1 This is gnupg.info, produced by makeinfo version 6.5 from gnupg.texi.
3 This is the 'The GNU Privacy Guard Manual' (version 2.2.28-beta111, June
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 2.2.28-beta111, June
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 the passphrase against the pattern given in FILE. When
467 entering a new passphrase matching one of these pattern a warning
468 will be displayed. FILE should be an absolute filename. The
469 default is not to use any pattern file.
471 Security note: It is known that checking a passphrase against a
472 list of pattern or even against a complete dictionary is not very
473 effective to enforce good passphrases. Users will soon figure up
474 ways to bypass such a policy. A better policy is to educate users
475 on good security behavior and optionally to run a passphrase
476 cracker regularly on all users passphrases to catch the very simple
479 '--max-passphrase-days N'
480 Ask the user to change the passphrase if N days have passed since
481 the last change. With '--enforce-passphrase-constraints' set the
482 user may not bypass this check.
484 '--enable-passphrase-history'
485 This option does nothing yet.
487 '--pinentry-invisible-char CHAR'
488 This option asks the Pinentry to use CHAR for displaying hidden
489 characters. CHAR must be one character UTF-8 string. A Pinentry
490 may or may not honor this request.
492 '--pinentry-timeout N'
493 This option asks the Pinentry to timeout after N seconds with no
494 user input. The default value of 0 does not ask the pinentry to
495 timeout, however a Pinentry may use its own default timeout value
496 in this case. A Pinentry may or may not honor this request.
498 '--pinentry-program FILENAME'
499 Use program FILENAME as the PIN entry. The default is installation
500 dependent. With the default configuration the name of the default
501 pinentry is 'pinentry'; if that file does not exist but a
502 'pinentry-basic' exist the latter is used.
504 On a Windows platform the default is to use the first existing
505 program from this list: 'bin\pinentry.exe',
506 '..\Gpg4win\bin\pinentry.exe', '..\Gpg4win\pinentry.exe',
507 '..\GNU\GnuPG\pinentry.exe', '..\GNU\bin\pinentry.exe',
508 'bin\pinentry-basic.exe' where the file names are relative to the
509 GnuPG installation directory.
511 '--pinentry-touch-file FILENAME'
512 By default the filename of the socket gpg-agent is listening for
513 requests is passed to Pinentry, so that it can touch that file
514 before exiting (it does this only in curses mode). This option
515 changes the file passed to Pinentry to FILENAME. The special name
516 '/dev/null' may be used to completely disable this feature. Note
517 that Pinentry will not create that file, it will only change the
518 modification and access time.
520 '--scdaemon-program FILENAME'
521 Use program FILENAME as the Smartcard daemon. The default is
522 installation dependent and can be shown with the 'gpgconf' command.
525 Do not make use of the scdaemon tool. This option has the effect
526 of disabling the ability to do smartcard operations. Note, that
527 enabling this option at runtime does not kill an already forked
530 '--disable-check-own-socket'
531 'gpg-agent' employs a periodic self-test to detect a stolen socket.
532 This usually means a second instance of 'gpg-agent' has taken over
533 the socket and 'gpg-agent' will then terminate itself. This option
534 may be used to disable this self-test for debugging purposes.
536 '--use-standard-socket'
537 '--no-use-standard-socket'
538 '--use-standard-socket-p'
539 Since GnuPG 2.1 the standard socket is always used. These options
540 have no more effect. The command 'gpg-agent
541 --use-standard-socket-p' will thus always return success.
547 '--lc-messages STRING'
548 '--xauthority STRING'
549 These options are used with the server mode to pass localization
554 Ignore requests to change the current 'tty' or X window system's
555 'DISPLAY' variable respectively. This is useful to lock the
556 pinentry to pop up at the 'tty' or display you started the agent.
559 Set the size of the queue for pending connections. The default is
562 '--extra-socket NAME'
563 The extra socket is created by default, you may use this option to
564 change the name of the socket. To disable the creation of the
565 socket use "none" or "/dev/null" for NAME.
567 Also listen on native gpg-agent connections on the given socket.
568 The intended use for this extra socket is to setup a Unix domain
569 socket forwarding from a remote machine to this socket on the local
570 machine. A 'gpg' running on the remote machine may then connect to
571 the local gpg-agent and use its private keys. This enables
572 decrypting or signing data on a remote machine without exposing the
573 private keys to the remote machine.
575 '--enable-extended-key-format'
576 '--disable-extended-key-format'
577 Since version 2.2.22 keys are created in the extended private key
578 format by default. Changing the passphrase of a key will also
579 convert the key to that new format. This key format is supported
580 since GnuPG version 2.1.12 and thus there should be no need to
581 disable it. Anyway, the disable option still allows to revert to
582 the old behavior for new keys; be aware that keys are never
583 migrated back to the old format. If the enable option has been
584 used the disable option won't have an effect. The advantage of the
585 extended private key format is that it is text based and can carry
586 additional meta data. In extended key format the OCB mode is used
589 '--enable-ssh-support'
590 '--enable-putty-support'
592 The OpenSSH Agent protocol is always enabled, but 'gpg-agent' will
593 only set the 'SSH_AUTH_SOCK' variable if this flag is given.
595 In this mode of operation, the agent does not only implement the
596 gpg-agent protocol, but also the agent protocol used by OpenSSH
597 (through a separate socket). Consequently, it should be possible
598 to use the gpg-agent as a drop-in replacement for the well known
601 SSH Keys, which are to be used through the agent, need to be added
602 to the gpg-agent initially through the ssh-add utility. When a key
603 is added, ssh-add will ask for the password of the provided key
604 file and send the unprotected key material to the agent; this
605 causes the gpg-agent to ask for a passphrase, which is to be used
606 for encrypting the newly received key and storing it in a gpg-agent
609 Once a key has been added to the gpg-agent this way, the gpg-agent
610 will be ready to use the key.
612 Note: in case the gpg-agent receives a signature request, the user
613 might need to be prompted for a passphrase, which is necessary for
614 decrypting the stored key. Since the ssh-agent protocol does not
615 contain a mechanism for telling the agent on which display/terminal
616 it is running, gpg-agent's ssh-support will use the TTY or X
617 display where gpg-agent has been started. To switch this display
618 to the current one, the following command may be used:
620 gpg-connect-agent updatestartuptty /bye
622 Although all GnuPG components try to start the gpg-agent as needed,
623 this is not possible for the ssh support because ssh does not know
624 about it. Thus if no GnuPG tool which accesses the agent has been
625 run, there is no guarantee that ssh is able to use gpg-agent for
626 authentication. To fix this you may start gpg-agent if needed
627 using this simple command:
629 gpg-connect-agent /bye
631 Adding the '--verbose' shows the progress of starting the agent.
633 The '--enable-putty-support' is only available under Windows and
634 allows the use of gpg-agent with the ssh implementation 'putty'.
635 This is similar to the regular ssh-agent support but makes use of
636 Windows message queue as required by 'putty'.
638 '--ssh-fingerprint-digest'
640 Select the digest algorithm used to compute ssh fingerprints that
641 are communicated to the user, e.g. in pinentry dialogs. OpenSSH
642 has transitioned from using MD5 to the more secure SHA256.
644 '--auto-expand-secmem N'
645 Allow Libgcrypt to expand its secure memory area as required. The
646 optional value N is a non-negative integer with a suggested size in
647 bytes of each additionally allocated secure memory area. The value
648 is rounded up to the next 32 KiB; usual C style prefixes are
649 allowed. For an heavy loaded gpg-agent with many concurrent
650 connection this option avoids sign or decrypt errors due to out of
651 secure memory error returns.
653 '--s2k-calibration MILLISECONDS'
654 Change the default calibration time to MILLISECONDS. The given
655 value is capped at 60 seconds; a value of 0 resets to the
656 compiled-in default. This option is re-read on a SIGHUP (or
657 'gpgconf --reload gpg-agent') and the S2K count is then
661 Specify the iteration count used to protect the passphrase. This
662 option can be used to override the auto-calibration done by
663 default. The auto-calibration computes a count which requires by
664 default 100ms to mangle a given passphrase. See also
667 To view the actually used iteration count and the milliseconds
668 required for an S2K operation use:
670 gpg-connect-agent 'GETINFO s2k_count' /bye
671 gpg-connect-agent 'GETINFO s2k_time' /bye
673 To view the auto-calibrated count use:
675 gpg-connect-agent 'GETINFO s2k_count_cal' /bye
678 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent Configuration, Next: Agent Signals, Prev: Agent Options, Up: Invoking GPG-AGENT
683 There are a few configuration files needed for the operation of the
684 agent. By default they may all be found in the current home directory
685 (*note option --homedir::).
688 This is the standard configuration file read by 'gpg-agent' on
689 startup. It may contain any valid long option; the leading two
690 dashes may not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated.
691 This file is also read after a 'SIGHUP' however only a few options
692 will actually have an effect. This default name may be changed on
693 the command line (*note option --options::). You should backup
697 This is the list of trusted keys. You should backup this file.
699 Comment lines, indicated by a leading hash mark, as well as empty
700 lines are ignored. To mark a key as trusted you need to enter its
701 fingerprint followed by a space and a capital letter 'S'. Colons
702 may optionally be used to separate the bytes of a fingerprint; this
703 enables cutting and pasting the fingerprint from a key listing
704 output. If the line is prefixed with a '!' the key is explicitly
705 marked as not trusted.
707 Here is an example where two keys are marked as ultimately trusted
708 and one as not trusted:
710 # CN=Wurzel ZS 3,O=Intevation GmbH,C=DE
711 A6935DD34EF3087973C706FC311AA2CCF733765B S
713 # CN=PCA-1-Verwaltung-02/O=PKI-1-Verwaltung/C=DE
714 DC:BD:69:25:48:BD:BB:7E:31:6E:BB:80:D3:00:80:35:D4:F8:A6:CD S
716 # CN=Root-CA/O=Schlapphuete/L=Pullach/C=DE
717 !14:56:98:D3:FE:9C:CA:5A:31:6E:BC:81:D3:11:4E:00:90:A3:44:C2 S
719 Before entering a key into this file, you need to ensure its
720 authenticity. How to do this depends on your organisation; your
721 administrator might have already entered those keys which are
722 deemed trustworthy enough into this file. Places where to look for
723 the fingerprint of a root certificate are letters received from the
724 CA or the website of the CA (after making 100% sure that this is
725 indeed the website of that CA). You may want to consider
726 disallowing interactive updates of this file by using the *note
727 option --no-allow-mark-trusted::. It might even be advisable to
728 change the permissions to read-only so that this file can't be
729 changed inadvertently.
731 As a special feature a line 'include-default' will include a global
732 list of trusted certificates (e.g. '/etc/gnupg/trustlist.txt').
733 This global list is also used if the local list is not available.
735 It is possible to add further flags after the 'S' for use by the
739 Relax checking of some root certificate requirements. As of
740 now this flag allows the use of root certificates with a
741 missing basicConstraints attribute (despite that it is a MUST
742 for CA certificates) and disables CRL checking for the root
746 If validation of a certificate finally issued by a CA with
747 this flag set fails, try again using the chain validation
751 This file is used when support for the secure shell agent protocol
752 has been enabled (*note option --enable-ssh-support::). Only keys
753 present in this file are used in the SSH protocol. You should
756 The 'ssh-add' tool may be used to add new entries to this file; you
757 may also add them manually. Comment lines, indicated by a leading
758 hash mark, as well as empty lines are ignored. An entry starts
759 with optional whitespace, followed by the keygrip of the key given
760 as 40 hex digits, optionally followed by the caching TTL in seconds
761 and another optional field for arbitrary flags. A non-zero TTL
762 overrides the global default as set by '--default-cache-ttl-ssh'.
764 The only flag support is 'confirm'. If this flag is found for a
765 key, each use of the key will pop up a pinentry to confirm the use
766 of that key. The flag is automatically set if a new key was loaded
767 into 'gpg-agent' using the option '-c' of the 'ssh-add' command.
769 The keygrip may be prefixed with a '!' to disable an entry.
771 The following example lists exactly one key. Note that keys
772 available through a OpenPGP smartcard in the active smartcard
773 reader are implicitly added to this list; i.e. there is no need to
776 # Key added on: 2011-07-20 20:38:46
777 # Fingerprint: 5e:8d:c4:ad:e7:af:6e:27:8a:d6:13:e4:79:ad:0b:81
778 34B62F25E277CF13D3C6BCEBFD3F85D08F0A864B 0 confirm
782 This is the directory where gpg-agent stores the private keys.
783 Each key is stored in a file with the name made up of the keygrip
784 and the suffix 'key'. You should backup all files in this
785 directory and take great care to keep this backup closed away.
787 Note that on larger installations, it is useful to put predefined
788 files into the directory '/etc/skel/.gnupg' so that newly created users
789 start up with a working configuration. For existing users the a small
790 helper script is provided to create these files (*note addgnupghome::).
793 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent Signals, Next: Agent Examples, Prev: Agent Configuration, Up: Invoking GPG-AGENT
795 2.4 Use of some signals
796 =======================
798 A running 'gpg-agent' may be controlled by signals, i.e. using the
799 'kill' command to send a signal to the process.
801 Here is a list of supported signals:
804 This signal flushes all cached passphrases and if the program has
805 been started with a configuration file, the configuration file is
806 read again. Only certain options are honored: 'quiet', 'verbose',
807 'debug', 'debug-all', 'debug-level', 'debug-pinentry', 'no-grab',
808 'pinentry-program', 'pinentry-invisible-char', 'default-cache-ttl',
809 'max-cache-ttl', 'ignore-cache-for-signing', 's2k-count',
810 'no-allow-external-cache', 'allow-emacs-pinentry',
811 'no-allow-mark-trusted', 'disable-scdaemon', and
812 'disable-check-own-socket'. 'scdaemon-program' is also supported
813 but due to the current implementation, which calls the scdaemon
814 only once, it is not of much use unless you manually kill the
818 Shuts down the process but waits until all current requests are
819 fulfilled. If the process has received 3 of these signals and
820 requests are still pending, a shutdown is forced.
823 Shuts down the process immediately.
826 Dump internal information to the log file.
829 This signal is used for internal purposes.
832 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent Examples, Next: Agent Protocol, Prev: Agent Signals, Up: Invoking GPG-AGENT
837 It is important to set the environment variable 'GPG_TTY' in your login
838 shell, for example in the '~/.bashrc' init script:
840 export GPG_TTY=$(tty)
842 If you enabled the Ssh Agent Support, you also need to tell ssh about
843 it by adding this to your init script:
846 if [ "${gnupg_SSH_AUTH_SOCK_by:-0}" -ne $$ ]; then
847 export SSH_AUTH_SOCK="$(gpgconf --list-dirs agent-ssh-socket)"
851 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent Protocol, Prev: Agent Examples, Up: Invoking GPG-AGENT
853 2.6 Agent's Assuan Protocol
854 ===========================
856 Note: this section does only document the protocol, which is used by
857 GnuPG components; it does not deal with the ssh-agent protocol. To see
858 the full specification of each command, use
860 gpg-connect-agent 'help COMMAND' /bye
862 or just 'help' to list all available commands.
864 The 'gpg-agent' daemon is started on demand by the GnuPG components.
866 To identify a key we use a thing called keygrip which is the SHA-1
867 hash of an canonical encoded S-Expression of the public key as used in
868 Libgcrypt. For the purpose of this interface the keygrip is given as a
869 hex string. The advantage of using this and not the hash of a
870 certificate is that it will be possible to use the same keypair for
871 different protocols, thereby saving space on the token used to keep the
874 The 'gpg-agent' may send status messages during a command or when
875 returning from a command to inform a client about the progress or result
876 of an operation. For example, the INQUIRE_MAXLEN status message may be
877 sent during a server inquire to inform the client of the maximum usable
878 length of the inquired data (which should not be exceeded).
882 * Agent PKDECRYPT:: Decrypting a session key
883 * Agent PKSIGN:: Signing a Hash
884 * Agent GENKEY:: Generating a Key
885 * Agent IMPORT:: Importing a Secret Key
886 * Agent EXPORT:: Exporting a Secret Key
887 * Agent ISTRUSTED:: Importing a Root Certificate
888 * Agent GET_PASSPHRASE:: Ask for a passphrase
889 * Agent CLEAR_PASSPHRASE:: Expire a cached passphrase
890 * Agent PRESET_PASSPHRASE:: Set a passphrase for a keygrip
891 * Agent GET_CONFIRMATION:: Ask for confirmation
892 * Agent HAVEKEY:: Check whether a key is available
893 * Agent LEARN:: Register a smartcard
894 * Agent PASSWD:: Change a Passphrase
895 * Agent UPDATESTARTUPTTY:: Change the Standard Display
896 * Agent GETEVENTCOUNTER:: Get the Event Counters
897 * Agent GETINFO:: Return information about the process
898 * Agent OPTION:: Set options for the session
901 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent PKDECRYPT, Next: Agent PKSIGN, Up: Agent Protocol
903 2.6.1 Decrypting a session key
904 ------------------------------
906 The client asks the server to decrypt a session key. The encrypted
907 session key should have all information needed to select the appropriate
908 secret key or to delegate it to a smartcard.
912 Tell the server about the key to be used for decryption. If this is
913 not used, 'gpg-agent' may try to figure out the key by trying to decrypt
914 the message with each key available.
918 The agent checks whether this command is allowed and then does an
919 INQUIRY to get the ciphertext the client should then send the cipher
922 S: INQUIRE CIPHERTEXT
927 Please note that the server may send status info lines while reading
928 the data lines from the client. The data send is a SPKI like S-Exp with
933 (<param_name1> <mpi>)
935 (<param_namen> <mpi>)))
937 Where algo is a string with the name of the algorithm; see the
938 libgcrypt documentation for a list of valid algorithms. The number and
939 names of the parameters depend on the algorithm. The agent does return
940 an error if there is an inconsistency.
942 If the decryption was successful the decrypted data is returned by
945 Here is an example session:
947 S: INQUIRE CIPHERTEXT
948 C: D (enc-val elg (a 349324324)
949 C: D (b 3F444677CA)))
951 S: # session key follows
953 S: D (value 1234567890ABCDEF0)
954 S: OK decryption successful
956 The “PADDING” status line is only send if gpg-agent can tell what
957 kind of padding is used. As of now only the value 0 is used to indicate
958 that the padding has been removed.
961 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent PKSIGN, Next: Agent GENKEY, Prev: Agent PKDECRYPT, Up: Agent Protocol
966 The client asks the agent to sign a given hash value. A default key
967 will be chosen if no key has been set. To set a key a client first
972 This can be used multiple times to create multiple signature, the
973 list of keys is reset with the next PKSIGN command or a RESET. The
974 server tests whether the key is a valid key to sign something and
977 SETHASH --hash=<name>|<algo> <hexstring>
979 The client can use this command to tell the server about the data
980 <hexstring> (which usually is a hash) to be signed. <algo> is the
981 decimal encoded hash algorithm number as used by Libgcrypt. Either
982 <algo> or -hash=<name> must be given. Valid names for <name> are:
985 The SHA-1 hash algorithm
987 The SHA-256 hash algorithm
989 The RIPE-MD160 hash algorithm
991 The old and broken MD5 hash algorithm
993 A combined hash algorithm as used by the TLS protocol.
995 The actual signing is done using
999 Options are not yet defined, but may later be used to choose among
1000 different algorithms. The agent does then some checks, asks for the
1001 passphrase and as a result the server returns the signature as an SPKI
1002 like S-expression in "D" lines:
1006 (<param_name1> <mpi>)
1008 (<param_namen> <mpi>)))
1010 The operation is affected by the option
1012 OPTION use-cache-for-signing=0|1
1014 The default of '1' uses the cache. Setting this option to '0' will
1015 lead 'gpg-agent' to ignore the passphrase cache. Note, that there is
1016 also a global command line option for 'gpg-agent' to globally disable
1019 Here is an example session:
1025 S: # I did ask the user whether he really wants to sign
1026 S: # I did ask the user for the passphrase
1028 C: D ABCDEF012345678901234
1030 S: # signature follows
1031 S: D (sig-val rsa (s 45435453654612121212))
1035 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent GENKEY, Next: Agent IMPORT, Prev: Agent PKSIGN, Up: Agent Protocol
1037 2.6.3 Generating a Key
1038 ----------------------
1040 This is used to create a new keypair and store the secret key inside the
1041 active PSE -- which is in most cases a Soft-PSE. A not-yet-defined
1042 option allows choosing the storage location. To get the secret key out
1043 of the PSE, a special export tool has to be used.
1045 GENKEY [--no-protection] [--preset] [<cache_nonce>]
1047 Invokes the key generation process and the server will then inquire
1048 on the generation parameters, like:
1051 C: D (genkey (rsa (nbits 1024)))
1054 The format of the key parameters which depends on the algorithm is of
1059 (parameter_name_1 ....)
1061 (parameter_name_n ....)))
1063 If everything succeeds, the server returns the *public key* in a SPKI
1064 like S-Expression like this:
1071 Here is an example session:
1074 C: D (genkey (rsa (nbits 1024)))
1077 S: D (rsa (n 326487324683264) (e 10001)))
1080 The '--no-protection' option may be used to prevent prompting for a
1081 passphrase to protect the secret key while leaving the secret key
1082 unprotected. The '--preset' option may be used to add the passphrase to
1083 the cache using the default cache parameters.
1085 The '--inq-passwd' option may be used to create the key with a
1086 supplied passphrase. When used the agent does an inquiry with the
1087 keyword 'NEWPASSWD' to retrieve that passphrase. This option takes
1088 precedence over '--no-protection'; however if the client sends a empty
1089 (zero-length) passphrase, this is identical to '--no-protection'.
1092 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent IMPORT, Next: Agent EXPORT, Prev: Agent GENKEY, Up: Agent Protocol
1094 2.6.4 Importing a Secret Key
1095 ----------------------------
1097 This operation is not yet supported by GpgAgent. Specialized tools are
1098 to be used for this.
1100 There is no actual need because we can expect that secret keys
1101 created by a 3rd party are stored on a smartcard. If we have generated
1102 the key ourselves, we do not need to import it.
1105 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent EXPORT, Next: Agent ISTRUSTED, Prev: Agent IMPORT, Up: Agent Protocol
1107 2.6.5 Export a Secret Key
1108 -------------------------
1112 Should be done by an extra tool.
1115 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent ISTRUSTED, Next: Agent GET_PASSPHRASE, Prev: Agent EXPORT, Up: Agent Protocol
1117 2.6.6 Importing a Root Certificate
1118 ----------------------------------
1120 Actually we do not import a Root Cert but provide a way to validate any
1121 piece of data by storing its Hash along with a description and an
1122 identifier in the PSE. Here is the interface description:
1124 ISTRUSTED <fingerprint>
1126 Check whether the OpenPGP primary key or the X.509 certificate with
1127 the given fingerprint is an ultimately trusted key or a trusted Root CA
1128 certificate. The fingerprint should be given as a hexstring (without
1129 any blanks or colons or whatever in between) and may be left padded with
1130 00 in case of an MD5 fingerprint. GPGAgent will answer with:
1134 The key is in the table of trusted keys.
1136 ERR 304 (Not Trusted)
1138 The key is not in this table.
1140 Gpg needs the entire list of trusted keys to maintain the web of
1141 trust; the following command is therefore quite helpful:
1145 GpgAgent returns a list of trusted keys line by line:
1147 S: D 000000001234454556565656677878AF2F1ECCFF P
1148 S: D 340387563485634856435645634856438576457A P
1149 S: D FEDC6532453745367FD83474357495743757435D S
1152 The first item on a line is the hexified fingerprint where MD5
1153 fingerprints are '00' padded to the left and the second item is a flag
1154 to indicate the type of key (so that gpg is able to only take care of
1155 PGP keys). P = OpenPGP, S = S/MIME. A client should ignore the rest of
1156 the line, so that we can extend the format in the future.
1158 Finally a client should be able to mark a key as trusted:
1160 MARKTRUSTED FINGERPRINT "P"|"S"
1162 The server will then pop up a window to ask the user whether she
1163 really trusts this key. For this it will probably ask for a text to be
1164 displayed like this:
1166 S: INQUIRE TRUSTDESC
1167 C: D Do you trust the key with the fingerprint @FPR@
1168 C: D bla fasel blurb.
1172 Known sequences with the pattern @foo@ are replaced according to this
1176 Format the fingerprint according to gpg rules for a v3 keys.
1178 Format the fingerprint according to gpg rules for a v4 keys.
1180 Choose an appropriate format to format the fingerprint.
1182 Replaced by a single '@'.
1185 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent GET_PASSPHRASE, Next: Agent CLEAR_PASSPHRASE, Prev: Agent ISTRUSTED, Up: Agent Protocol
1187 2.6.7 Ask for a passphrase
1188 --------------------------
1190 This function is usually used to ask for a passphrase to be used for
1191 symmetric encryption, but may also be used by programs which need
1192 special handling of passphrases. This command uses a syntax which helps
1193 clients to use the agent with minimum effort.
1195 GET_PASSPHRASE [--data] [--check] [--no-ask] [--repeat[=N]] \
1196 [--qualitybar] CACHE_ID \
1197 [ERROR_MESSAGE PROMPT DESCRIPTION]
1199 CACHE_ID is expected to be a string used to identify a cached
1200 passphrase. Use a 'X' to bypass the cache. With no other arguments the
1201 agent returns a cached passphrase or an error. By convention either the
1202 hexified fingerprint of the key shall be used for CACHE_ID or an
1203 arbitrary string prefixed with the name of the calling application and a
1204 colon: Like 'gpg:somestring'.
1206 ERROR_MESSAGE is either a single 'X' for no error message or a string
1207 to be shown as an error message like (e.g. "invalid passphrase").
1208 Blanks must be percent escaped or replaced by '+''.
1210 PROMPT is either a single 'X' for a default prompt or the text to be
1211 shown as the prompt. Blanks must be percent escaped or replaced by '+'.
1213 DESCRIPTION is a text shown above the entry field. Blanks must be
1214 percent escaped or replaced by '+'.
1216 The agent either returns with an error or with a OK followed by the
1217 hex encoded passphrase. Note that the length of the strings is
1218 implicitly limited by the maximum length of a command. If the option
1219 '--data' is used, the passphrase is not returned on the OK line but by
1220 regular data lines; this is the preferred method.
1222 If the option '--check' is used, the standard passphrase constraints
1223 checks are applied. A check is not done if the passphrase has been
1226 If the option '--no-ask' is used and the passphrase is not in the
1227 cache the user will not be asked to enter a passphrase but the error
1228 code 'GPG_ERR_NO_DATA' is returned.
1230 If the option '--qualitybar' is used and a minimum passphrase length
1231 has been configured, a visual indication of the entered passphrase
1234 CLEAR_PASSPHRASE CACHE_ID
1236 may be used to invalidate the cache entry for a passphrase. The
1237 function returns with OK even when there is no cached passphrase.
1240 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent CLEAR_PASSPHRASE, Next: Agent PRESET_PASSPHRASE, Prev: Agent GET_PASSPHRASE, Up: Agent Protocol
1242 2.6.8 Remove a cached passphrase
1243 --------------------------------
1245 Use this command to remove a cached passphrase.
1247 CLEAR_PASSPHRASE [--mode=normal] <cache_id>
1249 The '--mode=normal' option can be used to clear a CACHE_ID that was
1253 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent PRESET_PASSPHRASE, Next: Agent GET_CONFIRMATION, Prev: Agent CLEAR_PASSPHRASE, Up: Agent Protocol
1255 2.6.9 Set a passphrase for a keygrip
1256 ------------------------------------
1258 This command adds a passphrase to the cache for the specified KEYGRIP.
1260 PRESET_PASSPHRASE [--inquire] <string_or_keygrip> <timeout> [<hexstring>]
1262 The passphrase is a hexadecimal string when specified. When not
1263 specified, the passphrase will be retrieved from the pinentry module
1264 unless the '--inquire' option was specified in which case the passphrase
1265 will be retrieved from the client.
1267 The TIMEOUT parameter keeps the passphrase cached for the specified
1268 number of seconds. A value of '-1' means infinite while '0' means the
1269 default (currently only a timeout of -1 is allowed, which means to never
1273 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent GET_CONFIRMATION, Next: Agent HAVEKEY, Prev: Agent PRESET_PASSPHRASE, Up: Agent Protocol
1275 2.6.10 Ask for confirmation
1276 ---------------------------
1278 This command may be used to ask for a simple confirmation by presenting
1279 a text and 2 buttons: Okay and Cancel.
1281 GET_CONFIRMATION DESCRIPTION
1283 DESCRIPTIONis displayed along with a Okay and Cancel button. Blanks
1284 must be percent escaped or replaced by '+'. A 'X' may be used to
1285 display confirmation dialog with a default text.
1287 The agent either returns with an error or with a OK. Note, that the
1288 length of DESCRIPTION is implicitly limited by the maximum length of a
1292 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent HAVEKEY, Next: Agent LEARN, Prev: Agent GET_CONFIRMATION, Up: Agent Protocol
1294 2.6.11 Check whether a key is available
1295 ---------------------------------------
1297 This can be used to see whether a secret key is available. It does not
1298 return any information on whether the key is somehow protected.
1302 The agent answers either with OK or 'No_Secret_Key' (208). The
1303 caller may want to check for other error codes as well. More than one
1304 keygrip may be given. In this case the command returns success if at
1305 least one of the keygrips corresponds to an available secret key.
1308 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent LEARN, Next: Agent PASSWD, Prev: Agent HAVEKEY, Up: Agent Protocol
1310 2.6.12 Register a smartcard
1311 ---------------------------
1315 This command is used to register a smartcard. With the '--send'
1316 option given the certificates are sent back.
