1 This is gnupg.info, produced by makeinfo version 6.5 from gnupg.texi.
3 This is the 'The GNU Privacy Guard Manual' (version 2.2.26-beta25,
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 2.2.26-beta25,
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.
1674 '--standard-resolver'
1675 This option forces the use of the system's standard DNS resolver
1676 code. This is mainly used for debugging. Note that on Windows a
1677 standard resolver is not used and all DNS access will return the
1678 error "Not Implemented" if this option is used. Using this
1679 together with enabled Tor mode returns the error "Not Enabled".
1681 '--recursive-resolver'
1682 When possible use a recursive resolver instead of a stub resolver.
1684 '--resolver-timeout N'
1685 Set the timeout for the DNS resolver to N seconds. The default are
1688 '--connect-timeout N'
1689 '--connect-quick-timeout N'
1690 Set the timeout for HTTP and generic TCP connection attempts to N
1691 seconds. The value set with the quick variant is used when the
1692 -quick option has been given to certain Assuan commands. The quick
1693 value is capped at the value of the regular connect timeout. The
1694 default values are 15 and 2 seconds. Note that the timeout values
1695 are for each connection attempt; the connection code will attempt
1696 to connect all addresses listed for a server.
1698 '--listen-backlog N'
1699 Set the size of the queue for pending connections. The default is
1702 '--allow-version-check'
1703 Allow Dirmngr to connect to 'https://versions.gnupg.org' to get the
1704 list of current software versions. If this option is enabled the
1705 list is retrieved in case the local copy does not exist or is older
1706 than 5 to 7 days. See the option '--query-swdb' of the command
1707 'gpgconf' for more details. Note, that regardless of this option a
1708 version check can always be triggered using this command:
1710 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'loadswdb --force' /bye
1713 Use NAME as your keyserver. This is the server that 'gpg'
1714 communicates with to receive keys, send keys, and search for keys.
1715 The format of the NAME is a URI: 'scheme:[//]keyservername[:port]'
1716 The scheme is the type of keyserver: "hkp" for the HTTP (or
1717 compatible) keyservers, "ldap" for the LDAP keyservers, or "mailto"
1718 for the Graff email keyserver. Note that your particular
1719 installation of GnuPG may have other keyserver types available as
1720 well. Keyserver schemes are case-insensitive. After the keyserver
1721 name, optional keyserver configuration options may be provided.
1722 These are the same as the '--keyserver-options' of 'gpg', but apply
1723 only to this particular keyserver.
1725 Most keyservers synchronize with each other, so there is generally
1726 no need to send keys to more than one server. The keyserver
1727 'hkp://keys.gnupg.net' uses round robin DNS to give a different
1728 keyserver each time you use it.
1730 If exactly two keyservers are configured and only one is a Tor
1731 hidden service (.onion), Dirmngr selects the keyserver to use
1732 depending on whether Tor is locally running or not. The check for
1733 a running Tor is done for each new connection.
1735 If no keyserver is explicitly configured, dirmngr will use the
1736 built-in default of 'hkps://hkps.pool.sks-keyservers.net'.
1738 Windows users with a keyserver running on their Active Directory
1739 should use 'ldap:///' for NAME to access this directory.
1741 For accessing anonymous LDAP keyservers NAME is in general just a
1742 'ldaps://ldap.example.com'. A BaseDN parameter should never be
1743 specified. If authentication is required the value of NAME is for
1746 keyserver ldaps://ldap.example.com/????bindname=uid=USERNAME
1747 %2Cou=GnuPG%20Users%2Cdc=example%2Cdc=com,password=PASSWORD
1749 Put this all on one line without any spaces and keep the '%2C' as
1750 given. Replace USERNAME, PASSWORD, and the 'dc' parts according to
1751 the instructions received from the LDAP administrator. Note that
1752 only simple authentication (i.e. cleartext passwords) is supported
1753 and thus using ldaps is strongly suggested.
1755 '--nameserver IPADDR'
1756 In "Tor mode" Dirmngr uses a public resolver via Tor to resolve DNS
1757 names. If the default public resolver, which is '8.8.8.8', shall
1758 not be used a different one can be given using this option. Note
1759 that a numerical IP address must be given (IPv6 or IPv4) and that
1760 no error checking is done for IPADDR.
1764 Disable the use of all IPv4 or IPv6 addresses.
1767 Entirely disables the use of LDAP.
1770 Entirely disables the use of HTTP.
1773 When looking for the location of a CRL, the to be tested
1774 certificate usually contains so called "CRL Distribution Point"
1775 (DP) entries which are URLs describing the way to access the CRL.
1776 The first found DP entry is used. With this option all entries
1777 using the HTTP scheme are ignored when looking for a suitable DP.
1780 This is similar to '--ignore-http-dp' but ignores entries using the
1781 LDAP scheme. Both options may be combined resulting in ignoring
1784 '--ignore-ocsp-service-url'
1785 Ignore all OCSP URLs contained in the certificate. The effect is
1786 to force the use of the default responder.
1788 '--honor-http-proxy'
1789 If the environment variable 'http_proxy' has been set, use its
1790 value to access HTTP servers.
1792 '--http-proxy HOST[:PORT]'
1793 Use HOST and PORT to access HTTP servers. The use of this option
1794 overrides the environment variable 'http_proxy' regardless whether
1795 '--honor-http-proxy' has been set.
1797 '--ldap-proxy HOST[:PORT]'
1798 Use HOST and PORT to connect to LDAP servers. If PORT is omitted,
1799 port 389 (standard LDAP port) is used. This overrides any
1800 specified host and port part in a LDAP URL and will also be used if
1801 host and port have been omitted from the URL.
