--export', but exports the secret keys instead. The
2681 exported keys are written to STDOUT or to the file given with
2682 option '--output'. This command is often used along with the
2683 option '--armor' to allow for easy printing of the key for paper
2684 backup; however the external tool 'paperkey' does a better job of
2685 creating backups on paper. Note that exporting a secret key can be
2686 a security risk if the exported keys are sent over an insecure
2689 The second form of the command has the special property to render
2690 the secret part of the primary key useless; this is a GNU extension
2691 to OpenPGP and other implementations can not be expected to
2692 successfully import such a key. Its intended use is in generating
2693 a full key with an additional signing subkey on a dedicated
2694 machine. This command then exports the key without the primary key
2695 to the main machine.
2697 GnuPG may ask you to enter the passphrase for the key. This is
2698 required, because the internal protection method of the secret key
2699 is different from the one specified by the OpenPGP protocol.
2702 This command is used to export a key in the OpenSSH public key
2703 format. It requires the specification of one key by the usual
2704 means and exports the latest valid subkey which has an
2705 authentication capability to STDOUT or to the file given with
2706 option '--output'. That output can directly be added to ssh's
2707 'authorized_key' file.
2709 By specifying the key to export using a key ID or a fingerprint
2710 suffixed with an exclamation mark (!), a specific subkey or the
2711 primary key can be exported. This does not even require that the
2712 key has the authentication capability flag set.
2716 Import/merge keys. This adds the given keys to the keyring. The
2717 fast version is currently just a synonym.
2719 There are a few other options which control how this command works.
2720 Most notable here is the '--import-options merge-only' option which
2721 does not insert new keys but does only the merging of new
2722 signatures, user-IDs and subkeys.
2724 '--receive-keys KEYIDS'
2725 '--recv-keys KEYIDS'
2726 Import the keys with the given KEYIDS from a keyserver.
2729 Request updates from a keyserver for keys that already exist on the
2730 local keyring. This is useful for updating a key with the latest
2731 signatures, user IDs, etc. Calling this with no arguments will
2732 refresh the entire keyring.
2734 '--search-keys NAMES'
2735 Search the keyserver for the given NAMES. Multiple names given
2736 here will be joined together to create the search string for the
2737 keyserver. Note that keyservers search for NAMES in a different
2738 and simpler way than gpg does. The best choice is to use a mail
2739 address. Due to data privacy reasons keyservers may even not even
2740 allow searching by user id or mail address and thus may only return
2741 results when being used with the '--recv-key' command to search by
2742 key fingerprint or keyid.
2745 Retrieve keys located at the specified URIS. Note that different
2746 installations of GnuPG may support different protocols (HTTP, FTP,
2747 LDAP, etc.). When using HTTPS the system provided root
2748 certificates are used by this command.
2751 Do trust database maintenance. This command iterates over all keys
2752 and builds the Web of Trust. This is an interactive command
2753 because it may have to ask for the "ownertrust" values for keys.
2754 The user has to give an estimation of how far she trusts the owner
2755 of the displayed key to correctly certify (sign) other keys. GnuPG
2756 only asks for the ownertrust value if it has not yet been assigned
2757 to a key. Using the '--edit-key' menu, the assigned value can be
2758 changed at any time.
2761 Do trust database maintenance without user interaction. From time
2762 to time the trust database must be updated so that expired keys or
2763 signatures and the resulting changes in the Web of Trust can be
2764 tracked. Normally, GnuPG will calculate when this is required and
2765 do it automatically unless '--no-auto-check-trustdb' is set. This
2766 command can be used to force a trust database check at any time.
2767 The processing is identical to that of '--update-trustdb' but it
2768 skips keys with a not yet defined "ownertrust".
2770 For use with cron jobs, this command can be used together with
2771 '--batch' in which case the trust database check is done only if a
2772 check is needed. To force a run even in batch mode add the option
2775 '--export-ownertrust'
2776 Send the ownertrust values to STDOUT. This is useful for backup
2777 purposes as these values are the only ones which can't be
2778 re-created from a corrupted trustdb. Example:
2779 gpg --export-ownertrust > otrust.txt
2781 '--import-ownertrust'
2782 Update the trustdb with the ownertrust values stored in 'files' (or
2783 STDIN if not given); existing values will be overwritten. In case
2784 of a severely damaged trustdb and if you have a recent backup of
2785 the ownertrust values (e.g. in the file 'otrust.txt'), you may
2786 re-create the trustdb using these commands:
2789 gpg --import-ownertrust < otrust.txt
2791 '--rebuild-keydb-caches'
2792 When updating from version 1.0.6 to 1.0.7 this command should be
2793 used to create signature caches in the keyring. It might be handy
2794 in other situations too.
2798 Print message digest of algorithm ALGO for all given files or
2799 STDIN. With the second form (or a deprecated "*" for ALGO) digests
2800 for all available algorithms are printed.
2802 '--gen-random 0|1|2 COUNT'
2803 Emit COUNT random bytes of the given quality level 0, 1 or 2. If
2804 COUNT is not given or zero, an endless sequence of random bytes
2805 will be emitted. If used with '--armor' the output will be base64
2806 encoded. PLEASE, don't use this command unless you know what you
2807 are doing; it may remove precious entropy from the system!
2809 '--gen-prime MODE BITS'
2810 Use the source, Luke :-). The output format is subject to change
2815 Pack or unpack an arbitrary input into/from an OpenPGP ASCII armor.
2816 This is a GnuPG extension to OpenPGP and in general not very
2819 '--tofu-policy {auto|good|unknown|bad|ask} KEYS'
2820 Set the TOFU policy for all the bindings associated with the
2821 specified KEYS. For more information about the meaning of the
2822 policies, *note trust-model-tofu::. The KEYS may be specified
2823 either by their fingerprint (preferred) or their keyid.
2826 File: gnupg.info, Node: OpenPGP Key Management, Prev: Operational GPG Commands, Up: GPG Commands
2828 4.1.3 How to manage your keys
2829 -----------------------------
2831 This section explains the main commands for key management.
2833 '--quick-generate-key USER-ID [ALGO [USAGE [EXPIRE]]]'
2835 This is a simple command to generate a standard key with one user
2836 id. In contrast to '--generate-key' the key is generated directly
2837 without the need to answer a bunch of prompts. Unless the option
2838 '--yes' is given, the key creation will be canceled if the given
2839 user id already exists in the keyring.
2841 If invoked directly on the console without any special options an
2842 answer to a "Continue?" style confirmation prompt is required. In
2843 case the user id already exists in the keyring a second prompt to
2844 force the creation of the key will show up.
2846 If ALGO or USAGE are given, only the primary key is created and no
2847 prompts are shown. To specify an expiration date but still create
2848 a primary and subkey use "default" or "future-default" for ALGO and
2849 "default" for USAGE. For a description of these optional arguments
2850 see the command '--quick-add-key'. The USAGE accepts also the
2851 value "cert" which can be used to create a certification only
2852 primary key; the default is to a create certification and signing
2855 The EXPIRE argument can be used to specify an expiration date for
2856 the key. Several formats are supported; commonly the ISO formats
2857 "YYYY-MM-DD" or "YYYYMMDDThhmmss" are used. To make the key expire
2858 in N seconds, N days, N weeks, N months, or N years use
2859 "seconds=N", "Nd", "Nw", "Nm", or "Ny" respectively. Not
2860 specifying a value, or using "-" results in a key expiring in a
2861 reasonable default interval. The values "never", "none" can be
2862 used for no expiration date.
2864 If this command is used with '--batch', '--pinentry-mode' has been
2865 set to 'loopback', and one of the passphrase options
2866 ('--passphrase', '--passphrase-fd', or '--passphrase-file') is
2867 used, the supplied passphrase is used for the new key and the agent
2868 does not ask for it. To create a key without any protection
2869 '--passphrase ''' may be used.
2871 To create an OpenPGP key from the keys available on the currently
2872 inserted smartcard, the special string "card" can be used for ALGO.
2873 If the card features an encryption and a signing key, gpg will
2874 figure them out and creates an OpenPGP key consisting of the usual
2875 primary key and one subkey. This works only with certain
2876 smartcards. Note that the interactive '--full-gen-key' command
2877 allows to do the same but with greater flexibility in the selection
2878 of the smartcard keys.
2880 Note that it is possible to create a primary key and a subkey using
2881 non-default algorithms by using "default" and changing the default
2882 parameters using the option '--default-new-key-algo'.
2884 '--quick-set-expire FPR EXPIRE [*|SUBFPRS]'
2885 With two arguments given, directly set the expiration time of the
2886 primary key identified by FPR to EXPIRE. To remove the expiration
2887 time '0' can be used. With three arguments and the third given as
2888 an asterisk, the expiration time of all non-revoked and not yet
2889 expired subkeys are set to EXPIRE. With more than two arguments
2890 and a list of fingerprints given for SUBFPRS, all non-revoked
2891 subkeys matching these fingerprints are set to EXPIRE.
2893 '--quick-add-key FPR [ALGO [USAGE [EXPIRE]]]'
2894 Directly add a subkey to the key identified by the fingerprint FPR.
2895 Without the optional arguments an encryption subkey is added. If
2896 any of the arguments are given a more specific subkey is added.
2898 ALGO may be any of the supported algorithms or curve names given in
2899 the format as used by key listings. To use the default algorithm
2900 the string "default" or "-" can be used. Supported algorithms are
2901 "rsa", "dsa", "elg", "ed25519", "cv25519", and other ECC curves.
2902 For example the string "rsa" adds an RSA key with the default key
2903 length; a string "rsa4096" requests that the key length is 4096
2904 bits. The string "future-default" is an alias for the algorithm
2905 which will likely be used as default algorithm in future versions
2906 of gpg. To list the supported ECC curves the command 'gpg
2907 --with-colons --list-config curve' can be used.
2909 Depending on the given ALGO the subkey may either be an encryption
2910 subkey or a signing subkey. If an algorithm is capable of signing
2911 and encryption and such a subkey is desired, a USAGE string must be
2912 given. This string is either "default" or "-" to keep the default
2913 or a comma delimited list (or space delimited list) of keywords:
2914 "sign" for a signing subkey, "auth" for an authentication subkey,
2915 and "encr" for an encryption subkey ("encrypt" can be used as alias
2916 for "encr"). The valid combinations depend on the algorithm.
2918 The EXPIRE argument can be used to specify an expiration date for
2919 the key. Several formats are supported; commonly the ISO formats
2920 "YYYY-MM-DD" or "YYYYMMDDThhmmss" are used. To make the key expire
2921 in N seconds, N days, N weeks, N months, or N years use
2922 "seconds=N", "Nd", "Nw", "Nm", or "Ny" respectively. Not
2923 specifying a value, or using "-" results in a key expiring in a
2924 reasonable default interval. The values "never", "none" can be
2925 used for no expiration date.
2929 Generate a new key pair using the current default parameters. This
2930 is the standard command to create a new key. In addition to the
2931 key a revocation certificate is created and stored in the
2932 'openpgp-revocs.d' directory below the GnuPG home directory.
2934 '--full-generate-key'
2936 Generate a new key pair with dialogs for all options. This is an
2937 extended version of '--generate-key'.
2939 There is also a feature which allows you to create keys in batch
2940 mode. See the manual section "Unattended key generation" on how to
2943 '--generate-revocation NAME'
2945 Generate a revocation certificate for the complete key. To only
2946 revoke a subkey or a key signature, use the '--edit' command.
2948 This command merely creates the revocation certificate so that it
2949 can be used to revoke the key if that is ever needed. To actually
2950 revoke a key the created revocation certificate needs to be merged
2951 with the key to revoke. This is done by importing the revocation
2952 certificate using the '--import' command. Then the revoked key
2953 needs to be published, which is best done by sending the key to a
2954 keyserver (command '--send-key') and by exporting ('--export') it
2955 to a file which is then send to frequent communication partners.
2957 '--generate-designated-revocation NAME'
2958 '--desig-revoke NAME'
2959 Generate a designated revocation certificate for a key. This
2960 allows a user (with the permission of the keyholder) to revoke
2964 Present a menu which enables you to do most of the key management
2965 related tasks. It expects the specification of a key on the
2969 Toggle selection of user ID or photographic user ID with index
2970 N. Use '*' to select all and '0' to deselect all.
2973 Toggle selection of subkey with index N or key ID N. Use '*'
2974 to select all and '0' to deselect all.
2977 Make a signature on key of user 'name'. If the key is not yet
2978 signed by the default user (or the users given with '-u'), the
2979 program displays the information of the key again, together
2980 with its fingerprint and asks whether it should be signed.
2981 This question is repeated for all users specified with '-u'.
2984 Same as "sign" but the signature is marked as non-exportable
2985 and will therefore never be used by others. This may be used
2986 to make keys valid only in the local environment.
2989 Same as "sign" but the signature is marked as non-revocable
2990 and can therefore never be revoked.
2993 Make a trust signature. This is a signature that combines the
2994 notions of certification (like a regular signature), and trust
2995 (like the "trust" command). It is generally only useful in
2996 distinct communities or groups. For more information please
2997 read the sections "Trust Signature" and "Regular Expression"
3000 Note that "l" (for local / non-exportable), "nr" (for
3001 non-revocable, and "t" (for trust) may be freely mixed and prefixed
3002 to "sign" to create a signature of any type desired.
3004 If the option '--only-sign-text-ids' is specified, then any
3005 non-text based user ids (e.g., photo IDs) will not be selected for
3009 Delete a signature. Note that it is not possible to retract a
3010 signature, once it has been send to the public (i.e. to a
3011 keyserver). In that case you better use 'revsig'.
3014 Revoke a signature. For every signature which has been
3015 generated by one of the secret keys, GnuPG asks whether a
3016 revocation certificate should be generated.
3019 Check the signatures on all selected user IDs. With the extra
3020 option 'selfsig' only self-signatures are shown.
3023 Create an additional user ID.
3026 Create a photographic user ID. This will prompt for a JPEG
3027 file that will be embedded into the user ID. Note that a very
3028 large JPEG will make for a very large key. Also note that
3029 some programs will display your JPEG unchanged (GnuPG), and
3030 some programs will scale it to fit in a dialog box (PGP).
3033 Display the selected photographic user ID.
3036 Delete a user ID or photographic user ID. Note that it is not
3037 possible to retract a user id, once it has been send to the
3038 public (i.e. to a keyserver). In that case you better use
3042 Revoke a user ID or photographic user ID.
3045 Flag the current user id as the primary one, removes the
3046 primary user id flag from all other user ids and sets the
3047 timestamp of all affected self-signatures one second ahead.
3048 Note that setting a photo user ID as primary makes it primary
3049 over other photo user IDs, and setting a regular user ID as
3050 primary makes it primary over other regular user IDs.
3053 Set a preferred keyserver for the specified user ID(s). This
3054 allows other users to know where you prefer they get your key
3055 from. See '--keyserver-options honor-keyserver-url' for more
3056 on how this works. Setting a value of "none" removes an
3057 existing preferred keyserver.
3060 Set a name=value notation for the specified user ID(s). See
3061 '--cert-notation' for more on how this works. Setting a value
3062 of "none" removes all notations, setting a notation prefixed
3063 with a minus sign (-) removes that notation, and setting a
3064 notation name (without the =value) prefixed with a minus sign
3065 removes all notations with that name.
3068 List preferences from the selected user ID. This shows the
3069 actual preferences, without including any implied preferences.
3072 More verbose preferences listing for the selected user ID.
3073 This shows the preferences in effect by including the implied
3074 preferences of 3DES (cipher), SHA-1 (digest), and Uncompressed
3075 (compression) if they are not already included in the
3076 preference list. In addition, the preferred keyserver and
3077 signature notations (if any) are shown.
3080 Set the list of user ID preferences to STRING for all (or just
3081 the selected) user IDs. Calling setpref with no arguments
3082 sets the preference list to the default (either built-in or
3083 set via '--default-preference-list'), and calling setpref with
3084 "none" as the argument sets an empty preference list. Use
3085 'gpg --version' to get a list of available algorithms. Note
3086 that while you can change the preferences on an attribute user
3087 ID (aka "photo ID"), GnuPG does not select keys via attribute
3088 user IDs so these preferences will not be used by GnuPG.
3090 When setting preferences, you should list the algorithms in
3091 the order which you'd like to see them used by someone else
3092 when encrypting a message to your key. If you don't include
3093 3DES, it will be automatically added at the end. Note that
3094 there are many factors that go into choosing an algorithm (for
3095 example, your key may not be the only recipient), and so the
3096 remote OpenPGP application being used to send to you may or
3097 may not follow your exact chosen order for a given message.
3098 It will, however, only choose an algorithm that is present on
3099 the preference list of every recipient key. See also the
3100 INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER OPENPGP PROGRAMS section below.
3103 Add a subkey to this key.
3106 Generate a subkey on a card and add it to this key.
3109 Transfer the selected secret subkey (or the primary key if no
3110 subkey has been selected) to a smartcard. The secret key in
3111 the keyring will be replaced by a stub if the key could be
3112 stored successfully on the card and you use the save command
3113 later. Only certain key types may be transferred to the card.
3114 A sub menu allows you to select on what card to store the key.
3115 Note that it is not possible to get that key back from the
3116 card - if the card gets broken your secret key will be lost
3117 unless you have a backup somewhere.
3120 Restore the given FILE to a card. This command may be used to
3121 restore a backup key (as generated during card initialization)
3122 to a new card. In almost all cases this will be the
3123 encryption key. You should use this command only with the
3124 corresponding public key and make sure that the file given as
3125 argument is indeed the backup to restore. You should then
3126 select 2 to restore as encryption key. You will first be
3127 asked to enter the passphrase of the backup key and then for
3128 the Admin PIN of the card.
3131 Remove a subkey (secondary key). Note that it is not possible
3132 to retract a subkey, once it has been send to the public (i.e.
3133 to a keyserver). In that case you better use 'revkey'. Also
3134 note that this only deletes the public part of a key.
3140 Change the key or subkey expiration time. If a subkey is
3141 selected, the expiration time of this subkey will be changed.
3142 With no selection, the key expiration of the primary key is
3146 Change the owner trust value for the key. This updates the
3147 trust-db immediately and no save is required.
3151 Disable or enable an entire key. A disabled key can not
3152 normally be used for encryption.
3155 Add a designated revoker to the key. This takes one optional
3156 argument: "sensitive". If a designated revoker is marked as
3157 sensitive, it will not be exported by default (see
3161 Change the passphrase of the secret key.
3164 This is dummy command which exists only for backward
3168 Compact (by removing all signatures except the selfsig) any
3169 user ID that is no longer usable (e.g. revoked, or expired).
3170 Then, remove any signatures that are not usable by the trust
3171 calculations. Specifically, this removes any signature that
3172 does not validate, any signature that is superseded by a later
3173 signature, revoked signatures, and signatures issued by keys
3174 that are not present on the keyring.
3177 Make the key as small as possible. This removes all
3178 signatures from each user ID except for the most recent
3182 Change the usage flags (capabilities) of the primary key or of
3183 subkeys. These usage flags (e.g. Certify, Sign,
3184 Authenticate, Encrypt) are set during key creation. Sometimes
3185 it is useful to have the opportunity to change them (for
3186 example to add Authenticate) after they have been created.
3187 Please take care when doing this; the allowed usage flags
3188 depend on the key algorithm.
3191 Add cross-certification signatures to signing subkeys that may
3192 not currently have them. Cross-certification signatures
3193 protect against a subtle attack against signing subkeys. See
3194 '--require-cross-certification'. All new keys generated have
3195 this signature by default, so this command is only useful to
3196 bring older keys up to date.
3199 Save all changes to the keyrings and quit.
3202 Quit the program without updating the keyrings.
3204 The listing shows you the key with its secondary keys and all user
3205 IDs. The primary user ID is indicated by a dot, and selected keys
3206 or user IDs are indicated by an asterisk. The trust value is
3207 displayed with the primary key: "trust" is the assigned owner trust
3208 and "validity" is the calculated validity of the key. Validity
3209 values are also displayed for all user IDs. For possible values of
3210 trust, *note trust-values::.
3213 Signs a public key with your secret key. This is a shortcut
3214 version of the subcommand "sign" from '--edit'.