1319 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent PASSWD, Next: Agent UPDATESTARTUPTTY, Prev: Agent LEARN, Up: Agent Protocol
1321 2.6.13 Change a Passphrase
1322 --------------------------
1324 PASSWD [--cache-nonce=<c>] [--passwd-nonce=<s>] [--preset] KEYGRIP
1326 This command is used to interactively change the passphrase of the
1327 key identified by the hex string KEYGRIP. The '--preset' option may be
1328 used to add the new passphrase to the cache using the default cache
1332 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent UPDATESTARTUPTTY, Next: Agent GETEVENTCOUNTER, Prev: Agent PASSWD, Up: Agent Protocol
1334 2.6.14 Change the standard display
1335 ----------------------------------
1339 Set the startup TTY and X-DISPLAY variables to the values of this
1340 session. This command is useful to direct future pinentry invocations
1341 to another screen. It is only required because there is no way in the
1342 ssh-agent protocol to convey this information.
1345 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent GETEVENTCOUNTER, Next: Agent GETINFO, Prev: Agent UPDATESTARTUPTTY, Up: Agent Protocol
1347 2.6.15 Get the Event Counters
1348 -----------------------------
1352 This function return one status line with the current values of the
1353 event counters. The event counters are useful to avoid polling by
1354 delaying a poll until something has changed. The values are decimal
1355 numbers in the range '0' to 'UINT_MAX' and wrapping around to 0. The
1356 actual values should not be relied upon; they shall only be used to
1359 The currently defined counters are:
1361 Incremented with any change of any of the other counters.
1363 Incremented for added or removed private keys.
1365 Incremented for changes of the card readers stati.
1368 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent GETINFO, Next: Agent OPTION, Prev: Agent GETEVENTCOUNTER, Up: Agent Protocol
1370 2.6.16 Return information about the process
1371 -------------------------------------------
1373 This is a multipurpose function to return a variety of information.
1377 The value of WHAT specifies the kind of information returned:
1379 Return the version of the program.
1381 Return the process id of the process.
1383 Return the name of the socket used to connect the agent.
1385 Return the name of the socket used for SSH connections. If SSH
1386 support has not been enabled the error 'GPG_ERR_NO_DATA' will be
1390 File: gnupg.info, Node: Agent OPTION, Prev: Agent GETINFO, Up: Agent Protocol
1392 2.6.17 Set options for the session
1393 ----------------------------------
1395 Here is a list of session options which are not yet described with other
1396 commands. The general syntax for an Assuan option is:
1403 This may be used to tell gpg-agent of which gpg-agent version the
1404 client is aware of. gpg-agent uses this information to enable
1405 features which might break older clients.
1408 Change the session's environment to be used for the Pinentry.
1414 Set envvar NAME to the empty string
1416 Set envvar NAME to the string VALUE.
1418 'use-cache-for-signing'
1419 See Assuan command 'PKSIGN'.
1421 'allow-pinentry-notify'
1422 This does not need any value. It is used to enable the
1423 PINENTRY_LAUNCHED inquiry.
1426 This option is used to change the operation mode of the pinentry.
1427 The following values are defined:
1430 This is the default mode which pops up a pinentry as needed.
1433 Instead of popping up a pinentry, return the error code
1437 Instead of popping up a pinentry, return the error code
1438 'GPG_ERR_NO_PIN_ENTRY'.
1441 Use a loopback pinentry. This fakes a pinentry by using
1442 inquiries back to the caller to ask for a passphrase. This
1443 option may only be set if the agent has been configured for
1444 that. To disable this feature use *note option
1445 --no-allow-loopback-pinentry::.
1447 'cache-ttl-opt-preset'
1448 This option sets the cache TTL for new entries created by GENKEY
1449 and PASSWD commands when using the '--preset' option. It is not
1450 used a default value is used.
1453 Instead of using the standard S2K count (which is computed on the
1454 fly), the given S2K count is used for new keys or when changing the
1455 passphrase of a key. Values below 65536 are considered to be 0.
1456 This option is valid for the entire session or until reset to 0.
1457 This option is useful if the key is later used on boxes which are
1458 either much slower or faster than the actual box.
1460 'pretend-request-origin'
1461 This option switches the connection into a restricted mode which
1462 handles all further commands in the same way as they would be
1463 handled when originating from the extra or browser socket. Note
1464 that this option is not available in the restricted mode. Valid
1465 values for this option are:
1469 This is a NOP and leaves the connection in the standard way.
1472 Pretend to come from a remote origin in the same way as
1473 connections from the '--extra-socket'.
1476 Pretend to come from a local web browser in the same way as
1477 connections from the '--browser-socket'.
1480 File: gnupg.info, Node: Invoking DIRMNGR, Next: Invoking GPG, Prev: Invoking GPG-AGENT, Up: Top
1485 Since version 2.1 of GnuPG, 'dirmngr' takes care of accessing the
1486 OpenPGP keyservers. As with previous versions it is also used as a
1487 server for managing and downloading certificate revocation lists (CRLs)
1488 for X.509 certificates, downloading X.509 certificates, and providing
1489 access to OCSP providers. Dirmngr is invoked internally by 'gpg',
1490 'gpgsm', or via the 'gpg-connect-agent' tool.
1492 *Note Option Index::,for an index to 'DIRMNGR''s commands and options.
1496 * Dirmngr Commands:: List of all commands.
1497 * Dirmngr Options:: List of all options.
1498 * Dirmngr Configuration:: Configuration files.
1499 * Dirmngr Signals:: Use of signals.
1500 * Dirmngr Examples:: Some usage examples.
1501 * Dirmngr Protocol:: The protocol dirmngr uses.
1504 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Commands, Next: Dirmngr Options, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
1509 Commands are not distinguished from options except for the fact that
1510 only one command is allowed.
1513 Print the program version and licensing information. Note that you
1514 cannot abbreviate this command.
1517 Print a usage message summarizing the most useful command-line
1518 options. Note that you cannot abbreviate this command.
1521 Print a list of all available options and commands. Note that you
1522 cannot abbreviate this command.
1525 Run in server mode and wait for commands on the 'stdin'. The
1526 default mode is to create a socket and listen for commands there.
1527 This is only used for testing.
1530 Run in background daemon mode and listen for commands on a socket.
1531 This is the way 'dirmngr' is started on demand by the other GnuPG
1532 components. To force starting 'dirmngr' it is in general best to
1533 use 'gpgconf --launch dirmngr'.
1536 Run in the foreground, sending logs to stderr, and listening on
1537 file descriptor 3, which must already be bound to a listening
1538 socket. This is useful when running under systemd or other similar
1539 process supervision schemes. This option is not supported on
1543 List the contents of the CRL cache on 'stdout'. This is probably
1544 only useful for debugging purposes.
1547 This command requires a filename as additional argument, and it
1548 will make Dirmngr try to import the CRL in FILE into it's cache.
1549 Note, that this is only possible if Dirmngr is able to retrieve the
1550 CA's certificate directly by its own means. In general it is
1551 better to use 'gpgsm''s '--call-dirmngr loadcrl filename' command
1552 so that 'gpgsm' can help dirmngr.
1555 This command requires an URL as additional argument, and it will
1556 make dirmngr try to retrieve and import the CRL from that URL into
1557 it's cache. This is mainly useful for debugging purposes. The
1558 'dirmngr-client' provides the same feature for a running dirmngr.
1561 This commands shuts down an running instance of Dirmngr. This
1562 command has currently no effect.
1565 This command removes all CRLs from Dirmngr's cache. Client
1566 requests will thus trigger reading of fresh CRLs.
1569 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Options, Next: Dirmngr Configuration, Prev: Dirmngr Commands, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
1574 Note that all long options with the exception of '--options' and
1575 '--homedir' may also be given in the configuration file after stripping
1576 off the two leading dashes.
1579 Reads configuration from FILE instead of from the default per-user
1580 configuration file. The default configuration file is named
1581 'dirmngr.conf' and expected in the home directory.
1584 Set the name of the home directory to DIR. This option is only
1585 effective when used on the command line. The default is the
1586 directory named '.gnupg' directly below the home directory of the
1587 user unless the environment variable 'GNUPGHOME' has been set in
1588 which case its value will be used. Many kinds of data are stored
1589 within this directory.
1593 Outputs additional information while running. You can increase the
1594 verbosity by giving several verbose commands to DIRMNGR, such as
1598 Append all logging output to FILE. This is very helpful in seeing
1599 what the agent actually does. Use 'socket://' to log to socket.
1601 '--debug-level LEVEL'
1602 Select the debug level for investigating problems. LEVEL may be a
1603 numeric value or by a keyword:
1606 No debugging at all. A value of less than 1 may be used
1607 instead of the keyword.
1609 Some basic debug messages. A value between 1 and 2 may be
1610 used instead of the keyword.
1612 More verbose debug messages. A value between 3 and 5 may be
1613 used instead of the keyword.
1615 Even more detailed messages. A value between 6 and 8 may be
1616 used instead of the keyword.
1618 All of the debug messages you can get. A value greater than 8
1619 may be used instead of the keyword. The creation of hash
1620 tracing files is only enabled if the keyword is used.
1622 How these messages are mapped to the actual debugging flags is not
1623 specified and may change with newer releases of this program. They
1624 are however carefully selected to best aid in debugging.
1627 Set debugging flags. This option is only useful for debugging and
1628 its behavior may change with a new release. All flags are or-ed
1629 and may be given in C syntax (e.g. 0x0042) or as a comma separated
1630 list of flag names. To get a list of all supported flags the
1631 single word "help" can be used.
1634 Same as '--debug=0xffffffff'
1637 Enable debugging of the TLS layer at LEVEL. The details of the
1638 debug level depend on the used TLS library and are not set in
1642 When running in server mode, wait N seconds before entering the
1643 actual processing loop and print the pid. This gives time to
1646 '--disable-check-own-socket'
1647 On some platforms 'dirmngr' is able to detect the removal of its
1648 socket file and shutdown itself. This option disable this
1649 self-test for debugging purposes.
1655 Format the info output in daemon mode for use with the standard
1656 Bourne shell respective the C-shell. The default is to guess it
1657 based on the environment variable 'SHELL' which is in almost all
1661 Enabling this option forces loading of expired CRLs; this is only
1662 useful for debugging.
1666 The option '--use-tor' switches Dirmngr and thus GnuPG into "Tor
1667 mode" to route all network access via Tor (an anonymity network).
1668 Certain other features are disabled in this mode. The effect of
1669 '--use-tor' cannot be overridden by any other command or even by
1670 reloading dirmngr. The use of '--no-use-tor' disables the use of
1671 Tor. The default is to use Tor if it is available on startup or
1672 after reloading dirmngr. The test on the available of Tor is done
1673 by trying to connects to a SOCKS proxy at either port 9050 or
1674 9150); if another type of proxy is listening on one of these ports,
1675 you should use '--no-use-tor'.
1677 '--standard-resolver'
1678 This option forces the use of the system's standard DNS resolver
1679 code. This is mainly used for debugging. Note that on Windows a
1680 standard resolver is not used and all DNS access will return the
1681 error "Not Implemented" if this option is used. Using this
1682 together with enabled Tor mode returns the error "Not Enabled".
1684 '--recursive-resolver'
1685 When possible use a recursive resolver instead of a stub resolver.
1687 '--resolver-timeout N'
1688 Set the timeout for the DNS resolver to N seconds. The default are
1691 '--connect-timeout N'
1692 '--connect-quick-timeout N'
1693 Set the timeout for HTTP and generic TCP connection attempts to N
1694 seconds. The value set with the quick variant is used when the
1695 -quick option has been given to certain Assuan commands. The quick
1696 value is capped at the value of the regular connect timeout. The
1697 default values are 15 and 2 seconds. Note that the timeout values
1698 are for each connection attempt; the connection code will attempt
1699 to connect all addresses listed for a server.
1701 '--listen-backlog N'
1702 Set the size of the queue for pending connections. The default is
1705 '--allow-version-check'
1706 Allow Dirmngr to connect to 'https://versions.gnupg.org' to get the
1707 list of current software versions. If this option is enabled the
1708 list is retrieved in case the local copy does not exist or is older
1709 than 5 to 7 days. See the option '--query-swdb' of the command
1710 'gpgconf' for more details. Note, that regardless of this option a
1711 version check can always be triggered using this command:
1713 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'loadswdb --force' /bye
1716 Use NAME as your keyserver. This is the server that 'gpg'
1717 communicates with to receive keys, send keys, and search for keys.
1718 The format of the NAME is a URI: 'scheme:[//]keyservername[:port]'
1719 The scheme is the type of keyserver: "hkp" for the HTTP (or
1720 compatible) keyservers, "ldap" for the LDAP keyservers, or "mailto"
1721 for the Graff email keyserver. Note that your particular
1722 installation of GnuPG may have other keyserver types available as
1723 well. Keyserver schemes are case-insensitive. After the keyserver
1724 name, optional keyserver configuration options may be provided.
1725 These are the same as the '--keyserver-options' of 'gpg', but apply
1726 only to this particular keyserver.
1728 Most keyservers synchronize with each other, so there is generally
1729 no need to send keys to more than one server. The keyserver
1730 'hkp://keys.gnupg.net' uses round robin DNS to give a different
1731 keyserver each time you use it.
1733 If exactly two keyservers are configured and only one is a Tor
1734 hidden service (.onion), Dirmngr selects the keyserver to use
1735 depending on whether Tor is locally running or not. The check for
1736 a running Tor is done for each new connection.
1738 If no keyserver is explicitly configured, dirmngr will use the
1739 built-in default of 'hkps://hkps.pool.sks-keyservers.net'.
1741 Windows users with a keyserver running on their Active Directory
1742 may use the short form 'ldap:///' for NAME to access this
1745 For accessing anonymous LDAP keyservers NAME is in general just a
1746 'ldaps://ldap.example.com'. A BaseDN parameter should never be
1747 specified. If authentication is required things are more
1748 complicated and two methods are available:
1750 The modern method (since version 2.2.28) is to use the very same
1751 syntax as used with the option '--ldapserver'. Please see over
1752 there for details; here is an example:
1754 keyserver ldap:ldap.example.com::uid=USERNAME,ou=GnuPG Users,
1755 dc=example,dc=com:PASSWORD::starttls
1757 The other method is to use a full URL for NAME; for example:
1759 keyserver ldaps://ldap.example.com/????bindname=uid=USERNAME
1760 %2Cou=GnuPG%20Users%2Cdc=example%2Cdc=com,password=PASSWORD
1762 Put this all on one line without any spaces and keep the '%2C' as
1763 given. Replace USERNAME, PASSWORD, and the 'dc' parts according to
1764 the instructions received from your LDAP administrator. Note that
1765 only simple authentication (i.e. cleartext passwords) is supported
1766 and thus using ldaps is strongly suggested (since 2.2.28 "ldaps"
1767 defaults to port 389 and uses STARTTLS). On Windows authentication
1768 via AD can be requested by adding 'gpgNtds=1' after the fourth
1769 question mark instead of the bindname and password parameter.
1771 '--nameserver IPADDR'
1772 In "Tor mode" Dirmngr uses a public resolver via Tor to resolve DNS
1773 names. If the default public resolver, which is '8.8.8.8', shall
1774 not be used a different one can be given using this option. Note
1775 that a numerical IP address must be given (IPv6 or IPv4) and that
1776 no error checking is done for IPADDR.
1780 Disable the use of all IPv4 or IPv6 addresses.
1783 Entirely disables the use of LDAP.
1786 Entirely disables the use of HTTP.
1789 When looking for the location of a CRL, the to be tested
1790 certificate usually contains so called "CRL Distribution Point"
1791 (DP) entries which are URLs describing the way to access the CRL.
1792 The first found DP entry is used. With this option all entries
1793 using the HTTP scheme are ignored when looking for a suitable DP.
1796 This is similar to '--ignore-http-dp' but ignores entries using the
1797 LDAP scheme. Both options may be combined resulting in ignoring
1800 '--ignore-ocsp-service-url'
1801 Ignore all OCSP URLs contained in the certificate. The effect is
1802 to force the use of the default responder.
1804 '--honor-http-proxy'
1805 If the environment variable 'http_proxy' has been set, use its
1806 value to access HTTP servers.
1808 '--http-proxy HOST[:PORT]'
1809 Use HOST and PORT to access HTTP servers. The use of this option
1810 overrides the environment variable 'http_proxy' regardless whether
1811 '--honor-http-proxy' has been set.
1813 '--ldap-proxy HOST[:PORT]'
1814 Use HOST and PORT to connect to LDAP servers. If PORT is omitted,
1815 port 389 (standard LDAP port) is used. This overrides any
1816 specified host and port part in a LDAP URL and will also be used if
1817 host and port have been omitted from the URL.
1820 Never use anything else but the LDAP "proxy" as configured with
1821 '--ldap-proxy'. Usually 'dirmngr' tries to use other configured
1822 LDAP server if the connection using the "proxy" failed.
1824 '--ldapserverlist-file FILE'
1825 Read the list of LDAP servers to consult for CRLs and X.509
1826 certificates from file instead of the default per-user ldap server
1827 list file. The default value for FILE is
1828 'dirmngr_ldapservers.conf'.
1830 This server list file contains one LDAP server per line in the
1833 HOSTNAME:PORT:USERNAME:PASSWORD:BASE_DN:FLAGS
1835 Lines starting with a '#' are comments.
1837 Note that as usual all strings entered are expected to be UTF-8
1838 encoded. Obviously this will lead to problems if the password has
1839 originally been encoded as Latin-1. There is no other solution
1840 here than to put such a password in the binary encoding into the
1841 file (i.e. non-ascii characters won't show up readable).(1)
1844 This is an alternative way to specify LDAP servers for CRL and
1845 X.509 certificate retrieval. If this option is used the servers
1846 configured in 'dirmngr_ldapservers.conf' (or the file given by
1847 '--ldapserverlist-file') are cleared. Note that
1848 'dirmngr_ldapservers.conf' is not read again by a reload signal.
1849 However, '--ldapserver' options are read again.
1851 SPEC is either a proper LDAP URL or a colon delimited list of the
1854 HOSTNAME:PORT:USERNAME:PASSWORD:BASE_DN:FLAGS:
1856 with an optional prefix of 'ldap:' (but without the two slashes
1857 which would turn this into a proper LDAP URL). FLAGS is a list of
1858 one or more comma delimited keywords:
1860 The default: Do not use a TLS secured connection at all; the
1861 default port is 389.
1863 Use STARTTLS to secure the connection; the default port is
1866 Tunnel LDAP through a TLS connection; the default port is 636.
1868 On Windows authenticate the LDAP connection using the Active
1869 Directory with the current user.
1871 Note that in an URL style specification the scheme 'ldaps://'
1872 refers to STARTTLS and _not_ to LDAP-over-TLS.
1874 '--ldaptimeout SECS'
1875 Specify the number of seconds to wait for an LDAP query before
1876 timing out. The default are 15 seconds. 0 will never timeout.
1879 This option makes dirmngr add any servers it discovers when
1880 validating certificates against CRLs to the internal list of
1881 servers to consult for certificates and CRLs.
1883 This option is useful when trying to validate a certificate that
1884 has a CRL distribution point that points to a server that is not
1885 already listed in the ldapserverlist. Dirmngr will always go to
1886 this server and try to download the CRL, but chances are high that
1887 the certificate used to sign the CRL is located on the same server.
1888 So if dirmngr doesn't add that new server to list, it will often
1889 not be able to verify the signature of the CRL unless the
1890 '--add-servers' option is used.
1892 Note: The current version of dirmngr has this option disabled by
1896 This option enables OCSP support if requested by the client.
1898 OCSP requests are rejected by default because they may violate the
1899 privacy of the user; for example it is possible to track the time
1900 when a user is reading a mail.
1902 '--ocsp-responder URL'
1903 Use URL as the default OCSP Responder if the certificate does not
1904 contain information about an assigned responder. Note, that
1905 '--ocsp-signer' must also be set to a valid certificate.
1907 '--ocsp-signer FPR|FILE'
1908 Use the certificate with the fingerprint FPR to check the responses
1909 of the default OCSP Responder. Alternatively a filename can be
1910 given in which case the response is expected to be signed by one of
1911 the certificates described in that file. Any argument which
1912 contains a slash, dot or tilde is considered a filename. Usual
1913 filename expansion takes place: A tilde at the start followed by a
1914 slash is replaced by the content of 'HOME', no slash at start
1915 describes a relative filename which will be searched at the home
1916 directory. To make sure that the FILE is searched in the home
1917 directory, either prepend the name with "./" or use a name which
1920 If a response has been signed by a certificate described by these
1921 fingerprints no further check upon the validity of this certificate
1924 The format of the FILE is a list of SHA-1 fingerprint, one per line
1925 with optional colons between the bytes. Empty lines and lines
1926 prefix with a hash mark are ignored.
1928 '--ocsp-max-clock-skew N'
1929 The number of seconds a skew between the OCSP responder and them
1930 local clock is accepted. Default is 600 (10 minutes).
1932 '--ocsp-max-period N'
1933 Seconds a response is at maximum considered valid after the time
1934 given in the thisUpdate field. Default is 7776000 (90 days).
1936 '--ocsp-current-period N'
1937 The number of seconds an OCSP response is considered valid after
1938 the time given in the NEXT_UPDATE datum. Default is 10800 (3
1942 Do not return more that N items in one query. The default is 10.
1944 '--ignore-cert-extension OID'
1945 Add OID to the list of ignored certificate extensions. The OID is
1946 expected to be in dotted decimal form, like '2.5.29.3'. This
1947 option may be used more than once. Critical flagged certificate
1948 extensions matching one of the OIDs in the list are treated as if
1949 they are actually handled and thus the certificate won't be
1950 rejected due to an unknown critical extension. Use this option
1951 with care because extensions are usually flagged as critical for a
1955 Use the root certificates in FILE for verification of the TLS
1956 certificates used with 'hkps' (keyserver access over TLS). If the
1957 file is in PEM format a suffix of '.pem' is expected for FILE.
1958 This option may be given multiple times to add more root
1959 certificates. Tilde expansion is supported.
1961 If no 'hkp-cacert' directive is present, dirmngr will make a
1962 reasonable choice: if the keyserver in question is the special pool
1963 'hkps.pool.sks-keyservers.net', it will use the bundled root
1964 certificate for that pool. Otherwise, it will use the system CAs.
1966 ---------- Footnotes ----------
1968 (1) The 'gpgconf' tool might be helpful for frontends as it enables
1969 editing this configuration file using percent-escaped strings.
1972 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Configuration, Next: Dirmngr Signals, Prev: Dirmngr Options, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
1977 Dirmngr makes use of several directories when running in daemon mode:
1978 There are a few configuration files whih control the operation of
1979 dirmngr. By default they may all be found in the current home directory
1980 (*note option --homedir::).
1983 This is the standard configuration file read by 'dirmngr' on
1984 startup. It may contain any valid long option; the leading two
1985 dashes may not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated.
1986 This file is also read after a 'SIGHUP' however not all options
1987 will actually have an effect. This default name may be changed on
1988 the command line (*note option --options::). You should backup
1991 '/etc/gnupg/trusted-certs'
1992 This directory should be filled with certificates of Root CAs you
1993 are trusting in checking the CRLs and signing OCSP Responses.
1995 Usually these are the same certificates you use with the
1996 applications making use of dirmngr. It is expected that each of
1997 these certificate files contain exactly one DER encoded certificate
1998 in a file with the suffix '.crt' or '.der'. 'dirmngr' reads those
1999 certificates on startup and when given a SIGHUP. Certificates which
2000 are not readable or do not make up a proper X.509 certificate are
2001 ignored; see the log file for details.
2003 Applications using dirmngr (e.g. gpgsm) can request these
2004 certificates to complete a trust chain in the same way as with the
2005 extra-certs directory (see below).
2007 Note that for OCSP responses the certificate specified using the
2008 option '--ocsp-signer' is always considered valid to sign OCSP
2011 '/etc/gnupg/extra-certs'
2012 This directory may contain extra certificates which are preloaded
2013 into the internal cache on startup. Applications using dirmngr
2014 (e.g. gpgsm) can request cached certificates to complete a trust
2015 chain. This is convenient in cases you have a couple intermediate
2016 CA certificates or certificates usually used to sign OCSP
2017 responses. These certificates are first tried before going out to
2018 the net to look for them. These certificates must also be DER
2019 encoded and suffixed with '.crt' or '.der'.
2022 This directory is used to store cached CRLs. The 'crls.d' part
2023 will be created by dirmngr if it does not exists but you need to
2024 make sure that the upper directory exists.
2026 To be able to see what's going on you should create the configure
2027 file '~/gnupg/dirmngr.conf' with at least one line:
2029 log-file ~/dirmngr.log
2031 To be able to perform OCSP requests you probably want to add the
2036 To make sure that new options are read and that after the
2037 installation of a new GnuPG versions the installed dirmngr is running,
2038 you may want to kill an existing dirmngr first:
2040 gpgconf --kill dirmngr
2042 You may check the log file to see whether all desired root
2043 certificates have been loaded correctly.
2046 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Signals, Next: Dirmngr Examples, Prev: Dirmngr Configuration, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
2051 A running 'dirmngr' may be controlled by signals, i.e. using the 'kill'
2052 command to send a signal to the process.
2054 Here is a list of supported signals:
2057 This signal flushes all internally cached CRLs as well as any
2058 cached certificates. Then the certificate cache is reinitialized
2059 as on startup. Options are re-read from the configuration file.
2060 Instead of sending this signal it is better to use
2061 gpgconf --reload dirmngr
2064 Shuts down the process but waits until all current requests are
2065 fulfilled. If the process has received 3 of these signals and
2066 requests are still pending, a shutdown is forced. You may also use
2067 gpgconf --kill dirmngr
2068 instead of this signal
2071 Shuts down the process immediately.
2074 This prints some caching statistics to the log file.
2077 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Examples, Next: Dirmngr Protocol, Prev: Dirmngr Signals, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
2082 Here is an example on how to show dirmngr's internal table of OpenPGP
2083 keyserver addresses. The output is intended for debugging purposes and
2084 not part of a defined API.
2086 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'keyserver --hosttable' /bye
2088 To inhibit the use of a particular host you have noticed in one of
2089 the keyserver pools, you may use
2091 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'keyserver --dead pgpkeys.bnd.de' /bye
2093 The description of the 'keyserver' command can be printed using
2095 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'help keyserver' /bye
2098 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Protocol, Prev: Dirmngr Examples, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
2100 3.6 Dirmngr's Assuan Protocol
2101 =============================
2103 Assuan is the IPC protocol used to access dirmngr. This is a
2104 description of the commands implemented by dirmngr.
2108 * Dirmngr LOOKUP:: Look up a certificate via LDAP
2109 * Dirmngr ISVALID:: Validate a certificate using a CRL or OCSP.
2110 * Dirmngr CHECKCRL:: Validate a certificate using a CRL.
2111 * Dirmngr CHECKOCSP:: Validate a certificate using OCSP.
2112 * Dirmngr CACHECERT:: Put a certificate into the internal cache.
2113 * Dirmngr VALIDATE:: Validate a certificate for debugging.
2116 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr LOOKUP, Next: Dirmngr ISVALID, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2118 3.6.1 Return the certificate(s) found
2119 -------------------------------------
2121 Lookup certificate. To allow multiple patterns (which are ORed) quoting
2122 is required: Spaces are to be translated into "+" or into "%20";
2123 obviously this requires that the usual escape quoting rules are applied.
2124 The server responds with:
2126 S: D <DER encoded certificate>
2128 S: D <second DER encoded certificate>
2132 In this example 2 certificates are returned. The server may return
2133 any number of certificates; OK will also be returned when no
2134 certificates were found. The dirmngr might return a status line
2138 To indicate that the output was truncated to N items due to a
2139 limitation of the server or by an arbitrary set limit.
2141 The option '--url' may be used if instead of a search pattern a
2142 complete URL to the certificate is known:
2144 C: LOOKUP --url CN%3DWerner%20Koch,o%3DIntevation%20GmbH,c%3DDE?userCertificate
2146 If the option '--cache-only' is given, no external lookup is done so
2147 that only certificates from the cache are returned.
2149 With the option '--single', the first and only the first match will
2150 be returned. Unless option '--cache-only' is also used, no local lookup
2151 will be done in this case.
2154 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr ISVALID, Next: Dirmngr CHECKCRL, Prev: Dirmngr LOOKUP, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2156 3.6.2 Validate a certificate using a CRL or OCSP
2157 ------------------------------------------------
2159 ISVALID [--only-ocsp] [--force-default-responder] CERTID|CERTFPR
2161 Check whether the certificate described by the CERTID has been
2162 revoked. Due to caching, the Dirmngr is able to answer immediately in
2165 The CERTID is a hex encoded string consisting of two parts, delimited
2166 by a single dot. The first part is the SHA-1 hash of the issuer name
2167 and the second part the serial number.
2169 Alternatively the certificate's SHA-1 fingerprint CERTFPR may be
2170 given in which case an OCSP request is done before consulting the CRL.
2171 If the option '--only-ocsp' is given, no fallback to a CRL check will be
2172 used. If the option '--force-default-responder' is given, only the
2173 default OCSP responder will be used and any other methods of obtaining
2174 an OCSP responder URL won't be used.
2176 Common return values are:
2178 'GPG_ERR_NO_ERROR (0)'
2179 This is the positive answer: The certificate is not revoked and we
2180 have an up-to-date revocation list for that certificate. If OCSP
2181 was used the responder confirmed that the certificate has not been
2184 'GPG_ERR_CERT_REVOKED'
2185 This is the negative answer: The certificate has been revoked.
2186 Either it is in a CRL and that list is up to date or an OCSP
2187 responder informed us that it has been revoked.