1804 Never use anything else but the LDAP "proxy" as configured with
1805 '--ldap-proxy'. Usually 'dirmngr' tries to use other configured
1806 LDAP server if the connection using the "proxy" failed.
1808 '--ldapserverlist-file FILE'
1809 Read the list of LDAP servers to consult for CRLs and certificates
1810 from file instead of the default per-user ldap server list file.
1811 The default value for FILE is 'dirmngr_ldapservers.conf'.
1813 This server list file contains one LDAP server per line in the
1816 HOSTNAME:PORT:USERNAME:PASSWORD:BASE_DN
1818 Lines starting with a '#' are comments.
1820 Note that as usual all strings entered are expected to be UTF-8
1821 encoded. Obviously this will lead to problems if the password has
1822 originally been encoded as Latin-1. There is no other solution
1823 here than to put such a password in the binary encoding into the
1824 file (i.e. non-ascii characters won't show up readable).(1)
1826 '--ldaptimeout SECS'
1827 Specify the number of seconds to wait for an LDAP query before
1828 timing out. The default are 15 seconds. 0 will never timeout.
1831 This option makes dirmngr add any servers it discovers when
1832 validating certificates against CRLs to the internal list of
1833 servers to consult for certificates and CRLs.
1835 This option is useful when trying to validate a certificate that
1836 has a CRL distribution point that points to a server that is not
1837 already listed in the ldapserverlist. Dirmngr will always go to
1838 this server and try to download the CRL, but chances are high that
1839 the certificate used to sign the CRL is located on the same server.
1840 So if dirmngr doesn't add that new server to list, it will often
1841 not be able to verify the signature of the CRL unless the
1842 '--add-servers' option is used.
1844 Note: The current version of dirmngr has this option disabled by
1848 This option enables OCSP support if requested by the client.
1850 OCSP requests are rejected by default because they may violate the
1851 privacy of the user; for example it is possible to track the time
1852 when a user is reading a mail.
1854 '--ocsp-responder URL'
1855 Use URL as the default OCSP Responder if the certificate does not
1856 contain information about an assigned responder. Note, that
1857 '--ocsp-signer' must also be set to a valid certificate.
1859 '--ocsp-signer FPR|FILE'
1860 Use the certificate with the fingerprint FPR to check the responses
1861 of the default OCSP Responder. Alternatively a filename can be
1862 given in which case the response is expected to be signed by one of
1863 the certificates described in that file. Any argument which
1864 contains a slash, dot or tilde is considered a filename. Usual
1865 filename expansion takes place: A tilde at the start followed by a
1866 slash is replaced by the content of 'HOME', no slash at start
1867 describes a relative filename which will be searched at the home
1868 directory. To make sure that the FILE is searched in the home
1869 directory, either prepend the name with "./" or use a name which
1872 If a response has been signed by a certificate described by these
1873 fingerprints no further check upon the validity of this certificate
1876 The format of the FILE is a list of SHA-1 fingerprint, one per line
1877 with optional colons between the bytes. Empty lines and lines
1878 prefix with a hash mark are ignored.
1880 '--ocsp-max-clock-skew N'
1881 The number of seconds a skew between the OCSP responder and them
1882 local clock is accepted. Default is 600 (10 minutes).
1884 '--ocsp-max-period N'
1885 Seconds a response is at maximum considered valid after the time
1886 given in the thisUpdate field. Default is 7776000 (90 days).
1888 '--ocsp-current-period N'
1889 The number of seconds an OCSP response is considered valid after
1890 the time given in the NEXT_UPDATE datum. Default is 10800 (3
1894 Do not return more that N items in one query. The default is 10.
1896 '--ignore-cert-extension OID'
1897 Add OID to the list of ignored certificate extensions. The OID is
1898 expected to be in dotted decimal form, like '2.5.29.3'. This
1899 option may be used more than once. Critical flagged certificate
1900 extensions matching one of the OIDs in the list are treated as if
1901 they are actually handled and thus the certificate won't be
1902 rejected due to an unknown critical extension. Use this option
1903 with care because extensions are usually flagged as critical for a
1907 Use the root certificates in FILE for verification of the TLS
1908 certificates used with 'hkps' (keyserver access over TLS). If the
1909 file is in PEM format a suffix of '.pem' is expected for FILE.
1910 This option may be given multiple times to add more root
1911 certificates. Tilde expansion is supported.
1913 If no 'hkp-cacert' directive is present, dirmngr will make a
1914 reasonable choice: if the keyserver in question is the special pool
1915 'hkps.pool.sks-keyservers.net', it will use the bundled root
1916 certificate for that pool. Otherwise, it will use the system CAs.
1918 ---------- Footnotes ----------
1920 (1) The 'gpgconf' tool might be helpful for frontends as it enables
1921 editing this configuration file using percent-escaped strings.
1924 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Configuration, Next: Dirmngr Signals, Prev: Dirmngr Options, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
1929 Dirmngr makes use of several directories when running in daemon mode:
1930 There are a few configuration files whih control the operation of
1931 dirmngr. By default they may all be found in the current home directory
1932 (*note option --homedir::).
1935 This is the standard configuration file read by 'dirmngr' on
1936 startup. It may contain any valid long option; the leading two
1937 dashes may not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated.
1938 This file is also read after a 'SIGHUP' however not all options
1939 will actually have an effect. This default name may be changed on
1940 the command line (*note option --options::). You should backup
1943 '/etc/gnupg/trusted-certs'
1944 This directory should be filled with certificates of Root CAs you
1945 are trusting in checking the CRLs and signing OCSP Responses.
1947 Usually these are the same certificates you use with the
1948 applications making use of dirmngr. It is expected that each of
1949 these certificate files contain exactly one DER encoded certificate
1950 in a file with the suffix '.crt' or '.der'. 'dirmngr' reads those
1951 certificates on startup and when given a SIGHUP. Certificates which
1952 are not readable or do not make up a proper X.509 certificate are
1953 ignored; see the log file for details.