3217 Signs a public key with your secret key but marks it as
3218 non-exportable. This is a shortcut version of the subcommand
3219 "lsign" from '--edit-key'.
3221 '--quick-sign-key FPR [NAMES]'
3222 '--quick-lsign-key FPR [NAMES]'
3223 Directly sign a key from the passphrase without any further user
3224 interaction. The FPR must be the verified primary fingerprint of a
3225 key in the local keyring. If no NAMES are given, all useful user
3226 ids are signed; with given [NAMES] only useful user ids matching
3227 one of theses names are signed. By default, or if a name is
3228 prefixed with a '*', a case insensitive substring match is used.
3229 If a name is prefixed with a '=' a case sensitive exact match is
3232 The command '--quick-lsign-key' marks the signatures as
3233 non-exportable. If such a non-exportable signature already exists
3234 the '--quick-sign-key' turns it into a exportable signature. If
3235 you need to update an existing signature, for example to add or
3236 change notation data, you need to use the option
3239 This command uses reasonable defaults and thus does not provide the
3240 full flexibility of the "sign" subcommand from '--edit-key'. Its
3241 intended use is to help unattended key signing by utilizing a list
3242 of verified fingerprints.
3244 '--quick-add-uid USER-ID NEW-USER-ID'
3245 This command adds a new user id to an existing key. In contrast to
3246 the interactive sub-command 'adduid' of '--edit-key' the
3247 NEW-USER-ID is added verbatim with only leading and trailing white
3248 space removed, it is expected to be UTF-8 encoded, and no checks on
3249 its form are applied.
3251 '--quick-revoke-uid USER-ID USER-ID-TO-REVOKE'
3252 This command revokes a user ID on an existing key. It cannot be
3253 used to revoke the last user ID on key (some non-revoked user ID
3254 must remain), with revocation reason "User ID is no longer valid".
3255 If you want to specify a different revocation reason, or to supply
3256 supplementary revocation text, you should use the interactive
3257 sub-command 'revuid' of '--edit-key'.
3259 '--quick-revoke-sig FPR SIGNING-FPR [NAMES]'
3260 This command revokes the key signatures made by SIGNING-FPR from
3261 the key specified by the fingerprint FPR. With NAMES given only
3262 the signatures on user ids of the key matching any of the given
3263 names are affected (see '--quick-sign-key'). If a revocation
3264 already exists a notice is printed instead of creating a new
3265 revocation; no error is returned in this case. Note that key
3266 signature revocations may be superseded by a newer key signature
3267 and in turn again revoked.
3269 '--quick-set-primary-uid USER-ID PRIMARY-USER-ID'
3270 This command sets or updates the primary user ID flag on an
3271 existing key. USER-ID specifies the key and PRIMARY-USER-ID the
3272 user ID which shall be flagged as the primary user ID. The primary
3273 user ID flag is removed from all other user ids and the timestamp
3274 of all affected self-signatures is set one second ahead.
3276 '--change-passphrase USER-ID'
3278 Change the passphrase of the secret key belonging to the
3279 certificate specified as USER-ID. This is a shortcut for the
3280 sub-command 'passwd' of the edit key menu. When using together
3281 with the option '--dry-run' this will not actually change the
3282 passphrase but check that the current passphrase is correct.
3285 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Options, Next: GPG Configuration, Prev: GPG Commands, Up: Invoking GPG
3290 'gpg' features a bunch of options to control the exact behaviour and to
3291 change the default configuration.
3295 * GPG Configuration Options:: How to change the configuration.
3296 * GPG Key related Options:: Key related options.
3297 * GPG Input and Output:: Input and Output.
3298 * OpenPGP Options:: OpenPGP protocol specific options.
3299 * Compliance Options:: Compliance options.
3300 * GPG Esoteric Options:: Doing things one usually doesn't want to do.
3301 * Deprecated Options:: Deprecated options.
3303 Long options can be put in an options file (default
3304 "~/.gnupg/gpg.conf"). Short option names will not work - for example,
3305 "armor" is a valid option for the options file, while "a" is not. Do
3306 not write the 2 dashes, but simply the name of the option and any
3307 required arguments. Lines with a hash ('#') as the first
3308 non-white-space character are ignored. Commands may be put in this file
3309 too, but that is not generally useful as the command will execute
3310 automatically with every execution of gpg.
3312 Please remember that option parsing stops as soon as a non-option is
3313 encountered, you can explicitly stop parsing by using the special option
3317 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Configuration Options, Next: GPG Key related Options, Up: GPG Options
3319 4.2.1 How to change the configuration
3320 -------------------------------------
3322 These options are used to change the configuration and most of them are
3323 usually found in the option file.
3325 '--default-key NAME'
3326 Use NAME as the default key to sign with. If this option is not
3327 used, the default key is the first key found in the secret keyring.
3328 Note that '-u' or '--local-user' overrides this option. This
3329 option may be given multiple times. In this case, the last key for
3330 which a secret key is available is used. If there is no secret key
3331 available for any of the specified values, GnuPG will not emit an
3332 error message but continue as if this option wasn't given.
3334 '--default-recipient NAME'
3335 Use NAME as default recipient if option '--recipient' is not used
3336 and don't ask if this is a valid one. NAME must be non-empty.
3338 '--default-recipient-self'
3339 Use the default key as default recipient if option '--recipient' is
3340 not used and don't ask if this is a valid one. The default key is
3341 the first one from the secret keyring or the one set with
3344 '--no-default-recipient'
3345 Reset '--default-recipient' and '--default-recipient-self'. Should
3346 not be used in an option file.
3349 Give more information during processing. If used twice, the input
3350 data is listed in detail.
3353 Reset verbose level to 0. Should not be used in an option file.
3356 Try to be as quiet as possible. Should not be used in an option
3361 Use batch mode. Never ask, do not allow interactive commands.
3362 '--no-batch' disables this option. Note that even with a filename
3363 given on the command line, gpg might still need to read from STDIN
3364 (in particular if gpg figures that the input is a detached
3365 signature and no data file has been specified). Thus if you do not
3366 want to feed data via STDIN, you should connect STDIN to
3369 It is highly recommended to use this option along with the options
3370 '--status-fd' and '--with-colons' for any unattended use of 'gpg'.
3371 Should not be used in an option file.
3374 Make sure that the TTY (terminal) is never used for any output.
3375 This option is needed in some cases because GnuPG sometimes prints
3376 warnings to the TTY even if '--batch' is used.
3379 Assume "yes" on most questions. Should not be used in an option
3383 Assume "no" on most questions. Should not be used in an option
3386 '--list-options PARAMETERS'
3387 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options used
3388 when listing keys and signatures (that is, '--list-keys',
3389 '--check-signatures', '--list-public-keys', '--list-secret-keys',
3390 and the '--edit-key' functions). Options can be prepended with a
3391 'no-' (after the two dashes) to give the opposite meaning. The
3395 Causes '--list-keys', '--check-signatures',
3396 '--list-public-keys', and '--list-secret-keys' to display any
3397 photo IDs attached to the key. Defaults to no. See also
3398 '--photo-viewer'. Does not work with '--with-colons': see
3399 '--attribute-fd' for the appropriate way to get photo data for
3400 scripts and other frontends.
3403 Show usage information for keys and subkeys in the standard
3404 key listing. This is a list of letters indicating the allowed
3405 usage for a key ('E'=encryption, 'S'=signing,
3406 'C'=certification, 'A'=authentication). Defaults to yes.
3409 Show policy URLs in the '--check-signatures' listings.
3415 Show all, IETF standard, or user-defined signature notations
3416 in the '--check-signatures' listings. Defaults to no.
3419 Show any preferred keyserver URL in the '--check-signatures'
3420 listings. Defaults to no.
3423 Display the calculated validity of user IDs during key
3424 listings. Defaults to yes.
3427 Show revoked and expired user IDs in key listings. Defaults
3430 show-unusable-subkeys
3431 Show revoked and expired subkeys in key listings. Defaults to
3435 Display the keyring name at the head of key listings to show
3436 which keyring a given key resides on. Defaults to no.
3439 Show signature expiration dates (if any) during
3440 '--check-signatures' listings. Defaults to no.
3443 Include signature subpackets in the key listing. This option
3444 can take an optional argument list of the subpackets to list.
3445 If no argument is passed, list all subpackets. Defaults to
3446 no. This option is only meaningful when using '--with-colons'
3447 along with '--check-signatures'.
3450 For each user-id which has a valid mail address print only the
3451 fingerprint followed by the mail address.
3453 '--verify-options PARAMETERS'
3454 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options used
3455 when verifying signatures. Options can be prepended with a 'no-'
3456 to give the opposite meaning. The options are:
3459 Display any photo IDs present on the key that issued the
3460 signature. Defaults to no. See also '--photo-viewer'.
3463 Show policy URLs in the signature being verified. Defaults to
3469 Show all, IETF standard, or user-defined signature notations
3470 in the signature being verified. Defaults to IETF standard.
3473 Show any preferred keyserver URL in the signature being
3474 verified. Defaults to yes.
3477 Display the calculated validity of the user IDs on the key
3478 that issued the signature. Defaults to yes.
3481 Show revoked and expired user IDs during signature
3482 verification. Defaults to no.
3484 show-primary-uid-only
3485 Show only the primary user ID during signature verification.
3486 That is all the AKA lines as well as photo Ids are not shown
3487 with the signature verification status.
3490 Enable PKA lookups to verify sender addresses. Note that PKA
3491 is based on DNS, and so enabling this option may disclose
3492 information on when and what signatures are verified or to
3493 whom data is encrypted. This is similar to the "web bug"
3494 described for the '--auto-key-retrieve' option.
3497 Raise the trust in a signature to full if the signature passes
3498 PKA validation. This option is only meaningful if pka-lookups
3501 '--enable-large-rsa'
3502 '--disable-large-rsa'
3503 With -generate-key and -batch, enable the creation of RSA secret
3504 keys as large as 8192 bit. Note: 8192 bit is more than is
3505 generally recommended. These large keys don't significantly
3506 improve security, but they are more expensive to use, and their
3507 signatures and certifications are larger. This option is only
3508 available if the binary was build with large-secmem support.
3512 Enable hash truncation for all DSA keys even for old DSA Keys up to
3513 1024 bit. This is also the default with '--openpgp'. Note that
3514 older versions of GnuPG also required this flag to allow the
3515 generation of DSA larger than 1024 bit.
3517 '--photo-viewer STRING'
3518 This is the command line that should be run to view a photo ID.
3519 "%i" will be expanded to a filename containing the photo. "%I"
3520 does the same, except the file will not be deleted once the viewer
3521 exits. Other flags are "%k" for the key ID, "%K" for the long key
3522 ID, "%f" for the key fingerprint, "%t" for the extension of the
3523 image type (e.g. "jpg"), "%T" for the MIME type of the image (e.g.
3524 "image/jpeg"), "%v" for the single-character calculated validity of
3525 the image being viewed (e.g. "f"), "%V" for the calculated
3526 validity as a string (e.g. "full"), "%U" for a base32 encoded hash
3527 of the user ID, and "%%" for an actual percent sign. If neither %i
3528 or %I are present, then the photo will be supplied to the viewer on
3531 On Unix the default viewer is 'xloadimage -fork -quiet -title
3532 'KeyID 0x%k' STDIN' with a fallback to 'display -title 'KeyID 0x%k'
3533 %i' and finally to 'xdg-open %i'. On Windows '!ShellExecute 400
3534 %i' is used; here the command is a meta command to use that API
3535 call followed by a wait time in milliseconds which is used to give
3536 the viewer time to read the temporary image file before gpg deletes
3537 it again. Note that if your image viewer program is not secure,
3538 then executing it from gpg does not make it secure.
3540 '--exec-path STRING'
3541 Sets a list of directories to search for photo viewers If not
3542 provided photo viewers use the 'PATH' environment variable.
3545 Add FILE to the current list of keyrings. If FILE begins with a
3546 tilde and a slash, these are replaced by the $HOME directory. If
3547 the filename does not contain a slash, it is assumed to be in the
3548 GnuPG home directory ("~/.gnupg" if '--homedir' or $GNUPGHOME is
3551 Note that this adds a keyring to the current list. If the intent
3552 is to use the specified keyring alone, use '--keyring' along with
3553 '--no-default-keyring'.
3555 If the option '--no-keyring' has been used no keyrings will be used
3558 '--secret-keyring FILE'
3559 This is an obsolete option and ignored. All secret keys are stored
3560 in the 'private-keys-v1.d' directory below the GnuPG home
3563 '--primary-keyring FILE'
3564 Designate FILE as the primary public keyring. This means that
3565 newly imported keys (via '--import' or keyserver '--recv-from')
3566 will go to this keyring.
3568 '--trustdb-name FILE'
3569 Use FILE instead of the default trustdb. If FILE begins with a
3570 tilde and a slash, these are replaced by the $HOME directory. If
3571 the filename does not contain a slash, it is assumed to be in the
3572 GnuPG home directory ('~/.gnupg' if '--homedir' or $GNUPGHOME is
3576 Set the name of the home directory to DIR. If this option is not
3577 used, the home directory defaults to '~/.gnupg'. It is only
3578 recognized when given on the command line. It also overrides any
3579 home directory stated through the environment variable 'GNUPGHOME'
3580 or (on Windows systems) by means of the Registry entry
3581 HKCU\SOFTWARE\GNU\GNUPG:HOMEDIR.
3583 On Windows systems it is possible to install GnuPG as a portable
3584 application. In this case only this command line option is
3585 considered, all other ways to set a home directory are ignored.
3587 To install GnuPG as a portable application under Windows, create an
3588 empty file named 'gpgconf.ctl' in the same directory as the tool
3589 'gpgconf.exe'. The root of the installation is then that
3590 directory; or, if 'gpgconf.exe' has been installed directly below a
3591 directory named 'bin', its parent directory. You also need to make
3592 sure that the following directories exist and are writable:
3593 'ROOT/home' for the GnuPG home and 'ROOT/usr/local/var/cache/gnupg'
3594 for internal cache files.
3596 '--display-charset NAME'
3597 Set the name of the native character set. This is used to convert
3598 some informational strings like user IDs to the proper UTF-8
3599 encoding. Note that this has nothing to do with the character set
3600 of data to be encrypted or signed; GnuPG does not recode
3601 user-supplied data. If this option is not used, the default
3602 character set is determined from the current locale. A verbosity
3603 level of 3 shows the chosen set. This option should not be used on
3604 Windows. Valid values for NAME are:
3607 This is the Latin 1 set.
3613 This is currently an alias for the Latin 1 set.
3616 The usual Russian set (RFC-1489).
3619 Bypass all translations and assume that the OS uses native
3624 Assume that command line arguments are given as UTF-8 strings. The
3625 default ('--no-utf8-strings') is to assume that arguments are
3626 encoded in the character set as specified by '--display-charset'.
3627 These options affect all following arguments. Both options may be
3628 used multiple times. This option should not be used in an option
3631 This option has no effect on Windows. There the internal used
3632 UTF-8 encoding is translated for console input and output. The
3633 command line arguments are expected as Unicode and translated to
3634 UTF-8. Thus when calling this program from another, make sure to
3635 use the Unicode version of CreateProcess.
3638 Read options from FILE and do not try to read them from the default
3639 options file in the homedir (see '--homedir'). This option is
3640 ignored if used in an options file.
3643 Shortcut for '--options /dev/null'. This option is detected before
3644 an attempt to open an option file. Using this option will also
3645 prevent the creation of a '~/.gnupg' homedir.
3648 '--compress-level N'
3649 '--bzip2-compress-level N'
3650 Set compression level to N for the ZIP and ZLIB compression
3651 algorithms. The default is to use the default compression level of
3652 zlib (normally 6). '--bzip2-compress-level' sets the compression
3653 level for the BZIP2 compression algorithm (defaulting to 6 as
3654 well). This is a different option from '--compress-level' since
3655 BZIP2 uses a significant amount of memory for each additional
3656 compression level. '-z' sets both. A value of 0 for N disables
3659 '--bzip2-decompress-lowmem'
3660 Use a different decompression method for BZIP2 compressed files.
3661 This alternate method uses a bit more than half the memory, but
3662 also runs at half the speed. This is useful under extreme low
3663 memory circumstances when the file was originally compressed at a
3664 high '--bzip2-compress-level'.
3666 '--mangle-dos-filenames'
3667 '--no-mangle-dos-filenames'
3668 Older version of Windows cannot handle filenames with more than one
3669 dot. '--mangle-dos-filenames' causes GnuPG to replace (rather than
3670 add to) the extension of an output filename to avoid this problem.
3671 This option is off by default and has no effect on non-Windows
3675 '--no-ask-cert-level'
3676 When making a key signature, prompt for a certification level. If
3677 this option is not specified, the certification level used is set
3678 via '--default-cert-level'. See '--default-cert-level' for
3679 information on the specific levels and how they are used.
3680 '--no-ask-cert-level' disables this option. This option defaults
3683 '--default-cert-level N'
3684 The default to use for the check level when signing a key.
3686 0 means you make no particular claim as to how carefully you
3689 1 means you believe the key is owned by the person who claims to
3690 own it but you could not, or did not verify the key at all. This
3691 is useful for a "persona" verification, where you sign the key of a
3694 2 means you did casual verification of the key. For example, this
3695 could mean that you verified the key fingerprint and checked the
3696 user ID on the key against a photo ID.
3698 3 means you did extensive verification of the key. For example,
3699 this could mean that you verified the key fingerprint with the
3700 owner of the key in person, and that you checked, by means of a
3701 hard to forge document with a photo ID (such as a passport) that
3702 the name of the key owner matches the name in the user ID on the
3703 key, and finally that you verified (by exchange of email) that the
3704 email address on the key belongs to the key owner.
3706 Note that the examples given above for levels 2 and 3 are just
3707 that: examples. In the end, it is up to you to decide just what
3708 "casual" and "extensive" mean to you.
3710 This option defaults to 0 (no particular claim).
3713 When building the trust database, treat any signatures with a
3714 certification level below this as invalid. Defaults to 2, which
3715 disregards level 1 signatures. Note that level 0 "no particular
3716 claim" signatures are always accepted.
3718 '--trusted-key LONG KEY ID OR FINGERPRINT'
3719 Assume that the specified key (which should be given as
3720 fingerprint) is as trustworthy as one of your own secret keys.
3721 This option is useful if you don't want to keep your secret keys
3722 (or one of them) online but still want to be able to check the
3723 validity of a given recipient's or signator's key. If the given
3724 key is not locally available but an LDAP keyserver is configured
3725 the missing key is imported from that server.
3727 '--trust-model {pgp|classic|tofu|tofu+pgp|direct|always|auto}'
3728 Set what trust model GnuPG should follow. The models are:
3731 This is the Web of Trust combined with trust signatures as
3732 used in PGP 5.x and later. This is the default trust model
3733 when creating a new trust database.
3736 This is the standard Web of Trust as introduced by PGP 2.
3739 TOFU stands for Trust On First Use. In this trust model, the
3740 first time a key is seen, it is memorized. If later another
3741 key with a user id with the same email address is seen, both
3742 keys are marked as suspect. In that case, the next time
3743 either is used, a warning is displayed describing the
3744 conflict, why it might have occurred (either the user
3745 generated a new key and failed to cross sign the old and new
3746 keys, the key is forgery, or a man-in-the-middle attack is
3747 being attempted), and the user is prompted to manually confirm
3748 the validity of the key in question.
3750 Because a potential attacker is able to control the email
3751 address and thereby circumvent the conflict detection
3752 algorithm by using an email address that is similar in
3753 appearance to a trusted email address, whenever a message is
3754 verified, statistics about the number of messages signed with
3755 the key are shown. In this way, a user can easily identify
3756 attacks using fake keys for regular correspondents.
3758 When compared with the Web of Trust, TOFU offers significantly
3759 weaker security guarantees. In particular, TOFU only helps
3760 ensure consistency (that is, that the binding between a key
3761 and email address doesn't change). A major advantage of TOFU
3762 is that it requires little maintenance to use correctly. To
3763 use the web of trust properly, you need to actively sign keys
3764 and mark users as trusted introducers. This is a
3765 time-consuming process and anecdotal evidence suggests that
3766 even security-conscious users rarely take the time to do this
3767 thoroughly and instead rely on an ad-hoc TOFU process.