2189 'GPG_ERR_NO_CRL_KNOWN'
2190 No CRL is known for this certificate or the CRL is not valid or out
2194 The OCSP responder returned an "unknown" status. This means that
2195 it is not aware of the certificate's status.
2197 'GPG_ERR_NOT_SUPPORTED'
2198 This is commonly seen if OCSP support has not been enabled in the
2201 If DirMngr has not enough information about the given certificate
2202 (which is the case for not yet cached certificates), it will inquire the
2205 S: INQUIRE SENDCERT <CertID>
2206 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2209 A client should be aware that DirMngr may ask for more than one
2212 If Dirmngr has a certificate but the signature of the certificate
2213 could not been validated because the root certificate is not known to
2214 dirmngr as trusted, it may ask back to see whether the client trusts
2215 this the root certificate:
2217 S: INQUIRE ISTRUSTED <CertHexfpr>
2221 Only this answer will let Dirmngr consider the certificate as valid.
2224 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr CHECKCRL, Next: Dirmngr CHECKOCSP, Prev: Dirmngr ISVALID, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2226 3.6.3 Validate a certificate using a CRL
2227 ----------------------------------------
2229 Check whether the certificate with FINGERPRINT (SHA-1 hash of the entire
2230 X.509 certificate blob) is valid or not by consulting the CRL
2231 responsible for this certificate. If the fingerprint has not been given
2232 or the certificate is not known, the function inquires the certificate
2235 S: INQUIRE TARGETCERT
2236 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2239 Thus the caller is expected to return the certificate for the request
2240 (which should match FINGERPRINT) as a binary blob. Processing then
2241 takes place without further interaction; in particular dirmngr tries to
2242 locate other required certificate by its own mechanism which includes a
2243 local certificate store as well as a list of trusted root certificates.
2245 The return code is 0 for success; i.e. the certificate has not been
2246 revoked or one of the usual error codes from libgpg-error.
2249 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr CHECKOCSP, Next: Dirmngr CACHECERT, Prev: Dirmngr CHECKCRL, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2251 3.6.4 Validate a certificate using OCSP
2252 ---------------------------------------
2254 CHECKOCSP [--force-default-responder] [FINGERPRINT]
2256 Check whether the certificate with FINGERPRINT (the SHA-1 hash of the
2257 entire X.509 certificate blob) is valid by consulting the appropriate
2258 OCSP responder. If the fingerprint has not been given or the
2259 certificate is not known by Dirmngr, the function inquires the
2262 S: INQUIRE TARGETCERT
2263 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2266 Thus the caller is expected to return the certificate for the request
2267 (which should match FINGERPRINT) as a binary blob. Processing then
2268 takes place without further interaction; in particular dirmngr tries to
2269 locate other required certificates by its own mechanism which includes a
2270 local certificate store as well as a list of trusted root certificates.
2272 If the option '--force-default-responder' is given, only the default
2273 OCSP responder is used. This option is the per-command variant of the
2274 global option '--ignore-ocsp-service-url'.
2276 The return code is 0 for success; i.e. the certificate has not been
2277 revoked or one of the usual error codes from libgpg-error.
2280 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr CACHECERT, Next: Dirmngr VALIDATE, Prev: Dirmngr CHECKOCSP, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2282 3.6.5 Put a certificate into the internal cache
2283 -----------------------------------------------
2285 Put a certificate into the internal cache. This command might be useful
2286 if a client knows in advance certificates required for a test and wants
2287 to make sure they get added to the internal cache. It is also helpful
2288 for debugging. To get the actual certificate, this command immediately
2291 S: INQUIRE TARGETCERT
2292 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2295 Thus the caller is expected to return the certificate for the request
2298 The return code is 0 for success; i.e. the certificate has not been
2299 successfully cached or one of the usual error codes from libgpg-error.
2302 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr VALIDATE, Prev: Dirmngr CACHECERT, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2304 3.6.6 Validate a certificate for debugging
2305 ------------------------------------------
2307 Validate a certificate using the certificate validation function used
2308 internally by dirmngr. This command is only useful for debugging. To
2309 get the actual certificate, this command immediately inquires it using
2311 S: INQUIRE TARGETCERT
2312 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2315 Thus the caller is expected to return the certificate for the request
2319 File: gnupg.info, Node: Invoking GPG, Next: Invoking GPGSM, Prev: Invoking DIRMNGR, Up: Top
2324 'gpg' is the OpenPGP part of the GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG). It is a tool
2325 to provide digital encryption and signing services using the OpenPGP
2326 standard. 'gpg' features complete key management and all the bells and
2327 whistles you would expect from a full OpenPGP implementation.
2329 There are two main versions of GnuPG: GnuPG 1.x and GnuPG 2.x. GnuPG
2330 2.x supports modern encryption algorithms and thus should be preferred
2331 over GnuPG 1.x. You only need to use GnuPG 1.x if your platform doesn't
2332 support GnuPG 2.x, or you need support for some features that GnuPG 2.x
2333 has deprecated, e.g., decrypting data created with PGP-2 keys.
2335 If you are looking for version 1 of GnuPG, you may find that version
2336 installed under the name 'gpg1'.
2338 *Note Option Index::, for an index to 'gpg''s commands and options.
2342 * GPG Commands:: List of all commands.
2343 * GPG Options:: List of all options.
2344 * GPG Configuration:: Configuration files.
2345 * GPG Examples:: Some usage examples.
2347 Developer information:
2348 * Unattended Usage of GPG:: Using 'gpg' from other programs.
2351 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Commands, Next: GPG Options, Up: Invoking GPG
2356 Commands are not distinguished from options except for the fact that
2357 only one command is allowed. Generally speaking, irrelevant options are
2358 silently ignored, and may not be checked for correctness.
2360 'gpg' may be run with no commands. In this case it will print a
2361 warning perform a reasonable action depending on the type of file it is
2362 given as input (an encrypted message is decrypted, a signature is
2363 verified, a file containing keys is listed, etc.).
2365 If you run into any problems, please add the option '--verbose' to
2366 the invocation to see more diagnostics.
2370 * General GPG Commands:: Commands not specific to the functionality.
2371 * Operational GPG Commands:: Commands to select the type of operation.
2372 * OpenPGP Key Management:: How to manage your keys.
2375 File: gnupg.info, Node: General GPG Commands, Next: Operational GPG Commands, Up: GPG Commands
2377 4.1.1 Commands not specific to the function
2378 -------------------------------------------
2381 Print the program version and licensing information. Note that you
2382 cannot abbreviate this command.
2386 Print a usage message summarizing the most useful command-line
2387 options. Note that you cannot arbitrarily abbreviate this command
2388 (though you can use its short form '-h').
2391 Print warranty information.
2394 Print a list of all available options and commands. Note that you
2395 cannot abbreviate this command.
2398 File: gnupg.info, Node: Operational GPG Commands, Next: OpenPGP Key Management, Prev: General GPG Commands, Up: GPG Commands
2400 4.1.2 Commands to select the type of operation
2401 ----------------------------------------------
2405 Sign a message. This command may be combined with '--encrypt' (to
2406 sign and encrypt a message), '--symmetric' (to sign and
2407 symmetrically encrypt a message), or both '--encrypt' and
2408 '--symmetric' (to sign and encrypt a message that can be decrypted
2409 using a secret key or a passphrase). The signing key is chosen by
2410 default or can be set explicitly using the '--local-user' and
2411 '--default-key' options.
2415 Make a cleartext signature. The content in a cleartext signature
2416 is readable without any special software. OpenPGP software is only
2417 needed to verify the signature. cleartext signatures may modify
2418 end-of-line whitespace for platform independence and are not
2419 intended to be reversible. The signing key is chosen by default or
2420 can be set explicitly using the '--local-user' and '--default-key'
2425 Make a detached signature.
2429 Encrypt data to one or more public keys. This command may be
2430 combined with '--sign' (to sign and encrypt a message),
2431 '--symmetric' (to encrypt a message that can be decrypted using a
2432 secret key or a passphrase), or '--sign' and '--symmetric' together
2433 (for a signed message that can be decrypted using a secret key or a
2434 passphrase). '--recipient' and related options specify which
2435 public keys to use for encryption.
2439 Encrypt with a symmetric cipher using a passphrase. The default
2440 symmetric cipher used is AES-128, but may be chosen with the
2441 '--cipher-algo' option. This command may be combined with '--sign'
2442 (for a signed and symmetrically encrypted message), '--encrypt'
2443 (for a message that may be decrypted via a secret key or a
2444 passphrase), or '--sign' and '--encrypt' together (for a signed
2445 message that may be decrypted via a secret key or a passphrase).
2446 'gpg' caches the passphrase used for symmetric encryption so that a
2447 decrypt operation may not require that the user needs to enter the
2448 passphrase. The option '--no-symkey-cache' can be used to disable
2452 Store only (make a simple literal data packet).
2456 Decrypt the file given on the command line (or STDIN if no file is
2457 specified) and write it to STDOUT (or the file specified with
2458 '--output'). If the decrypted file is signed, the signature is
2459 also verified. This command differs from the default operation, as
2460 it never writes to the filename which is included in the file and
2461 it rejects files that don't begin with an encrypted message.
2464 Assume that the first argument is a signed file and verify it
2465 without generating any output. With no arguments, the signature
2466 packet is read from STDIN. If only one argument is given, the
2467 specified file is expected to include a complete signature.
2469 With more than one argument, the first argument should specify a
2470 file with a detached signature and the remaining files should
2471 contain the signed data. To read the signed data from STDIN, use
2472 '-' as the second filename. For security reasons, a detached
2473 signature will not read the signed material from STDIN if not
2474 explicitly specified.
2476 Note: If the option '--batch' is not used, 'gpg' may assume that a
2477 single argument is a file with a detached signature, and it will
2478 try to find a matching data file by stripping certain suffixes.
2479 Using this historical feature to verify a detached signature is
2480 strongly discouraged; you should always specify the data file
2483 Note: When verifying a cleartext signature, 'gpg' verifies only
2484 what makes up the cleartext signed data and not any extra data
2485 outside of the cleartext signature or the header lines directly
2486 following the dash marker line. The option '--output' may be used
2487 to write out the actual signed data, but there are other pitfalls
2488 with this format as well. It is suggested to avoid cleartext
2489 signatures in favor of detached signatures.
2491 Note: Sometimes the use of the 'gpgv' tool is easier than using the
2492 full-fledged 'gpg' with this option. 'gpgv' is designed to compare
2493 signed data against a list of trusted keys and returns with success
2494 only for a good signature. It has its own manual page.
2497 This modifies certain other commands to accept multiple files for
2498 processing on the command line or read from STDIN with each
2499 filename on a separate line. This allows for many files to be
2500 processed at once. '--multifile' may currently be used along with
2501 '--verify', '--encrypt', and '--decrypt'. Note that '--multifile
2502 --verify' may not be used with detached signatures.
2505 Identical to '--multifile --verify'.
2508 Identical to '--multifile --encrypt'.
2511 Identical to '--multifile --decrypt'.
2515 '--list-public-keys'
2516 List the specified keys. If no keys are specified, then all keys
2517 from the configured public keyrings are listed.
2519 Never use the output of this command in scripts or other programs.
2520 The output is intended only for humans and its format is likely to
2521 change. The '--with-colons' option emits the output in a stable,
2522 machine-parseable format, which is intended for use by scripts and
2525 '--list-secret-keys'
2527 List the specified secret keys. If no keys are specified, then all
2528 known secret keys are listed. A '#' after the initial tags 'sec'
2529 or 'ssb' means that the secret key or subkey is currently not
2530 usable. We also say that this key has been taken offline (for
2531 example, a primary key can be taken offline by exporting the key
2532 using the command '--export-secret-subkeys'). A '>' after these
2533 tags indicate that the key is stored on a smartcard. See also
2536 '--check-signatures'
2538 Same as '--list-keys', but the key signatures are verified and
2539 listed too. Note that for performance reasons the revocation
2540 status of a signing key is not shown. This command has the same
2541 effect as using '--list-keys' with '--with-sig-check'.
2543 The status of the verification is indicated by a flag directly
2544 following the "sig" tag (and thus before the flags described below.
2545 A "!" indicates that the signature has been successfully verified,
2546 a "-" denotes a bad signature and a "%" is used if an error
2547 occurred while checking the signature (e.g. a non supported
2548 algorithm). Signatures where the public key is not available are
2549 not listed; to see their keyids the command '--list-sigs' can be
2552 For each signature listed, there are several flags in between the
2553 signature status flag and keyid. These flags give additional
2554 information about each key signature. From left to right, they are
2555 the numbers 1-3 for certificate check level (see
2556 '--ask-cert-level'), "L" for a local or non-exportable signature
2557 (see '--lsign-key'), "R" for a nonRevocable signature (see the
2558 '--edit-key' command "nrsign"), "P" for a signature that contains a
2559 policy URL (see '--cert-policy-url'), "N" for a signature that
2560 contains a notation (see '--cert-notation'), "X" for an eXpired
2561 signature (see '--ask-cert-expire'), and the numbers 1-9 or "T" for
2562 10 and above to indicate trust signature levels (see the
2563 '--edit-key' command "tsign").
2566 '--locate-external-keys'
2567 Locate the keys given as arguments. This command basically uses
2568 the same algorithm as used when locating keys for encryption and
2569 may thus be used to see what keys 'gpg' might use. In particular
2570 external methods as defined by '--auto-key-locate' are used to
2571 locate a key if the arguments comain valid mail addresses. Only
2572 public keys are listed.
2574 The variant '--locate-external-keys' does not consider a locally
2575 existing key and can thus be used to force the refresh of a key via
2576 the defined external methods. If a fingerprint is given and and
2577 the methods defined by -auto-key-locate define LDAP servers, the
2578 key is fetched from these resources; defined non-LDAP keyservers
2582 This commands takes OpenPGP keys as input and prints information
2583 about them in the same way the command '--list-keys' does for
2584 locally stored key. In addition the list options
2585 'show-unusable-uids', 'show-unusable-subkeys', 'show-notations' and
2586 'show-policy-urls' are also enabled. As usual for automated
2587 processing, this command should be combined with the option
2591 List all keys (or the specified ones) along with their
2592 fingerprints. This is the same output as '--list-keys' but with
2593 the additional output of a line with the fingerprint. May also be
2594 combined with '--check-signatures'. If this command is given
2595 twice, the fingerprints of all secondary keys are listed too. This
2596 command also forces pretty printing of fingerprints if the keyid
2597 format has been set to "none".
2600 List only the sequence of packets. This command is only useful for
2601 debugging. When used with option '--verbose' the actual MPI values
2602 are dumped and not only their lengths. Note that the output of
2603 this command may change with new releases.
2607 Present a menu to work with a smartcard. The subcommand "help"
2608 provides an overview on available commands. For a detailed
2609 description, please see the Card HOWTO at
2610 https://gnupg.org/documentation/howtos.html#GnuPG-cardHOWTO .
2613 Show the content of the smart card.
2616 Present a menu to allow changing the PIN of a smartcard. This
2617 functionality is also available as the subcommand "passwd" with the
2618 '--edit-card' command.
2620 '--delete-keys NAME'
2621 Remove key from the public keyring. In batch mode either '--yes'
2622 is required or the key must be specified by fingerprint. This is a
2623 safeguard against accidental deletion of multiple keys. If the
2624 exclamation mark syntax is used with the fingerprint of a subkey
2625 only that subkey is deleted; if the exclamation mark is used with
2626 the fingerprint of the primary key the entire public key is
2629 '--delete-secret-keys NAME'
2630 Remove key from the secret keyring. In batch mode the key must be
2631 specified by fingerprint. The option '--yes' can be used to advise
2632 gpg-agent not to request a confirmation. This extra pre-caution is
2633 done because 'gpg' can't be sure that the secret key (as controlled
2634 by gpg-agent) is only used for the given OpenPGP public key. If
2635 the exclamation mark syntax is used with the fingerprint of a
2636 subkey only the secret part of that subkey is deleted; if the
2637 exclamation mark is used with the fingerprint of the primary key
2638 only the secret part of the primary key is deleted.
2640 '--delete-secret-and-public-key NAME'
2641 Same as '--delete-key', but if a secret key exists, it will be
2642 removed first. In batch mode the key must be specified by
2643 fingerprint. The option '--yes' can be used to advise gpg-agent
2644 not to request a confirmation.
2647 Either export all keys from all keyrings (default keyrings and
2648 those registered via option '--keyring'), or if at least one name
2649 is given, those of the given name. The exported keys are written
2650 to STDOUT or to the file given with option '--output'. Use
2651 together with '--armor' to mail those keys.
2653 '--send-keys KEYIDS'
2654 Similar to '--export' but sends the keys to a keyserver.
2655 Fingerprints may be used instead of key IDs. Don't send your
2656 complete keyring to a keyserver -- select only those keys which are
2657 new or changed by you. If no KEYIDS are given, 'gpg' does nothing.
2659 Take care: Keyservers are by design write only systems and thus it
2660 is not possible to ever delete keys once they have been send to a
2663 '--export-secret-keys'
2664 '--export-secret-subkeys'
2665 Same as '--export', but exports the secret keys instead. The
2666 exported keys are written to STDOUT or to the file given with
2667 option '--output'. This command is often used along with the
2668 option '--armor' to allow for easy printing of the key for paper
2669 backup; however the external tool 'paperkey' does a better job of
2670 creating backups on paper. Note that exporting a secret key can be
2671 a security risk if the exported keys are sent over an insecure
2674 The second form of the command has the special property to render
2675 the secret part of the primary key useless; this is a GNU extension
2676 to OpenPGP and other implementations can not be expected to
2677 successfully import such a key. Its intended use is in generating
2678 a full key with an additional signing subkey on a dedicated
2679 machine. This command then exports the key without the primary key
2680 to the main machine.
2682 GnuPG may ask you to enter the passphrase for the key. This is
2683 required, because the internal protection method of the secret key
2684 is different from the one specified by the OpenPGP protocol.
2687 This command is used to export a key in the OpenSSH public key
2688 format. It requires the specification of one key by the usual
2689 means and exports the latest valid subkey which has an
2690 authentication capability to STDOUT or to the file given with
2691 option '--output'. That output can directly be added to ssh's
2692 'authorized_key' file.
2694 By specifying the key to export using a key ID or a fingerprint
2695 suffixed with an exclamation mark (!), a specific subkey or the
2696 primary key can be exported. This does not even require that the
2697 key has the authentication capability flag set.
2701 Import/merge keys. This adds the given keys to the keyring. The
2702 fast version is currently just a synonym.
2704 There are a few other options which control how this command works.
2705 Most notable here is the '--import-options merge-only' option which
2706 does not insert new keys but does only the merging of new
2707 signatures, user-IDs and subkeys.
2709 '--receive-keys KEYIDS'
2710 '--recv-keys KEYIDS'
2711 Import the keys with the given KEYIDS from a keyserver.
2714 Request updates from a keyserver for keys that already exist on the
2715 local keyring. This is useful for updating a key with the latest
2716 signatures, user IDs, etc. Calling this with no arguments will
2717 refresh the entire keyring.
2719 '--search-keys NAMES'
2720 Search the keyserver for the given NAMES. Multiple names given
2721 here will be joined together to create the search string for the
2722 keyserver. Note that keyservers search for NAMES in a different
2723 and simpler way than gpg does. The best choice is to use a mail
2724 address. Due to data privacy reasons keyservers may even not even
2725 allow searching by user id or mail address and thus may only return
2726 results when being used with the '--recv-key' command to search by
2727 key fingerprint or keyid.
2730 Retrieve keys located at the specified URIS. Note that different
2731 installations of GnuPG may support different protocols (HTTP, FTP,
2732 LDAP, etc.). When using HTTPS the system provided root
2733 certificates are used by this command.
2736 Do trust database maintenance. This command iterates over all keys
2737 and builds the Web of Trust. This is an interactive command
2738 because it may have to ask for the "ownertrust" values for keys.
2739 The user has to give an estimation of how far she trusts the owner
2740 of the displayed key to correctly certify (sign) other keys. GnuPG
2741 only asks for the ownertrust value if it has not yet been assigned
2742 to a key. Using the '--edit-key' menu, the assigned value can be
2743 changed at any time.
2746 Do trust database maintenance without user interaction. From time
2747 to time the trust database must be updated so that expired keys or
2748 signatures and the resulting changes in the Web of Trust can be
2749 tracked. Normally, GnuPG will calculate when this is required and
2750 do it automatically unless '--no-auto-check-trustdb' is set. This
2751 command can be used to force a trust database check at any time.
2752 The processing is identical to that of '--update-trustdb' but it
2753 skips keys with a not yet defined "ownertrust".
2755 For use with cron jobs, this command can be used together with
2756 '--batch' in which case the trust database check is done only if a
2757 check is needed. To force a run even in batch mode add the option
2760 '--export-ownertrust'
2761 Send the ownertrust values to STDOUT. This is useful for backup
2762 purposes as these values are the only ones which can't be
2763 re-created from a corrupted trustdb. Example:
2764 gpg --export-ownertrust > otrust.txt
2766 '--import-ownertrust'
2767 Update the trustdb with the ownertrust values stored in 'files' (or
2768 STDIN if not given); existing values will be overwritten. In case
2769 of a severely damaged trustdb and if you have a recent backup of
2770 the ownertrust values (e.g. in the file 'otrust.txt'), you may
2771 re-create the trustdb using these commands:
2774 gpg --import-ownertrust < otrust.txt
2776 '--rebuild-keydb-caches'
2777 When updating from version 1.0.6 to 1.0.7 this command should be
2778 used to create signature caches in the keyring. It might be handy
2779 in other situations too.
2783 Print message digest of algorithm ALGO for all given files or
2784 STDIN. With the second form (or a deprecated "*" for ALGO) digests
2785 for all available algorithms are printed.
2787 '--gen-random 0|1|2 COUNT'
2788 Emit COUNT random bytes of the given quality level 0, 1 or 2. If
2789 COUNT is not given or zero, an endless sequence of random bytes
2790 will be emitted. If used with '--armor' the output will be base64
2791 encoded. PLEASE, don't use this command unless you know what you
2792 are doing; it may remove precious entropy from the system!
2794 '--gen-prime MODE BITS'
2795 Use the source, Luke :-). The output format is subject to change
2800 Pack or unpack an arbitrary input into/from an OpenPGP ASCII armor.
2801 This is a GnuPG extension to OpenPGP and in general not very
2804 '--tofu-policy {auto|good|unknown|bad|ask} KEYS'
2805 Set the TOFU policy for all the bindings associated with the
2806 specified KEYS. For more information about the meaning of the
2807 policies, *note trust-model-tofu::. The KEYS may be specified
2808 either by their fingerprint (preferred) or their keyid.
2811 File: gnupg.info, Node: OpenPGP Key Management, Prev: Operational GPG Commands, Up: GPG Commands
2813 4.1.3 How to manage your keys
2814 -----------------------------
2816 This section explains the main commands for key management.
2818 '--quick-generate-key USER-ID [ALGO [USAGE [EXPIRE]]]'
2820 This is a simple command to generate a standard key with one user
2821 id. In contrast to '--generate-key' the key is generated directly
2822 without the need to answer a bunch of prompts. Unless the option
2823 '--yes' is given, the key creation will be canceled if the given
2824 user id already exists in the keyring.
2826 If invoked directly on the console without any special options an
2827 answer to a "Continue?" style confirmation prompt is required. In
2828 case the user id already exists in the keyring a second prompt to
2829 force the creation of the key will show up.
2831 If ALGO or USAGE are given, only the primary key is created and no
2832 prompts are shown. To specify an expiration date but still create
2833 a primary and subkey use "default" or "future-default" for ALGO and
2834 "default" for USAGE. For a description of these optional arguments
2835 see the command '--quick-add-key'. The USAGE accepts also the
2836 value "cert" which can be used to create a certification only
2837 primary key; the default is to a create certification and signing
2840 The EXPIRE argument can be used to specify an expiration date for
2841 the key. Several formats are supported; commonly the ISO formats
2842 "YYYY-MM-DD" or "YYYYMMDDThhmmss" are used. To make the key expire
2843 in N seconds, N days, N weeks, N months, or N years use
2844 "seconds=N", "Nd", "Nw", "Nm", or "Ny" respectively. Not
2845 specifying a value, or using "-" results in a key expiring in a
2846 reasonable default interval. The values "never", "none" can be
2847 used for no expiration date.
2849 If this command is used with '--batch', '--pinentry-mode' has been
2850 set to 'loopback', and one of the passphrase options
2851 ('--passphrase', '--passphrase-fd', or '--passphrase-file') is
2852 used, the supplied passphrase is used for the new key and the agent
2853 does not ask for it. To create a key without any protection
2854 '--passphrase ''' may be used.
2856 To create an OpenPGP key from the keys available on the currently
2857 inserted smartcard, the special string "card" can be used for ALGO.
2858 If the card features an encryption and a signing key, gpg will
2859 figure them out and creates an OpenPGP key consisting of the usual
2860 primary key and one subkey. This works only with certain
2861 smartcards. Note that the interactive '--full-gen-key' command
2862 allows to do the same but with greater flexibility in the selection
2863 of the smartcard keys.
2865 Note that it is possible to create a primary key and a subkey using
2866 non-default algorithms by using "default" and changing the default
2867 parameters using the option '--default-new-key-algo'.
2869 '--quick-set-expire FPR EXPIRE [*|SUBFPRS]'
2870 With two arguments given, directly set the expiration time of the
2871 primary key identified by FPR to EXPIRE. To remove the expiration
2872 time '0' can be used. With three arguments and the third given as
2873 an asterisk, the expiration time of all non-revoked and not yet
2874 expired subkeys are set to EXPIRE. With more than two arguments
2875 and a list of fingerprints given for SUBFPRS, all non-revoked
2876 subkeys matching these fingerprints are set to EXPIRE.
2878 '--quick-add-key FPR [ALGO [USAGE [EXPIRE]]]'
2879 Directly add a subkey to the key identified by the fingerprint FPR.
2880 Without the optional arguments an encryption subkey is added. If
2881 any of the arguments are given a more specific subkey is added.
2883 ALGO may be any of the supported algorithms or curve names given in
2884 the format as used by key listings. To use the default algorithm
2885 the string "default" or "-" can be used. Supported algorithms are
2886 "rsa", "dsa", "elg", "ed25519", "cv25519", and other ECC curves.
2887 For example the string "rsa" adds an RSA key with the default key
2888 length; a string "rsa4096" requests that the key length is 4096
2889 bits. The string "future-default" is an alias for the algorithm
2890 which will likely be used as default algorithm in future versions
2891 of gpg. To list the supported ECC curves the command 'gpg
2892 --with-colons --list-config curve' can be used.
2894 Depending on the given ALGO the subkey may either be an encryption
2895 subkey or a signing subkey. If an algorithm is capable of signing
2896 and encryption and such a subkey is desired, a USAGE string must be
2897 given. This string is either "default" or "-" to keep the default
2898 or a comma delimited list (or space delimited list) of keywords:
2899 "sign" for a signing subkey, "auth" for an authentication subkey,
2900 and "encr" for an encryption subkey ("encrypt" can be used as alias
2901 for "encr"). The valid combinations depend on the algorithm.
2903 The EXPIRE argument can be used to specify an expiration date for
2904 the key. Several formats are supported; commonly the ISO formats
2905 "YYYY-MM-DD" or "YYYYMMDDThhmmss" are used. To make the key expire
2906 in N seconds, N days, N weeks, N months, or N years use
2907 "seconds=N", "Nd", "Nw", "Nm", or "Ny" respectively. Not
2908 specifying a value, or using "-" results in a key expiring in a
2909 reasonable default interval. The values "never", "none" can be
2910 used for no expiration date.
2914 Generate a new key pair using the current default parameters. This
2915 is the standard command to create a new key. In addition to the
2916 key a revocation certificate is created and stored in the
2917 'openpgp-revocs.d' directory below the GnuPG home directory.
2919 '--full-generate-key'
2921 Generate a new key pair with dialogs for all options. This is an
2922 extended version of '--generate-key'.
2924 There is also a feature which allows you to create keys in batch
2925 mode. See the manual section "Unattended key generation" on how to
2928 '--generate-revocation NAME'
2930 Generate a revocation certificate for the complete key. To only
2931 revoke a subkey or a key signature, use the '--edit' command.
2933 This command merely creates the revocation certificate so that it
2934 can be used to revoke the key if that is ever needed. To actually
2935 revoke a key the created revocation certificate needs to be merged
2936 with the key to revoke. This is done by importing the revocation
2937 certificate using the '--import' command. Then the revoked key
2938 needs to be published, which is best done by sending the key to a
2939 keyserver (command '--send-key') and by exporting ('--export') it
2940 to a file which is then send to frequent communication partners.
2942 '--generate-designated-revocation NAME'
2943 '--desig-revoke NAME'
2944 Generate a designated revocation certificate for a key. This
2945 allows a user (with the permission of the keyholder) to revoke
2949 Present a menu which enables you to do most of the key management
2950 related tasks. It expects the specification of a key on the
2954 Toggle selection of user ID or photographic user ID with index
2955 N. Use '*' to select all and '0' to deselect all.
2958 Toggle selection of subkey with index N or key ID N. Use '*'
2959 to select all and '0' to deselect all.
2962 Make a signature on key of user 'name'. If the key is not yet
2963 signed by the default user (or the users given with '-u'), the
2964 program displays the information of the key again, together
2965 with its fingerprint and asks whether it should be signed.