1955 Applications using dirmngr (e.g. gpgsm) can request these
1956 certificates to complete a trust chain in the same way as with the
1957 extra-certs directory (see below).
1959 Note that for OCSP responses the certificate specified using the
1960 option '--ocsp-signer' is always considered valid to sign OCSP
1963 '/etc/gnupg/extra-certs'
1964 This directory may contain extra certificates which are preloaded
1965 into the internal cache on startup. Applications using dirmngr
1966 (e.g. gpgsm) can request cached certificates to complete a trust
1967 chain. This is convenient in cases you have a couple intermediate
1968 CA certificates or certificates usually used to sign OCSP
1969 responses. These certificates are first tried before going out to
1970 the net to look for them. These certificates must also be DER
1971 encoded and suffixed with '.crt' or '.der'.
1974 This directory is used to store cached CRLs. The 'crls.d' part
1975 will be created by dirmngr if it does not exists but you need to
1976 make sure that the upper directory exists.
1978 To be able to see what's going on you should create the configure
1979 file '~/gnupg/dirmngr.conf' with at least one line:
1981 log-file ~/dirmngr.log
1983 To be able to perform OCSP requests you probably want to add the
1988 To make sure that new options are read and that after the
1989 installation of a new GnuPG versions the installed dirmngr is running,
1990 you may want to kill an existing dirmngr first:
1992 gpgconf --kill dirmngr
1994 You may check the log file to see whether all desired root
1995 certificates have been loaded correctly.
1998 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Signals, Next: Dirmngr Examples, Prev: Dirmngr Configuration, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
2003 A running 'dirmngr' may be controlled by signals, i.e. using the 'kill'
2004 command to send a signal to the process.
2006 Here is a list of supported signals:
2009 This signal flushes all internally cached CRLs as well as any
2010 cached certificates. Then the certificate cache is reinitialized
2011 as on startup. Options are re-read from the configuration file.
2012 Instead of sending this signal it is better to use
2013 gpgconf --reload dirmngr
2016 Shuts down the process but waits until all current requests are
2017 fulfilled. If the process has received 3 of these signals and
2018 requests are still pending, a shutdown is forced. You may also use
2019 gpgconf --kill dirmngr
2020 instead of this signal
2023 Shuts down the process immediately.
2026 This prints some caching statistics to the log file.
2029 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Examples, Next: Dirmngr Protocol, Prev: Dirmngr Signals, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
2034 Here is an example on how to show dirmngr's internal table of OpenPGP
2035 keyserver addresses. The output is intended for debugging purposes and
2036 not part of a defined API.
2038 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'keyserver --hosttable' /bye
2040 To inhibit the use of a particular host you have noticed in one of
2041 the keyserver pools, you may use
2043 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'keyserver --dead pgpkeys.bnd.de' /bye
2045 The description of the 'keyserver' command can be printed using
2047 gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'help keyserver' /bye
2050 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr Protocol, Prev: Dirmngr Examples, Up: Invoking DIRMNGR
2052 3.6 Dirmngr's Assuan Protocol
2053 =============================
2055 Assuan is the IPC protocol used to access dirmngr. This is a
2056 description of the commands implemented by dirmngr.
2060 * Dirmngr LOOKUP:: Look up a certificate via LDAP
2061 * Dirmngr ISVALID:: Validate a certificate using a CRL or OCSP.
2062 * Dirmngr CHECKCRL:: Validate a certificate using a CRL.
2063 * Dirmngr CHECKOCSP:: Validate a certificate using OCSP.
2064 * Dirmngr CACHECERT:: Put a certificate into the internal cache.
2065 * Dirmngr VALIDATE:: Validate a certificate for debugging.
2068 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr LOOKUP, Next: Dirmngr ISVALID, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2070 3.6.1 Return the certificate(s) found
2071 -------------------------------------
2073 Lookup certificate. To allow multiple patterns (which are ORed) quoting
2074 is required: Spaces are to be translated into "+" or into "%20";
2075 obviously this requires that the usual escape quoting rules are applied.
2076 The server responds with:
2078 S: D <DER encoded certificate>
2080 S: D <second DER encoded certificate>
2084 In this example 2 certificates are returned. The server may return
2085 any number of certificates; OK will also be returned when no
2086 certificates were found. The dirmngr might return a status line
2090 To indicate that the output was truncated to N items due to a
2091 limitation of the server or by an arbitrary set limit.
2093 The option '--url' may be used if instead of a search pattern a
2094 complete URL to the certificate is known:
2096 C: LOOKUP --url CN%3DWerner%20Koch,o%3DIntevation%20GmbH,c%3DDE?userCertificate
2098 If the option '--cache-only' is given, no external lookup is done so
2099 that only certificates from the cache are returned.
2101 With the option '--single', the first and only the first match will
2102 be returned. Unless option '--cache-only' is also used, no local lookup
2103 will be done in this case.
2106 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr ISVALID, Next: Dirmngr CHECKCRL, Prev: Dirmngr LOOKUP, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2108 3.6.2 Validate a certificate using a CRL or OCSP
2109 ------------------------------------------------
2111 ISVALID [--only-ocsp] [--force-default-responder] CERTID|CERTFPR
2113 Check whether the certificate described by the CERTID has been
2114 revoked. Due to caching, the Dirmngr is able to answer immediately in
2117 The CERTID is a hex encoded string consisting of two parts, delimited
2118 by a single dot. The first part is the SHA-1 hash of the issuer name
2119 and the second part the serial number.
2121 Alternatively the certificate's SHA-1 fingerprint CERTFPR may be
2122 given in which case an OCSP request is done before consulting the CRL.