3769 In the TOFU model, policies are associated with bindings
3770 between keys and email addresses (which are extracted from
3771 user ids and normalized). There are five policies, which can
3772 be set manually using the '--tofu-policy' option. The default
3773 policy can be set using the '--tofu-default-policy' option.
3775 The TOFU policies are: 'auto', 'good', 'unknown', 'bad' and
3776 'ask'. The 'auto' policy is used by default (unless
3777 overridden by '--tofu-default-policy') and marks a binding as
3778 marginally trusted. The 'good', 'unknown' and 'bad' policies
3779 mark a binding as fully trusted, as having unknown trust or as
3780 having trust never, respectively. The 'unknown' policy is
3781 useful for just using TOFU to detect conflicts, but to never
3782 assign positive trust to a binding. The final policy, 'ask'
3783 prompts the user to indicate the binding's trust. If batch
3784 mode is enabled (or input is inappropriate in the context),
3785 then the user is not prompted and the 'undefined' trust level
3789 This trust model combines TOFU with the Web of Trust. This is
3790 done by computing the trust level for each model and then
3791 taking the maximum trust level where the trust levels are
3792 ordered as follows: 'unknown < undefined < marginal < fully <
3793 ultimate < expired < never'.
3795 By setting '--tofu-default-policy=unknown', this model can be
3796 used to implement the web of trust with TOFU's conflict
3797 detection algorithm, but without its assignment of positive
3798 trust values, which some security-conscious users don't like.
3801 Key validity is set directly by the user and not calculated
3802 via the Web of Trust. This model is solely based on the key
3803 and does not distinguish user IDs. Note that when changing to
3804 another trust model the trust values assigned to a key are
3805 transformed into ownertrust values, which also indicate how
3806 you trust the owner of the key to sign other keys.
3809 Skip key validation and assume that used keys are always fully
3810 valid. You generally won't use this unless you are using some
3811 external validation scheme. This option also suppresses the
3812 "[uncertain]" tag printed with signature checks when there is
3813 no evidence that the user ID is bound to the key. Note that
3814 this trust model still does not allow the use of expired,
3815 revoked, or disabled keys.
3818 Select the trust model depending on whatever the internal
3819 trust database says. This is the default model if such a
3820 database already exists. Note that a tofu trust model is not
3821 considered here and must be enabled explicitly.
3823 '--auto-key-locate MECHANISMS'
3824 '--no-auto-key-locate'
3825 GnuPG can automatically locate and retrieve keys as needed using
3826 this option. This happens when encrypting to an email address (in
3827 the "user@example.com" form), and there are no "user@example.com"
3828 keys on the local keyring. This option takes any number of the
3829 mechanisms listed below, in the order they are to be tried.
3830 Instead of listing the mechanisms as comma delimited arguments, the
3831 option may also be given several times to add more mechanism. The
3832 option '--no-auto-key-locate' or the mechanism "clear" resets the
3833 list. The default is "local,wkd".
3836 Locate a key using DNS CERT, as specified in RFC-4398.
3839 Locate a key using DNS PKA.
3842 Locate a key using DANE, as specified in
3843 draft-ietf-dane-openpgpkey-05.txt.
3846 Locate a key using the Web Key Directory protocol.
3849 Using DNS Service Discovery, check the domain in question for
3850 any LDAP keyservers to use. If this fails, attempt to locate
3851 the key using the PGP Universal method of checking
3852 'ldap://keys.(thedomain)'.
3855 Locate the key using the Active Directory (Windows only).
3856 This method also allows to search by fingerprint using the
3857 command '--locate-external-key'.
3860 Locate a key using a keyserver. This method also allows to
3861 search by fingerprint using the command
3862 '--locate-external-key' if any of the configured keyservers is
3866 In addition, a keyserver URL as used in the 'dirmngr'
3867 configuration may be used here to query that particular
3868 keyserver. This method also allows to search by fingerprint
3869 using the command '--locate-external-key' if the URL specifies
3873 Locate the key using the local keyrings. This mechanism
3874 allows the user to select the order a local key lookup is
3875 done. Thus using '--auto-key-locate local' is identical to
3876 '--no-auto-key-locate'.
3879 This flag disables the standard local key lookup, done before
3880 any of the mechanisms defined by the '--auto-key-locate' are
3881 tried. The position of this mechanism in the list does not
3882 matter. It is not required if 'local' is also used.
3885 Clear all defined mechanisms. This is useful to override
3886 mechanisms given in a config file. Note that a 'nodefault' in
3887 MECHANISMS will also be cleared unless it is given after the
3891 '--no-auto-key-import'
3892 This is an offline mechanism to get a missing key for signature
3893 verification and for later encryption to this key. If this option
3894 is enabled and a signature includes an embedded key, that key is
3895 used to verify the signature and on verification success that key
3896 is imported. The default is '--no-auto-key-import'.
3898 On the sender (signing) site the option '--include-key-block' needs
3899 to be used to put the public part of the signing key as “Key Block
3900 subpacket” into the signature.
3902 '--auto-key-retrieve'
3903 '--no-auto-key-retrieve'
3904 These options enable or disable the automatic retrieving of keys
3905 from a keyserver when verifying signatures made by keys that are
3906 not on the local keyring. The default is '--no-auto-key-retrieve'.
3908 The order of methods tried to lookup the key is:
3910 1. If the option '--auto-key-import' is set and the signatures
3911 includes an embedded key, that key is used to verify the signature
3912 and on verification success that key is imported.
3914 2. If a preferred keyserver is specified in the signature and the
3915 option 'honor-keyserver-url' is active (which is not the default),
3916 that keyserver is tried. Note that the creator of the signature
3917 uses the option '--sig-keyserver-url' to specify the preferred
3918 keyserver for data signatures.
3920 3. If the signature has the Signer's UID set (e.g. using
3921 '--sender' while creating the signature) a Web Key Directory (WKD)
3922 lookup is done. This is the default configuration but can be
3923 disabled by removing WKD from the auto-key-locate list or by using
3924 the option '--disable-signer-uid'.
3926 4. If the option 'honor-pka-record' is active, the legacy PKA
3929 5. If any keyserver is configured and the Issuer Fingerprint is
3930 part of the signature (since GnuPG 2.1.16), the configured
3931 keyservers are tried.
3933 Note that this option makes a "web bug" like behavior possible.
3934 Keyserver or Web Key Directory operators can see which keys you
3935 request, so by sending you a message signed by a brand new key
3936 (which you naturally will not have on your local keyring), the
3937 operator can tell both your IP address and the time when you
3938 verified the signature.
3940 '--keyid-format {none|short|0xshort|long|0xlong}'
3941 Select how to display key IDs. "none" does not show the key ID at
3942 all but shows the fingerprint in a separate line. "short" is the
3943 traditional 8-character key ID. "long" is the more accurate (but
3944 less convenient) 16-character key ID. Add an "0x" to either to
3945 include an "0x" at the beginning of the key ID, as in 0x99242560.
3946 Note that this option is ignored if the option '--with-colons' is
3950 This option is deprecated - please use the '--keyserver' in
3951 'dirmngr.conf' instead.
3953 Use NAME as your keyserver. This is the server that
3954 '--receive-keys', '--send-keys', and '--search-keys' will
3955 communicate with to receive keys from, send keys to, and search for
3956 keys on. The format of the NAME is a URI:
3957 'scheme:[//]keyservername[:port]' The scheme is the type of
3958 keyserver: "hkp"/"hkps" for the HTTP (or compatible) keyservers or
3959 "ldap"/"ldaps" for the LDAP keyservers. Note that your particular
3960 installation of GnuPG may have other keyserver types available as
3961 well. Keyserver schemes are case-insensitive.
3963 Most keyservers synchronize with each other, so there is generally
3964 no need to send keys to more than one server. The keyserver
3965 'hkp://keys.gnupg.net' uses round robin DNS to give a different
3966 keyserver each time you use it.
3968 '--keyserver-options {NAME=VALUE}'
3969 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
3970 the keyserver. Options can be prefixed with a 'no-' to give the
3971 opposite meaning. Valid import-options or export-options may be
3972 used here as well to apply to importing ('--recv-key') or exporting
3973 ('--send-key') a key from a keyserver. While not all options are
3974 available for all keyserver types, some common options are:
3977 When searching for a key with '--search-keys', include keys
3978 that are marked on the keyserver as revoked. Note that not
3979 all keyservers differentiate between revoked and unrevoked
3980 keys, and for such keyservers this option is meaningless.
3981 Note also that most keyservers do not have cryptographic
3982 verification of key revocations, and so turning this option
3983 off may result in skipping keys that are incorrectly marked as
3987 When searching for a key with '--search-keys', include keys
3988 that are marked on the keyserver as disabled. Note that this
3989 option is not used with HKP keyservers.
3992 This is an obsolete alias for the option 'auto-key-retrieve'.
3993 Please do not use it; it will be removed in future versions..
3996 When using '--refresh-keys', if the key in question has a
3997 preferred keyserver URL, then use that preferred keyserver to
3998 refresh the key from. In addition, if auto-key-retrieve is
3999 set, and the signature being verified has a preferred
4000 keyserver URL, then use that preferred keyserver to fetch the
4001 key from. Note that this option introduces a "web bug": The
4002 creator of the key can see when the keys is refreshed. Thus
4003 this option is not enabled by default.
4006 If '--auto-key-retrieve' is used, and the signature being
4007 verified has a PKA record, then use the PKA information to
4008 fetch the key. Defaults to "yes".
4011 When receiving a key, include subkeys as potential targets.
4012 Note that this option is not used with HKP keyservers, as they
4013 do not support retrieving keys by subkey id.
4021 These options have no more function since GnuPG 2.1. Use the
4022 'dirmngr' configuration options instead.
4024 The default list of options is: "self-sigs-only, import-clean,
4025 repair-keys, repair-pks-subkey-bug, export-attributes,
4026 honor-pka-record". However, if the actual used source is an LDAP
4027 server "no-self-sigs-only" is assumed unless "self-sigs-only" has
4028 been explictly configured.
4030 '--completes-needed N'
4031 Number of completely trusted users to introduce a new key signer
4034 '--marginals-needed N'
4035 Number of marginally trusted users to introduce a new key signer
4038 '--tofu-default-policy {auto|good|unknown|bad|ask}'
4039 The default TOFU policy (defaults to 'auto'). For more information
4040 about the meaning of this option, *note trust-model-tofu::.
4042 '--max-cert-depth N'
4043 Maximum depth of a certification chain (default is 5).
4046 Do not cache the verification status of key signatures. Caching
4047 gives a much better performance in key listings. However, if you
4048 suspect that your public keyring is not safe against write
4049 modifications, you can use this option to disable the caching. It
4050 probably does not make sense to disable it because all kind of
4051 damage can be done if someone else has write access to your public
4054 '--auto-check-trustdb'
4055 '--no-auto-check-trustdb'
4056 If GnuPG feels that its information about the Web of Trust has to
4057 be updated, it automatically runs the '--check-trustdb' command
4058 internally. This may be a time consuming process.
4059 '--no-auto-check-trustdb' disables this option.
4063 This is dummy option. 'gpg' always requires the agent.
4066 This is dummy option. It has no effect when used with 'gpg'.
4068 '--agent-program FILE'
4069 Specify an agent program to be used for secret key operations. The
4070 default value is determined by running 'gpgconf' with the option
4071 '--list-dirs'. Note that the pipe symbol ('|') is used for a
4072 regression test suite hack and may thus not be used in the file
4075 '--dirmngr-program FILE'
4076 Specify a dirmngr program to be used for keyserver access. The
4077 default value is '/usr/local/bin/dirmngr'.
4080 Entirely disable the use of the Dirmngr.
4083 Do not start the gpg-agent or the dirmngr if it has not yet been
4084 started and its service is required. This option is mostly useful
4085 on machines where the connection to gpg-agent has been redirected
4086 to another machines. If dirmngr is required on the remote machine,
4087 it may be started manually using 'gpgconf --launch dirmngr'.
4090 Lock the databases the first time a lock is requested and do not
4091 release the lock until the process terminates.
4094 Release the locks every time a lock is no longer needed. Use this
4095 to override a previous '--lock-once' from a config file.
4098 Disable locking entirely. This option should be used only in very
4099 special environments, where it can be assured that only one process
4100 is accessing those files. A bootable floppy with a stand-alone
4101 encryption system will probably use this. Improper usage of this
4102 option may lead to data and key corruption.
4104 '--exit-on-status-write-error'
4105 This option will cause write errors on the status FD to immediately
4106 terminate the process. That should in fact be the default but it
4107 never worked this way and thus we need an option to enable this, so
4108 that the change won't break applications which close their end of a
4109 status fd connected pipe too early. Using this option along with
4110 '--enable-progress-filter' may be used to cleanly cancel long
4111 running gpg operations.
4113 '--limit-card-insert-tries N'
4114 With N greater than 0 the number of prompts asking to insert a
4115 smartcard gets limited to N-1. Thus with a value of 1 gpg won't at
4116 all ask to insert a card if none has been inserted at startup.
4117 This option is useful in the configuration file in case an
4118 application does not know about the smartcard support and waits ad
4119 infinitum for an inserted card.
4121 '--no-random-seed-file'
4122 GnuPG uses a file to store its internal random pool over
4123 invocations. This makes random generation faster; however
4124 sometimes write operations are not desired. This option can be
4125 used to achieve that with the cost of slower random generation.
4128 Suppress the initial copyright message.
4130 '--no-secmem-warning'
4131 Suppress the warning about "using insecure memory".
4133 '--no-permission-warning'
4134 Suppress the warning about unsafe file and home directory
4135 ('--homedir') permissions. Note that the permission checks that
4136 GnuPG performs are not intended to be authoritative, but rather
4137 they simply warn about certain common permission problems. Do not
4138 assume that the lack of a warning means that your system is secure.
4140 Note that the warning for unsafe '--homedir' permissions cannot be
4141 suppressed in the gpg.conf file, as this would allow an attacker to
4142 place an unsafe gpg.conf file in place, and use this file to
4143 suppress warnings about itself. The '--homedir' permissions
4144 warning may only be suppressed on the command line.
4147 '--no-require-secmem'
4148 Refuse to run if GnuPG cannot get secure memory. Defaults to no
4149 (i.e. run, but give a warning).
4151 '--require-cross-certification'
4152 '--no-require-cross-certification'
4153 When verifying a signature made from a subkey, ensure that the
4154 cross certification "back signature" on the subkey is present and
4155 valid. This protects against a subtle attack against subkeys that
4156 can sign. Defaults to '--require-cross-certification' for 'gpg'.
4160 Allow the user to do certain nonsensical or "silly" things like
4161 signing an expired or revoked key, or certain potentially
4162 incompatible things like generating unusual key types. This also
4163 disables certain warning messages about potentially incompatible
4164 actions. As the name implies, this option is for experts only. If
4165 you don't fully understand the implications of what it allows you
4166 to do, leave this off. '--no-expert' disables this option.
4169 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Key related Options, Next: GPG Input and Output, Prev: GPG Configuration Options, Up: GPG Options
4171 4.2.2 Key related options
4172 -------------------------
4176 Encrypt for user id NAME. If this option or '--hidden-recipient'
4177 is not specified, GnuPG asks for the user-id unless
4178 '--default-recipient' is given.
4180 '--hidden-recipient NAME'
4182 Encrypt for user ID NAME, but hide the key ID of this user's key.
4183 This option helps to hide the receiver of the message and is a
4184 limited countermeasure against traffic analysis. If this option or
4185 '--recipient' is not specified, GnuPG asks for the user ID unless
4186 '--default-recipient' is given.
4188 '--recipient-file FILE'
4190 This option is similar to '--recipient' except that it encrypts to
4191 a key stored in the given file. FILE must be the name of a file
4192 containing exactly one key. 'gpg' assumes that the key in this
4193 file is fully valid.
4195 '--hidden-recipient-file FILE'
4197 This option is similar to '--hidden-recipient' except that it
4198 encrypts to a key stored in the given file. FILE must be the name
4199 of a file containing exactly one key. 'gpg' assumes that the key
4200 in this file is fully valid.
4203 Same as '--recipient' but this one is intended for use in the
4204 options file and may be used with your own user-id as an
4205 "encrypt-to-self". These keys are only used when there are other
4206 recipients given either by use of '--recipient' or by the asked
4207 user id. No trust checking is performed for these user ids and
4208 even disabled keys can be used.
4210 '--hidden-encrypt-to NAME'
4211 Same as '--hidden-recipient' but this one is intended for use in
4212 the options file and may be used with your own user-id as a hidden
4213 "encrypt-to-self". These keys are only used when there are other
4214 recipients given either by use of '--recipient' or by the asked
4215 user id. No trust checking is performed for these user ids and
4216 even disabled keys can be used.
4219 Disable the use of all '--encrypt-to' and '--hidden-encrypt-to'
4222 '--group {NAME=VALUE}'
4223 Sets up a named group, which is similar to aliases in email
4224 programs. Any time the group name is a recipient ('-r' or
4225 '--recipient'), it will be expanded to the values specified.
4226 Multiple groups with the same name are automatically merged into a
4229 The values are 'key IDs' or fingerprints, but any key description
4230 is accepted. Note that a value with spaces in it will be treated
4231 as two different values. Note also there is only one level of
4232 expansion -- you cannot make an group that points to another group.
4233 When used from the command line, it may be necessary to quote the
4234 argument to this option to prevent the shell from treating it as
4238 Remove a given entry from the '--group' list.
4241 Remove all entries from the '--group' list.
4245 Use NAME as the key to sign with. Note that this option overrides
4249 This option has two purposes. MBOX must either be a complete user
4250 id with a proper mail address or just a mail address. When
4251 creating a signature this option tells gpg the user id of a key
4252 used to make a signature if the key was not directly specified by a
4253 user id. When verifying a signature the MBOX is used to restrict
4254 the information printed by the TOFU code to matching user ids.
4256 '--try-secret-key NAME'
4257 For hidden recipients GPG needs to know the keys to use for trial
4258 decryption. The key set with '--default-key' is always tried
4259 first, but this is often not sufficient. This option allows
4260 setting more keys to be used for trial decryption. Although any
4261 valid user-id specification may be used for NAME it makes sense to
4262 use at least the long keyid to avoid ambiguities. Note that
4263 gpg-agent might pop up a pinentry for a lot keys to do the trial
4264 decryption. If you want to stop all further trial decryption you
4265 may use close-window button instead of the cancel button.
4268 Don't look at the key ID as stored in the message but try all
4269 secret keys in turn to find the right decryption key. This option
4270 forces the behaviour as used by anonymous recipients (created by
4271 using '--throw-keyids' or '--hidden-recipient') and might come
4272 handy in case where an encrypted message contains a bogus key ID.
4274 '--skip-hidden-recipients'
4275 '--no-skip-hidden-recipients'
4276 During decryption skip all anonymous recipients. This option helps
4277 in the case that people use the hidden recipients feature to hide
4278 their own encrypt-to key from others. If one has many secret keys
4279 this may lead to a major annoyance because all keys are tried in
4280 turn to decrypt something which was not really intended for it.
4281 The drawback of this option is that it is currently not possible to
4282 decrypt a message which includes real anonymous recipients.
4285 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Input and Output, Next: OpenPGP Options, Prev: GPG Key related Options, Up: GPG Options
4287 4.2.3 Input and Output
4288 ----------------------
4292 Create ASCII armored output. The default is to create the binary
4296 Assume the input data is not in ASCII armored format.
4300 Write output to FILE. To write to stdout use '-' as the filename.
4303 This option sets a limit on the number of bytes that will be
4304 generated when processing a file. Since OpenPGP supports various
4305 levels of compression, it is possible that the plaintext of a given
4306 message may be significantly larger than the original OpenPGP
4307 message. While GnuPG works properly with such messages, there is
4308 often a desire to set a maximum file size that will be generated
4309 before processing is forced to stop by the OS limits. Defaults to
4310 0, which means "no limit".