2966 This question is repeated for all users specified with '-u'.
2969 Same as "sign" but the signature is marked as non-exportable
2970 and will therefore never be used by others. This may be used
2971 to make keys valid only in the local environment.
2974 Same as "sign" but the signature is marked as non-revocable
2975 and can therefore never be revoked.
2978 Make a trust signature. This is a signature that combines the
2979 notions of certification (like a regular signature), and trust
2980 (like the "trust" command). It is generally only useful in
2981 distinct communities or groups. For more information please
2982 read the sections "Trust Signature" and "Regular Expression"
2985 Note that "l" (for local / non-exportable), "nr" (for
2986 non-revocable, and "t" (for trust) may be freely mixed and prefixed
2987 to "sign" to create a signature of any type desired.
2989 If the option '--only-sign-text-ids' is specified, then any
2990 non-text based user ids (e.g., photo IDs) will not be selected for
2994 Delete a signature. Note that it is not possible to retract a
2995 signature, once it has been send to the public (i.e. to a
2996 keyserver). In that case you better use 'revsig'.
2999 Revoke a signature. For every signature which has been
3000 generated by one of the secret keys, GnuPG asks whether a
3001 revocation certificate should be generated.
3004 Check the signatures on all selected user IDs. With the extra
3005 option 'selfsig' only self-signatures are shown.
3008 Create an additional user ID.
3011 Create a photographic user ID. This will prompt for a JPEG
3012 file that will be embedded into the user ID. Note that a very
3013 large JPEG will make for a very large key. Also note that
3014 some programs will display your JPEG unchanged (GnuPG), and
3015 some programs will scale it to fit in a dialog box (PGP).
3018 Display the selected photographic user ID.
3021 Delete a user ID or photographic user ID. Note that it is not
3022 possible to retract a user id, once it has been send to the
3023 public (i.e. to a keyserver). In that case you better use
3027 Revoke a user ID or photographic user ID.
3030 Flag the current user id as the primary one, removes the
3031 primary user id flag from all other user ids and sets the
3032 timestamp of all affected self-signatures one second ahead.
3033 Note that setting a photo user ID as primary makes it primary
3034 over other photo user IDs, and setting a regular user ID as
3035 primary makes it primary over other regular user IDs.
3038 Set a preferred keyserver for the specified user ID(s). This
3039 allows other users to know where you prefer they get your key
3040 from. See '--keyserver-options honor-keyserver-url' for more
3041 on how this works. Setting a value of "none" removes an
3042 existing preferred keyserver.
3045 Set a name=value notation for the specified user ID(s). See
3046 '--cert-notation' for more on how this works. Setting a value
3047 of "none" removes all notations, setting a notation prefixed
3048 with a minus sign (-) removes that notation, and setting a
3049 notation name (without the =value) prefixed with a minus sign
3050 removes all notations with that name.
3053 List preferences from the selected user ID. This shows the
3054 actual preferences, without including any implied preferences.
3057 More verbose preferences listing for the selected user ID.
3058 This shows the preferences in effect by including the implied
3059 preferences of 3DES (cipher), SHA-1 (digest), and Uncompressed
3060 (compression) if they are not already included in the
3061 preference list. In addition, the preferred keyserver and
3062 signature notations (if any) are shown.
3065 Set the list of user ID preferences to STRING for all (or just
3066 the selected) user IDs. Calling setpref with no arguments
3067 sets the preference list to the default (either built-in or
3068 set via '--default-preference-list'), and calling setpref with
3069 "none" as the argument sets an empty preference list. Use
3070 'gpg --version' to get a list of available algorithms. Note
3071 that while you can change the preferences on an attribute user
3072 ID (aka "photo ID"), GnuPG does not select keys via attribute
3073 user IDs so these preferences will not be used by GnuPG.
3075 When setting preferences, you should list the algorithms in
3076 the order which you'd like to see them used by someone else
3077 when encrypting a message to your key. If you don't include
3078 3DES, it will be automatically added at the end. Note that
3079 there are many factors that go into choosing an algorithm (for
3080 example, your key may not be the only recipient), and so the
3081 remote OpenPGP application being used to send to you may or
3082 may not follow your exact chosen order for a given message.
3083 It will, however, only choose an algorithm that is present on
3084 the preference list of every recipient key. See also the
3085 INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER OPENPGP PROGRAMS section below.
3088 Add a subkey to this key.
3091 Generate a subkey on a card and add it to this key.
3094 Transfer the selected secret subkey (or the primary key if no
3095 subkey has been selected) to a smartcard. The secret key in
3096 the keyring will be replaced by a stub if the key could be
3097 stored successfully on the card and you use the save command
3098 later. Only certain key types may be transferred to the card.
3099 A sub menu allows you to select on what card to store the key.
3100 Note that it is not possible to get that key back from the
3101 card - if the card gets broken your secret key will be lost
3102 unless you have a backup somewhere.
3105 Restore the given FILE to a card. This command may be used to
3106 restore a backup key (as generated during card initialization)
3107 to a new card. In almost all cases this will be the
3108 encryption key. You should use this command only with the
3109 corresponding public key and make sure that the file given as
3110 argument is indeed the backup to restore. You should then
3111 select 2 to restore as encryption key. You will first be
3112 asked to enter the passphrase of the backup key and then for
3113 the Admin PIN of the card.
3116 Remove a subkey (secondary key). Note that it is not possible
3117 to retract a subkey, once it has been send to the public (i.e.
3118 to a keyserver). In that case you better use 'revkey'. Also
3119 note that this only deletes the public part of a key.
3125 Change the key or subkey expiration time. If a subkey is
3126 selected, the expiration time of this subkey will be changed.
3127 With no selection, the key expiration of the primary key is
3131 Change the owner trust value for the key. This updates the
3132 trust-db immediately and no save is required.
3136 Disable or enable an entire key. A disabled key can not
3137 normally be used for encryption.
3140 Add a designated revoker to the key. This takes one optional
3141 argument: "sensitive". If a designated revoker is marked as
3142 sensitive, it will not be exported by default (see
3146 Change the passphrase of the secret key.
3149 This is dummy command which exists only for backward
3153 Compact (by removing all signatures except the selfsig) any
3154 user ID that is no longer usable (e.g. revoked, or expired).
3155 Then, remove any signatures that are not usable by the trust
3156 calculations. Specifically, this removes any signature that
3157 does not validate, any signature that is superseded by a later
3158 signature, revoked signatures, and signatures issued by keys
3159 that are not present on the keyring.
3162 Make the key as small as possible. This removes all
3163 signatures from each user ID except for the most recent
3167 Change the usage flags (capabilities) of the primary key or of
3168 subkeys. These usage flags (e.g. Certify, Sign,
3169 Authenticate, Encrypt) are set during key creation. Sometimes
3170 it is useful to have the opportunity to change them (for
3171 example to add Authenticate) after they have been created.
3172 Please take care when doing this; the allowed usage flags
3173 depend on the key algorithm.
3176 Add cross-certification signatures to signing subkeys that may
3177 not currently have them. Cross-certification signatures
3178 protect against a subtle attack against signing subkeys. See
3179 '--require-cross-certification'. All new keys generated have
3180 this signature by default, so this command is only useful to
3181 bring older keys up to date.
3184 Save all changes to the keyrings and quit.
3187 Quit the program without updating the keyrings.
3189 The listing shows you the key with its secondary keys and all user
3190 IDs. The primary user ID is indicated by a dot, and selected keys
3191 or user IDs are indicated by an asterisk. The trust value is
3192 displayed with the primary key: "trust" is the assigned owner trust
3193 and "validity" is the calculated validity of the key. Validity
3194 values are also displayed for all user IDs. For possible values of
3195 trust, *note trust-values::.
3198 Signs a public key with your secret key. This is a shortcut
3199 version of the subcommand "sign" from '--edit'.
3202 Signs a public key with your secret key but marks it as
3203 non-exportable. This is a shortcut version of the subcommand
3204 "lsign" from '--edit-key'.
3206 '--quick-sign-key FPR [NAMES]'
3207 '--quick-lsign-key FPR [NAMES]'
3208 Directly sign a key from the passphrase without any further user
3209 interaction. The FPR must be the verified primary fingerprint of a
3210 key in the local keyring. If no NAMES are given, all useful user
3211 ids are signed; with given [NAMES] only useful user ids matching
3212 one of theses names are signed. By default, or if a name is
3213 prefixed with a '*', a case insensitive substring match is used.
3214 If a name is prefixed with a '=' a case sensitive exact match is
3217 The command '--quick-lsign-key' marks the signatures as
3218 non-exportable. If such a non-exportable signature already exists
3219 the '--quick-sign-key' turns it into a exportable signature. If
3220 you need to update an existing signature, for example to add or
3221 change notation data, you need to use the option
3224 This command uses reasonable defaults and thus does not provide the
3225 full flexibility of the "sign" subcommand from '--edit-key'. Its
3226 intended use is to help unattended key signing by utilizing a list
3227 of verified fingerprints.
3229 '--quick-add-uid USER-ID NEW-USER-ID'
3230 This command adds a new user id to an existing key. In contrast to
3231 the interactive sub-command 'adduid' of '--edit-key' the
3232 NEW-USER-ID is added verbatim with only leading and trailing white
3233 space removed, it is expected to be UTF-8 encoded, and no checks on
3234 its form are applied.
3236 '--quick-revoke-uid USER-ID USER-ID-TO-REVOKE'
3237 This command revokes a user ID on an existing key. It cannot be
3238 used to revoke the last user ID on key (some non-revoked user ID
3239 must remain), with revocation reason "User ID is no longer valid".
3240 If you want to specify a different revocation reason, or to supply
3241 supplementary revocation text, you should use the interactive
3242 sub-command 'revuid' of '--edit-key'.
3244 '--quick-revoke-sig FPR SIGNING-FPR [NAMES]'
3245 This command revokes the key signatures made by SIGNING-FPR from
3246 the key specified by the fingerprint FPR. With NAMES given only
3247 the signatures on user ids of the key matching any of the given
3248 names are affected (see '--quick-sign-key'). If a revocation
3249 already exists a notice is printed instead of creating a new
3250 revocation; no error is returned in this case. Note that key
3251 signature revocations may be superseded by a newer key signature
3252 and in turn again revoked.
3254 '--quick-set-primary-uid USER-ID PRIMARY-USER-ID'
3255 This command sets or updates the primary user ID flag on an
3256 existing key. USER-ID specifies the key and PRIMARY-USER-ID the
3257 user ID which shall be flagged as the primary user ID. The primary
3258 user ID flag is removed from all other user ids and the timestamp
3259 of all affected self-signatures is set one second ahead.
3261 '--change-passphrase USER-ID'
3263 Change the passphrase of the secret key belonging to the
3264 certificate specified as USER-ID. This is a shortcut for the
3265 sub-command 'passwd' of the edit key menu. When using together
3266 with the option '--dry-run' this will not actually change the
3267 passphrase but check that the current passphrase is correct.
3270 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Options, Next: GPG Configuration, Prev: GPG Commands, Up: Invoking GPG
3275 'gpg' features a bunch of options to control the exact behaviour and to
3276 change the default configuration.
3280 * GPG Configuration Options:: How to change the configuration.
3281 * GPG Key related Options:: Key related options.
3282 * GPG Input and Output:: Input and Output.
3283 * OpenPGP Options:: OpenPGP protocol specific options.
3284 * Compliance Options:: Compliance options.
3285 * GPG Esoteric Options:: Doing things one usually doesn't want to do.
3286 * Deprecated Options:: Deprecated options.
3288 Long options can be put in an options file (default
3289 "~/.gnupg/gpg.conf"). Short option names will not work - for example,
3290 "armor" is a valid option for the options file, while "a" is not. Do
3291 not write the 2 dashes, but simply the name of the option and any
3292 required arguments. Lines with a hash ('#') as the first
3293 non-white-space character are ignored. Commands may be put in this file
3294 too, but that is not generally useful as the command will execute
3295 automatically with every execution of gpg.
3297 Please remember that option parsing stops as soon as a non-option is
3298 encountered, you can explicitly stop parsing by using the special option
3302 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Configuration Options, Next: GPG Key related Options, Up: GPG Options
3304 4.2.1 How to change the configuration
3305 -------------------------------------
3307 These options are used to change the configuration and most of them are
3308 usually found in the option file.
3310 '--default-key NAME'
3311 Use NAME as the default key to sign with. If this option is not
3312 used, the default key is the first key found in the secret keyring.
3313 Note that '-u' or '--local-user' overrides this option. This
3314 option may be given multiple times. In this case, the last key for
3315 which a secret key is available is used. If there is no secret key
3316 available for any of the specified values, GnuPG will not emit an
3317 error message but continue as if this option wasn't given.
3319 '--default-recipient NAME'
3320 Use NAME as default recipient if option '--recipient' is not used
3321 and don't ask if this is a valid one. NAME must be non-empty.
3323 '--default-recipient-self'
3324 Use the default key as default recipient if option '--recipient' is
3325 not used and don't ask if this is a valid one. The default key is
3326 the first one from the secret keyring or the one set with
3329 '--no-default-recipient'
3330 Reset '--default-recipient' and '--default-recipient-self'. Should
3331 not be used in an option file.
3334 Give more information during processing. If used twice, the input
3335 data is listed in detail.
3338 Reset verbose level to 0. Should not be used in an option file.
3341 Try to be as quiet as possible. Should not be used in an option
3346 Use batch mode. Never ask, do not allow interactive commands.
3347 '--no-batch' disables this option. Note that even with a filename
3348 given on the command line, gpg might still need to read from STDIN
3349 (in particular if gpg figures that the input is a detached
3350 signature and no data file has been specified). Thus if you do not
3351 want to feed data via STDIN, you should connect STDIN to
3354 It is highly recommended to use this option along with the options
3355 '--status-fd' and '--with-colons' for any unattended use of 'gpg'.
3356 Should not be used in an option file.
3359 Make sure that the TTY (terminal) is never used for any output.
3360 This option is needed in some cases because GnuPG sometimes prints
3361 warnings to the TTY even if '--batch' is used.
3364 Assume "yes" on most questions. Should not be used in an option
3368 Assume "no" on most questions. Should not be used in an option
3371 '--list-options PARAMETERS'
3372 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options used
3373 when listing keys and signatures (that is, '--list-keys',
3374 '--check-signatures', '--list-public-keys', '--list-secret-keys',
3375 and the '--edit-key' functions). Options can be prepended with a
3376 'no-' (after the two dashes) to give the opposite meaning. The
3380 Causes '--list-keys', '--check-signatures',
3381 '--list-public-keys', and '--list-secret-keys' to display any
3382 photo IDs attached to the key. Defaults to no. See also
3383 '--photo-viewer'. Does not work with '--with-colons': see
3384 '--attribute-fd' for the appropriate way to get photo data for
3385 scripts and other frontends.
3388 Show usage information for keys and subkeys in the standard
3389 key listing. This is a list of letters indicating the allowed
3390 usage for a key ('E'=encryption, 'S'=signing,
3391 'C'=certification, 'A'=authentication). Defaults to yes.
3394 Show policy URLs in the '--check-signatures' listings.
3400 Show all, IETF standard, or user-defined signature notations
3401 in the '--check-signatures' listings. Defaults to no.
3404 Show any preferred keyserver URL in the '--check-signatures'
3405 listings. Defaults to no.
3408 Display the calculated validity of user IDs during key
3409 listings. Defaults to yes.
3412 Show revoked and expired user IDs in key listings. Defaults
3415 show-unusable-subkeys
3416 Show revoked and expired subkeys in key listings. Defaults to
3420 Display the keyring name at the head of key listings to show
3421 which keyring a given key resides on. Defaults to no.
3424 Show signature expiration dates (if any) during
3425 '--check-signatures' listings. Defaults to no.
3428 Include signature subpackets in the key listing. This option
3429 can take an optional argument list of the subpackets to list.
3430 If no argument is passed, list all subpackets. Defaults to
3431 no. This option is only meaningful when using '--with-colons'
3432 along with '--check-signatures'.
3435 For each user-id which has a valid mail address print only the
3436 fingerprint followed by the mail address.
3438 '--verify-options PARAMETERS'
3439 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options used
3440 when verifying signatures. Options can be prepended with a 'no-'
3441 to give the opposite meaning. The options are:
3444 Display any photo IDs present on the key that issued the
3445 signature. Defaults to no. See also '--photo-viewer'.
3448 Show policy URLs in the signature being verified. Defaults to
3454 Show all, IETF standard, or user-defined signature notations
3455 in the signature being verified. Defaults to IETF standard.
3458 Show any preferred keyserver URL in the signature being
3459 verified. Defaults to yes.
3462 Display the calculated validity of the user IDs on the key
3463 that issued the signature. Defaults to yes.
3466 Show revoked and expired user IDs during signature
3467 verification. Defaults to no.
3469 show-primary-uid-only
3470 Show only the primary user ID during signature verification.
3471 That is all the AKA lines as well as photo Ids are not shown
3472 with the signature verification status.
3475 Enable PKA lookups to verify sender addresses. Note that PKA
3476 is based on DNS, and so enabling this option may disclose
3477 information on when and what signatures are verified or to
3478 whom data is encrypted. This is similar to the "web bug"
3479 described for the '--auto-key-retrieve' option.
3482 Raise the trust in a signature to full if the signature passes
3483 PKA validation. This option is only meaningful if pka-lookups
3486 '--enable-large-rsa'
3487 '--disable-large-rsa'
3488 With -generate-key and -batch, enable the creation of RSA secret
3489 keys as large as 8192 bit. Note: 8192 bit is more than is
3490 generally recommended. These large keys don't significantly
3491 improve security, but they are more expensive to use, and their
3492 signatures and certifications are larger. This option is only
3493 available if the binary was build with large-secmem support.
3497 Enable hash truncation for all DSA keys even for old DSA Keys up to
3498 1024 bit. This is also the default with '--openpgp'. Note that
3499 older versions of GnuPG also required this flag to allow the
3500 generation of DSA larger than 1024 bit.
3502 '--photo-viewer STRING'
3503 This is the command line that should be run to view a photo ID.
3504 "%i" will be expanded to a filename containing the photo. "%I"
3505 does the same, except the file will not be deleted once the viewer
3506 exits. Other flags are "%k" for the key ID, "%K" for the long key
3507 ID, "%f" for the key fingerprint, "%t" for the extension of the
3508 image type (e.g. "jpg"), "%T" for the MIME type of the image (e.g.
3509 "image/jpeg"), "%v" for the single-character calculated validity of
3510 the image being viewed (e.g. "f"), "%V" for the calculated
3511 validity as a string (e.g. "full"), "%U" for a base32 encoded hash
3512 of the user ID, and "%%" for an actual percent sign. If neither %i
3513 or %I are present, then the photo will be supplied to the viewer on
3516 On Unix the default viewer is 'xloadimage -fork -quiet -title
3517 'KeyID 0x%k' STDIN' with a fallback to 'display -title 'KeyID 0x%k'
3518 %i' and finally to 'xdg-open %i'. On Windows '!ShellExecute 400
3519 %i' is used; here the command is a meta command to use that API
3520 call followed by a wait time in milliseconds which is used to give
3521 the viewer time to read the temporary image file before gpg deletes
3522 it again. Note that if your image viewer program is not secure,
3523 then executing it from gpg does not make it secure.
3525 '--exec-path STRING'
3526 Sets a list of directories to search for photo viewers If not
3527 provided photo viewers use the 'PATH' environment variable.
3530 Add FILE to the current list of keyrings. If FILE begins with a
3531 tilde and a slash, these are replaced by the $HOME directory. If
3532 the filename does not contain a slash, it is assumed to be in the
3533 GnuPG home directory ("~/.gnupg" if '--homedir' or $GNUPGHOME is
3536 Note that this adds a keyring to the current list. If the intent
3537 is to use the specified keyring alone, use '--keyring' along with
3538 '--no-default-keyring'.
3540 If the option '--no-keyring' has been used no keyrings will be used
3543 '--secret-keyring FILE'
3544 This is an obsolete option and ignored. All secret keys are stored
3545 in the 'private-keys-v1.d' directory below the GnuPG home
3548 '--primary-keyring FILE'
3549 Designate FILE as the primary public keyring. This means that
3550 newly imported keys (via '--import' or keyserver '--recv-from')
3551 will go to this keyring.
3553 '--trustdb-name FILE'
3554 Use FILE instead of the default trustdb. If FILE begins with a
3555 tilde and a slash, these are replaced by the $HOME directory. If
3556 the filename does not contain a slash, it is assumed to be in the
3557 GnuPG home directory ('~/.gnupg' if '--homedir' or $GNUPGHOME is
3561 Set the name of the home directory to DIR. If this option is not
3562 used, the home directory defaults to '~/.gnupg'. It is only
3563 recognized when given on the command line. It also overrides any
3564 home directory stated through the environment variable 'GNUPGHOME'
3565 or (on Windows systems) by means of the Registry entry
3566 HKCU\SOFTWARE\GNU\GNUPG:HOMEDIR.
3568 On Windows systems it is possible to install GnuPG as a portable
3569 application. In this case only this command line option is
3570 considered, all other ways to set a home directory are ignored.
3572 To install GnuPG as a portable application under Windows, create an
3573 empty file named 'gpgconf.ctl' in the same directory as the tool
3574 'gpgconf.exe'. The root of the installation is then that
3575 directory; or, if 'gpgconf.exe' has been installed directly below a
3576 directory named 'bin', its parent directory. You also need to make
3577 sure that the following directories exist and are writable:
3578 'ROOT/home' for the GnuPG home and 'ROOT/usr/local/var/cache/gnupg'
3579 for internal cache files.
3581 '--display-charset NAME'
3582 Set the name of the native character set. This is used to convert
3583 some informational strings like user IDs to the proper UTF-8
3584 encoding. Note that this has nothing to do with the character set
3585 of data to be encrypted or signed; GnuPG does not recode
3586 user-supplied data. If this option is not used, the default
3587 character set is determined from the current locale. A verbosity
3588 level of 3 shows the chosen set. This option should not be used on
3589 Windows. Valid values for NAME are:
3592 This is the Latin 1 set.
3598 This is currently an alias for the Latin 1 set.
3601 The usual Russian set (RFC-1489).
3604 Bypass all translations and assume that the OS uses native
3609 Assume that command line arguments are given as UTF-8 strings. The
3610 default ('--no-utf8-strings') is to assume that arguments are
3611 encoded in the character set as specified by '--display-charset'.
3612 These options affect all following arguments. Both options may be
3613 used multiple times. This option should not be used in an option
3616 This option has no effect on Windows. There the internal used
3617 UTF-8 encoding is translated for console input and output. The
3618 command line arguments are expected as Unicode and translated to
3619 UTF-8. Thus when calling this program from another, make sure to
3620 use the Unicode version of CreateProcess.
3623 Read options from FILE and do not try to read them from the default
3624 options file in the homedir (see '--homedir'). This option is
3625 ignored if used in an options file.
3628 Shortcut for '--options /dev/null'. This option is detected before
3629 an attempt to open an option file. Using this option will also
3630 prevent the creation of a '~/.gnupg' homedir.
3633 '--compress-level N'
3634 '--bzip2-compress-level N'
3635 Set compression level to N for the ZIP and ZLIB compression
3636 algorithms. The default is to use the default compression level of
3637 zlib (normally 6). '--bzip2-compress-level' sets the compression
3638 level for the BZIP2 compression algorithm (defaulting to 6 as
3639 well). This is a different option from '--compress-level' since
3640 BZIP2 uses a significant amount of memory for each additional
3641 compression level. '-z' sets both. A value of 0 for N disables
3644 '--bzip2-decompress-lowmem'
3645 Use a different decompression method for BZIP2 compressed files.
3646 This alternate method uses a bit more than half the memory, but
3647 also runs at half the speed. This is useful under extreme low
3648 memory circumstances when the file was originally compressed at a
3649 high '--bzip2-compress-level'.
3651 '--mangle-dos-filenames'
3652 '--no-mangle-dos-filenames'
3653 Older version of Windows cannot handle filenames with more than one
3654 dot. '--mangle-dos-filenames' causes GnuPG to replace (rather than
3655 add to) the extension of an output filename to avoid this problem.
3656 This option is off by default and has no effect on non-Windows
3660 '--no-ask-cert-level'
3661 When making a key signature, prompt for a certification level. If
3662 this option is not specified, the certification level used is set
3663 via '--default-cert-level'. See '--default-cert-level' for
3664 information on the specific levels and how they are used.
3665 '--no-ask-cert-level' disables this option. This option defaults
3668 '--default-cert-level N'
3669 The default to use for the check level when signing a key.
3671 0 means you make no particular claim as to how carefully you
3674 1 means you believe the key is owned by the person who claims to
3675 own it but you could not, or did not verify the key at all. This
3676 is useful for a "persona" verification, where you sign the key of a
3679 2 means you did casual verification of the key. For example, this
3680 could mean that you verified the key fingerprint and checked the
3681 user ID on the key against a photo ID.
3683 3 means you did extensive verification of the key. For example,
3684 this could mean that you verified the key fingerprint with the
3685 owner of the key in person, and that you checked, by means of a
3686 hard to forge document with a photo ID (such as a passport) that
3687 the name of the key owner matches the name in the user ID on the
3688 key, and finally that you verified (by exchange of email) that the
3689 email address on the key belongs to the key owner.
3691 Note that the examples given above for levels 2 and 3 are just
3692 that: examples. In the end, it is up to you to decide just what
3693 "casual" and "extensive" mean to you.
3695 This option defaults to 0 (no particular claim).
3698 When building the trust database, treat any signatures with a
3699 certification level below this as invalid. Defaults to 2, which
3700 disregards level 1 signatures. Note that level 0 "no particular
3701 claim" signatures are always accepted.
3703 '--trusted-key LONG KEY ID OR FINGERPRINT'
3704 Assume that the specified key (which should be given as
3705 fingerprint) is as trustworthy as one of your own secret keys.
3706 This option is useful if you don't want to keep your secret keys
3707 (or one of them) online but still want to be able to check the
3708 validity of a given recipient's or signator's key. If the given
3709 key is not locally available but an LDAP keyserver is configured
3710 the missing key is imported from that server.
3712 '--trust-model {pgp|classic|tofu|tofu+pgp|direct|always|auto}'
3713 Set what trust model GnuPG should follow. The models are:
3716 This is the Web of Trust combined with trust signatures as
3717 used in PGP 5.x and later. This is the default trust model
3718 when creating a new trust database.
3721 This is the standard Web of Trust as introduced by PGP 2.
3724 TOFU stands for Trust On First Use. In this trust model, the
3725 first time a key is seen, it is memorized. If later another
3726 key with a user id with the same email address is seen, both
3727 keys are marked as suspect. In that case, the next time
3728 either is used, a warning is displayed describing the
3729 conflict, why it might have occurred (either the user
3730 generated a new key and failed to cross sign the old and new
3731 keys, the key is forgery, or a man-in-the-middle attack is
3732 being attempted), and the user is prompted to manually confirm
3733 the validity of the key in question.
3735 Because a potential attacker is able to control the email
3736 address and thereby circumvent the conflict detection
3737 algorithm by using an email address that is similar in
3738 appearance to a trusted email address, whenever a message is
3739 verified, statistics about the number of messages signed with
3740 the key are shown. In this way, a user can easily identify
3741 attacks using fake keys for regular correspondents.
3743 When compared with the Web of Trust, TOFU offers significantly
3744 weaker security guarantees. In particular, TOFU only helps
3745 ensure consistency (that is, that the binding between a key
3746 and email address doesn't change). A major advantage of TOFU
3747 is that it requires little maintenance to use correctly. To
3748 use the web of trust properly, you need to actively sign keys
3749 and mark users as trusted introducers. This is a
3750 time-consuming process and anecdotal evidence suggests that
3751 even security-conscious users rarely take the time to do this
3752 thoroughly and instead rely on an ad-hoc TOFU process.
3754 In the TOFU model, policies are associated with bindings
3755 between keys and email addresses (which are extracted from
3756 user ids and normalized). There are five policies, which can
3757 be set manually using the '--tofu-policy' option. The default
3758 policy can be set using the '--tofu-default-policy' option.
3760 The TOFU policies are: 'auto', 'good', 'unknown', 'bad' and
3761 'ask'. The 'auto' policy is used by default (unless
3762 overridden by '--tofu-default-policy') and marks a binding as
3763 marginally trusted. The 'good', 'unknown' and 'bad' policies
3764 mark a binding as fully trusted, as having unknown trust or as
3765 having trust never, respectively. The 'unknown' policy is
3766 useful for just using TOFU to detect conflicts, but to never
3767 assign positive trust to a binding. The final policy, 'ask'
3768 prompts the user to indicate the binding's trust. If batch
3769 mode is enabled (or input is inappropriate in the context),
3770 then the user is not prompted and the 'undefined' trust level
3774 This trust model combines TOFU with the Web of Trust. This is
3775 done by computing the trust level for each model and then
3776 taking the maximum trust level where the trust levels are
3777 ordered as follows: 'unknown < undefined < marginal < fully <
3778 ultimate < expired < never'.
3780 By setting '--tofu-default-policy=unknown', this model can be
3781 used to implement the web of trust with TOFU's conflict
3782 detection algorithm, but without its assignment of positive
3783 trust values, which some security-conscious users don't like.
3786 Key validity is set directly by the user and not calculated
3787 via the Web of Trust. This model is solely based on the key
3788 and does not distinguish user IDs. Note that when changing to
3789 another trust model the trust values assigned to a key are
3790 transformed into ownertrust values, which also indicate how
3791 you trust the owner of the key to sign other keys.