2123 If the option '--only-ocsp' is given, no fallback to a CRL check will be
2124 used. If the option '--force-default-responder' is given, only the
2125 default OCSP responder will be used and any other methods of obtaining
2126 an OCSP responder URL won't be used.
2128 Common return values are:
2130 'GPG_ERR_NO_ERROR (0)'
2131 This is the positive answer: The certificate is not revoked and we
2132 have an up-to-date revocation list for that certificate. If OCSP
2133 was used the responder confirmed that the certificate has not been
2136 'GPG_ERR_CERT_REVOKED'
2137 This is the negative answer: The certificate has been revoked.
2138 Either it is in a CRL and that list is up to date or an OCSP
2139 responder informed us that it has been revoked.
2141 'GPG_ERR_NO_CRL_KNOWN'
2142 No CRL is known for this certificate or the CRL is not valid or out
2146 The OCSP responder returned an "unknown" status. This means that
2147 it is not aware of the certificate's status.
2149 'GPG_ERR_NOT_SUPPORTED'
2150 This is commonly seen if OCSP support has not been enabled in the
2153 If DirMngr has not enough information about the given certificate
2154 (which is the case for not yet cached certificates), it will inquire the
2157 S: INQUIRE SENDCERT <CertID>
2158 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2161 A client should be aware that DirMngr may ask for more than one
2164 If Dirmngr has a certificate but the signature of the certificate
2165 could not been validated because the root certificate is not known to
2166 dirmngr as trusted, it may ask back to see whether the client trusts
2167 this the root certificate:
2169 S: INQUIRE ISTRUSTED <CertHexfpr>
2173 Only this answer will let Dirmngr consider the certificate as valid.
2176 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr CHECKCRL, Next: Dirmngr CHECKOCSP, Prev: Dirmngr ISVALID, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2178 3.6.3 Validate a certificate using a CRL
2179 ----------------------------------------
2181 Check whether the certificate with FINGERPRINT (SHA-1 hash of the entire
2182 X.509 certificate blob) is valid or not by consulting the CRL
2183 responsible for this certificate. If the fingerprint has not been given
2184 or the certificate is not known, the function inquires the certificate
2187 S: INQUIRE TARGETCERT
2188 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2191 Thus the caller is expected to return the certificate for the request
2192 (which should match FINGERPRINT) as a binary blob. Processing then
2193 takes place without further interaction; in particular dirmngr tries to
2194 locate other required certificate by its own mechanism which includes a
2195 local certificate store as well as a list of trusted root certificates.
2197 The return code is 0 for success; i.e. the certificate has not been
2198 revoked or one of the usual error codes from libgpg-error.
2201 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr CHECKOCSP, Next: Dirmngr CACHECERT, Prev: Dirmngr CHECKCRL, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2203 3.6.4 Validate a certificate using OCSP
2204 ---------------------------------------
2206 CHECKOCSP [--force-default-responder] [FINGERPRINT]
2208 Check whether the certificate with FINGERPRINT (the SHA-1 hash of the
2209 entire X.509 certificate blob) is valid by consulting the appropriate
2210 OCSP responder. If the fingerprint has not been given or the
2211 certificate is not known by Dirmngr, the function inquires the
2214 S: INQUIRE TARGETCERT
2215 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2218 Thus the caller is expected to return the certificate for the request
2219 (which should match FINGERPRINT) as a binary blob. Processing then
2220 takes place without further interaction; in particular dirmngr tries to
2221 locate other required certificates by its own mechanism which includes a
2222 local certificate store as well as a list of trusted root certificates.
2224 If the option '--force-default-responder' is given, only the default
2225 OCSP responder is used. This option is the per-command variant of the
2226 global option '--ignore-ocsp-service-url'.
2228 The return code is 0 for success; i.e. the certificate has not been
2229 revoked or one of the usual error codes from libgpg-error.
2232 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr CACHECERT, Next: Dirmngr VALIDATE, Prev: Dirmngr CHECKOCSP, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2234 3.6.5 Put a certificate into the internal cache
2235 -----------------------------------------------
2237 Put a certificate into the internal cache. This command might be useful
2238 if a client knows in advance certificates required for a test and wants
2239 to make sure they get added to the internal cache. It is also helpful
2240 for debugging. To get the actual certificate, this command immediately
2243 S: INQUIRE TARGETCERT
2244 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2247 Thus the caller is expected to return the certificate for the request
2250 The return code is 0 for success; i.e. the certificate has not been
2251 successfully cached or one of the usual error codes from libgpg-error.
2254 File: gnupg.info, Node: Dirmngr VALIDATE, Prev: Dirmngr CACHECERT, Up: Dirmngr Protocol
2256 3.6.6 Validate a certificate for debugging
2257 ------------------------------------------
2259 Validate a certificate using the certificate validation function used
2260 internally by dirmngr. This command is only useful for debugging. To
2261 get the actual certificate, this command immediately inquires it using
2263 S: INQUIRE TARGETCERT
2264 C: D <DER encoded certificate>
2267 Thus the caller is expected to return the certificate for the request
2271 File: gnupg.info, Node: Invoking GPG, Next: Invoking GPGSM, Prev: Invoking DIRMNGR, Up: Top
2276 'gpg' is the OpenPGP part of the GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG). It is a tool
2277 to provide digital encryption and signing services using the OpenPGP
2278 standard. 'gpg' features complete key management and all the bells and
2279 whistles you would expect from a full OpenPGP implementation.
2281 There are two main versions of GnuPG: GnuPG 1.x and GnuPG 2.x. GnuPG
2282 2.x supports modern encryption algorithms and thus should be preferred
2283 over GnuPG 1.x. You only need to use GnuPG 1.x if your platform doesn't
2284 support GnuPG 2.x, or you need support for some features that GnuPG 2.x
2285 has deprecated, e.g., decrypting data created with PGP-2 keys.