4312 '--input-size-hint N'
4313 This option can be used to tell GPG the size of the input data in
4314 bytes. N must be a positive base-10 number. This option is only
4315 useful if the input is not taken from a file. GPG may use this
4316 hint to optimize its buffer allocation strategy. It is also used
4317 by the '--status-fd' line "PROGRESS" to provide a value for "total"
4318 if that is not available by other means.
4320 '--key-origin STRING[,URL]'
4321 gpg can track the origin of a key. Certain origins are implicitly
4322 known (e.g. keyserver, web key directory) and set. For a standard
4323 import the origin of the keys imported can be set with this option.
4324 To list the possible values use "help" for STRING. Some origins
4325 can store an optional URL argument. That URL can appended to
4326 STRING after a comma.
4328 '--import-options PARAMETERS'
4329 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
4330 importing keys. Options can be prepended with a 'no-' to give the
4331 opposite meaning. The options are:
4334 Allow importing key signatures marked as "local". This is not
4335 generally useful unless a shared keyring scheme is being used.
4339 Normally possible still existing ownertrust values of a key
4340 are cleared if a key is imported. This is in general
4341 desirable so that a formerly deleted key does not
4342 automatically gain an ownertrust values merely due to import.
4343 On the other hand it is sometimes necessary to re-import a
4344 trusted set of keys again but keeping already assigned
4345 ownertrust values. This can be achieved by using this option.
4347 repair-pks-subkey-bug
4348 During import, attempt to repair the damage caused by the PKS
4349 keyserver bug (pre version 0.9.6) that mangles keys with
4350 multiple subkeys. Note that this cannot completely repair the
4351 damaged key as some crucial data is removed by the keyserver,
4352 but it does at least give you back one subkey. Defaults to no
4353 for regular '--import' and to yes for keyserver
4358 Show a listing of the key as imported right before it is
4359 stored. This can be combined with the option '--dry-run' to
4360 only look at keys; the option 'show-only' is a shortcut for
4361 this combination. The command '--show-keys' is another
4362 shortcut for this. Note that suffixes like '#' for "sec" and
4363 "sbb" lines may or may not be printed.
4366 Run the entire import code but instead of storing the key to
4367 the local keyring write it to the output. The export options
4368 'export-pka' and 'export-dane' affect the output. This option
4369 can be used to remove all invalid parts from a key without the
4373 During import, allow key updates to existing keys, but do not
4374 allow any new keys to be imported. Defaults to no.
4377 After import, compact (remove all signatures except the
4378 self-signature) any user IDs from the new key that are not
4379 usable. Then, remove any signatures from the new key that are
4380 not usable. This includes signatures that were issued by keys
4381 that are not present on the keyring. This option is the same
4382 as running the '--edit-key' command "clean" after import.
4386 Accept only self-signatures while importing a key. All other
4387 key signatures are skipped at an early import stage. This
4388 option can be used with 'keyserver-options' to mitigate
4389 attempts to flood a key with bogus signatures from a
4390 keyserver. The drawback is that all other valid key
4391 signatures, as required by the Web of Trust are also not
4392 imported. Note that when using this option along with
4393 import-clean it suppresses the final clean step after merging
4394 the imported key into the existing key.
4397 After import, fix various problems with the keys. For
4398 example, this reorders signatures, and strips duplicate
4399 signatures. Defaults to yes.
4402 Import the smallest key possible. This removes all signatures
4403 except the most recent self-signature on each user ID. This
4404 option is the same as running the '--edit-key' command
4405 "minimize" after import. Defaults to no.
4409 Import in key restore mode. This imports all data which is
4410 usually skipped during import; including all GnuPG specific
4411 data. All other contradicting options are overridden.
4413 '--import-filter {NAME=EXPR}'
4414 '--export-filter {NAME=EXPR}'
4415 These options define an import/export filter which are applied to
4416 the imported/exported keyblock right before it will be
4417 stored/written. NAME defines the type of filter to use, EXPR the
4418 expression to evaluate. The option can be used several times which
4419 then appends more expression to the same NAME.
4421 The available filter types are:
4424 This filter will keep a user id packet and its dependent
4425 packets in the keyblock if the expression evaluates to true.
4428 This filter drops the selected subkeys. Currently only
4429 implemented for -export-filter.
4432 This filter drops the selected key signatures on user ids.
4433 Self-signatures are not considered. Currently only
4434 implemented for -import-filter.
4436 For the syntax of the expression see the chapter "FILTER
4437 EXPRESSIONS". The property names for the expressions depend on the
4438 actual filter type and are indicated in the following table.
4440 The available properties are:
4443 A string with the user id. (keep-uid)
4446 The addr-spec part of a user id with mailbox or the empty
4450 A number with the public key algorithm of a key or subkey
4451 packet. (drop-subkey)
4455 The first is the timestamp a public key or subkey packet was
4456 created. The second is the same but given as an ISO string,
4457 e.g. "2016-08-17". (drop-subkey)
4460 The hexified fingerprint of the current subkey or primary key.
4464 Boolean indicating whether the user id is the primary one.
4468 Boolean indicating whether a user id (keep-uid), a key
4469 (drop-subkey), or a signature (drop-sig) expired.
4472 Boolean indicating whether a user id (keep-uid) or a key
4473 (drop-subkey) has been revoked.
4476 Boolean indicating whether a primary key is disabled. (not
4480 Boolean indicating whether a key or subkey is a secret one.
4484 A string indicating the usage flags for the subkey, from the
4485 sequence "ecsa?". For example, a subkey capable of just
4486 signing and authentication would be an exact match for "sa".
4491 The first is the timestamp a signature packet was created.
4492 The second is the same but given as an ISO date string, e.g.
4493 "2016-08-17". (drop-sig)
4496 A number with the public key algorithm of a signature packet.
4500 A number with the digest algorithm of a signature packet.
4503 '--export-options PARAMETERS'
4504 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
4505 exporting keys. Options can be prepended with a 'no-' to give the
4506 opposite meaning. The options are:
4509 Allow exporting key signatures marked as "local". This is not
4510 generally useful unless a shared keyring scheme is being used.
4514 Include attribute user IDs (photo IDs) while exporting. Not
4515 including attribute user IDs is useful to export keys that are
4516 going to be used by an OpenPGP program that does not accept
4517 attribute user IDs. Defaults to yes.
4519 export-sensitive-revkeys
4520 Include designated revoker information that was marked as
4521 "sensitive". Defaults to no.
4525 Export for use as a backup. The exported data includes all
4526 data which is needed to restore the key or keys later with
4527 GnuPG. The format is basically the OpenPGP format but enhanced
4528 with GnuPG specific data. All other contradicting options are
4532 Compact (remove all signatures from) user IDs on the key being
4533 exported if the user IDs are not usable. Also, do not export
4534 any signatures that are not usable. This includes signatures
4535 that were issued by keys that are not present on the keyring.
4536 This option is the same as running the '--edit-key' command
4537 "clean" before export except that the local copy of the key is
4538 not modified. Defaults to no.
4541 Export the smallest key possible. This removes all signatures
4542 except the most recent self-signature on each user ID. This
4543 option is the same as running the '--edit-key' command
4544 "minimize" before export except that the local copy of the key
4545 is not modified. Defaults to no.
4548 Instead of outputting the key material output PKA records
4549 suitable to put into DNS zone files. An ORIGIN line is
4550 printed before each record to allow diverting the records to
4551 the corresponding zone file.
4554 Instead of outputting the key material output OpenPGP DANE
4555 records suitable to put into DNS zone files. An ORIGIN line
4556 is printed before each record to allow diverting the records
4557 to the corresponding zone file.
4560 Print key listings delimited by colons. Note that the output will
4561 be encoded in UTF-8 regardless of any '--display-charset' setting.
4562 This format is useful when GnuPG is called from scripts and other
4563 programs as it is easily machine parsed. The details of this
4564 format are documented in the file 'doc/DETAILS', which is included
4565 in the GnuPG source distribution.
4568 Do not merge primary user ID and primary key in '--with-colon'
4569 listing mode and print all timestamps as seconds since 1970-01-01.
4570 Since GnuPG 2.0.10, this mode is always used and thus this option
4571 is obsolete; it does not harm to use it though.
4573 '--legacy-list-mode'
4574 Revert to the pre-2.1 public key list mode. This only affects the
4575 human readable output and not the machine interface (i.e.
4576 '--with-colons'). Note that the legacy format does not convey
4577 suitable information for elliptic curves.
4579 '--with-fingerprint'
4580 Same as the command '--fingerprint' but changes only the format of
4581 the output and may be used together with another command.
4583 '--with-subkey-fingerprint'
4584 If a fingerprint is printed for the primary key, this option forces
4585 printing of the fingerprint for all subkeys. This could also be
4586 achieved by using the '--with-fingerprint' twice but by using this
4587 option along with keyid-format "none" a compact fingerprint is
4590 '--with-icao-spelling'
4591 Print the ICAO spelling of the fingerprint in addition to the hex
4595 Include the keygrip in the key listings. In '--with-colons' mode
4596 this is implicitly enable for secret keys.
4599 Include the locally held information on the origin and last update
4600 of a key in a key listing. In '--with-colons' mode this is always
4601 printed. This data is currently experimental and shall not be
4602 considered part of the stable API.
4605 Print a Web Key Directory identifier along with each user ID in key
4606 listings. This is an experimental feature and semantics may
4610 Include info about the presence of a secret key in public key
4611 listings done with '--with-colons'.
4614 File: gnupg.info, Node: OpenPGP Options, Next: Compliance Options, Prev: GPG Input and Output, Up: GPG Options
4616 4.2.4 OpenPGP protocol specific options
4617 ---------------------------------------
4621 Treat input files as text and store them in the OpenPGP canonical
4622 text form with standard "CRLF" line endings. This also sets the
4623 necessary flags to inform the recipient that the encrypted or
4624 signed data is text and may need its line endings converted back to
4625 whatever the local system uses. This option is useful when
4626 communicating between two platforms that have different line ending
4627 conventions (UNIX-like to Mac, Mac to Windows, etc).
4628 '--no-textmode' disables this option, and is the default.
4631 '--no-force-v3-sigs'
4633 '--no-force-v4-certs'
4634 These options are obsolete and have no effect since GnuPG 2.1.
4638 These options are obsolete and have no effect since GnuPG 2.2.8.
4639 The MDC is always used. But note: If the creation of a legacy
4640 non-MDC message is exceptionally required, the option '--rfc2440'
4643 '--disable-signer-uid'
4644 By default the user ID of the signing key is embedded in the data
4645 signature. As of now this is only done if the signing key has been
4646 specified with 'local-user' using a mail address, or with 'sender'.
4647 This information can be helpful for verifier to locate the key; see
4648 option '--auto-key-retrieve'.
4650 '--include-key-block'
4651 This option is used to embed the actual signing key into a data
4652 signature. The embedded key is stripped down to a single user id
4653 and includes only the signing subkey used to create the signature
4654 as well as as valid encryption subkeys. All other info is removed
4655 from the key to keep it and thus the signature small. This option
4656 is the OpenPGP counterpart to the 'gpgsm' option '--include-certs'.
4658 '--personal-cipher-preferences STRING'
4659 Set the list of personal cipher preferences to STRING. Use 'gpg
4660 --version' to get a list of available algorithms, and use 'none' to
4661 set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely override
4662 the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as GPG will
4663 only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipients. The
4664 most highly ranked cipher in this list is also used for the
4665 '--symmetric' encryption command.
4667 '--personal-digest-preferences STRING'
4668 Set the list of personal digest preferences to STRING. Use 'gpg
4669 --version' to get a list of available algorithms, and use 'none' to
4670 set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely override
4671 the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as GPG will
4672 only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipients. The
4673 most highly ranked digest algorithm in this list is also used when
4674 signing without encryption (e.g. '--clear-sign' or '--sign').
4676 '--personal-compress-preferences STRING'
4677 Set the list of personal compression preferences to STRING. Use
4678 'gpg --version' to get a list of available algorithms, and use
4679 'none' to set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely
4680 override the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as
4681 GPG will only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipients.
4682 The most highly ranked compression algorithm in this list is also
4683 used when there are no recipient keys to consider (e.g.
4686 '--s2k-cipher-algo NAME'
4687 Use NAME as the cipher algorithm for symmetric encryption with a
4688 passphrase if '--personal-cipher-preferences' and '--cipher-algo'
4689 are not given. The default is AES-128.
4691 '--s2k-digest-algo NAME'
4692 Use NAME as the digest algorithm used to mangle the passphrases for
4693 symmetric encryption. The default is SHA-1.
4696 Selects how passphrases for symmetric encryption are mangled. If N
4697 is 0 a plain passphrase (which is in general not recommended) will
4698 be used, a 1 adds a salt (which should not be used) to the
4699 passphrase and a 3 (the default) iterates the whole process a
4700 number of times (see '--s2k-count').
4703 Specify how many times the passphrases mangling for symmetric
4704 encryption is repeated. This value may range between 1024 and
4705 65011712 inclusive. The default is inquired from gpg-agent. Note
4706 that not all values in the 1024-65011712 range are legal and if an
4707 illegal value is selected, GnuPG will round up to the nearest legal
4708 value. This option is only meaningful if '--s2k-mode' is set to
4712 File: gnupg.info, Node: Compliance Options, Next: GPG Esoteric Options, Prev: OpenPGP Options, Up: GPG Options
4714 4.2.5 Compliance options
4715 ------------------------
4717 These options control what GnuPG is compliant to. Only one of these
4718 options may be active at a time. Note that the default setting of this
4719 is nearly always the correct one. See the INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER
4720 OPENPGP PROGRAMS section below before using one of these options.
4723 Use standard GnuPG behavior. This is essentially OpenPGP behavior
4724 (see '--openpgp'), but with some additional workarounds for common
4725 compatibility problems in different versions of PGP. This is the
4726 default option, so it is not generally needed, but it may be useful
4727 to override a different compliance option in the gpg.conf file.
4730 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict OpenPGP
4731 behavior. Use this option to reset all previous options like
4732 '--s2k-*', '--cipher-algo', '--digest-algo' and '--compress-algo'
4733 to OpenPGP compliant values. All PGP workarounds are disabled.
4736 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict RFC-4880
4737 behavior. Note that this is currently the same thing as
4741 Enable experimental features from proposed updates to RFC-4880.
4742 This option can be used in addition to the other compliance
4743 options. Warning: The behavior may change with any GnuPG release
4744 and created keys or data may not be usable with future GnuPG
4748 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict RFC-2440
4749 behavior. Note that by using this option encryption packets are
4750 created in a legacy mode without MDC protection. This is dangerous
4751 and should thus only be used for experiments. See also option
4752 '--ignore-mdc-error'.
4755 Set up all options to be as PGP 6 compliant as possible. This
4756 restricts you to the ciphers IDEA (if the IDEA plugin is
4757 installed), 3DES, and CAST5, the hashes MD5, SHA1 and RIPEMD160,
4758 and the compression algorithms none and ZIP. This also disables
4759 '--throw-keyids', and making signatures with signing subkeys as PGP
4760 6 does not understand signatures made by signing subkeys.
4762 This option implies '--escape-from-lines'.
4765 Set up all options to be as PGP 7 compliant as possible. This is
4766 identical to '--pgp6' except that MDCs are not disabled, and the
4767 list of allowable ciphers is expanded to add AES128, AES192,
4768 AES256, and TWOFISH.
4771 Set up all options to be as PGP 8 compliant as possible. PGP 8 is
4772 a lot closer to the OpenPGP standard than previous versions of PGP,
4773 so all this does is disable '--throw-keyids' and set
4774 '--escape-from-lines'. All algorithms are allowed except for the
4775 SHA224, SHA384, and SHA512 digests.
4777 '--compliance STRING'
4778 This option can be used instead of one of the options above. Valid
4779 values for STRING are the above option names (without the double
4780 dash) and possibly others as shown when using "help" for VALUE.
4783 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Esoteric Options, Next: Deprecated Options, Prev: Compliance Options, Up: GPG Options
4785 4.2.6 Doing things one usually doesn't want to do
4786 -------------------------------------------------
4790 Don't make any changes (this is not completely implemented).
4793 Changes the behaviour of some commands. This is like '--dry-run'
4794 but different in some cases. The semantic of this option may be
4795 extended in the future. Currently it only skips the actual
4796 decryption pass and therefore enables a fast listing of the
4801 Prompt before overwriting any files.
4803 '--debug-level LEVEL'
4804 Select the debug level for investigating problems. LEVEL may be a
4805 numeric value or by a keyword:
4808 No debugging at all. A value of less than 1 may be used
4809 instead of the keyword.
4811 Some basic debug messages. A value between 1 and 2 may be
4812 used instead of the keyword.
4814 More verbose debug messages. A value between 3 and 5 may be
4815 used instead of the keyword.
4817 Even more detailed messages. A value between 6 and 8 may be
4818 used instead of the keyword.
4820 All of the debug messages you can get. A value greater than 8
4821 may be used instead of the keyword. The creation of hash
4822 tracing files is only enabled if the keyword is used.
4824 How these messages are mapped to the actual debugging flags is not
4825 specified and may change with newer releases of this program. They
4826 are however carefully selected to best aid in debugging.
4829 Set debugging flags. All flags are or-ed and FLAGS may be given in
4830 C syntax (e.g. 0x0042) or as a comma separated list of flag names.
4831 To get a list of all supported flags the single word "help" can be
4835 Set all useful debugging flags.
4838 Set stdout into line buffered mode. This option is only honored
4839 when given on the command line.
4841 '--faked-system-time EPOCH'
4842 This option is only useful for testing; it sets the system time
4843 back or forth to EPOCH which is the number of seconds elapsed since
4844 the year 1970. Alternatively EPOCH may be given as a full ISO time
4845 string (e.g. "20070924T154812").
4847 If you suffix EPOCH with an exclamation mark (!), the system time
4848 will appear to be frozen at the specified time.
4850 '--enable-progress-filter'
4851 Enable certain PROGRESS status outputs. This option allows
4852 frontends to display a progress indicator while gpg is processing
4853 larger files. There is a slight performance overhead using it.
4856 Write special status strings to the file descriptor N. See the
4857 file DETAILS in the documentation for a listing of them.
4859 '--status-file FILE'
4860 Same as '--status-fd', except the status data is written to file
4864 Write log output to file descriptor N and not to STDERR.
4867 '--logger-file FILE'
4868 Same as '--logger-fd', except the logger data is written to file
4869 FILE. Use 'socket://' to log to a socket. Note that in this
4870 version of gpg the option has only an effect if '--batch' is also
4874 Write attribute subpackets to the file descriptor N. This is most
4875 useful for use with '--status-fd', since the status messages are
4876 needed to separate out the various subpackets from the stream
4877 delivered to the file descriptor.
4879 '--attribute-file FILE'
4880 Same as '--attribute-fd', except the attribute data is written to
4885 Use STRING as a comment string in cleartext signatures and ASCII
4886 armored messages or keys (see '--armor'). The default behavior is
4887 not to use a comment string. '--comment' may be repeated multiple
4888 times to get multiple comment strings. '--no-comments' removes all
4889 comments. It is a good idea to keep the length of a single comment
4890 below 60 characters to avoid problems with mail programs wrapping
4891 such lines. Note that comment lines, like all other header lines,
4892 are not protected by the signature.
4896 Force inclusion of the version string in ASCII armored output. If
4897 given once only the name of the program and the major number is
4898 emitted, given twice the minor is also emitted, given thrice the
4899 micro is added, and given four times an operating system
4900 identification is also emitted. '--no-emit-version' (default)
4901 disables the version line.
4903 '--sig-notation {NAME=VALUE}'
4904 '--cert-notation {NAME=VALUE}'
4905 '-N, --set-notation {NAME=VALUE}'
4906 Put the name value pair into the signature as notation data. NAME
4907 must consist only of printable characters or spaces, and must
4908 contain a '@' character in the form keyname@domain.example.com
4909 (substituting the appropriate keyname and domain name, of course).