3794 Skip key validation and assume that used keys are always fully
3795 valid. You generally won't use this unless you are using some
3796 external validation scheme. This option also suppresses the
3797 "[uncertain]" tag printed with signature checks when there is
3798 no evidence that the user ID is bound to the key. Note that
3799 this trust model still does not allow the use of expired,
3800 revoked, or disabled keys.
3803 Select the trust model depending on whatever the internal
3804 trust database says. This is the default model if such a
3805 database already exists. Note that a tofu trust model is not
3806 considered here and must be enabled explicitly.
3808 '--auto-key-locate MECHANISMS'
3809 '--no-auto-key-locate'
3810 GnuPG can automatically locate and retrieve keys as needed using
3811 this option. This happens when encrypting to an email address (in
3812 the "user@example.com" form), and there are no "user@example.com"
3813 keys on the local keyring. This option takes any number of the
3814 mechanisms listed below, in the order they are to be tried.
3815 Instead of listing the mechanisms as comma delimited arguments, the
3816 option may also be given several times to add more mechanism. The
3817 option '--no-auto-key-locate' or the mechanism "clear" resets the
3818 list. The default is "local,wkd".
3821 Locate a key using DNS CERT, as specified in RFC-4398.
3824 Locate a key using DNS PKA.
3827 Locate a key using DANE, as specified in
3828 draft-ietf-dane-openpgpkey-05.txt.
3831 Locate a key using the Web Key Directory protocol.
3834 Using DNS Service Discovery, check the domain in question for
3835 any LDAP keyservers to use. If this fails, attempt to locate
3836 the key using the PGP Universal method of checking
3837 'ldap://keys.(thedomain)'.
3840 Locate the key using the Active Directory (Windows only).
3841 This method also allows to search by fingerprint using the
3842 command '--locate-external-key'.
3845 Locate a key using a keyserver. This method also allows to
3846 search by fingerprint using the command
3847 '--locate-external-key' if any of the configured keyservers is
3851 In addition, a keyserver URL as used in the 'dirmngr'
3852 configuration may be used here to query that particular
3853 keyserver. This method also allows to search by fingerprint
3854 using the command '--locate-external-key' if the URL specifies
3858 Locate the key using the local keyrings. This mechanism
3859 allows the user to select the order a local key lookup is
3860 done. Thus using '--auto-key-locate local' is identical to
3861 '--no-auto-key-locate'.
3864 This flag disables the standard local key lookup, done before
3865 any of the mechanisms defined by the '--auto-key-locate' are
3866 tried. The position of this mechanism in the list does not
3867 matter. It is not required if 'local' is also used.
3870 Clear all defined mechanisms. This is useful to override
3871 mechanisms given in a config file. Note that a 'nodefault' in
3872 MECHANISMS will also be cleared unless it is given after the
3876 '--no-auto-key-import'
3877 This is an offline mechanism to get a missing key for signature
3878 verification and for later encryption to this key. If this option
3879 is enabled and a signature includes an embedded key, that key is
3880 used to verify the signature and on verification success that key
3881 is imported. The default is '--no-auto-key-import'.
3883 On the sender (signing) site the option '--include-key-block' needs
3884 to be used to put the public part of the signing key as “Key Block
3885 subpacket” into the signature.
3887 '--auto-key-retrieve'
3888 '--no-auto-key-retrieve'
3889 These options enable or disable the automatic retrieving of keys
3890 from a keyserver when verifying signatures made by keys that are
3891 not on the local keyring. The default is '--no-auto-key-retrieve'.
3893 The order of methods tried to lookup the key is:
3895 1. If the option '--auto-key-import' is set and the signatures
3896 includes an embedded key, that key is used to verify the signature
3897 and on verification success that key is imported.
3899 2. If a preferred keyserver is specified in the signature and the
3900 option 'honor-keyserver-url' is active (which is not the default),
3901 that keyserver is tried. Note that the creator of the signature
3902 uses the option '--sig-keyserver-url' to specify the preferred
3903 keyserver for data signatures.
3905 3. If the signature has the Signer's UID set (e.g. using
3906 '--sender' while creating the signature) a Web Key Directory (WKD)
3907 lookup is done. This is the default configuration but can be
3908 disabled by removing WKD from the auto-key-locate list or by using
3909 the option '--disable-signer-uid'.
3911 4. If the option 'honor-pka-record' is active, the legacy PKA
3914 5. If any keyserver is configured and the Issuer Fingerprint is
3915 part of the signature (since GnuPG 2.1.16), the configured
3916 keyservers are tried.
3918 Note that this option makes a "web bug" like behavior possible.
3919 Keyserver or Web Key Directory operators can see which keys you
3920 request, so by sending you a message signed by a brand new key
3921 (which you naturally will not have on your local keyring), the
3922 operator can tell both your IP address and the time when you
3923 verified the signature.
3925 '--keyid-format {none|short|0xshort|long|0xlong}'
3926 Select how to display key IDs. "none" does not show the key ID at
3927 all but shows the fingerprint in a separate line. "short" is the
3928 traditional 8-character key ID. "long" is the more accurate (but
3929 less convenient) 16-character key ID. Add an "0x" to either to
3930 include an "0x" at the beginning of the key ID, as in 0x99242560.
3931 Note that this option is ignored if the option '--with-colons' is
3935 This option is deprecated - please use the '--keyserver' in
3936 'dirmngr.conf' instead.
3938 Use NAME as your keyserver. This is the server that
3939 '--receive-keys', '--send-keys', and '--search-keys' will
3940 communicate with to receive keys from, send keys to, and search for
3941 keys on. The format of the NAME is a URI:
3942 'scheme:[//]keyservername[:port]' The scheme is the type of
3943 keyserver: "hkp"/"hkps" for the HTTP (or compatible) keyservers or
3944 "ldap"/"ldaps" for the LDAP keyservers. Note that your particular
3945 installation of GnuPG may have other keyserver types available as
3946 well. Keyserver schemes are case-insensitive.
3948 Most keyservers synchronize with each other, so there is generally
3949 no need to send keys to more than one server. The keyserver
3950 'hkp://keys.gnupg.net' uses round robin DNS to give a different
3951 keyserver each time you use it.
3953 '--keyserver-options {NAME=VALUE}'
3954 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
3955 the keyserver. Options can be prefixed with a 'no-' to give the
3956 opposite meaning. Valid import-options or export-options may be
3957 used here as well to apply to importing ('--recv-key') or exporting
3958 ('--send-key') a key from a keyserver. While not all options are
3959 available for all keyserver types, some common options are:
3962 When searching for a key with '--search-keys', include keys
3963 that are marked on the keyserver as revoked. Note that not
3964 all keyservers differentiate between revoked and unrevoked
3965 keys, and for such keyservers this option is meaningless.
3966 Note also that most keyservers do not have cryptographic
3967 verification of key revocations, and so turning this option
3968 off may result in skipping keys that are incorrectly marked as
3972 When searching for a key with '--search-keys', include keys
3973 that are marked on the keyserver as disabled. Note that this
3974 option is not used with HKP keyservers.
3977 This is an obsolete alias for the option 'auto-key-retrieve'.
3978 Please do not use it; it will be removed in future versions..
3981 When using '--refresh-keys', if the key in question has a
3982 preferred keyserver URL, then use that preferred keyserver to
3983 refresh the key from. In addition, if auto-key-retrieve is
3984 set, and the signature being verified has a preferred
3985 keyserver URL, then use that preferred keyserver to fetch the
3986 key from. Note that this option introduces a "web bug": The
3987 creator of the key can see when the keys is refreshed. Thus
3988 this option is not enabled by default.
3991 If '--auto-key-retrieve' is used, and the signature being
3992 verified has a PKA record, then use the PKA information to
3993 fetch the key. Defaults to "yes".
3996 When receiving a key, include subkeys as potential targets.
3997 Note that this option is not used with HKP keyservers, as they
3998 do not support retrieving keys by subkey id.
4006 These options have no more function since GnuPG 2.1. Use the
4007 'dirmngr' configuration options instead.
4009 The default list of options is: "self-sigs-only, import-clean,
4010 repair-keys, repair-pks-subkey-bug, export-attributes,
4011 honor-pka-record". However, if the actual used source is an LDAP
4012 server "no-self-sigs-only" is assumed unless "self-sigs-only" has
4013 been explictly configured.
4015 '--completes-needed N'
4016 Number of completely trusted users to introduce a new key signer
4019 '--marginals-needed N'
4020 Number of marginally trusted users to introduce a new key signer
4023 '--tofu-default-policy {auto|good|unknown|bad|ask}'
4024 The default TOFU policy (defaults to 'auto'). For more information
4025 about the meaning of this option, *note trust-model-tofu::.
4027 '--max-cert-depth N'
4028 Maximum depth of a certification chain (default is 5).
4031 Do not cache the verification status of key signatures. Caching
4032 gives a much better performance in key listings. However, if you
4033 suspect that your public keyring is not safe against write
4034 modifications, you can use this option to disable the caching. It
4035 probably does not make sense to disable it because all kind of
4036 damage can be done if someone else has write access to your public
4039 '--auto-check-trustdb'
4040 '--no-auto-check-trustdb'
4041 If GnuPG feels that its information about the Web of Trust has to
4042 be updated, it automatically runs the '--check-trustdb' command
4043 internally. This may be a time consuming process.
4044 '--no-auto-check-trustdb' disables this option.
4048 This is dummy option. 'gpg' always requires the agent.
4051 This is dummy option. It has no effect when used with 'gpg'.
4053 '--agent-program FILE'
4054 Specify an agent program to be used for secret key operations. The
4055 default value is determined by running 'gpgconf' with the option
4056 '--list-dirs'. Note that the pipe symbol ('|') is used for a
4057 regression test suite hack and may thus not be used in the file
4060 '--dirmngr-program FILE'
4061 Specify a dirmngr program to be used for keyserver access. The
4062 default value is '/usr/local/bin/dirmngr'.
4065 Entirely disable the use of the Dirmngr.
4068 Do not start the gpg-agent or the dirmngr if it has not yet been
4069 started and its service is required. This option is mostly useful
4070 on machines where the connection to gpg-agent has been redirected
4071 to another machines. If dirmngr is required on the remote machine,
4072 it may be started manually using 'gpgconf --launch dirmngr'.
4075 Lock the databases the first time a lock is requested and do not
4076 release the lock until the process terminates.
4079 Release the locks every time a lock is no longer needed. Use this
4080 to override a previous '--lock-once' from a config file.
4083 Disable locking entirely. This option should be used only in very
4084 special environments, where it can be assured that only one process
4085 is accessing those files. A bootable floppy with a stand-alone
4086 encryption system will probably use this. Improper usage of this
4087 option may lead to data and key corruption.
4089 '--exit-on-status-write-error'
4090 This option will cause write errors on the status FD to immediately
4091 terminate the process. That should in fact be the default but it
4092 never worked this way and thus we need an option to enable this, so
4093 that the change won't break applications which close their end of a
4094 status fd connected pipe too early. Using this option along with
4095 '--enable-progress-filter' may be used to cleanly cancel long
4096 running gpg operations.
4098 '--limit-card-insert-tries N'
4099 With N greater than 0 the number of prompts asking to insert a
4100 smartcard gets limited to N-1. Thus with a value of 1 gpg won't at
4101 all ask to insert a card if none has been inserted at startup.
4102 This option is useful in the configuration file in case an
4103 application does not know about the smartcard support and waits ad
4104 infinitum for an inserted card.
4106 '--no-random-seed-file'
4107 GnuPG uses a file to store its internal random pool over
4108 invocations. This makes random generation faster; however
4109 sometimes write operations are not desired. This option can be
4110 used to achieve that with the cost of slower random generation.
4113 Suppress the initial copyright message.
4115 '--no-secmem-warning'
4116 Suppress the warning about "using insecure memory".
4118 '--no-permission-warning'
4119 Suppress the warning about unsafe file and home directory
4120 ('--homedir') permissions. Note that the permission checks that
4121 GnuPG performs are not intended to be authoritative, but rather
4122 they simply warn about certain common permission problems. Do not
4123 assume that the lack of a warning means that your system is secure.
4125 Note that the warning for unsafe '--homedir' permissions cannot be
4126 suppressed in the gpg.conf file, as this would allow an attacker to
4127 place an unsafe gpg.conf file in place, and use this file to
4128 suppress warnings about itself. The '--homedir' permissions
4129 warning may only be suppressed on the command line.
4132 '--no-require-secmem'
4133 Refuse to run if GnuPG cannot get secure memory. Defaults to no
4134 (i.e. run, but give a warning).
4136 '--require-cross-certification'
4137 '--no-require-cross-certification'
4138 When verifying a signature made from a subkey, ensure that the
4139 cross certification "back signature" on the subkey is present and
4140 valid. This protects against a subtle attack against subkeys that
4141 can sign. Defaults to '--require-cross-certification' for 'gpg'.
4145 Allow the user to do certain nonsensical or "silly" things like
4146 signing an expired or revoked key, or certain potentially
4147 incompatible things like generating unusual key types. This also
4148 disables certain warning messages about potentially incompatible
4149 actions. As the name implies, this option is for experts only. If
4150 you don't fully understand the implications of what it allows you
4151 to do, leave this off. '--no-expert' disables this option.
4154 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Key related Options, Next: GPG Input and Output, Prev: GPG Configuration Options, Up: GPG Options
4156 4.2.2 Key related options
4157 -------------------------
4161 Encrypt for user id NAME. If this option or '--hidden-recipient'
4162 is not specified, GnuPG asks for the user-id unless
4163 '--default-recipient' is given.
4165 '--hidden-recipient NAME'
4167 Encrypt for user ID NAME, but hide the key ID of this user's key.
4168 This option helps to hide the receiver of the message and is a
4169 limited countermeasure against traffic analysis. If this option or
4170 '--recipient' is not specified, GnuPG asks for the user ID unless
4171 '--default-recipient' is given.
4173 '--recipient-file FILE'
4175 This option is similar to '--recipient' except that it encrypts to
4176 a key stored in the given file. FILE must be the name of a file
4177 containing exactly one key. 'gpg' assumes that the key in this
4178 file is fully valid.
4180 '--hidden-recipient-file FILE'
4182 This option is similar to '--hidden-recipient' except that it
4183 encrypts to a key stored in the given file. FILE must be the name
4184 of a file containing exactly one key. 'gpg' assumes that the key
4185 in this file is fully valid.
4188 Same as '--recipient' but this one is intended for use in the
4189 options file and may be used with your own user-id as an
4190 "encrypt-to-self". These keys are only used when there are other
4191 recipients given either by use of '--recipient' or by the asked
4192 user id. No trust checking is performed for these user ids and
4193 even disabled keys can be used.
4195 '--hidden-encrypt-to NAME'
4196 Same as '--hidden-recipient' but this one is intended for use in
4197 the options file and may be used with your own user-id as a hidden
4198 "encrypt-to-self". These keys are only used when there are other
4199 recipients given either by use of '--recipient' or by the asked
4200 user id. No trust checking is performed for these user ids and
4201 even disabled keys can be used.
4204 Disable the use of all '--encrypt-to' and '--hidden-encrypt-to'
4207 '--group {NAME=VALUE}'
4208 Sets up a named group, which is similar to aliases in email
4209 programs. Any time the group name is a recipient ('-r' or
4210 '--recipient'), it will be expanded to the values specified.
4211 Multiple groups with the same name are automatically merged into a
4214 The values are 'key IDs' or fingerprints, but any key description
4215 is accepted. Note that a value with spaces in it will be treated
4216 as two different values. Note also there is only one level of
4217 expansion -- you cannot make an group that points to another group.
4218 When used from the command line, it may be necessary to quote the
4219 argument to this option to prevent the shell from treating it as
4223 Remove a given entry from the '--group' list.
4226 Remove all entries from the '--group' list.
4230 Use NAME as the key to sign with. Note that this option overrides
4234 This option has two purposes. MBOX must either be a complete user
4235 id with a proper mail address or just a mail address. When
4236 creating a signature this option tells gpg the user id of a key
4237 used to make a signature if the key was not directly specified by a
4238 user id. When verifying a signature the MBOX is used to restrict
4239 the information printed by the TOFU code to matching user ids.
4241 '--try-secret-key NAME'
4242 For hidden recipients GPG needs to know the keys to use for trial
4243 decryption. The key set with '--default-key' is always tried
4244 first, but this is often not sufficient. This option allows
4245 setting more keys to be used for trial decryption. Although any
4246 valid user-id specification may be used for NAME it makes sense to
4247 use at least the long keyid to avoid ambiguities. Note that
4248 gpg-agent might pop up a pinentry for a lot keys to do the trial
4249 decryption. If you want to stop all further trial decryption you
4250 may use close-window button instead of the cancel button.
4253 Don't look at the key ID as stored in the message but try all
4254 secret keys in turn to find the right decryption key. This option
4255 forces the behaviour as used by anonymous recipients (created by
4256 using '--throw-keyids' or '--hidden-recipient') and might come
4257 handy in case where an encrypted message contains a bogus key ID.
4259 '--skip-hidden-recipients'
4260 '--no-skip-hidden-recipients'
4261 During decryption skip all anonymous recipients. This option helps
4262 in the case that people use the hidden recipients feature to hide
4263 their own encrypt-to key from others. If one has many secret keys
4264 this may lead to a major annoyance because all keys are tried in
4265 turn to decrypt something which was not really intended for it.
4266 The drawback of this option is that it is currently not possible to
4267 decrypt a message which includes real anonymous recipients.
4270 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Input and Output, Next: OpenPGP Options, Prev: GPG Key related Options, Up: GPG Options
4272 4.2.3 Input and Output
4273 ----------------------
4277 Create ASCII armored output. The default is to create the binary
4281 Assume the input data is not in ASCII armored format.
4285 Write output to FILE. To write to stdout use '-' as the filename.
4288 This option sets a limit on the number of bytes that will be
4289 generated when processing a file. Since OpenPGP supports various
4290 levels of compression, it is possible that the plaintext of a given
4291 message may be significantly larger than the original OpenPGP
4292 message. While GnuPG works properly with such messages, there is
4293 often a desire to set a maximum file size that will be generated
4294 before processing is forced to stop by the OS limits. Defaults to
4295 0, which means "no limit".
4297 '--input-size-hint N'
4298 This option can be used to tell GPG the size of the input data in
4299 bytes. N must be a positive base-10 number. This option is only
4300 useful if the input is not taken from a file. GPG may use this
4301 hint to optimize its buffer allocation strategy. It is also used
4302 by the '--status-fd' line "PROGRESS" to provide a value for "total"
4303 if that is not available by other means.
4305 '--key-origin STRING[,URL]'
4306 gpg can track the origin of a key. Certain origins are implicitly
4307 known (e.g. keyserver, web key directory) and set. For a standard
4308 import the origin of the keys imported can be set with this option.
4309 To list the possible values use "help" for STRING. Some origins
4310 can store an optional URL argument. That URL can appended to
4311 STRING after a comma.
4313 '--import-options PARAMETERS'
4314 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
4315 importing keys. Options can be prepended with a 'no-' to give the
4316 opposite meaning. The options are:
4319 Allow importing key signatures marked as "local". This is not
4320 generally useful unless a shared keyring scheme is being used.
4324 Normally possible still existing ownertrust values of a key
4325 are cleared if a key is imported. This is in general
4326 desirable so that a formerly deleted key does not
4327 automatically gain an ownertrust values merely due to import.
4328 On the other hand it is sometimes necessary to re-import a
4329 trusted set of keys again but keeping already assigned
4330 ownertrust values. This can be achieved by using this option.
4332 repair-pks-subkey-bug
4333 During import, attempt to repair the damage caused by the PKS
4334 keyserver bug (pre version 0.9.6) that mangles keys with
4335 multiple subkeys. Note that this cannot completely repair the
4336 damaged key as some crucial data is removed by the keyserver,
4337 but it does at least give you back one subkey. Defaults to no
4338 for regular '--import' and to yes for keyserver
4343 Show a listing of the key as imported right before it is
4344 stored. This can be combined with the option '--dry-run' to
4345 only look at keys; the option 'show-only' is a shortcut for
4346 this combination. The command '--show-keys' is another
4347 shortcut for this. Note that suffixes like '#' for "sec" and
4348 "sbb" lines may or may not be printed.
4351 Run the entire import code but instead of storing the key to
4352 the local keyring write it to the output. The export options
4353 'export-pka' and 'export-dane' affect the output. This option
4354 can be used to remove all invalid parts from a key without the
4358 During import, allow key updates to existing keys, but do not
4359 allow any new keys to be imported. Defaults to no.
4362 After import, compact (remove all signatures except the
4363 self-signature) any user IDs from the new key that are not
4364 usable. Then, remove any signatures from the new key that are
4365 not usable. This includes signatures that were issued by keys
4366 that are not present on the keyring. This option is the same
4367 as running the '--edit-key' command "clean" after import.
4371 Accept only self-signatures while importing a key. All other
4372 key signatures are skipped at an early import stage. This
4373 option can be used with 'keyserver-options' to mitigate
4374 attempts to flood a key with bogus signatures from a
4375 keyserver. The drawback is that all other valid key
4376 signatures, as required by the Web of Trust are also not
4377 imported. Note that when using this option along with
4378 import-clean it suppresses the final clean step after merging
4379 the imported key into the existing key.
4382 After import, fix various problems with the keys. For
4383 example, this reorders signatures, and strips duplicate
4384 signatures. Defaults to yes.
4387 Import the smallest key possible. This removes all signatures
4388 except the most recent self-signature on each user ID. This
4389 option is the same as running the '--edit-key' command
4390 "minimize" after import. Defaults to no.
4394 Import in key restore mode. This imports all data which is
4395 usually skipped during import; including all GnuPG specific
4396 data. All other contradicting options are overridden.
4398 '--import-filter {NAME=EXPR}'
4399 '--export-filter {NAME=EXPR}'
4400 These options define an import/export filter which are applied to
4401 the imported/exported keyblock right before it will be
4402 stored/written. NAME defines the type of filter to use, EXPR the
4403 expression to evaluate. The option can be used several times which
4404 then appends more expression to the same NAME.
4406 The available filter types are:
4409 This filter will keep a user id packet and its dependent
4410 packets in the keyblock if the expression evaluates to true.
4413 This filter drops the selected subkeys. Currently only
4414 implemented for -export-filter.
4417 This filter drops the selected key signatures on user ids.
4418 Self-signatures are not considered. Currently only
4419 implemented for -import-filter.
4421 For the syntax of the expression see the chapter "FILTER
4422 EXPRESSIONS". The property names for the expressions depend on the
4423 actual filter type and are indicated in the following table.
4425 The available properties are:
4428 A string with the user id. (keep-uid)
4431 The addr-spec part of a user id with mailbox or the empty
4435 A number with the public key algorithm of a key or subkey
4436 packet. (drop-subkey)
4440 The first is the timestamp a public key or subkey packet was
4441 created. The second is the same but given as an ISO string,
4442 e.g. "2016-08-17". (drop-subkey)
4445 The hexified fingerprint of the current subkey or primary key.
4449 Boolean indicating whether the user id is the primary one.
4453 Boolean indicating whether a user id (keep-uid), a key
4454 (drop-subkey), or a signature (drop-sig) expired.
4457 Boolean indicating whether a user id (keep-uid) or a key
4458 (drop-subkey) has been revoked.
4461 Boolean indicating whether a primary key is disabled. (not
4465 Boolean indicating whether a key or subkey is a secret one.
4469 A string indicating the usage flags for the subkey, from the
4470 sequence "ecsa?". For example, a subkey capable of just
4471 signing and authentication would be an exact match for "sa".
4476 The first is the timestamp a signature packet was created.
4477 The second is the same but given as an ISO date string, e.g.
4478 "2016-08-17". (drop-sig)
4481 A number with the public key algorithm of a signature packet.
4485 A number with the digest algorithm of a signature packet.
4488 '--export-options PARAMETERS'
4489 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
4490 exporting keys. Options can be prepended with a 'no-' to give the
4491 opposite meaning. The options are:
4494 Allow exporting key signatures marked as "local". This is not
4495 generally useful unless a shared keyring scheme is being used.
4499 Include attribute user IDs (photo IDs) while exporting. Not
4500 including attribute user IDs is useful to export keys that are
4501 going to be used by an OpenPGP program that does not accept
4502 attribute user IDs. Defaults to yes.
4504 export-sensitive-revkeys
4505 Include designated revoker information that was marked as
4506 "sensitive". Defaults to no.
4510 Export for use as a backup. The exported data includes all
4511 data which is needed to restore the key or keys later with
4512 GnuPG. The format is basically the OpenPGP format but enhanced
4513 with GnuPG specific data. All other contradicting options are
4517 Compact (remove all signatures from) user IDs on the key being
4518 exported if the user IDs are not usable. Also, do not export
4519 any signatures that are not usable. This includes signatures
4520 that were issued by keys that are not present on the keyring.
4521 This option is the same as running the '--edit-key' command
4522 "clean" before export except that the local copy of the key is
4523 not modified. Defaults to no.
4526 Export the smallest key possible. This removes all signatures
4527 except the most recent self-signature on each user ID. This
4528 option is the same as running the '--edit-key' command
4529 "minimize" before export except that the local copy of the key
4530 is not modified. Defaults to no.
4533 Instead of outputting the key material output PKA records
4534 suitable to put into DNS zone files. An ORIGIN line is
4535 printed before each record to allow diverting the records to
4536 the corresponding zone file.
4539 Instead of outputting the key material output OpenPGP DANE
4540 records suitable to put into DNS zone files. An ORIGIN line
4541 is printed before each record to allow diverting the records
4542 to the corresponding zone file.
4545 Print key listings delimited by colons. Note that the output will
4546 be encoded in UTF-8 regardless of any '--display-charset' setting.
4547 This format is useful when GnuPG is called from scripts and other
4548 programs as it is easily machine parsed. The details of this
4549 format are documented in the file 'doc/DETAILS', which is included
4550 in the GnuPG source distribution.
4553 Do not merge primary user ID and primary key in '--with-colon'
4554 listing mode and print all timestamps as seconds since 1970-01-01.
4555 Since GnuPG 2.0.10, this mode is always used and thus this option
4556 is obsolete; it does not harm to use it though.
4558 '--legacy-list-mode'
4559 Revert to the pre-2.1 public key list mode. This only affects the
4560 human readable output and not the machine interface (i.e.
4561 '--with-colons'). Note that the legacy format does not convey
4562 suitable information for elliptic curves.
4564 '--with-fingerprint'
4565 Same as the command '--fingerprint' but changes only the format of
4566 the output and may be used together with another command.
4568 '--with-subkey-fingerprint'
4569 If a fingerprint is printed for the primary key, this option forces
4570 printing of the fingerprint for all subkeys. This could also be
4571 achieved by using the '--with-fingerprint' twice but by using this
4572 option along with keyid-format "none" a compact fingerprint is
4575 '--with-icao-spelling'
4576 Print the ICAO spelling of the fingerprint in addition to the hex
4580 Include the keygrip in the key listings. In '--with-colons' mode
4581 this is implicitly enable for secret keys.
4584 Include the locally held information on the origin and last update
4585 of a key in a key listing. In '--with-colons' mode this is always
4586 printed. This data is currently experimental and shall not be
4587 considered part of the stable API.
4590 Print a Web Key Directory identifier along with each user ID in key
4591 listings. This is an experimental feature and semantics may
4595 Include info about the presence of a secret key in public key
4596 listings done with '--with-colons'.
4599 File: gnupg.info, Node: OpenPGP Options, Next: Compliance Options, Prev: GPG Input and Output, Up: GPG Options
4601 4.2.4 OpenPGP protocol specific options
4602 ---------------------------------------
4606 Treat input files as text and store them in the OpenPGP canonical
4607 text form with standard "CRLF" line endings. This also sets the
4608 necessary flags to inform the recipient that the encrypted or
4609 signed data is text and may need its line endings converted back to
4610 whatever the local system uses. This option is useful when
4611 communicating between two platforms that have different line ending
4612 conventions (UNIX-like to Mac, Mac to Windows, etc).
4613 '--no-textmode' disables this option, and is the default.
4616 '--no-force-v3-sigs'
4618 '--no-force-v4-certs'
4619 These options are obsolete and have no effect since GnuPG 2.1.
4623 These options are obsolete and have no effect since GnuPG 2.2.8.
4624 The MDC is always used. But note: If the creation of a legacy
4625 non-MDC message is exceptionally required, the option '--rfc2440'
4628 '--disable-signer-uid'
4629 By default the user ID of the signing key is embedded in the data
4630 signature. As of now this is only done if the signing key has been
4631 specified with 'local-user' using a mail address, or with 'sender'.
4632 This information can be helpful for verifier to locate the key; see
4633 option '--auto-key-retrieve'.
4635 '--include-key-block'
4636 This option is used to embed the actual signing key into a data
4637 signature. The embedded key is stripped down to a single user id
4638 and includes only the signing subkey used to create the signature
4639 as well as as valid encryption subkeys. All other info is removed
4640 from the key to keep it and thus the signature small. This option
4641 is the OpenPGP counterpart to the 'gpgsm' option '--include-certs'.
4643 '--personal-cipher-preferences STRING'
4644 Set the list of personal cipher preferences to STRING. Use 'gpg
4645 --version' to get a list of available algorithms, and use 'none' to
4646 set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely override
4647 the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as GPG will
4648 only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipients. The
4649 most highly ranked cipher in this list is also used for the
4650 '--symmetric' encryption command.