2287 If you are looking for version 1 of GnuPG, you may find that version
2288 installed under the name 'gpg1'.
2290 *Note Option Index::, for an index to 'gpg''s commands and options.
2294 * GPG Commands:: List of all commands.
2295 * GPG Options:: List of all options.
2296 * GPG Configuration:: Configuration files.
2297 * GPG Examples:: Some usage examples.
2299 Developer information:
2300 * Unattended Usage of GPG:: Using 'gpg' from other programs.
2303 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Commands, Next: GPG Options, Up: Invoking GPG
2308 Commands are not distinguished from options except for the fact that
2309 only one command is allowed. Generally speaking, irrelevant options are
2310 silently ignored, and may not be checked for correctness.
2312 'gpg' may be run with no commands. In this case it will print a
2313 warning perform a reasonable action depending on the type of file it is
2314 given as input (an encrypted message is decrypted, a signature is
2315 verified, a file containing keys is listed, etc.).
2317 If you run into any problems, please add the option '--verbose' to
2318 the invocation to see more diagnostics.
2322 * General GPG Commands:: Commands not specific to the functionality.
2323 * Operational GPG Commands:: Commands to select the type of operation.
2324 * OpenPGP Key Management:: How to manage your keys.
2327 File: gnupg.info, Node: General GPG Commands, Next: Operational GPG Commands, Up: GPG Commands
2329 4.1.1 Commands not specific to the function
2330 -------------------------------------------
2333 Print the program version and licensing information. Note that you
2334 cannot abbreviate this command.
2338 Print a usage message summarizing the most useful command-line
2339 options. Note that you cannot arbitrarily abbreviate this command
2340 (though you can use its short form '-h').
2343 Print warranty information.
2346 Print a list of all available options and commands. Note that you
2347 cannot abbreviate this command.
2350 File: gnupg.info, Node: Operational GPG Commands, Next: OpenPGP Key Management, Prev: General GPG Commands, Up: GPG Commands
2352 4.1.2 Commands to select the type of operation
2353 ----------------------------------------------
2357 Sign a message. This command may be combined with '--encrypt' (to
2358 sign and encrypt a message), '--symmetric' (to sign and
2359 symmetrically encrypt a message), or both '--encrypt' and
2360 '--symmetric' (to sign and encrypt a message that can be decrypted
2361 using a secret key or a passphrase). The signing key is chosen by
2362 default or can be set explicitly using the '--local-user' and
2363 '--default-key' options.
2367 Make a cleartext signature. The content in a cleartext signature
2368 is readable without any special software. OpenPGP software is only
2369 needed to verify the signature. cleartext signatures may modify
2370 end-of-line whitespace for platform independence and are not
2371 intended to be reversible. The signing key is chosen by default or
2372 can be set explicitly using the '--local-user' and '--default-key'
2377 Make a detached signature.
2381 Encrypt data to one or more public keys. This command may be
2382 combined with '--sign' (to sign and encrypt a message),
2383 '--symmetric' (to encrypt a message that can be decrypted using a
2384 secret key or a passphrase), or '--sign' and '--symmetric' together
2385 (for a signed message that can be decrypted using a secret key or a
2386 passphrase). '--recipient' and related options specify which
2387 public keys to use for encryption.
2391 Encrypt with a symmetric cipher using a passphrase. The default
2392 symmetric cipher used is AES-128, but may be chosen with the
2393 '--cipher-algo' option. This command may be combined with '--sign'
2394 (for a signed and symmetrically encrypted message), '--encrypt'
2395 (for a message that may be decrypted via a secret key or a
2396 passphrase), or '--sign' and '--encrypt' together (for a signed
2397 message that may be decrypted via a secret key or a passphrase).
2398 'gpg' caches the passphrase used for symmetric encryption so that a
2399 decrypt operation may not require that the user needs to enter the
2400 passphrase. The option '--no-symkey-cache' can be used to disable
2404 Store only (make a simple literal data packet).
2408 Decrypt the file given on the command line (or STDIN if no file is
2409 specified) and write it to STDOUT (or the file specified with
2410 '--output'). If the decrypted file is signed, the signature is
2411 also verified. This command differs from the default operation, as
2412 it never writes to the filename which is included in the file and
2413 it rejects files that don't begin with an encrypted message.
2416 Assume that the first argument is a signed file and verify it
2417 without generating any output. With no arguments, the signature
2418 packet is read from STDIN. If only one argument is given, the
2419 specified file is expected to include a complete signature.
2421 With more than one argument, the first argument should specify a
2422 file with a detached signature and the remaining files should
2423 contain the signed data. To read the signed data from STDIN, use
2424 '-' as the second filename. For security reasons, a detached
2425 signature will not read the signed material from STDIN if not
2426 explicitly specified.
2428 Note: If the option '--batch' is not used, 'gpg' may assume that a
2429 single argument is a file with a detached signature, and it will
2430 try to find a matching data file by stripping certain suffixes.
2431 Using this historical feature to verify a detached signature is
2432 strongly discouraged; you should always specify the data file
2435 Note: When verifying a cleartext signature, 'gpg' verifies only
2436 what makes up the cleartext signed data and not any extra data
2437 outside of the cleartext signature or the header lines directly
2438 following the dash marker line. The option '--output' may be used
2439 to write out the actual signed data, but there are other pitfalls
2440 with this format as well. It is suggested to avoid cleartext
2441 signatures in favor of detached signatures.
2443 Note: Sometimes the use of the 'gpgv' tool is easier than using the
2444 full-fledged 'gpg' with this option. 'gpgv' is designed to compare
2445 signed data against a list of trusted keys and returns with success
2446 only for a good signature. It has its own manual page.