4910 This is to help prevent pollution of the IETF reserved notation
4911 namespace. The '--expert' flag overrides the '@' check. VALUE may
4912 be any printable string; it will be encoded in UTF-8, so you should
4913 check that your '--display-charset' is set correctly. If you
4914 prefix NAME with an exclamation mark (!), the notation data will be
4915 flagged as critical (rfc4880:5.2.3.16). '--sig-notation' sets a
4916 notation for data signatures. '--cert-notation' sets a notation
4917 for key signatures (certifications). '--set-notation' sets both.
4919 There are special codes that may be used in notation names. "%k"
4920 will be expanded into the key ID of the key being signed, "%K" into
4921 the long key ID of the key being signed, "%f" into the fingerprint
4922 of the key being signed, "%s" into the key ID of the key making the
4923 signature, "%S" into the long key ID of the key making the
4924 signature, "%g" into the fingerprint of the key making the
4925 signature (which might be a subkey), "%p" into the fingerprint of
4926 the primary key of the key making the signature, "%c" into the
4927 signature count from the OpenPGP smartcard, and "%%" results in a
4928 single "%". %k, %K, and %f are only meaningful when making a key
4929 signature (certification), and %c is only meaningful when using the
4932 '--known-notation NAME'
4933 Adds NAME to a list of known critical signature notations. The
4934 effect of this is that gpg will not mark a signature with a
4935 critical signature notation of that name as bad. Note that gpg
4936 already knows by default about a few critical signatures notation
4939 '--sig-policy-url STRING'
4940 '--cert-policy-url STRING'
4941 '--set-policy-url STRING'
4942 Use STRING as a Policy URL for signatures (rfc4880:5.2.3.20). If
4943 you prefix it with an exclamation mark (!), the policy URL packet
4944 will be flagged as critical. '--sig-policy-url' sets a policy url
4945 for data signatures. '--cert-policy-url' sets a policy url for key
4946 signatures (certifications). '--set-policy-url' sets both.
4948 The same %-expandos used for notation data are available here as
4951 '--sig-keyserver-url STRING'
4952 Use STRING as a preferred keyserver URL for data signatures. If
4953 you prefix it with an exclamation mark (!), the keyserver URL
4954 packet will be flagged as critical.
4956 The same %-expandos used for notation data are available here as
4959 '--set-filename STRING'
4960 Use STRING as the filename which is stored inside messages. This
4961 overrides the default, which is to use the actual filename of the
4962 file being encrypted. Using the empty string for STRING
4963 effectively removes the filename from the output.
4965 '--for-your-eyes-only'
4966 '--no-for-your-eyes-only'
4967 Set the 'for your eyes only' flag in the message. This causes
4968 GnuPG to refuse to save the file unless the '--output' option is
4969 given, and PGP to use a "secure viewer" with a claimed
4970 Tempest-resistant font to display the message. This option
4971 overrides '--set-filename'. '--no-for-your-eyes-only' disables
4974 '--use-embedded-filename'
4975 '--no-use-embedded-filename'
4976 Try to create a file with a name as embedded in the data. This can
4977 be a dangerous option as it enables overwriting files. Defaults to
4978 no. Note that the option '--output' overrides this option.
4980 '--cipher-algo NAME'
4981 Use NAME as cipher algorithm. Running the program with the command
4982 '--version' yields a list of supported algorithms. If this is not
4983 used the cipher algorithm is selected from the preferences stored
4984 with the key. In general, you do not want to use this option as it
4985 allows you to violate the OpenPGP standard.
4986 '--personal-cipher-preferences' is the safe way to accomplish the
4989 '--digest-algo NAME'
4990 Use NAME as the message digest algorithm. Running the program with
4991 the command '--version' yields a list of supported algorithms. In
4992 general, you do not want to use this option as it allows you to
4993 violate the OpenPGP standard. '--personal-digest-preferences' is
4994 the safe way to accomplish the same thing.
4996 '--compress-algo NAME'
4997 Use compression algorithm NAME. "zlib" is RFC-1950 ZLIB
4998 compression. "zip" is RFC-1951 ZIP compression which is used by
4999 PGP. "bzip2" is a more modern compression scheme that can compress
5000 some things better than zip or zlib, but at the cost of more memory
5001 used during compression and decompression. "uncompressed" or
5002 "none" disables compression. If this option is not used, the
5003 default behavior is to examine the recipient key preferences to see
5004 which algorithms the recipient supports. If all else fails, ZIP is
5005 used for maximum compatibility.
5007 ZLIB may give better compression results than ZIP, as the
5008 compression window size is not limited to 8k. BZIP2 may give even
5009 better compression results than that, but will use a significantly
5010 larger amount of memory while compressing and decompressing. This
5011 may be significant in low memory situations. Note, however, that
5012 PGP (all versions) only supports ZIP compression. Using any
5013 algorithm other than ZIP or "none" will make the message unreadable
5014 with PGP. In general, you do not want to use this option as it
5015 allows you to violate the OpenPGP standard.
5016 '--personal-compress-preferences' is the safe way to accomplish the
5019 '--cert-digest-algo NAME'
5020 Use NAME as the message digest algorithm used when signing a key.
5021 Running the program with the command '--version' yields a list of
5022 supported algorithms. Be aware that if you choose an algorithm
5023 that GnuPG supports but other OpenPGP implementations do not, then
5024 some users will not be able to use the key signatures you make, or
5025 quite possibly your entire key.
5027 '--disable-cipher-algo NAME'
5028 Never allow the use of NAME as cipher algorithm. The given name
5029 will not be checked so that a later loaded algorithm will still get
5032 '--disable-pubkey-algo NAME'
5033 Never allow the use of NAME as public key algorithm. The given
5034 name will not be checked so that a later loaded algorithm will
5039 Do not put the recipient key IDs into encrypted messages. This
5040 helps to hide the receivers of the message and is a limited
5041 countermeasure against traffic analysis.(1) On the receiving side,
5042 it may slow down the decryption process because all available
5043 secret keys must be tried. '--no-throw-keyids' disables this
5044 option. This option is essentially the same as using
5045 '--hidden-recipient' for all recipients.
5047 '--not-dash-escaped'
5048 This option changes the behavior of cleartext signatures so that
5049 they can be used for patch files. You should not send such an
5050 armored file via email because all spaces and line endings are
5051 hashed too. You can not use this option for data which has 5
5052 dashes at the beginning of a line, patch files don't have this. A
5053 special armor header line tells GnuPG about this cleartext
5056 '--escape-from-lines'
5057 '--no-escape-from-lines'
5058 Because some mailers change lines starting with "From " to ">From "
5059 it is good to handle such lines in a special way when creating
5060 cleartext signatures to prevent the mail system from breaking the
5061 signature. Note that all other PGP versions do it this way too.
5062 Enabled by default. '--no-escape-from-lines' disables this option.
5064 '--passphrase-repeat N'
5065 Specify how many times 'gpg' will request a new passphrase be
5066 repeated. This is useful for helping memorize a passphrase.
5067 Defaults to 1 repetition; can be set to 0 to disable any passphrase
5068 repetition. Note that a N greater than 1 will pop up the pinentry
5069 window N+1 times even if a modern pinentry with two entry fields is
5073 Read the passphrase from file descriptor N. Only the first line
5074 will be read from file descriptor N. If you use 0 for N, the
5075 passphrase will be read from STDIN. This can only be used if only
5076 one passphrase is supplied.
5078 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
5079 option '--batch' has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
5080 '--pinentry-mode' also needs to be set to 'loopback'.
5082 '--passphrase-file FILE'
5083 Read the passphrase from file FILE. Only the first line will be
5084 read from file FILE. This can only be used if only one passphrase
5085 is supplied. Obviously, a passphrase stored in a file is of
5086 questionable security if other users can read this file. Don't use
5087 this option if you can avoid it.
5089 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
5090 option '--batch' has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
5091 '--pinentry-mode' also needs to be set to 'loopback'.
5093 '--passphrase STRING'
5094 Use STRING as the passphrase. This can only be used if only one
5095 passphrase is supplied. Obviously, this is of very questionable
5096 security on a multi-user system. Don't use this option if you can
5099 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
5100 option '--batch' has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
5101 '--pinentry-mode' also needs to be set to 'loopback'.
5103 '--pinentry-mode MODE'
5104 Set the pinentry mode to MODE. Allowed values for MODE are:
5106 Use the default of the agent, which is 'ask'.
5108 Force the use of the Pinentry.
5110 Emulate use of Pinentry's cancel button.
5112 Return a Pinentry error ("No Pinentry").
5114 Redirect Pinentry queries to the caller. Note that in
5115 contrast to Pinentry the user is not prompted again if he
5116 enters a bad password.
5119 Disable the passphrase cache used for symmetrical en- and
5120 decryption. This cache is based on the message specific salt value
5123 '--request-origin ORIGIN'
5124 Tell gpg to assume that the operation ultimately originated at
5125 ORIGIN. Depending on the origin certain restrictions are applied
5126 and the Pinentry may include an extra note on the origin.
5127 Supported values for ORIGIN are: 'local' which is the default,
5128 'remote' to indicate a remote origin or 'browser' for an operation
5129 requested by a web browser.
5132 This is a replacement for the deprecated shared-memory IPC mode.
5133 If this option is enabled, user input on questions is not expected
5134 from the TTY but from the given file descriptor. It should be used
5135 together with '--status-fd'. See the file doc/DETAILS in the
5136 source distribution for details on how to use it.
5138 '--command-file FILE'
5139 Same as '--command-fd', except the commands are read out of file
5142 '--allow-non-selfsigned-uid'
5143 '--no-allow-non-selfsigned-uid'
5144 Allow the import and use of keys with user IDs which are not
5145 self-signed. This is not recommended, as a non self-signed user ID
5146 is trivial to forge. '--no-allow-non-selfsigned-uid' disables.
5148 '--allow-freeform-uid'
5149 Disable all checks on the form of the user ID while generating a
5150 new one. This option should only be used in very special
5151 environments as it does not ensure the de-facto standard format of
5154 '--ignore-time-conflict'
5155 GnuPG normally checks that the timestamps associated with keys and
5156 signatures have plausible values. However, sometimes a signature
5157 seems to be older than the key due to clock problems. This option
5158 makes these checks just a warning. See also '--ignore-valid-from'
5159 for timestamp issues on subkeys.
5161 '--ignore-valid-from'
5162 GnuPG normally does not select and use subkeys created in the
5163 future. This option allows the use of such keys and thus exhibits
5164 the pre-1.0.7 behaviour. You should not use this option unless
5165 there is some clock problem. See also '--ignore-time-conflict' for
5166 timestamp issues with signatures.
5168 '--ignore-crc-error'
5169 The ASCII armor used by OpenPGP is protected by a CRC checksum
5170 against transmission errors. Occasionally the CRC gets mangled
5171 somewhere on the transmission channel but the actual content (which
5172 is protected by the OpenPGP protocol anyway) is still okay. This
5173 option allows GnuPG to ignore CRC errors.
5175 '--ignore-mdc-error'
5176 This option changes a MDC integrity protection failure into a
5177 warning. It is required to decrypt old messages which did not use
5178 an MDC. It may also be useful if a message is partially garbled,
5179 but it is necessary to get as much data as possible out of that
5180 garbled message. Be aware that a missing or failed MDC can be an
5181 indication of an attack. Use with great caution; see also option
5184 '--allow-weak-digest-algos'
5185 Signatures made with known-weak digest algorithms are normally
5186 rejected with an "invalid digest algorithm" message. This option
5187 allows the verification of signatures made with such weak
5188 algorithms. MD5 is the only digest algorithm considered weak by
5189 default. See also '--weak-digest' to reject other digest
5192 '--weak-digest NAME'
5193 Treat the specified digest algorithm as weak. Signatures made over
5194 weak digests algorithms are normally rejected. This option can be
5195 supplied multiple times if multiple algorithms should be considered
5196 weak. See also '--allow-weak-digest-algos' to disable rejection of
5197 weak digests. MD5 is always considered weak, and does not need to
5198 be listed explicitly.
5200 '--allow-weak-key-signatures'
5201 To avoid a minor risk of collision attacks on third-party key
5202 signatures made using SHA-1, those key signatures are considered
5203 invalid. This options allows to override this restriction.
5205 '--no-default-keyring'
5206 Do not add the default keyrings to the list of keyrings. Note that
5207 GnuPG will not operate without any keyrings, so if you use this
5208 option and do not provide alternate keyrings via '--keyring' or
5209 '--secret-keyring', then GnuPG will still use the default public or
5213 Do not use any keyring at all. This overrides the default and all
5214 options which specify keyrings.
5217 Skip the signature verification step. This may be used to make the
5218 decryption faster if the signature verification is not needed.
5221 Print key listings delimited by colons (like '--with-colons') and
5222 print the public key data.
5226 Same as '--list-keys', but the signatures are listed too. This
5227 command has the same effect as using '--list-keys' with
5228 '--with-sig-list'. Note that in contrast to '--check-signatures'
5229 the key signatures are not verified. This command can be used to
5230 create a list of signing keys missing in the local keyring; for
5233 gpg --list-sigs --with-colons USERID | \
5234 awk -F: '$1=="sig" && $2=="?" {if($13){print $13}else{print $5}}'
5237 Changes the output of the list commands to work faster; this is
5238 achieved by leaving some parts empty. Some applications don't need
5239 the user ID and the trust information given in the listings. By
5240 using this options they can get a faster listing. The exact
5241 behaviour of this option may change in future versions. If you are
5242 missing some information, don't use this option.
5245 This is not for normal use. Use the source to see for what it
5249 This is not for normal use. Use the source to see for what it
5252 '--show-session-key'
5253 Display the session key used for one message. See
5254 '--override-session-key' for the counterpart of this option.
5256 We think that Key Escrow is a Bad Thing; however the user should
5257 have the freedom to decide whether to go to prison or to reveal the
5258 content of one specific message without compromising all messages
5259 ever encrypted for one secret key.
5261 You can also use this option if you receive an encrypted message
5262 which is abusive or offensive, to prove to the administrators of
5263 the messaging system that the ciphertext transmitted corresponds to
5264 an inappropriate plaintext so they can take action against the
5267 '--override-session-key STRING'
5268 '--override-session-key-fd FD'
5269 Don't use the public key but the session key STRING respective the
5270 session key taken from the first line read from file descriptor FD.
5271 The format of this string is the same as the one printed by
5272 '--show-session-key'. This option is normally not used but comes
5273 handy in case someone forces you to reveal the content of an
5274 encrypted message; using this option you can do this without
5275 handing out the secret key. Note that using
5276 '--override-session-key' may reveal the session key to all local
5277 users via the global process table. Often it is useful to combine
5278 this option with '--no-keyring'.
5281 '--no-ask-sig-expire'
5282 When making a data signature, prompt for an expiration time. If
5283 this option is not specified, the expiration time set via
5284 '--default-sig-expire' is used. '--no-ask-sig-expire' disables
5287 '--default-sig-expire'
5288 The default expiration time to use for signature expiration. Valid
5289 values are "0" for no expiration, a number followed by the letter d
5290 (for days), w (for weeks), m (for months), or y (for years) (for
5291 example "2m" for two months, or "5y" for five years), or an
5292 absolute date in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to "0".
5295 '--no-ask-cert-expire'
5296 When making a key signature, prompt for an expiration time. If
5297 this option is not specified, the expiration time set via
5298 '--default-cert-expire' is used. '--no-ask-cert-expire' disables
5301 '--default-cert-expire'
5302 The default expiration time to use for key signature expiration.
5303 Valid values are "0" for no expiration, a number followed by the
5304 letter d (for days), w (for weeks), m (for months), or y (for
5305 years) (for example "2m" for two months, or "5y" for five years),
5306 or an absolute date in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to "0".
5308 '--default-new-key-algo STRING'
5309 This option can be used to change the default algorithms for key
5310 generation. The STRING is similar to the arguments required for
5311 the command '--quick-add-key' but slightly different. For example
5312 the current default of '"rsa2048/cert,sign+rsa2048/encr"' (or
5313 '"rsa3072"') can be changed to the value of what we currently call
5314 future default, which is '"ed25519/cert,sign+cv25519/encr"'. You
5315 need to consult the source code to learn the details. Note that
5316 the advanced key generation commands can always be used to specify
5317 a key algorithm directly.
5320 This option modifies the behaviour of the commands
5321 '--quick-sign-key', '--quick-lsign-key', and the "sign"
5322 sub-commands of '--edit-key' by forcing the creation of a key
5323 signature, even if one already exists.
5325 '--allow-secret-key-import'
5326 This is an obsolete option and is not used anywhere.
5328 '--allow-multiple-messages'
5329 '--no-allow-multiple-messages'
5330 Allow processing of multiple OpenPGP messages contained in a single
5331 file or stream. Some programs that call GPG are not prepared to
5332 deal with multiple messages being processed together, so this
5333 option defaults to no. Note that versions of GPG prior to 1.4.7
5334 always allowed multiple messages. Future versions of GnUPG will
5337 Warning: Do not use this option unless you need it as a temporary
5340 '--enable-special-filenames'
5341 This option enables a mode in which filenames of the form '-&n',
5342 where n is a non-negative decimal number, refer to the file
5343 descriptor n and not to a file with that name.
5345 '--no-expensive-trust-checks'
5346 Experimental use only.
5348 '--preserve-permissions'
5349 Don't change the permissions of a secret keyring back to user
5350 read/write only. Use this option only if you really know what you
5353 '--default-preference-list STRING'
5354 Set the list of default preferences to STRING. This preference
5355 list is used for new keys and becomes the default for "setpref" in
5358 '--default-keyserver-url NAME'
5359 Set the default keyserver URL to NAME. This keyserver will be used
5360 as the keyserver URL when writing a new self-signature on a key,
5361 which includes key generation and changing preferences.
5364 Display various internal configuration parameters of GnuPG. This
5365 option is intended for external programs that call GnuPG to perform
5366 tasks, and is thus not generally useful. See the file
5367 'doc/DETAILS' in the source distribution for the details of which
5368 configuration items may be listed. '--list-config' is only usable
5369 with '--with-colons' set.
5371 '--list-gcrypt-config'
5372 Display various internal configuration parameters of Libgcrypt.
5375 This command is similar to '--list-config' but in general only
5376 internally used by the 'gpgconf' tool.
5379 This is more or less dummy action. However it parses the
5380 configuration file and returns with failure if the configuration
5381 file would prevent 'gpg' from startup. Thus it may be used to run
5382 a syntax check on the configuration file.
5384 ---------- Footnotes ----------
5386 (1) Using a little social engineering anyone who is able to decrypt
5387 the message can check whether one of the other recipients is the one he
5391 File: gnupg.info, Node: Deprecated Options, Prev: GPG Esoteric Options, Up: GPG Options
5393 4.2.7 Deprecated options
5394 ------------------------
5398 Causes '--list-keys', '--list-signatures', '--list-public-keys',
5399 '--list-secret-keys', and verifying a signature to also display the
5400 photo ID attached to the key, if any. See also '--photo-viewer'.
5401 These options are deprecated. Use '--list-options
5402 [no-]show-photos' and/or '--verify-options [no-]show-photos'
5406 Display the keyring name at the head of key listings to show which
5407 keyring a given key resides on. This option is deprecated: use
5408 '--list-options [no-]show-keyring' instead.
5411 Identical to '--trust-model always'. This option is deprecated.
5414 '--no-show-notation'
5415 Show signature notations in the '--list-signatures' or
5416 '--check-signatures' listings as well as when verifying a signature
5417 with a notation in it. These options are deprecated. Use
5418 '--list-options [no-]show-notation' and/or '--verify-options
5419 [no-]show-notation' instead.
5422 '--no-show-policy-url'
5423 Show policy URLs in the '--list-signatures' or '--check-signatures'
5424 listings as well as when verifying a signature with a policy URL in
5425 it. These options are deprecated. Use '--list-options
5426 [no-]show-policy-url' and/or '--verify-options
5427 [no-]show-policy-url' instead.
5430 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Configuration, Next: GPG Examples, Prev: GPG Options, Up: Invoking GPG
5432 4.3 Configuration files
5433 =======================
5435 There are a few configuration files to control certain aspects of
5436 'gpg''s operation. Unless noted, they are expected in the current home
5437 directory (*note option --homedir::).