4652 '--personal-digest-preferences STRING'
4653 Set the list of personal digest preferences to STRING. Use 'gpg
4654 --version' to get a list of available algorithms, and use 'none' to
4655 set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely override
4656 the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as GPG will
4657 only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipients. The
4658 most highly ranked digest algorithm in this list is also used when
4659 signing without encryption (e.g. '--clear-sign' or '--sign').
4661 '--personal-compress-preferences STRING'
4662 Set the list of personal compression preferences to STRING. Use
4663 'gpg --version' to get a list of available algorithms, and use
4664 'none' to set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely
4665 override the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as
4666 GPG will only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipients.
4667 The most highly ranked compression algorithm in this list is also
4668 used when there are no recipient keys to consider (e.g.
4671 '--s2k-cipher-algo NAME'
4672 Use NAME as the cipher algorithm for symmetric encryption with a
4673 passphrase if '--personal-cipher-preferences' and '--cipher-algo'
4674 are not given. The default is AES-128.
4676 '--s2k-digest-algo NAME'
4677 Use NAME as the digest algorithm used to mangle the passphrases for
4678 symmetric encryption. The default is SHA-1.
4681 Selects how passphrases for symmetric encryption are mangled. If N
4682 is 0 a plain passphrase (which is in general not recommended) will
4683 be used, a 1 adds a salt (which should not be used) to the
4684 passphrase and a 3 (the default) iterates the whole process a
4685 number of times (see '--s2k-count').
4688 Specify how many times the passphrases mangling for symmetric
4689 encryption is repeated. This value may range between 1024 and
4690 65011712 inclusive. The default is inquired from gpg-agent. Note
4691 that not all values in the 1024-65011712 range are legal and if an
4692 illegal value is selected, GnuPG will round up to the nearest legal
4693 value. This option is only meaningful if '--s2k-mode' is set to
4697 File: gnupg.info, Node: Compliance Options, Next: GPG Esoteric Options, Prev: OpenPGP Options, Up: GPG Options
4699 4.2.5 Compliance options
4700 ------------------------
4702 These options control what GnuPG is compliant to. Only one of these
4703 options may be active at a time. Note that the default setting of this
4704 is nearly always the correct one. See the INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER
4705 OPENPGP PROGRAMS section below before using one of these options.
4708 Use standard GnuPG behavior. This is essentially OpenPGP behavior
4709 (see '--openpgp'), but with some additional workarounds for common
4710 compatibility problems in different versions of PGP. This is the
4711 default option, so it is not generally needed, but it may be useful
4712 to override a different compliance option in the gpg.conf file.
4715 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict OpenPGP
4716 behavior. Use this option to reset all previous options like
4717 '--s2k-*', '--cipher-algo', '--digest-algo' and '--compress-algo'
4718 to OpenPGP compliant values. All PGP workarounds are disabled.
4721 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict RFC-4880
4722 behavior. Note that this is currently the same thing as
4726 Enable experimental features from proposed updates to RFC-4880.
4727 This option can be used in addition to the other compliance
4728 options. Warning: The behavior may change with any GnuPG release
4729 and created keys or data may not be usable with future GnuPG
4733 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict RFC-2440
4734 behavior. Note that by using this option encryption packets are
4735 created in a legacy mode without MDC protection. This is dangerous
4736 and should thus only be used for experiments. See also option
4737 '--ignore-mdc-error'.
4740 Set up all options to be as PGP 6 compliant as possible. This
4741 restricts you to the ciphers IDEA (if the IDEA plugin is
4742 installed), 3DES, and CAST5, the hashes MD5, SHA1 and RIPEMD160,
4743 and the compression algorithms none and ZIP. This also disables
4744 '--throw-keyids', and making signatures with signing subkeys as PGP
4745 6 does not understand signatures made by signing subkeys.
4747 This option implies '--escape-from-lines'.
4750 Set up all options to be as PGP 7 compliant as possible. This is
4751 identical to '--pgp6' except that MDCs are not disabled, and the
4752 list of allowable ciphers is expanded to add AES128, AES192,
4753 AES256, and TWOFISH.
4756 Set up all options to be as PGP 8 compliant as possible. PGP 8 is
4757 a lot closer to the OpenPGP standard than previous versions of PGP,
4758 so all this does is disable '--throw-keyids' and set
4759 '--escape-from-lines'. All algorithms are allowed except for the
4760 SHA224, SHA384, and SHA512 digests.
4762 '--compliance STRING'
4763 This option can be used instead of one of the options above. Valid
4764 values for STRING are the above option names (without the double
4765 dash) and possibly others as shown when using "help" for VALUE.
4768 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Esoteric Options, Next: Deprecated Options, Prev: Compliance Options, Up: GPG Options
4770 4.2.6 Doing things one usually doesn't want to do
4771 -------------------------------------------------
4775 Don't make any changes (this is not completely implemented).
4778 Changes the behaviour of some commands. This is like '--dry-run'
4779 but different in some cases. The semantic of this option may be
4780 extended in the future. Currently it only skips the actual
4781 decryption pass and therefore enables a fast listing of the
4786 Prompt before overwriting any files.
4788 '--debug-level LEVEL'
4789 Select the debug level for investigating problems. LEVEL may be a
4790 numeric value or by a keyword:
4793 No debugging at all. A value of less than 1 may be used
4794 instead of the keyword.
4796 Some basic debug messages. A value between 1 and 2 may be
4797 used instead of the keyword.
4799 More verbose debug messages. A value between 3 and 5 may be
4800 used instead of the keyword.
4802 Even more detailed messages. A value between 6 and 8 may be
4803 used instead of the keyword.
4805 All of the debug messages you can get. A value greater than 8
4806 may be used instead of the keyword. The creation of hash
4807 tracing files is only enabled if the keyword is used.
4809 How these messages are mapped to the actual debugging flags is not
4810 specified and may change with newer releases of this program. They
4811 are however carefully selected to best aid in debugging.
4814 Set debugging flags. All flags are or-ed and FLAGS may be given in
4815 C syntax (e.g. 0x0042) or as a comma separated list of flag names.
4816 To get a list of all supported flags the single word "help" can be
4820 Set all useful debugging flags.
4823 Set stdout into line buffered mode. This option is only honored
4824 when given on the command line.
4826 '--faked-system-time EPOCH'
4827 This option is only useful for testing; it sets the system time
4828 back or forth to EPOCH which is the number of seconds elapsed since
4829 the year 1970. Alternatively EPOCH may be given as a full ISO time
4830 string (e.g. "20070924T154812").
4832 If you suffix EPOCH with an exclamation mark (!), the system time
4833 will appear to be frozen at the specified time.
4835 '--enable-progress-filter'
4836 Enable certain PROGRESS status outputs. This option allows
4837 frontends to display a progress indicator while gpg is processing
4838 larger files. There is a slight performance overhead using it.
4841 Write special status strings to the file descriptor N. See the
4842 file DETAILS in the documentation for a listing of them.
4844 '--status-file FILE'
4845 Same as '--status-fd', except the status data is written to file
4849 Write log output to file descriptor N and not to STDERR.
4852 '--logger-file FILE'
4853 Same as '--logger-fd', except the logger data is written to file
4854 FILE. Use 'socket://' to log to a socket. Note that in this
4855 version of gpg the option has only an effect if '--batch' is also
4859 Write attribute subpackets to the file descriptor N. This is most
4860 useful for use with '--status-fd', since the status messages are
4861 needed to separate out the various subpackets from the stream
4862 delivered to the file descriptor.
4864 '--attribute-file FILE'
4865 Same as '--attribute-fd', except the attribute data is written to
4870 Use STRING as a comment string in cleartext signatures and ASCII
4871 armored messages or keys (see '--armor'). The default behavior is
4872 not to use a comment string. '--comment' may be repeated multiple
4873 times to get multiple comment strings. '--no-comments' removes all
4874 comments. It is a good idea to keep the length of a single comment
4875 below 60 characters to avoid problems with mail programs wrapping
4876 such lines. Note that comment lines, like all other header lines,
4877 are not protected by the signature.
4881 Force inclusion of the version string in ASCII armored output. If
4882 given once only the name of the program and the major number is
4883 emitted, given twice the minor is also emitted, given thrice the
4884 micro is added, and given four times an operating system
4885 identification is also emitted. '--no-emit-version' (default)
4886 disables the version line.
4888 '--sig-notation {NAME=VALUE}'
4889 '--cert-notation {NAME=VALUE}'
4890 '-N, --set-notation {NAME=VALUE}'
4891 Put the name value pair into the signature as notation data. NAME
4892 must consist only of printable characters or spaces, and must
4893 contain a '@' character in the form keyname@domain.example.com
4894 (substituting the appropriate keyname and domain name, of course).
4895 This is to help prevent pollution of the IETF reserved notation
4896 namespace. The '--expert' flag overrides the '@' check. VALUE may
4897 be any printable string; it will be encoded in UTF-8, so you should
4898 check that your '--display-charset' is set correctly. If you
4899 prefix NAME with an exclamation mark (!), the notation data will be
4900 flagged as critical (rfc4880:5.2.3.16). '--sig-notation' sets a
4901 notation for data signatures. '--cert-notation' sets a notation
4902 for key signatures (certifications). '--set-notation' sets both.
4904 There are special codes that may be used in notation names. "%k"
4905 will be expanded into the key ID of the key being signed, "%K" into
4906 the long key ID of the key being signed, "%f" into the fingerprint
4907 of the key being signed, "%s" into the key ID of the key making the
4908 signature, "%S" into the long key ID of the key making the
4909 signature, "%g" into the fingerprint of the key making the
4910 signature (which might be a subkey), "%p" into the fingerprint of
4911 the primary key of the key making the signature, "%c" into the
4912 signature count from the OpenPGP smartcard, and "%%" results in a
4913 single "%". %k, %K, and %f are only meaningful when making a key
4914 signature (certification), and %c is only meaningful when using the
4917 '--known-notation NAME'
4918 Adds NAME to a list of known critical signature notations. The
4919 effect of this is that gpg will not mark a signature with a
4920 critical signature notation of that name as bad. Note that gpg
4921 already knows by default about a few critical signatures notation
4924 '--sig-policy-url STRING'
4925 '--cert-policy-url STRING'
4926 '--set-policy-url STRING'
4927 Use STRING as a Policy URL for signatures (rfc4880:5.2.3.20). If
4928 you prefix it with an exclamation mark (!), the policy URL packet
4929 will be flagged as critical. '--sig-policy-url' sets a policy url
4930 for data signatures. '--cert-policy-url' sets a policy url for key
4931 signatures (certifications). '--set-policy-url' sets both.
4933 The same %-expandos used for notation data are available here as
4936 '--sig-keyserver-url STRING'
4937 Use STRING as a preferred keyserver URL for data signatures. If
4938 you prefix it with an exclamation mark (!), the keyserver URL
4939 packet will be flagged as critical.
4941 The same %-expandos used for notation data are available here as
4944 '--set-filename STRING'
4945 Use STRING as the filename which is stored inside messages. This
4946 overrides the default, which is to use the actual filename of the
4947 file being encrypted. Using the empty string for STRING
4948 effectively removes the filename from the output.
4950 '--for-your-eyes-only'
4951 '--no-for-your-eyes-only'
4952 Set the 'for your eyes only' flag in the message. This causes
4953 GnuPG to refuse to save the file unless the '--output' option is
4954 given, and PGP to use a "secure viewer" with a claimed
4955 Tempest-resistant font to display the message. This option
4956 overrides '--set-filename'. '--no-for-your-eyes-only' disables
4959 '--use-embedded-filename'
4960 '--no-use-embedded-filename'
4961 Try to create a file with a name as embedded in the data. This can
4962 be a dangerous option as it enables overwriting files. Defaults to
4963 no. Note that the option '--output' overrides this option.
4965 '--cipher-algo NAME'
4966 Use NAME as cipher algorithm. Running the program with the command
4967 '--version' yields a list of supported algorithms. If this is not
4968 used the cipher algorithm is selected from the preferences stored
4969 with the key. In general, you do not want to use this option as it
4970 allows you to violate the OpenPGP standard.
4971 '--personal-cipher-preferences' is the safe way to accomplish the
4974 '--digest-algo NAME'
4975 Use NAME as the message digest algorithm. Running the program with
4976 the command '--version' yields a list of supported algorithms. In
4977 general, you do not want to use this option as it allows you to
4978 violate the OpenPGP standard. '--personal-digest-preferences' is
4979 the safe way to accomplish the same thing.
4981 '--compress-algo NAME'
4982 Use compression algorithm NAME. "zlib" is RFC-1950 ZLIB
4983 compression. "zip" is RFC-1951 ZIP compression which is used by
4984 PGP. "bzip2" is a more modern compression scheme that can compress
4985 some things better than zip or zlib, but at the cost of more memory
4986 used during compression and decompression. "uncompressed" or
4987 "none" disables compression. If this option is not used, the
4988 default behavior is to examine the recipient key preferences to see
4989 which algorithms the recipient supports. If all else fails, ZIP is
4990 used for maximum compatibility.
4992 ZLIB may give better compression results than ZIP, as the
4993 compression window size is not limited to 8k. BZIP2 may give even
4994 better compression results than that, but will use a significantly
4995 larger amount of memory while compressing and decompressing. This
4996 may be significant in low memory situations. Note, however, that
4997 PGP (all versions) only supports ZIP compression. Using any
4998 algorithm other than ZIP or "none" will make the message unreadable
4999 with PGP. In general, you do not want to use this option as it
5000 allows you to violate the OpenPGP standard.
5001 '--personal-compress-preferences' is the safe way to accomplish the
5004 '--cert-digest-algo NAME'
5005 Use NAME as the message digest algorithm used when signing a key.
5006 Running the program with the command '--version' yields a list of
5007 supported algorithms. Be aware that if you choose an algorithm
5008 that GnuPG supports but other OpenPGP implementations do not, then
5009 some users will not be able to use the key signatures you make, or
5010 quite possibly your entire key.
5012 '--disable-cipher-algo NAME'
5013 Never allow the use of NAME as cipher algorithm. The given name
5014 will not be checked so that a later loaded algorithm will still get
5017 '--disable-pubkey-algo NAME'
5018 Never allow the use of NAME as public key algorithm. The given
5019 name will not be checked so that a later loaded algorithm will
5024 Do not put the recipient key IDs into encrypted messages. This
5025 helps to hide the receivers of the message and is a limited
5026 countermeasure against traffic analysis.(1) On the receiving side,
5027 it may slow down the decryption process because all available
5028 secret keys must be tried. '--no-throw-keyids' disables this
5029 option. This option is essentially the same as using
5030 '--hidden-recipient' for all recipients.
5032 '--not-dash-escaped'
5033 This option changes the behavior of cleartext signatures so that
5034 they can be used for patch files. You should not send such an
5035 armored file via email because all spaces and line endings are
5036 hashed too. You can not use this option for data which has 5
5037 dashes at the beginning of a line, patch files don't have this. A
5038 special armor header line tells GnuPG about this cleartext
5041 '--escape-from-lines'
5042 '--no-escape-from-lines'
5043 Because some mailers change lines starting with "From " to ">From "
5044 it is good to handle such lines in a special way when creating
5045 cleartext signatures to prevent the mail system from breaking the
5046 signature. Note that all other PGP versions do it this way too.
5047 Enabled by default. '--no-escape-from-lines' disables this option.
5049 '--passphrase-repeat N'
5050 Specify how many times 'gpg' will request a new passphrase be
5051 repeated. This is useful for helping memorize a passphrase.
5052 Defaults to 1 repetition; can be set to 0 to disable any passphrase
5053 repetition. Note that a N greater than 1 will pop up the pinentry
5054 window N+1 times even if a modern pinentry with two entry fields is
5058 Read the passphrase from file descriptor N. Only the first line
5059 will be read from file descriptor N. If you use 0 for N, the
5060 passphrase will be read from STDIN. This can only be used if only
5061 one passphrase is supplied.
5063 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
5064 option '--batch' has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
5065 '--pinentry-mode' also needs to be set to 'loopback'.
5067 '--passphrase-file FILE'
5068 Read the passphrase from file FILE. Only the first line will be
5069 read from file FILE. This can only be used if only one passphrase
5070 is supplied. Obviously, a passphrase stored in a file is of
5071 questionable security if other users can read this file. Don't use
5072 this option if you can avoid it.
5074 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
5075 option '--batch' has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
5076 '--pinentry-mode' also needs to be set to 'loopback'.
5078 '--passphrase STRING'
5079 Use STRING as the passphrase. This can only be used if only one
5080 passphrase is supplied. Obviously, this is of very questionable
5081 security on a multi-user system. Don't use this option if you can
5084 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
5085 option '--batch' has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
5086 '--pinentry-mode' also needs to be set to 'loopback'.
5088 '--pinentry-mode MODE'
5089 Set the pinentry mode to MODE. Allowed values for MODE are:
5091 Use the default of the agent, which is 'ask'.
5093 Force the use of the Pinentry.
5095 Emulate use of Pinentry's cancel button.
5097 Return a Pinentry error ("No Pinentry").
5099 Redirect Pinentry queries to the caller. Note that in
5100 contrast to Pinentry the user is not prompted again if he
5101 enters a bad password.
5104 Disable the passphrase cache used for symmetrical en- and
5105 decryption. This cache is based on the message specific salt value
5108 '--request-origin ORIGIN'
5109 Tell gpg to assume that the operation ultimately originated at
5110 ORIGIN. Depending on the origin certain restrictions are applied
5111 and the Pinentry may include an extra note on the origin.
5112 Supported values for ORIGIN are: 'local' which is the default,
5113 'remote' to indicate a remote origin or 'browser' for an operation
5114 requested by a web browser.
5117 This is a replacement for the deprecated shared-memory IPC mode.
5118 If this option is enabled, user input on questions is not expected
5119 from the TTY but from the given file descriptor. It should be used
5120 together with '--status-fd'. See the file doc/DETAILS in the
5121 source distribution for details on how to use it.
5123 '--command-file FILE'
5124 Same as '--command-fd', except the commands are read out of file
5127 '--allow-non-selfsigned-uid'
5128 '--no-allow-non-selfsigned-uid'
5129 Allow the import and use of keys with user IDs which are not
5130 self-signed. This is not recommended, as a non self-signed user ID
5131 is trivial to forge. '--no-allow-non-selfsigned-uid' disables.
5133 '--allow-freeform-uid'
5134 Disable all checks on the form of the user ID while generating a
5135 new one. This option should only be used in very special
5136 environments as it does not ensure the de-facto standard format of
5139 '--ignore-time-conflict'
5140 GnuPG normally checks that the timestamps associated with keys and
5141 signatures have plausible values. However, sometimes a signature
5142 seems to be older than the key due to clock problems. This option
5143 makes these checks just a warning. See also '--ignore-valid-from'
5144 for timestamp issues on subkeys.
5146 '--ignore-valid-from'
5147 GnuPG normally does not select and use subkeys created in the
5148 future. This option allows the use of such keys and thus exhibits
5149 the pre-1.0.7 behaviour. You should not use this option unless
5150 there is some clock problem. See also '--ignore-time-conflict' for
5151 timestamp issues with signatures.
5153 '--ignore-crc-error'
5154 The ASCII armor used by OpenPGP is protected by a CRC checksum
5155 against transmission errors. Occasionally the CRC gets mangled
5156 somewhere on the transmission channel but the actual content (which
5157 is protected by the OpenPGP protocol anyway) is still okay. This
5158 option allows GnuPG to ignore CRC errors.
5160 '--ignore-mdc-error'
5161 This option changes a MDC integrity protection failure into a
5162 warning. It is required to decrypt old messages which did not use
5163 an MDC. It may also be useful if a message is partially garbled,
5164 but it is necessary to get as much data as possible out of that
5165 garbled message. Be aware that a missing or failed MDC can be an
5166 indication of an attack. Use with great caution; see also option
5169 '--allow-weak-digest-algos'
5170 Signatures made with known-weak digest algorithms are normally
5171 rejected with an "invalid digest algorithm" message. This option
5172 allows the verification of signatures made with such weak
5173 algorithms. MD5 is the only digest algorithm considered weak by
5174 default. See also '--weak-digest' to reject other digest
5177 '--weak-digest NAME'
5178 Treat the specified digest algorithm as weak. Signatures made over
5179 weak digests algorithms are normally rejected. This option can be
5180 supplied multiple times if multiple algorithms should be considered
5181 weak. See also '--allow-weak-digest-algos' to disable rejection of
5182 weak digests. MD5 is always considered weak, and does not need to
5183 be listed explicitly.
5185 '--allow-weak-key-signatures'
5186 To avoid a minor risk of collision attacks on third-party key
5187 signatures made using SHA-1, those key signatures are considered
5188 invalid. This options allows to override this restriction.
5190 '--no-default-keyring'
5191 Do not add the default keyrings to the list of keyrings. Note that
5192 GnuPG will not operate without any keyrings, so if you use this
5193 option and do not provide alternate keyrings via '--keyring' or
5194 '--secret-keyring', then GnuPG will still use the default public or
5198 Do not use any keyring at all. This overrides the default and all
5199 options which specify keyrings.
5202 Skip the signature verification step. This may be used to make the
5203 decryption faster if the signature verification is not needed.
5206 Print key listings delimited by colons (like '--with-colons') and
5207 print the public key data.
5211 Same as '--list-keys', but the signatures are listed too. This
5212 command has the same effect as using '--list-keys' with
5213 '--with-sig-list'. Note that in contrast to '--check-signatures'
5214 the key signatures are not verified. This command can be used to
5215 create a list of signing keys missing in the local keyring; for
5218 gpg --list-sigs --with-colons USERID | \
5219 awk -F: '$1=="sig" && $2=="?" {if($13){print $13}else{print $5}}'
5222 Changes the output of the list commands to work faster; this is
5223 achieved by leaving some parts empty. Some applications don't need
5224 the user ID and the trust information given in the listings. By
5225 using this options they can get a faster listing. The exact
5226 behaviour of this option may change in future versions. If you are
5227 missing some information, don't use this option.
5230 This is not for normal use. Use the source to see for what it
5234 This is not for normal use. Use the source to see for what it
5237 '--show-session-key'
5238 Display the session key used for one message. See
5239 '--override-session-key' for the counterpart of this option.
5241 We think that Key Escrow is a Bad Thing; however the user should
5242 have the freedom to decide whether to go to prison or to reveal the
5243 content of one specific message without compromising all messages
5244 ever encrypted for one secret key.
5246 You can also use this option if you receive an encrypted message
5247 which is abusive or offensive, to prove to the administrators of
5248 the messaging system that the ciphertext transmitted corresponds to
5249 an inappropriate plaintext so they can take action against the
5252 '--override-session-key STRING'
5253 '--override-session-key-fd FD'
5254 Don't use the public key but the session key STRING respective the
5255 session key taken from the first line read from file descriptor FD.
5256 The format of this string is the same as the one printed by
5257 '--show-session-key'. This option is normally not used but comes
5258 handy in case someone forces you to reveal the content of an
5259 encrypted message; using this option you can do this without
5260 handing out the secret key. Note that using
5261 '--override-session-key' may reveal the session key to all local
5262 users via the global process table. Often it is useful to combine
5263 this option with '--no-keyring'.
5266 '--no-ask-sig-expire'
5267 When making a data signature, prompt for an expiration time. If
5268 this option is not specified, the expiration time set via
5269 '--default-sig-expire' is used. '--no-ask-sig-expire' disables
5272 '--default-sig-expire'
5273 The default expiration time to use for signature expiration. Valid
5274 values are "0" for no expiration, a number followed by the letter d
5275 (for days), w (for weeks), m (for months), or y (for years) (for
5276 example "2m" for two months, or "5y" for five years), or an
5277 absolute date in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to "0".
5280 '--no-ask-cert-expire'
5281 When making a key signature, prompt for an expiration time. If
5282 this option is not specified, the expiration time set via
5283 '--default-cert-expire' is used. '--no-ask-cert-expire' disables
5286 '--default-cert-expire'
5287 The default expiration time to use for key signature expiration.
5288 Valid values are "0" for no expiration, a number followed by the
5289 letter d (for days), w (for weeks), m (for months), or y (for
5290 years) (for example "2m" for two months, or "5y" for five years),
5291 or an absolute date in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to "0".
5293 '--default-new-key-algo STRING'
5294 This option can be used to change the default algorithms for key
5295 generation. The STRING is similar to the arguments required for
5296 the command '--quick-add-key' but slightly different. For example
5297 the current default of '"rsa2048/cert,sign+rsa2048/encr"' (or
5298 '"rsa3072"') can be changed to the value of what we currently call
5299 future default, which is '"ed25519/cert,sign+cv25519/encr"'. You
5300 need to consult the source code to learn the details. Note that
5301 the advanced key generation commands can always be used to specify
5302 a key algorithm directly.
5305 This option modifies the behaviour of the commands
5306 '--quick-sign-key', '--quick-lsign-key', and the "sign"
5307 sub-commands of '--edit-key' by forcing the creation of a key
5308 signature, even if one already exists.
5310 '--allow-secret-key-import'
5311 This is an obsolete option and is not used anywhere.
5313 '--allow-multiple-messages'
5314 '--no-allow-multiple-messages'
5315 Allow processing of multiple OpenPGP messages contained in a single
5316 file or stream. Some programs that call GPG are not prepared to
5317 deal with multiple messages being processed together, so this
5318 option defaults to no. Note that versions of GPG prior to 1.4.7
5319 always allowed multiple messages. Future versions of GnUPG will
5322 Warning: Do not use this option unless you need it as a temporary
5325 '--enable-special-filenames'
5326 This option enables a mode in which filenames of the form '-&n',
5327 where n is a non-negative decimal number, refer to the file
5328 descriptor n and not to a file with that name.
5330 '--no-expensive-trust-checks'
5331 Experimental use only.
5333 '--preserve-permissions'
5334 Don't change the permissions of a secret keyring back to user
5335 read/write only. Use this option only if you really know what you
5338 '--default-preference-list STRING'
5339 Set the list of default preferences to STRING. This preference
5340 list is used for new keys and becomes the default for "setpref" in
5343 '--default-keyserver-url NAME'
5344 Set the default keyserver URL to NAME. This keyserver will be used
5345 as the keyserver URL when writing a new self-signature on a key,
5346 which includes key generation and changing preferences.
5349 Display various internal configuration parameters of GnuPG. This
5350 option is intended for external programs that call GnuPG to perform
5351 tasks, and is thus not generally useful. See the file
5352 'doc/DETAILS' in the source distribution for the details of which
5353 configuration items may be listed. '--list-config' is only usable
5354 with '--with-colons' set.
5356 '--list-gcrypt-config'
5357 Display various internal configuration parameters of Libgcrypt.
5360 This command is similar to '--list-config' but in general only
5361 internally used by the 'gpgconf' tool.
5364 This is more or less dummy action. However it parses the
5365 configuration file and returns with failure if the configuration
5366 file would prevent 'gpg' from startup. Thus it may be used to run
5367 a syntax check on the configuration file.
5369 ---------- Footnotes ----------
5371 (1) Using a little social engineering anyone who is able to decrypt
5372 the message can check whether one of the other recipients is the one he
5376 File: gnupg.info, Node: Deprecated Options, Prev: GPG Esoteric Options, Up: GPG Options
5378 4.2.7 Deprecated options
5379 ------------------------
5383 Causes '--list-keys', '--list-signatures', '--list-public-keys',
5384 '--list-secret-keys', and verifying a signature to also display the
5385 photo ID attached to the key, if any. See also '--photo-viewer'.
5386 These options are deprecated. Use '--list-options
5387 [no-]show-photos' and/or '--verify-options [no-]show-photos'
5391 Display the keyring name at the head of key listings to show which
5392 keyring a given key resides on. This option is deprecated: use
5393 '--list-options [no-]show-keyring' instead.
5396 Identical to '--trust-model always'. This option is deprecated.
5399 '--no-show-notation'
5400 Show signature notations in the '--list-signatures' or
5401 '--check-signatures' listings as well as when verifying a signature
5402 with a notation in it. These options are deprecated. Use
5403 '--list-options [no-]show-notation' and/or '--verify-options
5404 [no-]show-notation' instead.
5407 '--no-show-policy-url'
5408 Show policy URLs in the '--list-signatures' or '--check-signatures'
5409 listings as well as when verifying a signature with a policy URL in
5410 it. These options are deprecated. Use '--list-options
5411 [no-]show-policy-url' and/or '--verify-options
5412 [no-]show-policy-url' instead.
5415 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Configuration, Next: GPG Examples, Prev: GPG Options, Up: Invoking GPG
5417 4.3 Configuration files
5418 =======================
5420 There are a few configuration files to control certain aspects of
5421 'gpg''s operation. Unless noted, they are expected in the current home
5422 directory (*note option --homedir::).
5425 This is the standard configuration file read by 'gpg' on startup.
5426 It may contain any valid long option; the leading two dashes may
5427 not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated. This default
5428 name may be changed on the command line (*note gpg-option
5429 --options::). You should backup this file.
5431 Note that on larger installations, it is useful to put predefined
5432 files into the directory '/etc/skel/.gnupg' so that newly created users
5433 start up with a working configuration. For existing users a small
5434 helper script is provided to create these files (*note addgnupghome::).
5436 For internal purposes 'gpg' creates and maintains a few other files;
5437 They all live in the current home directory (*note option --homedir::).
5438 Only the 'gpg' program may modify these files.
5441 This is the default home directory which is used if neither the
5442 environment variable 'GNUPGHOME' nor the option '--homedir' is
5445 '~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg'
5446 The public keyring using a legacy format. You should backup this
5449 If this file is not available, 'gpg' defaults to the new keybox
5450 format and creates a file 'pubring.kbx' unless that file already
5451 exists in which case that file will also be used for OpenPGP keys.