2449 This modifies certain other commands to accept multiple files for
2450 processing on the command line or read from STDIN with each
2451 filename on a separate line. This allows for many files to be
2452 processed at once. '--multifile' may currently be used along with
2453 '--verify', '--encrypt', and '--decrypt'. Note that '--multifile
2454 --verify' may not be used with detached signatures.
2457 Identical to '--multifile --verify'.
2460 Identical to '--multifile --encrypt'.
2463 Identical to '--multifile --decrypt'.
2467 '--list-public-keys'
2468 List the specified keys. If no keys are specified, then all keys
2469 from the configured public keyrings are listed.
2471 Never use the output of this command in scripts or other programs.
2472 The output is intended only for humans and its format is likely to
2473 change. The '--with-colons' option emits the output in a stable,
2474 machine-parseable format, which is intended for use by scripts and
2477 '--list-secret-keys'
2479 List the specified secret keys. If no keys are specified, then all
2480 known secret keys are listed. A '#' after the initial tags 'sec'
2481 or 'ssb' means that the secret key or subkey is currently not
2482 usable. We also say that this key has been taken offline (for
2483 example, a primary key can be taken offline by exporting the key
2484 using the command '--export-secret-subkeys'). A '>' after these
2485 tags indicate that the key is stored on a smartcard. See also
2488 '--check-signatures'
2490 Same as '--list-keys', but the key signatures are verified and
2491 listed too. Note that for performance reasons the revocation
2492 status of a signing key is not shown. This command has the same
2493 effect as using '--list-keys' with '--with-sig-check'.
2495 The status of the verification is indicated by a flag directly
2496 following the "sig" tag (and thus before the flags described below.
2497 A "!" indicates that the signature has been successfully verified,
2498 a "-" denotes a bad signature and a "%" is used if an error
2499 occurred while checking the signature (e.g. a non supported
2500 algorithm). Signatures where the public key is not available are
2501 not listed; to see their keyids the command '--list-sigs' can be
2504 For each signature listed, there are several flags in between the
2505 signature status flag and keyid. These flags give additional
2506 information about each key signature. From left to right, they are
2507 the numbers 1-3 for certificate check level (see
2508 '--ask-cert-level'), "L" for a local or non-exportable signature
2509 (see '--lsign-key'), "R" for a nonRevocable signature (see the
2510 '--edit-key' command "nrsign"), "P" for a signature that contains a
2511 policy URL (see '--cert-policy-url'), "N" for a signature that
2512 contains a notation (see '--cert-notation'), "X" for an eXpired
2513 signature (see '--ask-cert-expire'), and the numbers 1-9 or "T" for
2514 10 and above to indicate trust signature levels (see the
2515 '--edit-key' command "tsign").
2518 '--locate-external-keys'
2519 Locate the keys given as arguments. This command basically uses
2520 the same algorithm as used when locating keys for encryption or
2521 signing and may thus be used to see what keys 'gpg' might use. In
2522 particular external methods as defined by '--auto-key-locate' may
2523 be used to locate a key. Only public keys are listed. The variant
2524 '--locate-external-keys' does not consider a locally existing key
2525 and can thus be used to force the refresh of a key via the defined
2529 This commands takes OpenPGP keys as input and prints information
2530 about them in the same way the command '--list-keys' does for
2531 locally stored key. In addition the list options
2532 'show-unusable-uids', 'show-unusable-subkeys', 'show-notations' and
2533 'show-policy-urls' are also enabled. As usual for automated
2534 processing, this command should be combined with the option
2538 List all keys (or the specified ones) along with their
2539 fingerprints. This is the same output as '--list-keys' but with
2540 the additional output of a line with the fingerprint. May also be
2541 combined with '--check-signatures'. If this command is given
2542 twice, the fingerprints of all secondary keys are listed too. This
2543 command also forces pretty printing of fingerprints if the keyid
2544 format has been set to "none".
2547 List only the sequence of packets. This command is only useful for
2548 debugging. When used with option '--verbose' the actual MPI values
2549 are dumped and not only their lengths. Note that the output of
2550 this command may change with new releases.
2554 Present a menu to work with a smartcard. The subcommand "help"
2555 provides an overview on available commands. For a detailed
2556 description, please see the Card HOWTO at
2557 https://gnupg.org/documentation/howtos.html#GnuPG-cardHOWTO .
2560 Show the content of the smart card.
2563 Present a menu to allow changing the PIN of a smartcard. This
2564 functionality is also available as the subcommand "passwd" with the
2565 '--edit-card' command.
2567 '--delete-keys NAME'
2568 Remove key from the public keyring. In batch mode either '--yes'
2569 is required or the key must be specified by fingerprint. This is a
2570 safeguard against accidental deletion of multiple keys. If the
2571 exclamation mark syntax is used with the fingerprint of a subkey
2572 only that subkey is deleted; if the exclamation mark is used with
2573 the fingerprint of the primary key the entire public key is
2576 '--delete-secret-keys NAME'
2577 Remove key from the secret keyring. In batch mode the key must be
2578 specified by fingerprint. The option '--yes' can be used to advise
2579 gpg-agent not to request a confirmation. This extra pre-caution is
2580 done because 'gpg' can't be sure that the secret key (as controlled
2581 by gpg-agent) is only used for the given OpenPGP public key. If
2582 the exclamation mark syntax is used with the fingerprint of a
2583 subkey only the secret part of that subkey is deleted; if the
2584 exclamation mark is used with the fingerprint of the primary key
2585 only the secret part of the primary key is deleted.