5440 This is the standard configuration file read by 'gpg' on startup.
5441 It may contain any valid long option; the leading two dashes may
5442 not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated. This default
5443 name may be changed on the command line (*note gpg-option
5444 --options::). You should backup this file.
5446 Note that on larger installations, it is useful to put predefined
5447 files into the directory '/etc/skel/.gnupg' so that newly created users
5448 start up with a working configuration. For existing users a small
5449 helper script is provided to create these files (*note addgnupghome::).
5451 For internal purposes 'gpg' creates and maintains a few other files;
5452 They all live in the current home directory (*note option --homedir::).
5453 Only the 'gpg' program may modify these files.
5456 This is the default home directory which is used if neither the
5457 environment variable 'GNUPGHOME' nor the option '--homedir' is
5460 '~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg'
5461 The public keyring using a legacy format. You should backup this
5464 If this file is not available, 'gpg' defaults to the new keybox
5465 format and creates a file 'pubring.kbx' unless that file already
5466 exists in which case that file will also be used for OpenPGP keys.
5468 Note that in the case that both files, 'pubring.gpg' and
5469 'pubring.kbx' exists but the latter has no OpenPGP keys, the legacy
5470 file 'pubring.gpg' will be used. Take care: GnuPG versions before
5471 2.1 will always use the file 'pubring.gpg' because they do not know
5472 about the new keybox format. In the case that you have to use
5473 GnuPG 1.4 to decrypt archived data you should keep this file.
5475 '~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg.lock'
5476 The lock file for the public keyring.
5478 '~/.gnupg/pubring.kbx'
5479 The public keyring using the new keybox format. This file is
5480 shared with 'gpgsm'. You should backup this file. See above for
5481 the relation between this file and it predecessor.
5483 To convert an existing 'pubring.gpg' file to the keybox format, you
5484 first backup the ownertrust values, then rename 'pubring.gpg' to
5485 'publickeys.backup', so it won’t be recognized by any GnuPG
5486 version, run import, and finally restore the ownertrust values:
5489 $ gpg --export-ownertrust >otrust.lst
5490 $ mv pubring.gpg publickeys.backup
5491 $ gpg --import-options restore --import publickeys.backups
5492 $ gpg --import-ownertrust otrust.lst
5494 '~/.gnupg/pubring.kbx.lock'
5495 The lock file for 'pubring.kbx'.
5497 '~/.gnupg/secring.gpg'
5498 The legacy secret keyring as used by GnuPG versions before 2.1. It
5499 is not used by GnuPG 2.1 and later. You may want to keep it in
5500 case you have to use GnuPG 1.4 to decrypt archived data.
5502 '~/.gnupg/secring.gpg.lock'
5503 The lock file for the legacy secret keyring.
5505 '~/.gnupg/.gpg-v21-migrated'
5506 File indicating that a migration to GnuPG 2.1 has been done.
5508 '~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg'
5509 The trust database. There is no need to backup this file; it is
5510 better to backup the ownertrust values (*note option
5511 --export-ownertrust::).
5513 '~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg.lock'
5514 The lock file for the trust database.
5516 '~/.gnupg/random_seed'
5517 A file used to preserve the state of the internal random pool.
5519 '~/.gnupg/openpgp-revocs.d/'
5520 This is the directory where gpg stores pre-generated revocation
5521 certificates. The file name corresponds to the OpenPGP fingerprint
5522 of the respective key. It is suggested to backup those
5523 certificates and if the primary private key is not stored on the
5524 disk to move them to an external storage device. Anyone who can
5525 access theses files is able to revoke the corresponding key. You
5526 may want to print them out. You should backup all files in this
5527 directory and take care to keep this backup closed away.
5529 Operation is further controlled by a few environment variables:
5532 Used to locate the default home directory.
5535 If set directory used instead of "~/.gnupg".
5538 This variable is obsolete; it was used by GnuPG versions before
5542 This value is passed via gpg-agent to pinentry. It is useful to
5543 convey extra information to a custom pinentry.
5547 Used to size some displays to the full size of the screen.
5550 Apart from its use by GNU, it is used in the W32 version to
5551 override the language selection done through the Registry. If used
5552 and set to a valid and available language name (LANGID), the file
5553 with the translation is loaded from 'GPGDIR/gnupg.nls/LANGID.mo'.
5554 Here GPGDIR is the directory out of which the gpg binary has been
5555 loaded. If it can't be loaded the Registry is tried and as last
5556 resort the native Windows locale system is used.
5558 When calling the gpg-agent component 'gpg' sends a set of environment
5559 variables to gpg-agent. The names of these variables can be listed
5562 gpg-connect-agent 'getinfo std_env_names' /bye | awk '$1=="D" {print $2}'
5565 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Examples, Next: Unattended Usage of GPG, Prev: GPG Configuration, Up: Invoking GPG
5570 gpg -se -r 'Bob' 'file'
5571 sign and encrypt for user Bob
5573 gpg -clear-sign 'file'
5574 make a cleartext signature
5577 make a detached signature
5579 gpg -u 0x12345678 -sb 'file'
5580 make a detached signature with the key 0x12345678
5582 gpg -list-keys 'user_ID'
5585 gpg -fingerprint 'user_ID'
5588 gpg -verify 'pgpfile'
5589 gpg -verify 'sigfile' ['datafile']
5590 Verify the signature of the file but do not output the data unless
5591 requested. The second form is used for detached signatures, where
5592 'sigfile' is the detached signature (either ASCII armored or
5593 binary) and 'datafile' are the signed data; if this is not given,
5594 the name of the file holding the signed data is constructed by
5595 cutting off the extension (".asc" or ".sig") of 'sigfile' or by
5596 asking the user for the filename. If the option '--output' is also
5597 used the signed data is written to the file specified by that
5598 option; use '-' to write the signed data to stdout.
5603 The options '--import-filter' and '--export-filter' use expressions with
5604 this syntax (square brackets indicate an optional part and curly braces
5605 a repetition, white space between the elements are allowed):
5607 [lc] {[{flag}] PROPNAME op VALUE [lc]}
5609 The name of a property (PROPNAME) may only consist of letters, digits
5610 and underscores. The description for the filter type describes which
5611 properties are defined. If an undefined property is used it evaluates
5612 to the empty string. Unless otherwise noted, the VALUE must always be
5613 given and may not be the empty string. No quoting is defined for the
5614 value, thus the value may not contain the strings '&&' or '||', which
5615 are used as logical connection operators. The flag '--' can be used to
5616 remove this restriction.
5618 Numerical values are computed as long int; standard C notation
5619 applies. LC is the logical connection operator; either '&&' for a
5620 conjunction or '||' for a disjunction. A conjunction is assumed at the
5621 begin of an expression. Conjunctions have higher precedence than
5622 disjunctions. If VALUE starts with one of the characters used in any OP
5623 a space after the OP is required.
5625 The supported operators (OP) are:
5628 Substring must match.
5631 Substring must not match.
5634 The full string must match.
5637 The full string must not match.
5640 The numerical value must match.
5643 The numerical value must not match.
5646 The numerical value of the field must be LE than the value.
5649 The numerical value of the field must be LT than the value.
5652 The numerical value of the field must be GT than the value.
5655 The numerical value of the field must be GE than the value.
5658 The string value of the field must be less or equal than the value.
5661 The string value of the field must be less than the value.
5664 The string value of the field must be greater than the value.
5667 The string value of the field must be greater or equal than the
5671 True if value is not empty (no value allowed).
5674 True if value is empty (no value allowed).
5677 Alias for "PROPNAME != 0" (no value allowed).
5680 Alias for "PROPNAME == 0" (no value allowed).
5682 Values for FLAG must be space separated. The supported flags are:
5685 VALUE spans to the end of the expression.
5687 The string match in this part is done case-sensitive.
5689 Leading and trailing spaces are not removed from VALUE. The
5690 optional single space after OP is here required.
5692 The filter options concatenate several specifications for a filter of
5693 the same type. For example the four options in this example:
5695 --import-filter keep-uid="uid =~ Alfa"
5696 --import-filter keep-uid="&& uid !~ Test"
5697 --import-filter keep-uid="|| uid =~ Alpha"
5698 --import-filter keep-uid="uid !~ Test"
5700 which is equivalent to
5703 keep-uid="uid =~ Alfa" && uid !~ Test" || uid =~ Alpha" && "uid !~ Test"
5705 imports only the user ids of a key containing the strings "Alfa" or
5706 "Alpha" but not the string "test".
5711 The program returns 0 if there are no severe errors, 1 if at least a
5712 signature was bad, and other error codes for fatal errors.
5714 Note that signature verification requires exact knowledge of what has
5715 been signed and by whom it has beensigned. Using only the return code
5716 is thus not an appropriate way to verify a signature by a script.
5717 Either make proper use or the status codes or use the 'gpgv' tool which
5718 has been designed to make signature verification easy for scripts.
5723 Use a good password for your user account and make sure that all
5724 security issues are always fixed on your machine. Also employ diligent
5725 physical protection to your machine. Consider to use a good passphrase
5726 as a last resort protection to your secret key in the case your machine
5727 gets stolen. It is important that your secret key is never leaked.
5728 Using an easy to carry around token or smartcard with the secret key is
5731 If you are going to verify detached signatures, make sure that the
5732 program knows about it; either give both filenames on the command line
5733 or use '-' to specify STDIN.
5735 For scripted or other unattended use of 'gpg' make sure to use the
5736 machine-parseable interface and not the default interface which is
5737 intended for direct use by humans. The machine-parseable interface
5738 provides a stable and well documented API independent of the locale or
5739 future changes of 'gpg'. To enable this interface use the options
5740 '--with-colons' and '--status-fd'. For certain operations the option
5741 '--command-fd' may come handy too. See this man page and the file
5742 'DETAILS' for the specification of the interface. Note that the GnuPG
5743 "info" pages as well as the PDF version of the GnuPG manual features a
5744 chapter on unattended use of GnuPG. As an alternative the library
5745 'GPGME' can be used as a high-level abstraction on top of that
5748 INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER OPENPGP PROGRAMS
5749 ********************************************
5751 GnuPG tries to be a very flexible implementation of the OpenPGP
5752 standard. In particular, GnuPG implements many of the optional parts of
5753 the standard, such as the SHA-512 hash, and the ZLIB and BZIP2
5754 compression algorithms. It is important to be aware that not all
5755 OpenPGP programs implement these optional algorithms and that by forcing
5756 their use via the '--cipher-algo', '--digest-algo',
5757 '--cert-digest-algo', or '--compress-algo' options in GnuPG, it is
5758 possible to create a perfectly valid OpenPGP message, but one that
5759 cannot be read by the intended recipient.
5761 There are dozens of variations of OpenPGP programs available, and
5762 each supports a slightly different subset of these optional algorithms.
5763 For example, until recently, no (unhacked) version of PGP supported the
5764 BLOWFISH cipher algorithm. A message using BLOWFISH simply could not be
5765 read by a PGP user. By default, GnuPG uses the standard OpenPGP
5766 preferences system that will always do the right thing and create
5767 messages that are usable by all recipients, regardless of which OpenPGP
5768 program they use. Only override this safe default if you really know
5771 If you absolutely must override the safe default, or if the
5772 preferences on a given key are invalid for some reason, you are far
5773 better off using the '--pgp6', '--pgp7', or '--pgp8' options. These
5774 options are safe as they do not force any particular algorithms in
5775 violation of OpenPGP, but rather reduce the available algorithms to a
5781 On older systems this program should be installed as setuid(root). This
5782 is necessary to lock memory pages. Locking memory pages prevents the
5783 operating system from writing memory pages (which may contain
5784 passphrases or other sensitive material) to disk. If you get no warning
5785 message about insecure memory your operating system supports locking
5786 without being root. The program drops root privileges as soon as locked
5787 memory is allocated.
5789 Note also that some systems (especially laptops) have the ability to
5790 "suspend to disk" (also known as "safe sleep" or "hibernate"). This
5791 writes all memory to disk before going into a low power or even powered
5792 off mode. Unless measures are taken in the operating system to protect
5793 the saved memory, passphrases or other sensitive material may be
5794 recoverable from it later.
5796 Before you report a bug you should first search the mailing list
5797 archives for similar problems and second check whether such a bug has
5798 already been reported to our bug tracker at <https://bugs.gnupg.org>.
5801 File: gnupg.info, Node: Unattended Usage of GPG, Prev: GPG Examples, Up: Invoking GPG
5803 4.5 Unattended Usage
5804 ====================
5806 'gpg' is often used as a backend engine by other software. To help with
5807 this a machine interface has been defined to have an unambiguous way to
5808 do this. The options '--status-fd' and '--batch' are almost always
5813 * Programmatic use of GnuPG:: Programmatic use of GnuPG
5814 * Ephemeral home directories:: Ephemeral home directories
5815 * The quick key manipulation interface:: The quick key manipulation interface
5816 * Unattended GPG key generation:: Unattended key generation
5819 File: gnupg.info, Node: Programmatic use of GnuPG, Next: Ephemeral home directories, Up: Unattended Usage of GPG
5821 4.5.1 Programmatic use of GnuPG
5822 -------------------------------
5824 Please consider using GPGME instead of calling 'gpg' directly. GPGME
5825 offers a stable, backend-independent interface for many cryptographic
5826 operations. It supports OpenPGP and S/MIME, and also allows interaction
5827 with various GnuPG components.
5829 GPGME provides a C-API, and comes with bindings for C++, Qt, and
5830 Python. Bindings for other languages are available.
5833 File: gnupg.info, Node: Ephemeral home directories, Next: The quick key manipulation interface, Prev: Programmatic use of GnuPG, Up: Unattended Usage of GPG
5835 4.5.2 Ephemeral home directories
5836 --------------------------------
5838 Sometimes you want to contain effects of some operation, for example you
5839 want to import a key to inspect it, but you do not want this key to be
5840 added to your keyring. In earlier versions of GnuPG, it was possible to
5841 specify alternate keyring files for both public and secret keys. In
5842 modern GnuPG versions, however, we changed how secret keys are stored in
5843 order to better protect secret key material, and it was not possible to
5844 preserve this interface.
5846 The preferred way to do this is to use ephemeral home directories.
5847 This technique works across all versions of GnuPG.
5849 Create a temporary directory, create (or copy) a configuration that
5850 meets your needs, make 'gpg' use this directory either using the
5851 environment variable GNUPGHOME, or the option '--homedir'. GPGME
5852 supports this too on a per-context basis, by modifying the engine info
5853 of contexts. Now execute whatever operation you like, import and export
5854 key material as necessary. Once finished, you can delete the directory.
5855 All GnuPG backend services that were started will detect this and shut
5859 File: gnupg.info, Node: The quick key manipulation interface, Next: Unattended GPG key generation, Prev: Ephemeral home directories, Up: Unattended Usage of GPG
5861 4.5.3 The quick key manipulation interface
5862 ------------------------------------------
5864 Recent versions of GnuPG have an interface to manipulate keys without
5865 using the interactive command '--edit-key'. This interface was added
5866 mainly for the benefit of GPGME (please consider using GPGME, see the
5867 manual subsection "Programmatic use of GnuPG"). This interface is
5868 described in the subsection "How to manage your keys".
5871 File: gnupg.info, Node: Unattended GPG key generation, Prev: The quick key manipulation interface, Up: Unattended Usage of GPG
5873 4.5.4 Unattended key generation
5874 -------------------------------
5876 The command '--generate-key' may be used along with the option '--batch'
5877 for unattended key generation. This is the most flexible way of
5878 generating keys, but it is also the most complex one. Consider using
5879 the quick key manipulation interface described in the previous
5880 subsection "The quick key manipulation interface".
5882 The parameters for the key are either read from stdin or given as a
5883 file on the command line. The format of the parameter file is as
5886 * Text only, line length is limited to about 1000 characters.
5887 * UTF-8 encoding must be used to specify non-ASCII characters.
5888 * Empty lines are ignored.
5889 * Leading and trailing white space is ignored.
5890 * A hash sign as the first non white space character indicates a
5892 * Control statements are indicated by a leading percent sign, the
5893 arguments are separated by white space from the keyword.
5894 * Parameters are specified by a keyword, followed by a colon.
5895 Arguments are separated by white space.
5896 * The first parameter must be 'Key-Type'; control statements may be
5898 * The order of the parameters does not matter except for 'Key-Type'
5899 which must be the first parameter. The parameters are only used
5900 for the generated keyblock (primary and subkeys); parameters from
5901 previous sets are not used. Some syntactically checks may be
5903 * Key generation takes place when either the end of the parameter
5904 file is reached, the next 'Key-Type' parameter is encountered or at
5905 the control statement '%commit' is encountered.
5910 Print TEXT as diagnostic.
5913 Suppress actual key generation (useful for syntax checking).
5916 Perform the key generation. Note that an implicit commit is done
5917 at the next Key-Type parameter.
5920 Do not write the key to the default or commandline given keyring
5921 but to FILENAME. This must be given before the first commit to
5922 take place, duplicate specification of the same filename is
5923 ignored, the last filename before a commit is used. The filename
5924 is used until a new filename is used (at commit points) and all
5925 keys are written to that file. If a new filename is given, this
5926 file is created (and overwrites an existing one).
5928 See the previous subsection "Ephemeral home directories" for a more
5929 robust way to contain side-effects.
5932 This option is a no-op for GnuPG 2.1 and later.
5934 See the previous subsection "Ephemeral home directories".
5938 This option is a no-op for GnuPG 2.1 and later.
5941 Using this option allows the creation of keys without any
5942 passphrase protection. This option is mainly intended for
5946 If given the keys are created using a faster and a somewhat less
5947 secure random number generator. This option may be used for keys
5948 which are only used for a short time and do not require full
5949 cryptographic strength. It takes only effect if used together with
5950 the control statement '%no-protection'.
5955 Starts a new parameter block by giving the type of the primary key.
5956 The algorithm must be capable of signing. This is a required
5957 parameter. ALGO may either be an OpenPGP algorithm number or a
5958 string with the algorithm name. The special value 'default' may be
5959 used for ALGO to create the default key type; in this case a
5960 'Key-Usage' shall not be given and 'default' also be used for
5964 The requested length of the generated key in bits. The default is
5965 returned by running the command 'gpg --gpgconf-list'. For ECC keys
5966 this parameter is ignored.
5969 The requested elliptic curve of the generated key. This is a
5970 required parameter for ECC keys. It is ignored for non-ECC keys.
5973 This is optional and used to generate a CSR or certificate for an
5974 already existing key. Key-Length will be ignored when given.
5976 Key-Usage: USAGE-LIST
5977 Space or comma delimited list of key usages. Allowed values are
5978 'encrypt', 'sign', and 'auth'. This is used to generate the key
5979 flags. Please make sure that the algorithm is capable of this
5980 usage. Note that OpenPGP requires that all primary keys are
5981 capable of certification, so no matter what usage is given here,
5982 the 'cert' flag will be on. If no 'Key-Usage' is specified and the
5983 'Key-Type' is not 'default', all allowed usages for that particular
5984 algorithm are used; if it is not given but 'default' is used the
5985 usage will be 'sign'.
5988 This generates a secondary key (subkey). Currently only one subkey
5989 can be handled. See also 'Key-Type' above.
5991 Subkey-Length: NBITS
5992 Length of the secondary key (subkey) in bits. The default is
5993 returned by running the command 'gpg --gpgconf-list'.
5996 Key curve for a subkey; similar to 'Key-Curve'.
5998 Subkey-Usage: USAGE-LIST
5999 Key usage lists for a subkey; similar to 'Key-Usage'.
6002 If you want to specify a passphrase for the secret key, enter it
6003 here. Default is to use the Pinentry dialog to ask for a
6007 Name-Comment: COMMENT
6009 The three parts of a user name. Remember to use UTF-8 encoding
6010 here. If you don't give any of them, no user ID is created.
6012 Expire-Date: ISO-DATE|(NUMBER[d|w|m|y])
6013 Set the expiration date for the key (and the subkey). It may
6014 either be entered in ISO date format (e.g. "20000815T145012") or
6015 as number of days, weeks, month or years after the creation date.