5453 Note that in the case that both files, 'pubring.gpg' and
5454 'pubring.kbx' exists but the latter has no OpenPGP keys, the legacy
5455 file 'pubring.gpg' will be used. Take care: GnuPG versions before
5456 2.1 will always use the file 'pubring.gpg' because they do not know
5457 about the new keybox format. In the case that you have to use
5458 GnuPG 1.4 to decrypt archived data you should keep this file.
5460 '~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg.lock'
5461 The lock file for the public keyring.
5463 '~/.gnupg/pubring.kbx'
5464 The public keyring using the new keybox format. This file is
5465 shared with 'gpgsm'. You should backup this file. See above for
5466 the relation between this file and it predecessor.
5468 To convert an existing 'pubring.gpg' file to the keybox format, you
5469 first backup the ownertrust values, then rename 'pubring.gpg' to
5470 'publickeys.backup', so it won’t be recognized by any GnuPG
5471 version, run import, and finally restore the ownertrust values:
5474 $ gpg --export-ownertrust >otrust.lst
5475 $ mv pubring.gpg publickeys.backup
5476 $ gpg --import-options restore --import publickeys.backups
5477 $ gpg --import-ownertrust otrust.lst
5479 '~/.gnupg/pubring.kbx.lock'
5480 The lock file for 'pubring.kbx'.
5482 '~/.gnupg/secring.gpg'
5483 The legacy secret keyring as used by GnuPG versions before 2.1. It
5484 is not used by GnuPG 2.1 and later. You may want to keep it in
5485 case you have to use GnuPG 1.4 to decrypt archived data.
5487 '~/.gnupg/secring.gpg.lock'
5488 The lock file for the legacy secret keyring.
5490 '~/.gnupg/.gpg-v21-migrated'
5491 File indicating that a migration to GnuPG 2.1 has been done.
5493 '~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg'
5494 The trust database. There is no need to backup this file; it is
5495 better to backup the ownertrust values (*note option
5496 --export-ownertrust::).
5498 '~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg.lock'
5499 The lock file for the trust database.
5501 '~/.gnupg/random_seed'
5502 A file used to preserve the state of the internal random pool.
5504 '~/.gnupg/openpgp-revocs.d/'
5505 This is the directory where gpg stores pre-generated revocation
5506 certificates. The file name corresponds to the OpenPGP fingerprint
5507 of the respective key. It is suggested to backup those
5508 certificates and if the primary private key is not stored on the
5509 disk to move them to an external storage device. Anyone who can
5510 access theses files is able to revoke the corresponding key. You
5511 may want to print them out. You should backup all files in this
5512 directory and take care to keep this backup closed away.
5514 Operation is further controlled by a few environment variables:
5517 Used to locate the default home directory.
5520 If set directory used instead of "~/.gnupg".
5523 This variable is obsolete; it was used by GnuPG versions before
5527 This value is passed via gpg-agent to pinentry. It is useful to
5528 convey extra information to a custom pinentry.
5532 Used to size some displays to the full size of the screen.
5535 Apart from its use by GNU, it is used in the W32 version to
5536 override the language selection done through the Registry. If used
5537 and set to a valid and available language name (LANGID), the file
5538 with the translation is loaded from 'GPGDIR/gnupg.nls/LANGID.mo'.
5539 Here GPGDIR is the directory out of which the gpg binary has been
5540 loaded. If it can't be loaded the Registry is tried and as last
5541 resort the native Windows locale system is used.
5543 When calling the gpg-agent component 'gpg' sends a set of environment
5544 variables to gpg-agent. The names of these variables can be listed
5547 gpg-connect-agent 'getinfo std_env_names' /bye | awk '$1=="D" {print $2}'
5550 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Examples, Next: Unattended Usage of GPG, Prev: GPG Configuration, Up: Invoking GPG
5555 gpg -se -r 'Bob' 'file'
5556 sign and encrypt for user Bob
5558 gpg -clear-sign 'file'
5559 make a cleartext signature
5562 make a detached signature
5564 gpg -u 0x12345678 -sb 'file'
5565 make a detached signature with the key 0x12345678
5567 gpg -list-keys 'user_ID'
5570 gpg -fingerprint 'user_ID'
5573 gpg -verify 'pgpfile'
5574 gpg -verify 'sigfile' ['datafile']
5575 Verify the signature of the file but do not output the data unless
5576 requested. The second form is used for detached signatures, where
5577 'sigfile' is the detached signature (either ASCII armored or
5578 binary) and 'datafile' are the signed data; if this is not given,
5579 the name of the file holding the signed data is constructed by
5580 cutting off the extension (".asc" or ".sig") of 'sigfile' or by
5581 asking the user for the filename. If the option '--output' is also
5582 used the signed data is written to the file specified by that
5583 option; use '-' to write the signed data to stdout.
5588 The options '--import-filter' and '--export-filter' use expressions with
5589 this syntax (square brackets indicate an optional part and curly braces
5590 a repetition, white space between the elements are allowed):
5592 [lc] {[{flag}] PROPNAME op VALUE [lc]}
5594 The name of a property (PROPNAME) may only consist of letters, digits
5595 and underscores. The description for the filter type describes which
5596 properties are defined. If an undefined property is used it evaluates
5597 to the empty string. Unless otherwise noted, the VALUE must always be
5598 given and may not be the empty string. No quoting is defined for the
5599 value, thus the value may not contain the strings '&&' or '||', which
5600 are used as logical connection operators. The flag '--' can be used to
5601 remove this restriction.
5603 Numerical values are computed as long int; standard C notation
5604 applies. LC is the logical connection operator; either '&&' for a
5605 conjunction or '||' for a disjunction. A conjunction is assumed at the
5606 begin of an expression. Conjunctions have higher precedence than
5607 disjunctions. If VALUE starts with one of the characters used in any OP
5608 a space after the OP is required.
5610 The supported operators (OP) are:
5613 Substring must match.
5616 Substring must not match.
5619 The full string must match.
5622 The full string must not match.
5625 The numerical value must match.
5628 The numerical value must not match.
5631 The numerical value of the field must be LE than the value.
5634 The numerical value of the field must be LT than the value.
5637 The numerical value of the field must be GT than the value.
5640 The numerical value of the field must be GE than the value.
5643 The string value of the field must be less or equal than the value.
5646 The string value of the field must be less than the value.
5649 The string value of the field must be greater than the value.
5652 The string value of the field must be greater or equal than the
5656 True if value is not empty (no value allowed).
5659 True if value is empty (no value allowed).
5662 Alias for "PROPNAME != 0" (no value allowed).
5665 Alias for "PROPNAME == 0" (no value allowed).
5667 Values for FLAG must be space separated. The supported flags are:
5670 VALUE spans to the end of the expression.
5672 The string match in this part is done case-sensitive.
5674 The filter options concatenate several specifications for a filter of
5675 the same type. For example the four options in this example:
5677 --import-filter keep-uid="uid =~ Alfa"
5678 --import-filter keep-uid="&& uid !~ Test"
5679 --import-filter keep-uid="|| uid =~ Alpha"
5680 --import-filter keep-uid="uid !~ Test"
5682 which is equivalent to
5685 keep-uid="uid =~ Alfa" && uid !~ Test" || uid =~ Alpha" && "uid !~ Test"
5687 imports only the user ids of a key containing the strings "Alfa" or
5688 "Alpha" but not the string "test".
5693 The program returns 0 if there are no severe errors, 1 if at least a
5694 signature was bad, and other error codes for fatal errors.
5696 Note that signature verification requires exact knowledge of what has
5697 been signed and by whom it has beensigned. Using only the return code
5698 is thus not an appropriate way to verify a signature by a script.
5699 Either make proper use or the status codes or use the 'gpgv' tool which
5700 has been designed to make signature verification easy for scripts.
5705 Use a good password for your user account and make sure that all
5706 security issues are always fixed on your machine. Also employ diligent
5707 physical protection to your machine. Consider to use a good passphrase
5708 as a last resort protection to your secret key in the case your machine
5709 gets stolen. It is important that your secret key is never leaked.
5710 Using an easy to carry around token or smartcard with the secret key is
5713 If you are going to verify detached signatures, make sure that the
5714 program knows about it; either give both filenames on the command line
5715 or use '-' to specify STDIN.
5717 For scripted or other unattended use of 'gpg' make sure to use the
5718 machine-parseable interface and not the default interface which is
5719 intended for direct use by humans. The machine-parseable interface
5720 provides a stable and well documented API independent of the locale or
5721 future changes of 'gpg'. To enable this interface use the options
5722 '--with-colons' and '--status-fd'. For certain operations the option
5723 '--command-fd' may come handy too. See this man page and the file
5724 'DETAILS' for the specification of the interface. Note that the GnuPG
5725 "info" pages as well as the PDF version of the GnuPG manual features a
5726 chapter on unattended use of GnuPG. As an alternative the library
5727 'GPGME' can be used as a high-level abstraction on top of that
5730 INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER OPENPGP PROGRAMS
5731 ********************************************
5733 GnuPG tries to be a very flexible implementation of the OpenPGP
5734 standard. In particular, GnuPG implements many of the optional parts of
5735 the standard, such as the SHA-512 hash, and the ZLIB and BZIP2
5736 compression algorithms. It is important to be aware that not all
5737 OpenPGP programs implement these optional algorithms and that by forcing
5738 their use via the '--cipher-algo', '--digest-algo',
5739 '--cert-digest-algo', or '--compress-algo' options in GnuPG, it is
5740 possible to create a perfectly valid OpenPGP message, but one that
5741 cannot be read by the intended recipient.
5743 There are dozens of variations of OpenPGP programs available, and
5744 each supports a slightly different subset of these optional algorithms.
5745 For example, until recently, no (unhacked) version of PGP supported the
5746 BLOWFISH cipher algorithm. A message using BLOWFISH simply could not be
5747 read by a PGP user. By default, GnuPG uses the standard OpenPGP
5748 preferences system that will always do the right thing and create
5749 messages that are usable by all recipients, regardless of which OpenPGP
5750 program they use. Only override this safe default if you really know
5753 If you absolutely must override the safe default, or if the
5754 preferences on a given key are invalid for some reason, you are far
5755 better off using the '--pgp6', '--pgp7', or '--pgp8' options. These
5756 options are safe as they do not force any particular algorithms in
5757 violation of OpenPGP, but rather reduce the available algorithms to a
5763 On older systems this program should be installed as setuid(root). This
5764 is necessary to lock memory pages. Locking memory pages prevents the
5765 operating system from writing memory pages (which may contain
5766 passphrases or other sensitive material) to disk. If you get no warning
5767 message about insecure memory your operating system supports locking
5768 without being root. The program drops root privileges as soon as locked
5769 memory is allocated.
5771 Note also that some systems (especially laptops) have the ability to
5772 "suspend to disk" (also known as "safe sleep" or "hibernate"). This
5773 writes all memory to disk before going into a low power or even powered
5774 off mode. Unless measures are taken in the operating system to protect
5775 the saved memory, passphrases or other sensitive material may be
5776 recoverable from it later.
5778 Before you report a bug you should first search the mailing list
5779 archives for similar problems and second check whether such a bug has
5780 already been reported to our bug tracker at <https://bugs.gnupg.org>.
5783 File: gnupg.info, Node: Unattended Usage of GPG, Prev: GPG Examples, Up: Invoking GPG
5785 4.5 Unattended Usage
5786 ====================
5788 'gpg' is often used as a backend engine by other software. To help with
5789 this a machine interface has been defined to have an unambiguous way to
5790 do this. The options '--status-fd' and '--batch' are almost always
5795 * Programmatic use of GnuPG:: Programmatic use of GnuPG
5796 * Ephemeral home directories:: Ephemeral home directories
5797 * The quick key manipulation interface:: The quick key manipulation interface
5798 * Unattended GPG key generation:: Unattended key generation
5801 File: gnupg.info, Node: Programmatic use of GnuPG, Next: Ephemeral home directories, Up: Unattended Usage of GPG
5803 4.5.1 Programmatic use of GnuPG
5804 -------------------------------
5806 Please consider using GPGME instead of calling 'gpg' directly. GPGME
5807 offers a stable, backend-independent interface for many cryptographic
5808 operations. It supports OpenPGP and S/MIME, and also allows interaction
5809 with various GnuPG components.
5811 GPGME provides a C-API, and comes with bindings for C++, Qt, and
5812 Python. Bindings for other languages are available.
5815 File: gnupg.info, Node: Ephemeral home directories, Next: The quick key manipulation interface, Prev: Programmatic use of GnuPG, Up: Unattended Usage of GPG
5817 4.5.2 Ephemeral home directories
5818 --------------------------------
5820 Sometimes you want to contain effects of some operation, for example you
5821 want to import a key to inspect it, but you do not want this key to be
5822 added to your keyring. In earlier versions of GnuPG, it was possible to
5823 specify alternate keyring files for both public and secret keys. In
5824 modern GnuPG versions, however, we changed how secret keys are stored in
5825 order to better protect secret key material, and it was not possible to
5826 preserve this interface.
5828 The preferred way to do this is to use ephemeral home directories.
5829 This technique works across all versions of GnuPG.
5831 Create a temporary directory, create (or copy) a configuration that
5832 meets your needs, make 'gpg' use this directory either using the
5833 environment variable GNUPGHOME, or the option '--homedir'. GPGME
5834 supports this too on a per-context basis, by modifying the engine info
5835 of contexts. Now execute whatever operation you like, import and export
5836 key material as necessary. Once finished, you can delete the directory.
5837 All GnuPG backend services that were started will detect this and shut
5841 File: gnupg.info, Node: The quick key manipulation interface, Next: Unattended GPG key generation, Prev: Ephemeral home directories, Up: Unattended Usage of GPG
5843 4.5.3 The quick key manipulation interface
5844 ------------------------------------------
5846 Recent versions of GnuPG have an interface to manipulate keys without
5847 using the interactive command '--edit-key'. This interface was added
5848 mainly for the benefit of GPGME (please consider using GPGME, see the
5849 manual subsection "Programmatic use of GnuPG"). This interface is
5850 described in the subsection "How to manage your keys".
5853 File: gnupg.info, Node: Unattended GPG key generation, Prev: The quick key manipulation interface, Up: Unattended Usage of GPG
5855 4.5.4 Unattended key generation
5856 -------------------------------
5858 The command '--generate-key' may be used along with the option '--batch'
5859 for unattended key generation. This is the most flexible way of
5860 generating keys, but it is also the most complex one. Consider using
5861 the quick key manipulation interface described in the previous
5862 subsection "The quick key manipulation interface".
5864 The parameters for the key are either read from stdin or given as a
5865 file on the command line. The format of the parameter file is as
5868 * Text only, line length is limited to about 1000 characters.
5869 * UTF-8 encoding must be used to specify non-ASCII characters.
5870 * Empty lines are ignored.
5871 * Leading and trailing white space is ignored.
5872 * A hash sign as the first non white space character indicates a
5874 * Control statements are indicated by a leading percent sign, the
5875 arguments are separated by white space from the keyword.
5876 * Parameters are specified by a keyword, followed by a colon.
5877 Arguments are separated by white space.
5878 * The first parameter must be 'Key-Type'; control statements may be
5880 * The order of the parameters does not matter except for 'Key-Type'
5881 which must be the first parameter. The parameters are only used
5882 for the generated keyblock (primary and subkeys); parameters from
5883 previous sets are not used. Some syntactically checks may be
5885 * Key generation takes place when either the end of the parameter
5886 file is reached, the next 'Key-Type' parameter is encountered or at
5887 the control statement '%commit' is encountered.
5892 Print TEXT as diagnostic.
5895 Suppress actual key generation (useful for syntax checking).
5898 Perform the key generation. Note that an implicit commit is done
5899 at the next Key-Type parameter.
5902 Do not write the key to the default or commandline given keyring
5903 but to FILENAME. This must be given before the first commit to
5904 take place, duplicate specification of the same filename is
5905 ignored, the last filename before a commit is used. The filename
5906 is used until a new filename is used (at commit points) and all
5907 keys are written to that file. If a new filename is given, this
5908 file is created (and overwrites an existing one).
5910 See the previous subsection "Ephemeral home directories" for a more
5911 robust way to contain side-effects.
5914 This option is a no-op for GnuPG 2.1 and later.
5916 See the previous subsection "Ephemeral home directories".
5920 This option is a no-op for GnuPG 2.1 and later.
5923 Using this option allows the creation of keys without any
5924 passphrase protection. This option is mainly intended for
5928 If given the keys are created using a faster and a somewhat less
5929 secure random number generator. This option may be used for keys
5930 which are only used for a short time and do not require full
5931 cryptographic strength. It takes only effect if used together with
5932 the control statement '%no-protection'.
5937 Starts a new parameter block by giving the type of the primary key.
5938 The algorithm must be capable of signing. This is a required
5939 parameter. ALGO may either be an OpenPGP algorithm number or a
5940 string with the algorithm name. The special value 'default' may be
5941 used for ALGO to create the default key type; in this case a
5942 'Key-Usage' shall not be given and 'default' also be used for
5946 The requested length of the generated key in bits. The default is
5947 returned by running the command 'gpg --gpgconf-list'. For ECC keys
5948 this parameter is ignored.
5951 The requested elliptic curve of the generated key. This is a
5952 required parameter for ECC keys. It is ignored for non-ECC keys.
5955 This is optional and used to generate a CSR or certificate for an
5956 already existing key. Key-Length will be ignored when given.
5958 Key-Usage: USAGE-LIST
5959 Space or comma delimited list of key usages. Allowed values are
5960 'encrypt', 'sign', and 'auth'. This is used to generate the key
5961 flags. Please make sure that the algorithm is capable of this
5962 usage. Note that OpenPGP requires that all primary keys are
5963 capable of certification, so no matter what usage is given here,
5964 the 'cert' flag will be on. If no 'Key-Usage' is specified and the
5965 'Key-Type' is not 'default', all allowed usages for that particular
5966 algorithm are used; if it is not given but 'default' is used the
5967 usage will be 'sign'.
5970 This generates a secondary key (subkey). Currently only one subkey
5971 can be handled. See also 'Key-Type' above.
5973 Subkey-Length: NBITS
5974 Length of the secondary key (subkey) in bits. The default is
5975 returned by running the command 'gpg --gpgconf-list'.
5978 Key curve for a subkey; similar to 'Key-Curve'.
5980 Subkey-Usage: USAGE-LIST
5981 Key usage lists for a subkey; similar to 'Key-Usage'.
5984 If you want to specify a passphrase for the secret key, enter it
5985 here. Default is to use the Pinentry dialog to ask for a
5989 Name-Comment: COMMENT
5991 The three parts of a user name. Remember to use UTF-8 encoding
5992 here. If you don't give any of them, no user ID is created.
5994 Expire-Date: ISO-DATE|(NUMBER[d|w|m|y])
5995 Set the expiration date for the key (and the subkey). It may
5996 either be entered in ISO date format (e.g. "20000815T145012") or
5997 as number of days, weeks, month or years after the creation date.
5998 The special notation "seconds=N" is also allowed to specify a
5999 number of seconds since creation. Without a letter days are
6000 assumed. Note that there is no check done on the overflow of the
6001 type used by OpenPGP for timestamps. Thus you better make sure
6002 that the given value make sense. Although OpenPGP works with time
6003 intervals, GnuPG uses an absolute value internally and thus the
6004 last year we can represent is 2105.
6006 Creation-Date: ISO-DATE
6007 Set the creation date of the key as stored in the key information
6008 and which is also part of the fingerprint calculation. Either a
6009 date like "1986-04-26" or a full timestamp like "19860426T042640"
6010 may be used. The time is considered to be UTC. The special
6011 notation "seconds=N" may be used to directly specify a the number
6012 of seconds since Epoch (Unix time). If it is not given the current
6016 Set the cipher, hash, and compression preference values for this
6017 key. This expects the same type of string as the sub-command
6018 'setpref' in the '--edit-key' menu.
6020 Revoker: ALGO:FPR [sensitive]
6021 Add a designated revoker to the generated key. Algo is the public
6022 key algorithm of the designated revoker (i.e. RSA=1, DSA=17, etc.)
6023 FPR is the fingerprint of the designated revoker. The optional
6024 'sensitive' flag marks the designated revoker as sensitive
6025 information. Only v4 keys may be designated revokers.
6028 This is an optional parameter that specifies the preferred
6029 keyserver URL for the key.
6032 This is an optional parameter only used with the status lines
6033 KEY_CREATED and KEY_NOT_CREATED. STRING may be up to 100 characters
6034 and should not contain spaces. It is useful for batch key
6035 generation to associate a key parameter block with a status line.
6037 Here is an example on how to create a key in an ephemeral home
6039 $ export GNUPGHOME="$(mktemp -d)"
6041 %echo Generating a basic OpenPGP key
6046 Name-Real: Joe Tester
6047 Name-Comment: with stupid passphrase
6048 Name-Email: joe@foo.bar
6051 # Do a commit here, so that we can later print "done" :-)
6055 $ gpg --batch --generate-key foo
6057 $ gpg --list-secret-keys
6058 /tmp/tmp.0NQxB74PEf/pubring.kbx
6059 -------------------------------
6060 sec dsa1024 2016-12-16 [SCA]
6061 768E895903FC1C44045C8CB95EEBDB71E9E849D0
6062 uid [ultimate] Joe Tester (with stupid passphrase) <joe@foo.bar>
6063 ssb elg1024 2016-12-16 [E]
6065 If you want to create a key with the default algorithms you would use
6067 %echo Generating a default key
6069 Subkey-Type: default
6070 Name-Real: Joe Tester
6071 Name-Comment: with stupid passphrase
6072 Name-Email: joe@foo.bar
6075 # Do a commit here, so that we can later print "done" :-)
6080 File: gnupg.info, Node: Invoking GPGSM, Next: Invoking SCDAEMON, Prev: Invoking GPG, Up: Top
6085 'gpgsm' is a tool similar to 'gpg' to provide digital encryption and
6086 signing services on X.509 certificates and the CMS protocol. It is
6087 mainly used as a backend for S/MIME mail processing. 'gpgsm' includes a
6088 full featured certificate management and complies with all rules defined
6089 for the German Sphinx project.
6091 *Note Option Index::, for an index to 'GPGSM''s commands and options.
6095 * GPGSM Commands:: List of all commands.
6096 * GPGSM Options:: List of all options.
6097 * GPGSM Configuration:: Configuration files.
6098 * GPGSM Examples:: Some usage examples.
6100 Developer information:
6101 * Unattended Usage:: Using 'gpgsm' from other programs.
6102 * GPGSM Protocol:: The protocol the server mode uses.
6105 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Commands, Next: GPGSM Options, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6110 Commands are not distinguished from options except for the fact that
6111 only one command is allowed.
6115 * General GPGSM Commands:: Commands not specific to the functionality.
6116 * Operational GPGSM Commands:: Commands to select the type of operation.
6117 * Certificate Management:: How to manage certificates.
6120 File: gnupg.info, Node: General GPGSM Commands, Next: Operational GPGSM Commands, Up: GPGSM Commands
6122 5.1.1 Commands not specific to the function
6123 -------------------------------------------
6126 Print the program version and licensing information. Note that you
6127 cannot abbreviate this command.
6130 Print a usage message summarizing the most useful command-line
6131 options. Note that you cannot abbreviate this command.
6134 Print warranty information. Note that you cannot abbreviate this
6138 Print a list of all available options and commands. Note that you
6139 cannot abbreviate this command.
6142 File: gnupg.info, Node: Operational GPGSM Commands, Next: Certificate Management, Prev: General GPGSM Commands, Up: GPGSM Commands
6144 5.1.2 Commands to select the type of operation
6145 ----------------------------------------------
6148 Perform an encryption. The keys the data is encrypted to must be
6149 set using the option '--recipient'.
6152 Perform a decryption; the type of input is automatically
6153 determined. It may either be in binary form or PEM encoded;
6154 automatic determination of base-64 encoding is not done.
6157 Create a digital signature. The key used is either the fist one
6158 found in the keybox or those set with the '--local-user' option.
6161 Check a signature file for validity. Depending on the arguments a
6162 detached signature may also be checked.
6165 Run in server mode and wait for commands on the 'stdin'.
6167 '--call-dirmngr COMMAND [ARGS]'
6168 Behave as a Dirmngr client issuing the request COMMAND with the
6169 optional list of ARGS. The output of the Dirmngr is printed
6170 stdout. Please note that file names given as arguments should have
6171 an absolute file name (i.e. commencing with '/') because they are
6172 passed verbatim to the Dirmngr and the working directory of the
6173 Dirmngr might not be the same as the one of this client. Currently
6174 it is not possible to pass data via stdin to the Dirmngr. COMMAND
6175 should not contain spaces.
6177 This is command is required for certain maintaining tasks of the
6178 dirmngr where a dirmngr must be able to call back to 'gpgsm'. See
6179 the Dirmngr manual for details.
6181 '--call-protect-tool ARGUMENTS'
6182 Certain maintenance operations are done by an external program call
6183 'gpg-protect-tool'; this is usually not installed in a directory
6184 listed in the PATH variable. This command provides a simple
6185 wrapper to access this tool. ARGUMENTS are passed verbatim to this
6186 command; use '--help' to get a list of supported operations.
6189 File: gnupg.info, Node: Certificate Management, Prev: Operational GPGSM Commands, Up: GPGSM Commands
6191 5.1.3 How to manage the certificates and keys
6192 ---------------------------------------------
6196 This command allows the creation of a certificate signing request
6197 or a self-signed certificate. It is commonly used along with the
6198 '--output' option to save the created CSR or certificate into a
6199 file. If used with the '--batch' a parameter file is used to
6200 create the CSR or certificate and it is further possible to create
6201 non-self-signed certificates.
6205 List all available certificates stored in the local key database.
6206 Note that the displayed data might be reformatted for better human
6207 readability and illegal characters are replaced by safe
6210 '--list-secret-keys'
6212 List all available certificates for which a corresponding a secret
6215 '--list-external-keys PATTERN'
6216 List certificates matching PATTERN using an external server. This
6217 utilizes the 'dirmngr' service.
6220 Same as '--list-keys' but also prints all keys making up the chain.
6224 List all available certificates stored in the local key database
6225 using a format useful mainly for debugging.
6228 Same as '--dump-keys' but also prints all keys making up the chain.
6230 '--dump-secret-keys'
6231 List all available certificates for which a corresponding a secret
6232 key is available using a format useful mainly for debugging.
6234 '--dump-external-keys PATTERN'
6235 List certificates matching PATTERN using an external server. This
6236 utilizes the 'dirmngr' service. It uses a format useful mainly for
6239 '--keydb-clear-some-cert-flags'
6240 This is a debugging aid to reset certain flags in the key database
6241 which are used to cache certain certificate stati. It is
6242 especially useful if a bad CRL or a weird running OCSP responder
6243 did accidentally revoke certificate. There is no security issue
6244 with this command because 'gpgsm' always make sure that the
6245 validity of a certificate is checked right before it is used.
6247 '--delete-keys PATTERN'
6248 Delete the keys matching PATTERN. Note that there is no command to
6249 delete the secret part of the key directly. In case you need to do
6250 this, you should run the command 'gpgsm --dump-secret-keys KEYID'
6251 before you delete the key, copy the string of hex-digits in the
6252 "keygrip" line and delete the file consisting of these hex-digits
6253 and the suffix '.key' from the 'private-keys-v1.d' directory below
6254 our GnuPG home directory (usually '~/.gnupg').
6256 '--export [PATTERN]'
6257 Export all certificates stored in the Keybox or those specified by
6258 the optional PATTERN. Those pattern consist of a list of user ids
6259 (*note how-to-specify-a-user-id::). When used along with the
6260 '--armor' option a few informational lines are prepended before
6261 each block. There is one limitation: As there is no commonly
6262 agreed upon way to pack more than one certificate into an ASN.1
6263 structure, the binary export (i.e. without using 'armor') works
6264 only for the export of one certificate. Thus it is required to
6265 specify a PATTERN which yields exactly one certificate. Ephemeral
6266 certificate are only exported if all PATTERN are given as
6267 fingerprints or keygrips.
6269 '--export-secret-key-p12 KEY-ID'
6270 Export the private key and the certificate identified by KEY-ID
6271 using the PKCS#12 format. When used with the '--armor' option a
6272 few informational lines are prepended to the output. Note, that
6273 the PKCS#12 format is not very secure and proper transport security
6274 should be used to convey the exported key. (*Note option
6277 '--export-secret-key-p8 KEY-ID'
6278 '--export-secret-key-raw KEY-ID'
6279 Export the private key of the certificate identified by KEY-ID with
6280 any encryption stripped. The '...-raw' command exports in PKCS#1
6281 format; the '...-p8' command exports in PKCS#8 format. When used
6282 with the '--armor' option a few informational lines are prepended
6283 to the output. These commands are useful to prepare a key for use
6287 Import the certificates from the PEM or binary encoded files as
6288 well as from signed-only messages. This command may also be used
6289 to import a secret key from a PKCS#12 file.
6292 Read information about the private keys from the smartcard and
6293 import the certificates from there. This command utilizes the
6294 'gpg-agent' and in turn the 'scdaemon'.
6296 '--change-passphrase USER_ID'
6298 Change the passphrase of the private key belonging to the
6299 certificate specified as USER_ID. Note, that changing the
6300 passphrase/PIN of a smartcard is not yet supported.
6303 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Options, Next: GPGSM Configuration, Prev: GPGSM Commands, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6308 'GPGSM' features a bunch of options to control the exact behaviour and
6309 to change the default configuration.
6313 * Configuration Options:: How to change the configuration.
6314 * Certificate Options:: Certificate related options.