2587 '--delete-secret-and-public-key NAME'
2588 Same as '--delete-key', but if a secret key exists, it will be
2589 removed first. In batch mode the key must be specified by
2590 fingerprint. The option '--yes' can be used to advise gpg-agent
2591 not to request a confirmation.
2594 Either export all keys from all keyrings (default keyrings and
2595 those registered via option '--keyring'), or if at least one name
2596 is given, those of the given name. The exported keys are written
2597 to STDOUT or to the file given with option '--output'. Use
2598 together with '--armor' to mail those keys.
2600 '--send-keys KEYIDS'
2601 Similar to '--export' but sends the keys to a keyserver.
2602 Fingerprints may be used instead of key IDs. Don't send your
2603 complete keyring to a keyserver -- select only those keys which are
2604 new or changed by you. If no KEYIDS are given, 'gpg' does nothing.
2606 Take care: Keyservers are by design write only systems and thus it
2607 is not possible to ever delete keys once they have been send to a
2610 '--export-secret-keys'
2611 '--export-secret-subkeys'
2612 Same as '--export', but exports the secret keys instead. The
2613 exported keys are written to STDOUT or to the file given with
2614 option '--output'. This command is often used along with the
2615 option '--armor' to allow for easy printing of the key for paper
2616 backup; however the external tool 'paperkey' does a better job of
2617 creating backups on paper. Note that exporting a secret key can be
2618 a security risk if the exported keys are sent over an insecure
2621 The second form of the command has the special property to render
2622 the secret part of the primary key useless; this is a GNU extension
2623 to OpenPGP and other implementations can not be expected to
2624 successfully import such a key. Its intended use is in generating
2625 a full key with an additional signing subkey on a dedicated
2626 machine. This command then exports the key without the primary key
2627 to the main machine.
2629 GnuPG may ask you to enter the passphrase for the key. This is
2630 required, because the internal protection method of the secret key
2631 is different from the one specified by the OpenPGP protocol.
2634 This command is used to export a key in the OpenSSH public key
2635 format. It requires the specification of one key by the usual
2636 means and exports the latest valid subkey which has an
2637 authentication capability to STDOUT or to the file given with
2638 option '--output'. That output can directly be added to ssh's
2639 'authorized_key' file.
2641 By specifying the key to export using a key ID or a fingerprint
2642 suffixed with an exclamation mark (!), a specific subkey or the
2643 primary key can be exported. This does not even require that the
2644 key has the authentication capability flag set.
2648 Import/merge keys. This adds the given keys to the keyring. The
2649 fast version is currently just a synonym.
2651 There are a few other options which control how this command works.
2652 Most notable here is the '--import-options merge-only' option which
2653 does not insert new keys but does only the merging of new
2654 signatures, user-IDs and subkeys.
2656 '--receive-keys KEYIDS'
2657 '--recv-keys KEYIDS'
2658 Import the keys with the given KEYIDS from a keyserver.
2661 Request updates from a keyserver for keys that already exist on the
2662 local keyring. This is useful for updating a key with the latest
2663 signatures, user IDs, etc. Calling this with no arguments will
2664 refresh the entire keyring.
2666 '--search-keys NAMES'
2667 Search the keyserver for the given NAMES. Multiple names given
2668 here will be joined together to create the search string for the
2669 keyserver. Note that keyservers search for NAMES in a different
2670 and simpler way than gpg does. The best choice is to use a mail
2671 address. Due to data privacy reasons keyservers may even not even
2672 allow searching by user id or mail address and thus may only return
2673 results when being used with the '--recv-key' command to search by
2674 key fingerprint or keyid.
2677 Retrieve keys located at the specified URIS. Note that different
2678 installations of GnuPG may support different protocols (HTTP, FTP,
2679 LDAP, etc.). When using HTTPS the system provided root
2680 certificates are used by this command.
2683 Do trust database maintenance. This command iterates over all keys
2684 and builds the Web of Trust. This is an interactive command
2685 because it may have to ask for the "ownertrust" values for keys.
2686 The user has to give an estimation of how far she trusts the owner
2687 of the displayed key to correctly certify (sign) other keys. GnuPG
2688 only asks for the ownertrust value if it has not yet been assigned
2689 to a key. Using the '--edit-key' menu, the assigned value can be
2690 changed at any time.
2693 Do trust database maintenance without user interaction. From time
2694 to time the trust database must be updated so that expired keys or
2695 signatures and the resulting changes in the Web of Trust can be
2696 tracked. Normally, GnuPG will calculate when this is required and
2697 do it automatically unless '--no-auto-check-trustdb' is set. This
2698 command can be used to force a trust database check at any time.
2699 The processing is identical to that of '--update-trustdb' but it
2700 skips keys with a not yet defined "ownertrust".
2702 For use with cron jobs, this command can be used together with
2703 '--batch' in which case the trust database check is done only if a
2704 check is needed. To force a run even in batch mode add the option
2707 '--export-ownertrust'
2708 Send the ownertrust values to STDOUT. This is useful for backup
2709 purposes as these values are the only ones which can't be
2710 re-created from a corrupted trustdb. Example:
2711 gpg --export-ownertrust > otrust.txt
2713 '--import-ownertrust'
2714 Update the trustdb with the ownertrust values stored in 'files' (or
2715 STDIN if not given); existing values will be overwritten. In case
2716 of a severely damaged trustdb and if you have a recent backup of
2717 the ownertrust values (e.g. in the file 'otrust.txt'), you may
2718 re-create the trustdb using these commands:
2721 gpg --import-ownertrust < otrust.txt
2723 '--rebuild-keydb-caches'
2724 When updating from version 1.0.6 to 1.0.7 this command should be
2725 used to create signature caches in the keyring. It might be handy
2726 in other situations too.