6016 The special notation "seconds=N" is also allowed to specify a
6017 number of seconds since creation. Without a letter days are
6018 assumed. Note that there is no check done on the overflow of the
6019 type used by OpenPGP for timestamps. Thus you better make sure
6020 that the given value make sense. Although OpenPGP works with time
6021 intervals, GnuPG uses an absolute value internally and thus the
6022 last year we can represent is 2105.
6024 Creation-Date: ISO-DATE
6025 Set the creation date of the key as stored in the key information
6026 and which is also part of the fingerprint calculation. Either a
6027 date like "1986-04-26" or a full timestamp like "19860426T042640"
6028 may be used. The time is considered to be UTC. The special
6029 notation "seconds=N" may be used to directly specify a the number
6030 of seconds since Epoch (Unix time). If it is not given the current
6034 Set the cipher, hash, and compression preference values for this
6035 key. This expects the same type of string as the sub-command
6036 'setpref' in the '--edit-key' menu.
6038 Revoker: ALGO:FPR [sensitive]
6039 Add a designated revoker to the generated key. Algo is the public
6040 key algorithm of the designated revoker (i.e. RSA=1, DSA=17, etc.)
6041 FPR is the fingerprint of the designated revoker. The optional
6042 'sensitive' flag marks the designated revoker as sensitive
6043 information. Only v4 keys may be designated revokers.
6046 This is an optional parameter that specifies the preferred
6047 keyserver URL for the key.
6050 This is an optional parameter only used with the status lines
6051 KEY_CREATED and KEY_NOT_CREATED. STRING may be up to 100 characters
6052 and should not contain spaces. It is useful for batch key
6053 generation to associate a key parameter block with a status line.
6055 Here is an example on how to create a key in an ephemeral home
6057 $ export GNUPGHOME="$(mktemp -d)"
6059 %echo Generating a basic OpenPGP key
6064 Name-Real: Joe Tester
6065 Name-Comment: with stupid passphrase
6066 Name-Email: joe@foo.bar
6069 # Do a commit here, so that we can later print "done" :-)
6073 $ gpg --batch --generate-key foo
6075 $ gpg --list-secret-keys
6076 /tmp/tmp.0NQxB74PEf/pubring.kbx
6077 -------------------------------
6078 sec dsa1024 2016-12-16 [SCA]
6079 768E895903FC1C44045C8CB95EEBDB71E9E849D0
6080 uid [ultimate] Joe Tester (with stupid passphrase) <joe@foo.bar>
6081 ssb elg1024 2016-12-16 [E]
6083 If you want to create a key with the default algorithms you would use
6085 %echo Generating a default key
6087 Subkey-Type: default
6088 Name-Real: Joe Tester
6089 Name-Comment: with stupid passphrase
6090 Name-Email: joe@foo.bar
6093 # Do a commit here, so that we can later print "done" :-)
6098 File: gnupg.info, Node: Invoking GPGSM, Next: Invoking SCDAEMON, Prev: Invoking GPG, Up: Top
6103 'gpgsm' is a tool similar to 'gpg' to provide digital encryption and
6104 signing services on X.509 certificates and the CMS protocol. It is
6105 mainly used as a backend for S/MIME mail processing. 'gpgsm' includes a
6106 full featured certificate management and complies with all rules defined
6107 for the German Sphinx project.
6109 *Note Option Index::, for an index to 'GPGSM''s commands and options.
6113 * GPGSM Commands:: List of all commands.
6114 * GPGSM Options:: List of all options.
6115 * GPGSM Configuration:: Configuration files.
6116 * GPGSM Examples:: Some usage examples.
6118 Developer information:
6119 * Unattended Usage:: Using 'gpgsm' from other programs.
6120 * GPGSM Protocol:: The protocol the server mode uses.
6123 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Commands, Next: GPGSM Options, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6128 Commands are not distinguished from options except for the fact that
6129 only one command is allowed.
6133 * General GPGSM Commands:: Commands not specific to the functionality.
6134 * Operational GPGSM Commands:: Commands to select the type of operation.
6135 * Certificate Management:: How to manage certificates.
6138 File: gnupg.info, Node: General GPGSM Commands, Next: Operational GPGSM Commands, Up: GPGSM Commands
6140 5.1.1 Commands not specific to the function
6141 -------------------------------------------
6144 Print the program version and licensing information. Note that you
6145 cannot abbreviate this command.
6148 Print a usage message summarizing the most useful command-line
6149 options. Note that you cannot abbreviate this command.
6152 Print warranty information. Note that you cannot abbreviate this
6156 Print a list of all available options and commands. Note that you
6157 cannot abbreviate this command.
6160 File: gnupg.info, Node: Operational GPGSM Commands, Next: Certificate Management, Prev: General GPGSM Commands, Up: GPGSM Commands
6162 5.1.2 Commands to select the type of operation
6163 ----------------------------------------------
6166 Perform an encryption. The keys the data is encrypted to must be
6167 set using the option '--recipient'.
6170 Perform a decryption; the type of input is automatically
6171 determined. It may either be in binary form or PEM encoded;
6172 automatic determination of base-64 encoding is not done.
6175 Create a digital signature. The key used is either the fist one
6176 found in the keybox or those set with the '--local-user' option.
6179 Check a signature file for validity. Depending on the arguments a
6180 detached signature may also be checked.
6183 Run in server mode and wait for commands on the 'stdin'.
6185 '--call-dirmngr COMMAND [ARGS]'
6186 Behave as a Dirmngr client issuing the request COMMAND with the
6187 optional list of ARGS. The output of the Dirmngr is printed
6188 stdout. Please note that file names given as arguments should have
6189 an absolute file name (i.e. commencing with '/') because they are
6190 passed verbatim to the Dirmngr and the working directory of the
6191 Dirmngr might not be the same as the one of this client. Currently
6192 it is not possible to pass data via stdin to the Dirmngr. COMMAND
6193 should not contain spaces.
6195 This is command is required for certain maintaining tasks of the
6196 dirmngr where a dirmngr must be able to call back to 'gpgsm'. See
6197 the Dirmngr manual for details.
6199 '--call-protect-tool ARGUMENTS'
6200 Certain maintenance operations are done by an external program call
6201 'gpg-protect-tool'; this is usually not installed in a directory
6202 listed in the PATH variable. This command provides a simple
6203 wrapper to access this tool. ARGUMENTS are passed verbatim to this
6204 command; use '--help' to get a list of supported operations.
6207 File: gnupg.info, Node: Certificate Management, Prev: Operational GPGSM Commands, Up: GPGSM Commands
6209 5.1.3 How to manage the certificates and keys
6210 ---------------------------------------------
6214 This command allows the creation of a certificate signing request
6215 or a self-signed certificate. It is commonly used along with the
6216 '--output' option to save the created CSR or certificate into a
6217 file. If used with the '--batch' a parameter file is used to
6218 create the CSR or certificate and it is further possible to create
6219 non-self-signed certificates.
6223 List all available certificates stored in the local key database.
6224 Note that the displayed data might be reformatted for better human
6225 readability and illegal characters are replaced by safe
6228 '--list-secret-keys'
6230 List all available certificates for which a corresponding a secret
6233 '--list-external-keys PATTERN'
6234 List certificates matching PATTERN using an external server. This
6235 utilizes the 'dirmngr' service.
6238 Same as '--list-keys' but also prints all keys making up the chain.
6242 List all available certificates stored in the local key database
6243 using a format useful mainly for debugging.
6246 Same as '--dump-keys' but also prints all keys making up the chain.
6248 '--dump-secret-keys'
6249 List all available certificates for which a corresponding a secret
6250 key is available using a format useful mainly for debugging.
6252 '--dump-external-keys PATTERN'
6253 List certificates matching PATTERN using an external server. This
6254 utilizes the 'dirmngr' service. It uses a format useful mainly for
6257 '--keydb-clear-some-cert-flags'
6258 This is a debugging aid to reset certain flags in the key database
6259 which are used to cache certain certificate stati. It is
6260 especially useful if a bad CRL or a weird running OCSP responder
6261 did accidentally revoke certificate. There is no security issue
6262 with this command because 'gpgsm' always make sure that the
6263 validity of a certificate is checked right before it is used.
6265 '--delete-keys PATTERN'
6266 Delete the keys matching PATTERN. Note that there is no command to
6267 delete the secret part of the key directly. In case you need to do
6268 this, you should run the command 'gpgsm --dump-secret-keys KEYID'
6269 before you delete the key, copy the string of hex-digits in the
6270 "keygrip" line and delete the file consisting of these hex-digits
6271 and the suffix '.key' from the 'private-keys-v1.d' directory below
6272 our GnuPG home directory (usually '~/.gnupg').
6274 '--export [PATTERN]'
6275 Export all certificates stored in the Keybox or those specified by
6276 the optional PATTERN. Those pattern consist of a list of user ids
6277 (*note how-to-specify-a-user-id::). When used along with the
6278 '--armor' option a few informational lines are prepended before
6279 each block. There is one limitation: As there is no commonly
6280 agreed upon way to pack more than one certificate into an ASN.1
6281 structure, the binary export (i.e. without using 'armor') works
6282 only for the export of one certificate. Thus it is required to
6283 specify a PATTERN which yields exactly one certificate. Ephemeral
6284 certificate are only exported if all PATTERN are given as
6285 fingerprints or keygrips.
6287 '--export-secret-key-p12 KEY-ID'
6288 Export the private key and the certificate identified by KEY-ID
6289 using the PKCS#12 format. When used with the '--armor' option a
6290 few informational lines are prepended to the output. Note, that
6291 the PKCS#12 format is not very secure and proper transport security
6292 should be used to convey the exported key. (*Note option
6295 '--export-secret-key-p8 KEY-ID'
6296 '--export-secret-key-raw KEY-ID'
6297 Export the private key of the certificate identified by KEY-ID with
6298 any encryption stripped. The '...-raw' command exports in PKCS#1
6299 format; the '...-p8' command exports in PKCS#8 format. When used
6300 with the '--armor' option a few informational lines are prepended
6301 to the output. These commands are useful to prepare a key for use
6305 Import the certificates from the PEM or binary encoded files as
6306 well as from signed-only messages. This command may also be used
6307 to import a secret key from a PKCS#12 file.
6310 Read information about the private keys from the smartcard and
6311 import the certificates from there. This command utilizes the
6312 'gpg-agent' and in turn the 'scdaemon'.
6314 '--change-passphrase USER_ID'
6316 Change the passphrase of the private key belonging to the
6317 certificate specified as USER_ID. Note, that changing the
6318 passphrase/PIN of a smartcard is not yet supported.
6321 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Options, Next: GPGSM Configuration, Prev: GPGSM Commands, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6326 'GPGSM' features a bunch of options to control the exact behaviour and
6327 to change the default configuration.
6331 * Configuration Options:: How to change the configuration.
6332 * Certificate Options:: Certificate related options.
6333 * Input and Output:: Input and Output.
6334 * CMS Options:: How to change how the CMS is created.
6335 * Esoteric Options:: Doing things one usually do not want to do.
6338 File: gnupg.info, Node: Configuration Options, Next: Certificate Options, Up: GPGSM Options
6340 5.2.1 How to change the configuration
6341 -------------------------------------
6343 These options are used to change the configuration and are usually found
6347 Reads configuration from FILE instead of from the default per-user
6348 configuration file. The default configuration file is named
6349 'gpgsm.conf' and expected in the '.gnupg' directory directly below
6350 the home directory of the user.
6353 Set the name of the home directory to DIR. If this option is not
6354 used, the home directory defaults to '~/.gnupg'. It is only
6355 recognized when given on the command line. It also overrides any
6356 home directory stated through the environment variable 'GNUPGHOME'
6357 or (on Windows systems) by means of the Registry entry
6358 HKCU\SOFTWARE\GNU\GNUPG:HOMEDIR.
6360 On Windows systems it is possible to install GnuPG as a portable
6361 application. In this case only this command line option is
6362 considered, all other ways to set a home directory are ignored.
6364 To install GnuPG as a portable application under Windows, create an
6365 empty file named 'gpgconf.ctl' in the same directory as the tool
6366 'gpgconf.exe'. The root of the installation is then that
6367 directory; or, if 'gpgconf.exe' has been installed directly below a
6368 directory named 'bin', its parent directory. You also need to make
6369 sure that the following directories exist and are writable:
6370 'ROOT/home' for the GnuPG home and 'ROOT/usr/local/var/cache/gnupg'
6371 for internal cache files.
6375 Outputs additional information while running. You can increase the
6376 verbosity by giving several verbose commands to 'gpgsm', such as
6379 '--ldapserver STRING'
6380 '--keyserver STRING'
6381 Add an LDAP server to use for X.509 certificate and CRL lookup.
6382 This option can be given multiple times to configure more than one
6383 LDAP server. Note that in general 'dirmngr' should be configured
6384 with the list of LDAP servers; if this option is also configured
6385 here, it is used in addition to those configured in dirmngr. For
6386 the syntax see the description of dirmngr's ldapserver option.
6388 '--policy-file FILENAME'
6389 Change the default name of the policy file to FILENAME.
6391 '--agent-program FILE'
6392 Specify an agent program to be used for secret key operations. The
6393 default value is determined by running the command 'gpgconf'. Note
6394 that the pipe symbol ('|') is used for a regression test suite hack
6395 and may thus not be used in the file name.
6397 '--dirmngr-program FILE'
6398 Specify a dirmngr program to be used for CRL checks. The default
6399 value is '/usr/local/bin/dirmngr'.
6401 '--prefer-system-dirmngr'
6402 This option is obsolete and ignored.
6405 Entirely disable the use of the Dirmngr.
6408 Do not start the gpg-agent or the dirmngr if it has not yet been
6409 started and its service is required. This option is mostly useful
6410 on machines where the connection to gpg-agent has been redirected
6411 to another machines. If dirmngr is required on the remote machine,
6412 it may be started manually using 'gpgconf --launch dirmngr'.
6414 '--no-secmem-warning'
6415 Do not print a warning when the so called "secure memory" cannot be
6419 When running in server mode, append all logging output to FILE.
6420 Use 'socket://' to log to socket.
6423 File: gnupg.info, Node: Certificate Options, Next: Input and Output, Prev: Configuration Options, Up: GPGSM Options
6425 5.2.2 Certificate related options
6426 ---------------------------------
6428 '--enable-policy-checks'
6429 '--disable-policy-checks'
6430 By default policy checks are enabled. These options may be used to
6433 '--enable-crl-checks'
6434 '--disable-crl-checks'
6435 By default the CRL checks are enabled and the DirMngr is used to
6436 check for revoked certificates. The disable option is most useful
6437 with an off-line network connection to suppress this check and also
6438 to avoid that new certificates introduce a web bug by including a
6439 certificate specific CRL DP. The disable option also disables an
6440 issuer certificate lookup via the authorityInfoAccess property of
6441 the certificate; the '--enable-issuer-key-retrieve' can be used to
6442 make use of that property anyway.
6444 '--enable-trusted-cert-crl-check'
6445 '--disable-trusted-cert-crl-check'
6446 By default the CRL for trusted root certificates are checked like
6447 for any other certificates. This allows a CA to revoke its own
6448 certificates voluntary without the need of putting all ever issued
6449 certificates into a CRL. The disable option may be used to switch
6450 this extra check off. Due to the caching done by the Dirmngr,
6451 there will not be any noticeable performance gain. Note, that this
6452 also disables possible OCSP checks for trusted root certificates.
6453 A more specific way of disabling this check is by adding the
6454 "relax" keyword to the root CA line of the 'trustlist.txt'
6456 '--force-crl-refresh'
6457 Tell the dirmngr to reload the CRL for each request. For better
6458 performance, the dirmngr will actually optimize this by suppressing
6459 the loading for short time intervals (e.g. 30 minutes). This
6460 option is useful to make sure that a fresh CRL is available for
6461 certificates hold in the keybox. The suggested way of doing this
6462 is by using it along with the option '--with-validation' for a key
6463 listing command. This option should not be used in a configuration
6466 '--enable-issuer-based-crl-check'
6467 Run a CRL check even for certificates which do not have any CRL
6468 distribution point. This requires that a suitable LDAP server has
6469 been configured in Dirmngr and that the CRL can be found using the
6470 issuer. This option reverts to what GnuPG did up to version
6471 2.2.20. This option is in general not useful.
6475 By default OCSP checks are disabled. The enable option may be used
6476 to enable OCSP checks via Dirmngr. If CRL checks are also enabled,
6477 CRLs will be used as a fallback if for some reason an OCSP request
6478 will not succeed. Note, that you have to allow OCSP requests in
6479 Dirmngr's configuration too (option '--allow-ocsp') and configure
6480 Dirmngr properly. If you do not do so you will get the error code
6483 '--auto-issuer-key-retrieve'
6484 If a required certificate is missing while validating the chain of
6485 certificates, try to load that certificate from an external
6486 location. This usually means that Dirmngr is employed to search
6487 for the certificate. Note that this option makes a "web bug" like
6488 behavior possible. LDAP server operators can see which keys you
6489 request, so by sending you a message signed by a brand new key
6490 (which you naturally will not have on your local keybox), the
6491 operator can tell both your IP address and the time when you
6492 verified the signature.
6494 '--validation-model NAME'
6495 This option changes the default validation model. The only
6496 possible values are "shell" (which is the default), "chain" which
6497 forces the use of the chain model and "steed" for a new simplified
6498 model. The chain model is also used if an option in the
6499 'trustlist.txt' or an attribute of the certificate requests it.
6500 However the standard model (shell) is in that case always tried
6503 '--ignore-cert-extension OID'
6504 Add OID to the list of ignored certificate extensions. The OID is
6505 expected to be in dotted decimal form, like '2.5.29.3'. This
6506 option may be used more than once. Critical flagged certificate
6507 extensions matching one of the OIDs in the list are treated as if
6508 they are actually handled and thus the certificate will not be
6509 rejected due to an unknown critical extension. Use this option
6510 with care because extensions are usually flagged as critical for a
6514 File: gnupg.info, Node: Input and Output, Next: CMS Options, Prev: Certificate Options, Up: GPGSM Options
6516 5.2.3 Input and Output
6517 ----------------------
6521 Create PEM encoded output. Default is binary output.
6524 Create Base-64 encoded output; i.e. PEM without the header lines.
6527 Assume the input data is PEM encoded. Default is to autodetect the
6528 encoding but this is may fail.
6531 Assume the input data is plain base-64 encoded.
6534 Assume the input data is binary encoded.
6536 '--p12-charset NAME'
6537 'gpgsm' uses the UTF-8 encoding when encoding passphrases for
6538 PKCS#12 files. This option may be used to force the passphrase to
6539 be encoded in the specified encoding NAME. This is useful if the
6540 application used to import the key uses a different encoding and
6541 thus will not be able to import a file generated by 'gpgsm'.
6542 Commonly used values for NAME are 'Latin1' and 'CP850'. Note that
6543 'gpgsm' itself automagically imports any file with a passphrase
6544 encoded to the most commonly used encodings.
6546 '--default-key USER_ID'
6547 Use USER_ID as the standard key for signing. This key is used if
6548 no other key has been defined as a signing key. Note, that the
6549 first '--local-users' option also sets this key if it has not yet
6550 been set; however '--default-key' always overrides this.
6552 '--local-user USER_ID'
6554 Set the user(s) to be used for signing. The default is the first
6555 secret key found in the database.
6559 Encrypt to the user id NAME. There are several ways a user id may
6560 be given (*note how-to-specify-a-user-id::).
6564 Write output to FILE. The default is to write it to stdout.
6567 Displays extra information with the '--list-keys' commands.
6568 Especially a line tagged 'grp' is printed which tells you the
6569 keygrip of a key. This string is for example used as the file name
6570 of the secret key. Implies '--with-colons'.
6573 When doing a key listing, do a full validation check for each key
6574 and print the result. This is usually a slow operation because it
6575 requires a CRL lookup and other operations.
6577 When used along with '--import', a validation of the certificate to
6578 import is done and only imported if it succeeds the test. Note
6579 that this does not affect an already available certificate in the
6580 DB. This option is therefore useful to simply verify a certificate.
6582 '--with-md5-fingerprint'
6583 For standard key listings, also print the MD5 fingerprint of the
6587 Include the keygrip in standard key listings. Note that the
6588 keygrip is always listed in '--with-colons' mode.