6315 * Input and Output:: Input and Output.
6316 * CMS Options:: How to change how the CMS is created.
6317 * Esoteric Options:: Doing things one usually do not want to do.
6320 File: gnupg.info, Node: Configuration Options, Next: Certificate Options, Up: GPGSM Options
6322 5.2.1 How to change the configuration
6323 -------------------------------------
6325 These options are used to change the configuration and are usually found
6329 Reads configuration from FILE instead of from the default per-user
6330 configuration file. The default configuration file is named
6331 'gpgsm.conf' and expected in the '.gnupg' directory directly below
6332 the home directory of the user.
6335 Set the name of the home directory to DIR. If this option is not
6336 used, the home directory defaults to '~/.gnupg'. It is only
6337 recognized when given on the command line. It also overrides any
6338 home directory stated through the environment variable 'GNUPGHOME'
6339 or (on Windows systems) by means of the Registry entry
6340 HKCU\SOFTWARE\GNU\GNUPG:HOMEDIR.
6342 On Windows systems it is possible to install GnuPG as a portable
6343 application. In this case only this command line option is
6344 considered, all other ways to set a home directory are ignored.
6346 To install GnuPG as a portable application under Windows, create an
6347 empty file named 'gpgconf.ctl' in the same directory as the tool
6348 'gpgconf.exe'. The root of the installation is then that
6349 directory; or, if 'gpgconf.exe' has been installed directly below a
6350 directory named 'bin', its parent directory. You also need to make
6351 sure that the following directories exist and are writable:
6352 'ROOT/home' for the GnuPG home and 'ROOT/usr/local/var/cache/gnupg'
6353 for internal cache files.
6357 Outputs additional information while running. You can increase the
6358 verbosity by giving several verbose commands to 'gpgsm', such as
6361 '--ldapserver STRING'
6362 '--keyserver STRING'
6363 Add an LDAP server to use for X.509 certificate and CRL lookup.
6364 This option can be given multiple times to configure more than one
6365 LDAP server. Note that in general 'dirmngr' should be configured
6366 with the list of LDAP servers; if this option is also configured
6367 here, it is used in addition to those configured in dirmngr. For
6368 the syntax see the description of dirmngr's ldapserver option.
6370 '--policy-file FILENAME'
6371 Change the default name of the policy file to FILENAME.
6373 '--agent-program FILE'
6374 Specify an agent program to be used for secret key operations. The
6375 default value is determined by running the command 'gpgconf'. Note
6376 that the pipe symbol ('|') is used for a regression test suite hack
6377 and may thus not be used in the file name.
6379 '--dirmngr-program FILE'
6380 Specify a dirmngr program to be used for CRL checks. The default
6381 value is '/usr/local/bin/dirmngr'.
6383 '--prefer-system-dirmngr'
6384 This option is obsolete and ignored.
6387 Entirely disable the use of the Dirmngr.
6390 Do not start the gpg-agent or the dirmngr if it has not yet been
6391 started and its service is required. This option is mostly useful
6392 on machines where the connection to gpg-agent has been redirected
6393 to another machines. If dirmngr is required on the remote machine,
6394 it may be started manually using 'gpgconf --launch dirmngr'.
6396 '--no-secmem-warning'
6397 Do not print a warning when the so called "secure memory" cannot be
6401 When running in server mode, append all logging output to FILE.
6402 Use 'socket://' to log to socket.
6405 File: gnupg.info, Node: Certificate Options, Next: Input and Output, Prev: Configuration Options, Up: GPGSM Options
6407 5.2.2 Certificate related options
6408 ---------------------------------
6410 '--enable-policy-checks'
6411 '--disable-policy-checks'
6412 By default policy checks are enabled. These options may be used to
6415 '--enable-crl-checks'
6416 '--disable-crl-checks'
6417 By default the CRL checks are enabled and the DirMngr is used to
6418 check for revoked certificates. The disable option is most useful
6419 with an off-line network connection to suppress this check and also
6420 to avoid that new certificates introduce a web bug by including a
6421 certificate specific CRL DP. The disable option also disables an
6422 issuer certificate lookup via the authorityInfoAccess property of
6423 the certificate; the '--enable-issuer-key-retrieve' can be used to
6424 make use of that property anyway.
6426 '--enable-trusted-cert-crl-check'
6427 '--disable-trusted-cert-crl-check'
6428 By default the CRL for trusted root certificates are checked like
6429 for any other certificates. This allows a CA to revoke its own
6430 certificates voluntary without the need of putting all ever issued
6431 certificates into a CRL. The disable option may be used to switch
6432 this extra check off. Due to the caching done by the Dirmngr,
6433 there will not be any noticeable performance gain. Note, that this
6434 also disables possible OCSP checks for trusted root certificates.
6435 A more specific way of disabling this check is by adding the
6436 "relax" keyword to the root CA line of the 'trustlist.txt'
6438 '--force-crl-refresh'
6439 Tell the dirmngr to reload the CRL for each request. For better
6440 performance, the dirmngr will actually optimize this by suppressing
6441 the loading for short time intervals (e.g. 30 minutes). This
6442 option is useful to make sure that a fresh CRL is available for
6443 certificates hold in the keybox. The suggested way of doing this
6444 is by using it along with the option '--with-validation' for a key
6445 listing command. This option should not be used in a configuration
6448 '--enable-issuer-based-crl-check'
6449 Run a CRL check even for certificates which do not have any CRL
6450 distribution point. This requires that a suitable LDAP server has
6451 been configured in Dirmngr and that the CRL can be found using the
6452 issuer. This option reverts to what GnuPG did up to version
6453 2.2.20. This option is in general not useful.
6457 By default OCSP checks are disabled. The enable option may be used
6458 to enable OCSP checks via Dirmngr. If CRL checks are also enabled,
6459 CRLs will be used as a fallback if for some reason an OCSP request
6460 will not succeed. Note, that you have to allow OCSP requests in
6461 Dirmngr's configuration too (option '--allow-ocsp') and configure
6462 Dirmngr properly. If you do not do so you will get the error code
6465 '--auto-issuer-key-retrieve'
6466 If a required certificate is missing while validating the chain of
6467 certificates, try to load that certificate from an external
6468 location. This usually means that Dirmngr is employed to search
6469 for the certificate. Note that this option makes a "web bug" like
6470 behavior possible. LDAP server operators can see which keys you
6471 request, so by sending you a message signed by a brand new key
6472 (which you naturally will not have on your local keybox), the
6473 operator can tell both your IP address and the time when you
6474 verified the signature.
6476 '--validation-model NAME'
6477 This option changes the default validation model. The only
6478 possible values are "shell" (which is the default), "chain" which
6479 forces the use of the chain model and "steed" for a new simplified
6480 model. The chain model is also used if an option in the
6481 'trustlist.txt' or an attribute of the certificate requests it.
6482 However the standard model (shell) is in that case always tried
6485 '--ignore-cert-extension OID'
6486 Add OID to the list of ignored certificate extensions. The OID is
6487 expected to be in dotted decimal form, like '2.5.29.3'. This
6488 option may be used more than once. Critical flagged certificate
6489 extensions matching one of the OIDs in the list are treated as if
6490 they are actually handled and thus the certificate will not be
6491 rejected due to an unknown critical extension. Use this option
6492 with care because extensions are usually flagged as critical for a
6496 File: gnupg.info, Node: Input and Output, Next: CMS Options, Prev: Certificate Options, Up: GPGSM Options
6498 5.2.3 Input and Output
6499 ----------------------
6503 Create PEM encoded output. Default is binary output.
6506 Create Base-64 encoded output; i.e. PEM without the header lines.
6509 Assume the input data is PEM encoded. Default is to autodetect the
6510 encoding but this is may fail.
6513 Assume the input data is plain base-64 encoded.
6516 Assume the input data is binary encoded.
6518 '--p12-charset NAME'
6519 'gpgsm' uses the UTF-8 encoding when encoding passphrases for
6520 PKCS#12 files. This option may be used to force the passphrase to
6521 be encoded in the specified encoding NAME. This is useful if the
6522 application used to import the key uses a different encoding and
6523 thus will not be able to import a file generated by 'gpgsm'.
6524 Commonly used values for NAME are 'Latin1' and 'CP850'. Note that
6525 'gpgsm' itself automagically imports any file with a passphrase
6526 encoded to the most commonly used encodings.
6528 '--default-key USER_ID'
6529 Use USER_ID as the standard key for signing. This key is used if
6530 no other key has been defined as a signing key. Note, that the
6531 first '--local-users' option also sets this key if it has not yet
6532 been set; however '--default-key' always overrides this.
6534 '--local-user USER_ID'
6536 Set the user(s) to be used for signing. The default is the first
6537 secret key found in the database.
6541 Encrypt to the user id NAME. There are several ways a user id may
6542 be given (*note how-to-specify-a-user-id::).
6546 Write output to FILE. The default is to write it to stdout.
6549 Displays extra information with the '--list-keys' commands.
6550 Especially a line tagged 'grp' is printed which tells you the
6551 keygrip of a key. This string is for example used as the file name
6552 of the secret key. Implies '--with-colons'.
6555 When doing a key listing, do a full validation check for each key
6556 and print the result. This is usually a slow operation because it
6557 requires a CRL lookup and other operations.
6559 When used along with '--import', a validation of the certificate to
6560 import is done and only imported if it succeeds the test. Note
6561 that this does not affect an already available certificate in the
6562 DB. This option is therefore useful to simply verify a certificate.
6564 '--with-md5-fingerprint'
6565 For standard key listings, also print the MD5 fingerprint of the
6569 Include the keygrip in standard key listings. Note that the
6570 keygrip is always listed in '--with-colons' mode.
6573 Include info about the presence of a secret key in public key
6574 listings done with '--with-colons'.
6577 File: gnupg.info, Node: CMS Options, Next: Esoteric Options, Prev: Input and Output, Up: GPGSM Options
6579 5.2.4 How to change how the CMS is created
6580 ------------------------------------------
6583 Using N of -2 includes all certificate except for the root cert, -1
6584 includes all certs, 0 does not include any certs, 1 includes only
6585 the signers cert and all other positive values include up to N
6586 certificates starting with the signer cert. The default is -2.
6589 Use the cipher algorithm with the ASN.1 object identifier OID for
6590 encryption. For convenience the strings '3DES', 'AES' and 'AES256'
6591 may be used instead of their OIDs. The default is 'AES'
6592 (2.16.840.1.101.3.4.1.2).
6594 '--digest-algo name'
6595 Use 'name' as the message digest algorithm. Usually this algorithm
6596 is deduced from the respective signing certificate. This option
6597 forces the use of the given algorithm and may lead to severe
6598 interoperability problems.
6601 File: gnupg.info, Node: Esoteric Options, Prev: CMS Options, Up: GPGSM Options
6603 5.2.5 Doing things one usually do not want to do
6604 ------------------------------------------------
6606 '--extra-digest-algo NAME'
6607 Sometimes signatures are broken in that they announce a different
6608 digest algorithm than actually used. 'gpgsm' uses a one-pass data
6609 processing model and thus needs to rely on the announced digest
6610 algorithms to properly hash the data. As a workaround this option
6611 may be used to tell 'gpgsm' to also hash the data using the
6612 algorithm NAME; this slows processing down a little bit but allows
6613 verification of such broken signatures. If 'gpgsm' prints an error
6614 like "digest algo 8 has not been enabled" you may want to try this
6615 option, with 'SHA256' for NAME.
6617 '--faked-system-time EPOCH'
6618 This option is only useful for testing; it sets the system time
6619 back or forth to EPOCH which is the number of seconds elapsed since
6620 the year 1970. Alternatively EPOCH may be given as a full ISO time
6621 string (e.g. "20070924T154812").
6623 '--with-ephemeral-keys'
6624 Include ephemeral flagged keys in the output of key listings. Note
6625 that they are included anyway if the key specification for a
6626 listing is given as fingerprint or keygrip.
6628 '--debug-level LEVEL'
6629 Select the debug level for investigating problems. LEVEL may be a
6630 numeric value or by a keyword:
6633 No debugging at all. A value of less than 1 may be used
6634 instead of the keyword.
6636 Some basic debug messages. A value between 1 and 2 may be
6637 used instead of the keyword.
6639 More verbose debug messages. A value between 3 and 5 may be
6640 used instead of the keyword.
6642 Even more detailed messages. A value between 6 and 8 may be
6643 used instead of the keyword.
6645 All of the debug messages you can get. A value greater than 8
6646 may be used instead of the keyword. The creation of hash
6647 tracing files is only enabled if the keyword is used.
6649 How these messages are mapped to the actual debugging flags is not
6650 specified and may change with newer releases of this program. They
6651 are however carefully selected to best aid in debugging.
6654 This option is only useful for debugging and the behaviour may
6655 change at any time without notice; using '--debug-levels' is the
6656 preferred method to select the debug verbosity. FLAGS are bit
6657 encoded and may be given in usual C-Syntax. The currently defined
6661 X.509 or OpenPGP protocol related data
6663 values of big number integers
6665 low level crypto operations
6671 show memory statistics
6673 write hashed data to files named 'dbgmd-000*'
6675 trace Assuan protocol
6677 Note, that all flags set using this option may get overridden by
6681 Same as '--debug=0xffffffff'
6683 '--debug-allow-core-dump'
6684 Usually 'gpgsm' tries to avoid dumping core by well written code
6685 and by disabling core dumps for security reasons. However, bugs
6686 are pretty durable beasts and to squash them it is sometimes useful
6687 to have a core dump. This option enables core dumps unless the Bad
6688 Thing happened before the option parsing.
6690 '--debug-no-chain-validation'
6691 This is actually not a debugging option but only useful as such.
6692 It lets 'gpgsm' bypass all certificate chain validation checks.
6694 '--debug-ignore-expiration'
6695 This is actually not a debugging option but only useful as such.
6696 It lets 'gpgsm' ignore all notAfter dates, this is used by the
6700 Read the passphrase from file descriptor 'n'. Only the first line
6701 will be read from file descriptor 'n'. If you use 0 for 'n', the
6702 passphrase will be read from STDIN. This can only be used if only
6703 one passphrase is supplied.
6705 Note that this passphrase is only used if the option '--batch' has
6708 '--pinentry-mode mode'
6709 Set the pinentry mode to 'mode'. Allowed values for 'mode' are:
6711 Use the default of the agent, which is 'ask'.
6713 Force the use of the Pinentry.
6715 Emulate use of Pinentry's cancel button.
6717 Return a Pinentry error ("No Pinentry").
6719 Redirect Pinentry queries to the caller. Note that in
6720 contrast to Pinentry the user is not prompted again if he
6721 enters a bad password.
6723 '--request-origin ORIGIN'
6724 Tell gpgsm to assume that the operation ultimately originated at
6725 ORIGIN. Depending on the origin certain restrictions are applied
6726 and the Pinentry may include an extra note on the origin.
6727 Supported values for ORIGIN are: 'local' which is the default,
6728 'remote' to indicate a remote origin or 'browser' for an operation
6729 requested by a web browser.
6731 '--no-common-certs-import'
6732 Suppress the import of common certificates on keybox creation.
6734 All the long options may also be given in the configuration file
6735 after stripping off the two leading dashes.
6738 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Configuration, Next: GPGSM Examples, Prev: GPGSM Options, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6740 5.3 Configuration files
6741 =======================
6743 There are a few configuration files to control certain aspects of
6744 'gpgsm''s operation. Unless noted, they are expected in the current
6745 home directory (*note option --homedir::).
6748 This is the standard configuration file read by 'gpgsm' on startup.
6749 It may contain any valid long option; the leading two dashes may
6750 not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated. This default
6751 name may be changed on the command line (*note gpgsm-option
6752 --options::). You should backup this file.
6755 This is a list of allowed CA policies. This file should list the
6756 object identifiers of the policies line by line. Empty lines and
6757 lines starting with a hash mark are ignored. Policies missing in
6758 this file and not marked as critical in the certificate will print
6759 only a warning; certificates with policies marked as critical and
6760 not listed in this file will fail the signature verification. You
6761 should backup this file.
6763 For example, to allow only the policy 2.289.9.9, the file should
6770 This is the list of root certificates used for qualified
6771 certificates. They are defined as certificates capable of creating
6772 legally binding signatures in the same way as handwritten
6773 signatures are. Comments start with a hash mark and empty lines
6774 are ignored. Lines do have a length limit but this is not a
6775 serious limitation as the format of the entries is fixed and
6776 checked by 'gpgsm': A non-comment line starts with optional
6777 whitespace, followed by exactly 40 hex characters, white space and
6778 a lowercased 2 letter country code. Additional data delimited with
6779 by a white space is current ignored but might late be used for
6782 Note that even if a certificate is listed in this file, this does
6783 not mean that the certificate is trusted; in general the
6784 certificates listed in this file need to be listed also in
6787 This is a global file an installed in the data directory (e.g.
6788 '/usr/local/share/gnupg/qualified.txt'). GnuPG installs a suitable
6789 file with root certificates as used in Germany. As new Root-CA
6790 certificates may be issued over time, these entries may need to be
6791 updated; new distributions of this software should come with an
6792 updated list but it is still the responsibility of the
6793 Administrator to check that this list is correct.
6795 Every time 'gpgsm' uses a certificate for signing or verification
6796 this file will be consulted to check whether the certificate under
6797 question has ultimately been issued by one of these CAs. If this
6798 is the case the user will be informed that the verified signature
6799 represents a legally binding ("qualified") signature. When
6800 creating a signature using such a certificate an extra prompt will
6801 be issued to let the user confirm that such a legally binding
6802 signature shall really be created.
6804 Because this software has not yet been approved for use with such
6805 certificates, appropriate notices will be shown to indicate this
6809 This is plain text file with a few help entries used with
6810 'pinentry' as well as a large list of help items for 'gpg' and
6811 'gpgsm'. The standard file has English help texts; to install
6812 localized versions use filenames like 'help.LL.txt' with LL
6813 denoting the locale. GnuPG comes with a set of predefined help
6814 files in the data directory (e.g.
6815 '/usr/local/share/gnupg/gnupg/help.de.txt') and allows overriding
6816 of any help item by help files stored in the system configuration
6817 directory (e.g. '/etc/gnupg/help.de.txt'). For a reference of the
6818 help file's syntax, please see the installed 'help.txt' file.
6821 This file is a collection of common certificates used to populated
6822 a newly created 'pubring.kbx'. An administrator may replace this
6823 file with a custom one. The format is a concatenation of PEM
6824 encoded X.509 certificates. This global file is installed in the
6825 data directory (e.g. '/usr/local/share/gnupg/com-certs.pem').
6827 Note that on larger installations, it is useful to put predefined
6828 files into the directory '/etc/skel/.gnupg/' so that newly created users
6829 start up with a working configuration. For existing users a small
6830 helper script is provided to create these files (*note addgnupghome::).
6832 For internal purposes 'gpgsm' creates and maintains a few other
6833 files; they all live in the current home directory (*note option
6834 --homedir::). Only 'gpgsm' may modify these files.
6837 This a database file storing the certificates as well as meta
6838 information. For debugging purposes the tool 'kbxutil' may be used
6839 to show the internal structure of this file. You should backup
6843 This content of this file is used to maintain the internal state of
6844 the random number generator across invocations. The same file is
6845 used by other programs of this software too.
6848 If this file exists 'gpgsm' will first try to connect to this
6849 socket for accessing 'gpg-agent' before starting a new 'gpg-agent'
6850 instance. Under Windows this socket (which in reality be a plain
6851 file describing a regular TCP listening port) is the standard way
6852 of connecting the 'gpg-agent'.
6855 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Examples, Next: Unattended Usage, Prev: GPGSM Configuration, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6860 $ gpgsm -er goo@bar.net <plaintext >ciphertext
6863 File: gnupg.info, Node: Unattended Usage, Next: GPGSM Protocol, Prev: GPGSM Examples, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6865 5.5 Unattended Usage
6866 ====================
6868 'gpgsm' is often used as a backend engine by other software. To help
6869 with this a machine interface has been defined to have an unambiguous
6870 way to do this. This is most likely used with the '--server' command
6871 but may also be used in the standard operation mode by using the
6872 '--status-fd' option.
6876 * Automated signature checking:: Automated signature checking.
6877 * CSR and certificate creation:: CSR and certificate creation.
6880 File: gnupg.info, Node: Automated signature checking, Next: CSR and certificate creation, Up: Unattended Usage
6882 5.5.1 Automated signature checking
6883 ----------------------------------
6885 It is very important to understand the semantics used with signature
6886 verification. Checking a signature is not as simple as it may sound and
6887 so the operation is a bit complicated. In most cases it is required to
6888 look at several status lines. Here is a table of all cases a signed
6891 The signature is valid
6892 This does mean that the signature has been successfully verified,
6893 the certificates are all sane. However there are two subcases with
6894 important information: One of the certificates may have expired or
6895 a signature of a message itself as expired. It is a sound practise
6896 to consider such a signature still as valid but additional
6897 information should be displayed. Depending on the subcase 'gpgsm'
6898 will issue these status codes:
6899 signature valid and nothing did expire
6900 'GOODSIG', 'VALIDSIG', 'TRUST_FULLY'
6901 signature valid but at least one certificate has expired
6902 'EXPKEYSIG', 'VALIDSIG', 'TRUST_FULLY'
6903 signature valid but expired
6904 'EXPSIG', 'VALIDSIG', 'TRUST_FULLY' Note, that this case is
6905 currently not implemented.
6907 The signature is invalid
6908 This means that the signature verification failed (this is an
6909 indication of a transfer error, a program error or tampering with
6910 the message). 'gpgsm' issues one of these status codes sequences:
6912 'GOODSIG, VALIDSIG TRUST_NEVER'
6914 Error verifying a signature
6915 For some reason the signature could not be verified, i.e. it
6916 cannot be decided whether the signature is valid or invalid. A
6917 common reason for this is a missing certificate.
6920 File: gnupg.info, Node: CSR and certificate creation, Prev: Automated signature checking, Up: Unattended Usage
6922 5.5.2 CSR and certificate creation
6923 ----------------------------------
6925 The command '--generate-key' may be used along with the option '--batch'
6926 to either create a certificate signing request (CSR) or an X.509
6927 certificate. This is controlled by a parameter file; the format of this
6930 * Text only, line length is limited to about 1000 characters.
6931 * UTF-8 encoding must be used to specify non-ASCII characters.
6932 * Empty lines are ignored.
6933 * Leading and trailing while space is ignored.
6934 * A hash sign as the first non white space character indicates a
6936 * Control statements are indicated by a leading percent sign, the
6937 arguments are separated by white space from the keyword.
6938 * Parameters are specified by a keyword, followed by a colon.
6939 Arguments are separated by white space.
6940 * The first parameter must be 'Key-Type', control statements may be
6942 * The order of the parameters does not matter except for 'Key-Type'
6943 which must be the first parameter. The parameters are only used
6944 for the generated CSR/certificate; parameters from previous sets
6945 are not used. Some syntactically checks may be performed.
6946 * Key generation takes place when either the end of the parameter
6947 file is reached, the next 'Key-Type' parameter is encountered or at
6948 the control statement '%commit' is encountered.
6953 Print TEXT as diagnostic.
6956 Suppress actual key generation (useful for syntax checking).
6959 Perform the key generation. Note that an implicit commit is done
6960 at the next Key-Type parameter.
6965 Starts a new parameter block by giving the type of the primary key.
6966 The algorithm must be capable of signing. This is a required
6967 parameter. The only supported value for ALGO is 'rsa'.
6970 The requested length of a generated key in bits. Defaults to 3072.
6973 This is optional and used to generate a CSR or certificate for an
6974 already existing key. Key-Length will be ignored when given.
6976 Key-Usage: USAGE-LIST
6977 Space or comma delimited list of key usage, allowed values are
6978 'encrypt', 'sign' and 'cert'. This is used to generate the
6979 keyUsage extension. Please make sure that the algorithm is capable
6980 of this usage. Default is to allow encrypt and sign.
6982 Name-DN: SUBJECT-NAME
6983 This is the Distinguished Name (DN) of the subject in RFC-2253
6987 This is an email address for the altSubjectName. This parameter is
6988 optional but may occur several times to add several email addresses
6992 The is an DNS name for the altSubjectName. This parameter is
6993 optional but may occur several times to add several DNS names to a
6997 This is an URI for the altSubjectName. This parameter is optional
6998 but may occur several times to add several URIs to a certificate.
7000 Additional parameters used to create a certificate (in contrast to a
7001 certificate signing request):
7004 If this parameter is given an X.509 certificate will be generated.
7005 SN is expected to be a hex string representing an unsigned integer
7006 of arbitrary length. The special value 'random' can be used to
7007 create a 64 bit random serial number.
7009 Issuer-DN: ISSUER-NAME
7010 This is the DN name of the issuer in RFC-2253 format. If it is not
7011 set it will default to the subject DN and a special GnuPG extension
7012 will be included in the certificate to mark it as a standalone
7015 Creation-Date: ISO-DATE
7016 Not-Before: ISO-DATE
7017 Set the notBefore date of the certificate. Either a date like
7018 '1986-04-26' or '1986-04-26 12:00' or a standard ISO timestamp like
7019 '19860426T042640' may be used. The time is considered to be UTC.
7020 If it is not given the current date is used.
7022 Expire-Date: ISO-DATE
7024 Set the notAfter date of the certificate. Either a date like
7025 '2063-04-05' or '2063-04-05 17:00' or a standard ISO timestamp like
7026 '20630405T170000' may be used. The time is considered to be UTC.
7027 If it is not given a default value in the not too far future is
7030 Signing-Key: KEYGRIP
7031 This gives the keygrip of the key used to sign the certificate. If
7032 it is not given a self-signed certificate will be created. For
7033 compatibility with future versions, it is suggested to prefix the
7036 Hash-Algo: HASH-ALGO
7037 Use HASH-ALGO for this CSR or certificate. The supported hash
7038 algorithms are: 'sha1', 'sha256', 'sha384' and 'sha512'; they may
7039 also be specified with uppercase letters. The default is 'sha256'.
7042 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Protocol, Prev: Unattended Usage, Up: Invoking GPGSM
7044 5.6 The Protocol the Server Mode Uses
7045 =====================================
7047 Description of the protocol used to access 'GPGSM'. 'GPGSM' does
7048 implement the Assuan protocol and in addition provides a regular command
7049 line interface which exhibits a full client to this protocol (but uses
7050 internal linking). To start 'gpgsm' as a server the command line the
7051 option '--server' must be used. Additional options are provided to
7052 select the communication method (i.e. the name of the socket).
7054 We assume that the connection has already been established; see the
7055 Assuan manual for details.
7059 * GPGSM ENCRYPT:: Encrypting a message.
7060 * GPGSM DECRYPT:: Decrypting a message.
7061 * GPGSM SIGN:: Signing a message.
7062 * GPGSM VERIFY:: Verifying a message.
7063 * GPGSM GENKEY:: Generating a key.
7064 * GPGSM LISTKEYS:: List available keys.
7065 * GPGSM EXPORT:: Export certificates.
7066 * GPGSM IMPORT:: Import certificates.
7067 * GPGSM DELETE:: Delete certificates.
7068 * GPGSM GETAUDITLOG:: Retrieve an audit log.
7069 * GPGSM GETINFO:: Information about the process
7070 * GPGSM OPTION:: Session options.
7073 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM ENCRYPT, Next: GPGSM DECRYPT, Up: GPGSM Protocol
7075 5.6.1 Encrypting a Message
7076 --------------------------
7078 Before encryption can be done the recipient must be set using the
7083 Set the recipient for the encryption. USERID should be the internal
7084 representation of the key; the server may accept any other way of
7085 specification. If this is a valid and trusted recipient the server does
7086 respond with OK, otherwise the return is an ERR with the reason why the
7087 recipient cannot be used, the encryption will then not be done for this
7088 recipient. If the policy is not to encrypt at all if not all recipients
7089 are valid, the client has to take care of this. All 'RECIPIENT'
7090 commands are cumulative until a 'RESET' or an successful 'ENCRYPT'
7093 INPUT FD[=N] [--armor|--base64|--binary]
7095 Set the file descriptor for the message to be encrypted to N.
7096 Obviously the pipe must be open at that point, the server establishes
7097 its own end. If the server returns an error the client should consider
7098 this session failed. If N is not given, this commands uses the last
7099 file descriptor passed to the application. *Note the assuan_sendfd
7100 function: (assuan)fun-assuan_sendfd, on how to do descriptor passing.
7102 The '--armor' option may be used to advise the server that the input
7103 data is in PEM format, '--base64' advises that a raw base-64 encoding is
7104 used, '--binary' advises of raw binary input (BER). If none of these
7105 options is used, the server tries to figure out the used encoding, but
7106 this may not always be correct.
7108 OUTPUT FD[=N] [--armor|--base64]
7110 Set the file descriptor to be used for the output (i.e. the
7111 encrypted message). Obviously the pipe must be open at that point, the
7112 server establishes its own end. If the server returns an error the
7113 client should consider this session failed.
7115 The option '--armor' encodes the output in PEM format, the '--base64'
7116 option applies just a base-64 encoding. No option creates binary output
7119 The actual encryption is done using the command
7123 It takes the plaintext from the 'INPUT' command, writes to the
7124 ciphertext to the file descriptor set with the 'OUTPUT' command, take
7125 the recipients from all the recipients set so far. If this command
7126 fails the clients should try to delete all output currently done or
7127 otherwise mark it as invalid. 'GPGSM' does ensure that there will not
7128 be any security problem with leftover data on the output in this case.
7130 This command should in general not fail, as all necessary checks have
7131 been done while setting the recipients. The input and output pipes are