6591 Include info about the presence of a secret key in public key
6592 listings done with '--with-colons'.
6595 File: gnupg.info, Node: CMS Options, Next: Esoteric Options, Prev: Input and Output, Up: GPGSM Options
6597 5.2.4 How to change how the CMS is created
6598 ------------------------------------------
6601 Using N of -2 includes all certificate except for the root cert, -1
6602 includes all certs, 0 does not include any certs, 1 includes only
6603 the signers cert and all other positive values include up to N
6604 certificates starting with the signer cert. The default is -2.
6607 Use the cipher algorithm with the ASN.1 object identifier OID for
6608 encryption. For convenience the strings '3DES', 'AES' and 'AES256'
6609 may be used instead of their OIDs. The default is 'AES'
6610 (2.16.840.1.101.3.4.1.2).
6612 '--digest-algo name'
6613 Use 'name' as the message digest algorithm. Usually this algorithm
6614 is deduced from the respective signing certificate. This option
6615 forces the use of the given algorithm and may lead to severe
6616 interoperability problems.
6619 File: gnupg.info, Node: Esoteric Options, Prev: CMS Options, Up: GPGSM Options
6621 5.2.5 Doing things one usually do not want to do
6622 ------------------------------------------------
6624 '--extra-digest-algo NAME'
6625 Sometimes signatures are broken in that they announce a different
6626 digest algorithm than actually used. 'gpgsm' uses a one-pass data
6627 processing model and thus needs to rely on the announced digest
6628 algorithms to properly hash the data. As a workaround this option
6629 may be used to tell 'gpgsm' to also hash the data using the
6630 algorithm NAME; this slows processing down a little bit but allows
6631 verification of such broken signatures. If 'gpgsm' prints an error
6632 like "digest algo 8 has not been enabled" you may want to try this
6633 option, with 'SHA256' for NAME.
6635 '--faked-system-time EPOCH'
6636 This option is only useful for testing; it sets the system time
6637 back or forth to EPOCH which is the number of seconds elapsed since
6638 the year 1970. Alternatively EPOCH may be given as a full ISO time
6639 string (e.g. "20070924T154812").
6641 '--with-ephemeral-keys'
6642 Include ephemeral flagged keys in the output of key listings. Note
6643 that they are included anyway if the key specification for a
6644 listing is given as fingerprint or keygrip.
6646 '--debug-level LEVEL'
6647 Select the debug level for investigating problems. LEVEL may be a
6648 numeric value or by a keyword:
6651 No debugging at all. A value of less than 1 may be used
6652 instead of the keyword.
6654 Some basic debug messages. A value between 1 and 2 may be
6655 used instead of the keyword.
6657 More verbose debug messages. A value between 3 and 5 may be
6658 used instead of the keyword.
6660 Even more detailed messages. A value between 6 and 8 may be
6661 used instead of the keyword.
6663 All of the debug messages you can get. A value greater than 8
6664 may be used instead of the keyword. The creation of hash
6665 tracing files is only enabled if the keyword is used.
6667 How these messages are mapped to the actual debugging flags is not
6668 specified and may change with newer releases of this program. They
6669 are however carefully selected to best aid in debugging.
6672 This option is only useful for debugging and the behaviour may
6673 change at any time without notice; using '--debug-levels' is the
6674 preferred method to select the debug verbosity. FLAGS are bit
6675 encoded and may be given in usual C-Syntax. The currently defined
6679 X.509 or OpenPGP protocol related data
6681 values of big number integers
6683 low level crypto operations
6689 show memory statistics
6691 write hashed data to files named 'dbgmd-000*'
6693 trace Assuan protocol
6695 Note, that all flags set using this option may get overridden by
6699 Same as '--debug=0xffffffff'
6701 '--debug-allow-core-dump'
6702 Usually 'gpgsm' tries to avoid dumping core by well written code
6703 and by disabling core dumps for security reasons. However, bugs
6704 are pretty durable beasts and to squash them it is sometimes useful
6705 to have a core dump. This option enables core dumps unless the Bad
6706 Thing happened before the option parsing.
6708 '--debug-no-chain-validation'
6709 This is actually not a debugging option but only useful as such.
6710 It lets 'gpgsm' bypass all certificate chain validation checks.
6712 '--debug-ignore-expiration'
6713 This is actually not a debugging option but only useful as such.
6714 It lets 'gpgsm' ignore all notAfter dates, this is used by the
6718 Read the passphrase from file descriptor 'n'. Only the first line
6719 will be read from file descriptor 'n'. If you use 0 for 'n', the
6720 passphrase will be read from STDIN. This can only be used if only
6721 one passphrase is supplied.
6723 Note that this passphrase is only used if the option '--batch' has
6726 '--pinentry-mode mode'
6727 Set the pinentry mode to 'mode'. Allowed values for 'mode' are:
6729 Use the default of the agent, which is 'ask'.
6731 Force the use of the Pinentry.
6733 Emulate use of Pinentry's cancel button.
6735 Return a Pinentry error ("No Pinentry").
6737 Redirect Pinentry queries to the caller. Note that in
6738 contrast to Pinentry the user is not prompted again if he
6739 enters a bad password.
6741 '--request-origin ORIGIN'
6742 Tell gpgsm to assume that the operation ultimately originated at
6743 ORIGIN. Depending on the origin certain restrictions are applied
6744 and the Pinentry may include an extra note on the origin.
6745 Supported values for ORIGIN are: 'local' which is the default,
6746 'remote' to indicate a remote origin or 'browser' for an operation
6747 requested by a web browser.
6749 '--no-common-certs-import'
6750 Suppress the import of common certificates on keybox creation.
6752 All the long options may also be given in the configuration file
6753 after stripping off the two leading dashes.
6756 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Configuration, Next: GPGSM Examples, Prev: GPGSM Options, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6758 5.3 Configuration files
6759 =======================
6761 There are a few configuration files to control certain aspects of
6762 'gpgsm''s operation. Unless noted, they are expected in the current
6763 home directory (*note option --homedir::).
6766 This is the standard configuration file read by 'gpgsm' on startup.
6767 It may contain any valid long option; the leading two dashes may
6768 not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated. This default
6769 name may be changed on the command line (*note gpgsm-option
6770 --options::). You should backup this file.
6773 This is a list of allowed CA policies. This file should list the
6774 object identifiers of the policies line by line. Empty lines and
6775 lines starting with a hash mark are ignored. Policies missing in
6776 this file and not marked as critical in the certificate will print
6777 only a warning; certificates with policies marked as critical and
6778 not listed in this file will fail the signature verification. You
6779 should backup this file.
6781 For example, to allow only the policy 2.289.9.9, the file should
6788 This is the list of root certificates used for qualified
6789 certificates. They are defined as certificates capable of creating
6790 legally binding signatures in the same way as handwritten
6791 signatures are. Comments start with a hash mark and empty lines
6792 are ignored. Lines do have a length limit but this is not a
6793 serious limitation as the format of the entries is fixed and
6794 checked by 'gpgsm': A non-comment line starts with optional
6795 whitespace, followed by exactly 40 hex characters, white space and
6796 a lowercased 2 letter country code. Additional data delimited with
6797 by a white space is current ignored but might late be used for
6800 Note that even if a certificate is listed in this file, this does
6801 not mean that the certificate is trusted; in general the
6802 certificates listed in this file need to be listed also in
6805 This is a global file an installed in the data directory (e.g.
6806 '/usr/local/share/gnupg/qualified.txt'). GnuPG installs a suitable
6807 file with root certificates as used in Germany. As new Root-CA
6808 certificates may be issued over time, these entries may need to be
6809 updated; new distributions of this software should come with an
6810 updated list but it is still the responsibility of the
6811 Administrator to check that this list is correct.
6813 Every time 'gpgsm' uses a certificate for signing or verification
6814 this file will be consulted to check whether the certificate under
6815 question has ultimately been issued by one of these CAs. If this
6816 is the case the user will be informed that the verified signature
6817 represents a legally binding ("qualified") signature. When
6818 creating a signature using such a certificate an extra prompt will
6819 be issued to let the user confirm that such a legally binding
6820 signature shall really be created.
6822 Because this software has not yet been approved for use with such
6823 certificates, appropriate notices will be shown to indicate this
6827 This is plain text file with a few help entries used with
6828 'pinentry' as well as a large list of help items for 'gpg' and
6829 'gpgsm'. The standard file has English help texts; to install
6830 localized versions use filenames like 'help.LL.txt' with LL
6831 denoting the locale. GnuPG comes with a set of predefined help
6832 files in the data directory (e.g.
6833 '/usr/local/share/gnupg/gnupg/help.de.txt') and allows overriding
6834 of any help item by help files stored in the system configuration
6835 directory (e.g. '/etc/gnupg/help.de.txt'). For a reference of the
6836 help file's syntax, please see the installed 'help.txt' file.
6839 This file is a collection of common certificates used to populated
6840 a newly created 'pubring.kbx'. An administrator may replace this
6841 file with a custom one. The format is a concatenation of PEM
6842 encoded X.509 certificates. This global file is installed in the
6843 data directory (e.g. '/usr/local/share/gnupg/com-certs.pem').
6845 Note that on larger installations, it is useful to put predefined
6846 files into the directory '/etc/skel/.gnupg/' so that newly created users
6847 start up with a working configuration. For existing users a small
6848 helper script is provided to create these files (*note addgnupghome::).
6850 For internal purposes 'gpgsm' creates and maintains a few other
6851 files; they all live in the current home directory (*note option
6852 --homedir::). Only 'gpgsm' may modify these files.
6855 This a database file storing the certificates as well as meta
6856 information. For debugging purposes the tool 'kbxutil' may be used
6857 to show the internal structure of this file. You should backup
6861 This content of this file is used to maintain the internal state of
6862 the random number generator across invocations. The same file is
6863 used by other programs of this software too.
6866 If this file exists 'gpgsm' will first try to connect to this
6867 socket for accessing 'gpg-agent' before starting a new 'gpg-agent'
6868 instance. Under Windows this socket (which in reality be a plain
6869 file describing a regular TCP listening port) is the standard way
6870 of connecting the 'gpg-agent'.
6873 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Examples, Next: Unattended Usage, Prev: GPGSM Configuration, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6878 $ gpgsm -er goo@bar.net <plaintext >ciphertext
6881 File: gnupg.info, Node: Unattended Usage, Next: GPGSM Protocol, Prev: GPGSM Examples, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6883 5.5 Unattended Usage
6884 ====================
6886 'gpgsm' is often used as a backend engine by other software. To help
6887 with this a machine interface has been defined to have an unambiguous
6888 way to do this. This is most likely used with the '--server' command
6889 but may also be used in the standard operation mode by using the
6890 '--status-fd' option.
6894 * Automated signature checking:: Automated signature checking.
6895 * CSR and certificate creation:: CSR and certificate creation.
6898 File: gnupg.info, Node: Automated signature checking, Next: CSR and certificate creation, Up: Unattended Usage
6900 5.5.1 Automated signature checking
6901 ----------------------------------
6903 It is very important to understand the semantics used with signature
6904 verification. Checking a signature is not as simple as it may sound and
6905 so the operation is a bit complicated. In most cases it is required to
6906 look at several status lines. Here is a table of all cases a signed
6909 The signature is valid
6910 This does mean that the signature has been successfully verified,
6911 the certificates are all sane. However there are two subcases with
6912 important information: One of the certificates may have expired or
6913 a signature of a message itself as expired. It is a sound practise
6914 to consider such a signature still as valid but additional
6915 information should be displayed. Depending on the subcase 'gpgsm'
6916 will issue these status codes:
6917 signature valid and nothing did expire
6918 'GOODSIG', 'VALIDSIG', 'TRUST_FULLY'
6919 signature valid but at least one certificate has expired
6920 'EXPKEYSIG', 'VALIDSIG', 'TRUST_FULLY'
6921 signature valid but expired
6922 'EXPSIG', 'VALIDSIG', 'TRUST_FULLY' Note, that this case is
6923 currently not implemented.
6925 The signature is invalid
6926 This means that the signature verification failed (this is an
6927 indication of a transfer error, a program error or tampering with
6928 the message). 'gpgsm' issues one of these status codes sequences:
6930 'GOODSIG, VALIDSIG TRUST_NEVER'
6932 Error verifying a signature
6933 For some reason the signature could not be verified, i.e. it
6934 cannot be decided whether the signature is valid or invalid. A
6935 common reason for this is a missing certificate.
6938 File: gnupg.info, Node: CSR and certificate creation, Prev: Automated signature checking, Up: Unattended Usage
6940 5.5.2 CSR and certificate creation
6941 ----------------------------------
6943 The command '--generate-key' may be used along with the option '--batch'
6944 to either create a certificate signing request (CSR) or an X.509
6945 certificate. This is controlled by a parameter file; the format of this
6948 * Text only, line length is limited to about 1000 characters.
6949 * UTF-8 encoding must be used to specify non-ASCII characters.
6950 * Empty lines are ignored.
6951 * Leading and trailing while space is ignored.
6952 * A hash sign as the first non white space character indicates a
6954 * Control statements are indicated by a leading percent sign, the
6955 arguments are separated by white space from the keyword.
6956 * Parameters are specified by a keyword, followed by a colon.
6957 Arguments are separated by white space.
6958 * The first parameter must be 'Key-Type', control statements may be
6960 * The order of the parameters does not matter except for 'Key-Type'
6961 which must be the first parameter. The parameters are only used
6962 for the generated CSR/certificate; parameters from previous sets
6963 are not used. Some syntactically checks may be performed.
6964 * Key generation takes place when either the end of the parameter
6965 file is reached, the next 'Key-Type' parameter is encountered or at
6966 the control statement '%commit' is encountered.
6971 Print TEXT as diagnostic.
6974 Suppress actual key generation (useful for syntax checking).
6977 Perform the key generation. Note that an implicit commit is done
6978 at the next Key-Type parameter.
6983 Starts a new parameter block by giving the type of the primary key.
6984 The algorithm must be capable of signing. This is a required
6985 parameter. The only supported value for ALGO is 'rsa'.
6988 The requested length of a generated key in bits. Defaults to 3072.
6991 This is optional and used to generate a CSR or certificate for an
6992 already existing key. Key-Length will be ignored when given.
6994 Key-Usage: USAGE-LIST
6995 Space or comma delimited list of key usage, allowed values are
6996 'encrypt', 'sign' and 'cert'. This is used to generate the
6997 keyUsage extension. Please make sure that the algorithm is capable
6998 of this usage. Default is to allow encrypt and sign.
7000 Name-DN: SUBJECT-NAME
7001 This is the Distinguished Name (DN) of the subject in RFC-2253
7005 This is an email address for the altSubjectName. This parameter is
7006 optional but may occur several times to add several email addresses
7010 The is an DNS name for the altSubjectName. This parameter is
7011 optional but may occur several times to add several DNS names to a
7015 This is an URI for the altSubjectName. This parameter is optional
7016 but may occur several times to add several URIs to a certificate.
7018 Additional parameters used to create a certificate (in contrast to a
7019 certificate signing request):
7022 If this parameter is given an X.509 certificate will be generated.
7023 SN is expected to be a hex string representing an unsigned integer
7024 of arbitrary length. The special value 'random' can be used to
7025 create a 64 bit random serial number.
7027 Issuer-DN: ISSUER-NAME
7028 This is the DN name of the issuer in RFC-2253 format. If it is not
7029 set it will default to the subject DN and a special GnuPG extension
7030 will be included in the certificate to mark it as a standalone
7033 Creation-Date: ISO-DATE
7034 Not-Before: ISO-DATE
7035 Set the notBefore date of the certificate. Either a date like
7036 '1986-04-26' or '1986-04-26 12:00' or a standard ISO timestamp like
7037 '19860426T042640' may be used. The time is considered to be UTC.
7038 If it is not given the current date is used.
7040 Expire-Date: ISO-DATE
7042 Set the notAfter date of the certificate. Either a date like
7043 '2063-04-05' or '2063-04-05 17:00' or a standard ISO timestamp like
7044 '20630405T170000' may be used. The time is considered to be UTC.
7045 If it is not given a default value in the not too far future is
7048 Signing-Key: KEYGRIP
7049 This gives the keygrip of the key used to sign the certificate. If
7050 it is not given a self-signed certificate will be created. For
7051 compatibility with future versions, it is suggested to prefix the
7054 Hash-Algo: HASH-ALGO
7055 Use HASH-ALGO for this CSR or certificate. The supported hash
7056 algorithms are: 'sha1', 'sha256', 'sha384' and 'sha512'; they may
7057 also be specified with uppercase letters. The default is 'sha256'.
7060 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Protocol, Prev: Unattended Usage, Up: Invoking GPGSM
7062 5.6 The Protocol the Server Mode Uses
7063 =====================================
7065 Description of the protocol used to access 'GPGSM'. 'GPGSM' does
7066 implement the Assuan protocol and in addition provides a regular command
7067 line interface which exhibits a full client to this protocol (but uses
7068 internal linking). To start 'gpgsm' as a server the command line the
7069 option '--server' must be used. Additional options are provided to
7070 select the communication method (i.e. the name of the socket).
7072 We assume that the connection has already been established; see the
7073 Assuan manual for details.
7077 * GPGSM ENCRYPT:: Encrypting a message.
7078 * GPGSM DECRYPT:: Decrypting a message.
7079 * GPGSM SIGN:: Signing a message.
7080 * GPGSM VERIFY:: Verifying a message.
7081 * GPGSM GENKEY:: Generating a key.
7082 * GPGSM LISTKEYS:: List available keys.
7083 * GPGSM EXPORT:: Export certificates.
7084 * GPGSM IMPORT:: Import certificates.
7085 * GPGSM DELETE:: Delete certificates.
7086 * GPGSM GETAUDITLOG:: Retrieve an audit log.
7087 * GPGSM GETINFO:: Information about the process
7088 * GPGSM OPTION:: Session options.
7091 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM ENCRYPT, Next: GPGSM DECRYPT, Up: GPGSM Protocol
7093 5.6.1 Encrypting a Message
7094 --------------------------
7096 Before encryption can be done the recipient must be set using the
7101 Set the recipient for the encryption. USERID should be the internal
7102 representation of the key; the server may accept any other way of
7103 specification. If this is a valid and trusted recipient the server does
7104 respond with OK, otherwise the return is an ERR with the reason why the
7105 recipient cannot be used, the encryption will then not be done for this
7106 recipient. If the policy is not to encrypt at all if not all recipients
7107 are valid, the client has to take care of this. All 'RECIPIENT'
7108 commands are cumulative until a 'RESET' or an successful 'ENCRYPT'
7111 INPUT FD[=N] [--armor|--base64|--binary]
7113 Set the file descriptor for the message to be encrypted to N.
7114 Obviously the pipe must be open at that point, the server establishes
7115 its own end. If the server returns an error the client should consider
7116 this session failed. If N is not given, this commands uses the last
7117 file descriptor passed to the application. *Note the assuan_sendfd
7118 function: (assuan)fun-assuan_sendfd, on how to do descriptor passing.
7120 The '--armor' option may be used to advise the server that the input
7121 data is in PEM format, '--base64' advises that a raw base-64 encoding is
7122 used, '--binary' advises of raw binary input (BER). If none of these
7123 options is used, the server tries to figure out the used encoding, but
7124 this may not always be correct.
7126 OUTPUT FD[=N] [--armor|--base64]
7128 Set the file descriptor to be used for the output (i.e. the
7129 encrypted message). Obviously the pipe must be open at that point, the
7130 server establishes its own end. If the server returns an error the
7131 client should consider this session failed.
7133 The option '--armor' encodes the output in PEM format, the '--base64'
7134 option applies just a base-64 encoding. No option creates binary output
7137 The actual encryption is done using the command
7141 It takes the plaintext from the 'INPUT' command, writes to the
7142 ciphertext to the file descriptor set with the 'OUTPUT' command, take
7143 the recipients from all the recipients set so far. If this command
7144 fails the clients should try to delete all output currently done or
7145 otherwise mark it as invalid. 'GPGSM' does ensure that there will not
7146 be any security problem with leftover data on the output in this case.
7148 This command should in general not fail, as all necessary checks have
7149 been done while setting the recipients. The input and output pipes are