2730 Print message digest of algorithm ALGO for all given files or
2731 STDIN. With the second form (or a deprecated "*" for ALGO) digests
2732 for all available algorithms are printed.
2734 '--gen-random 0|1|2 COUNT'
2735 Emit COUNT random bytes of the given quality level 0, 1 or 2. If
2736 COUNT is not given or zero, an endless sequence of random bytes
2737 will be emitted. If used with '--armor' the output will be base64
2738 encoded. PLEASE, don't use this command unless you know what you
2739 are doing; it may remove precious entropy from the system!
2741 '--gen-prime MODE BITS'
2742 Use the source, Luke :-). The output format is subject to change
2747 Pack or unpack an arbitrary input into/from an OpenPGP ASCII armor.
2748 This is a GnuPG extension to OpenPGP and in general not very
2751 '--tofu-policy {auto|good|unknown|bad|ask} KEYS'
2752 Set the TOFU policy for all the bindings associated with the
2753 specified KEYS. For more information about the meaning of the
2754 policies, *note trust-model-tofu::. The KEYS may be specified
2755 either by their fingerprint (preferred) or their keyid.
2758 File: gnupg.info, Node: OpenPGP Key Management, Prev: Operational GPG Commands, Up: GPG Commands
2760 4.1.3 How to manage your keys
2761 -----------------------------
2763 This section explains the main commands for key management.
2765 '--quick-generate-key USER-ID [ALGO [USAGE [EXPIRE]]]'
2767 This is a simple command to generate a standard key with one user
2768 id. In contrast to '--generate-key' the key is generated directly
2769 without the need to answer a bunch of prompts. Unless the option
2770 '--yes' is given, the key creation will be canceled if the given
2771 user id already exists in the keyring.
2773 If invoked directly on the console without any special options an
2774 answer to a "Continue?" style confirmation prompt is required. In
2775 case the user id already exists in the keyring a second prompt to
2776 force the creation of the key will show up.
2778 If ALGO or USAGE are given, only the primary key is created and no
2779 prompts are shown. To specify an expiration date but still create
2780 a primary and subkey use "default" or "future-default" for ALGO and
2781 "default" for USAGE. For a description of these optional arguments
2782 see the command '--quick-add-key'. The USAGE accepts also the
2783 value "cert" which can be used to create a certification only
2784 primary key; the default is to a create certification and signing
2787 The EXPIRE argument can be used to specify an expiration date for
2788 the key. Several formats are supported; commonly the ISO formats
2789 "YYYY-MM-DD" or "YYYYMMDDThhmmss" are used. To make the key expire
2790 in N seconds, N days, N weeks, N months, or N years use
2791 "seconds=N", "Nd", "Nw", "Nm", or "Ny" respectively. Not
2792 specifying a value, or using "-" results in a key expiring in a
2793 reasonable default interval. The values "never", "none" can be
2794 used for no expiration date.
2796 If this command is used with '--batch', '--pinentry-mode' has been
2797 set to 'loopback', and one of the passphrase options
2798 ('--passphrase', '--passphrase-fd', or 'passphrase-file') is used,
2799 the supplied passphrase is used for the new key and the agent does
2800 not ask for it. To create a key without any protection
2801 '--passphrase ''' may be used.
2803 To create an OpenPGP key from the keys available on the currently
2804 inserted smartcard, the special string "card" can be used for ALGO.
2805 If the card features an encryption and a signing key, gpg will
2806 figure them out and creates an OpenPGP key consisting of the usual
2807 primary key and one subkey. This works only with certain
2808 smartcards. Note that the interactive '--full-gen-key' command
2809 allows to do the same but with greater flexibility in the selection
2810 of the smartcard keys.
2812 Note that it is possible to create a primary key and a subkey using
2813 non-default algorithms by using "default" and changing the default
2814 parameters using the option '--default-new-key-algo'.
2816 '--quick-set-expire FPR EXPIRE [*|SUBFPRS]'
2817 With two arguments given, directly set the expiration time of the
2818 primary key identified by FPR to EXPIRE. To remove the expiration
2819 time '0' can be used. With three arguments and the third given as
2820 an asterisk, the expiration time of all non-revoked and not yet
2821 expired subkeys are set to EXPIRE. With more than two arguments
2822 and a list of fingerprints given for SUBFPRS, all non-revoked
2823 subkeys matching these fingerprints are set to EXPIRE.
2825 '--quick-add-key FPR [ALGO [USAGE [EXPIRE]]]'
2826 Directly add a subkey to the key identified by the fingerprint FPR.
2827 Without the optional arguments an encryption subkey is added. If
2828 any of the arguments are given a more specific subkey is added.
2830 ALGO may be any of the supported algorithms or curve names given in
2831 the format as used by key listings. To use the default algorithm
2832 the string "default" or "-" can be used. Supported algorithms are
2833 "rsa", "dsa", "elg", "ed25519", "cv25519", and other ECC curves.
2834 For example the string "rsa" adds an RSA key with the default key
2835 length; a string "rsa4096" requests that the key length is 4096
2836 bits. The string "future-default" is an alias for the algorithm
2837 which will likely be used as default algorithm in future versions
2838 of gpg. To list the supported ECC curves the command 'gpg
2839 --with-colons --list-config curve' can be used.
2841 Depending on the given ALGO the subkey may either be an encryption
2842 subkey or a signing subkey. If an algorithm is capable of signing
2843 and encryption and such a subkey is desired, a USAGE string must be
2844 given. This string is either "default" or "-" to keep the default
2845 or a comma delimited list (or space delimited list) of keywords:
2846 "sign" for a signing subkey, "auth" for an authentication subkey,
2847 and "encr" for an encryption subkey ("encrypt" can be used as alias
2848 for "encr"). The valid combinations depend on the algorithm.
2850 The EXPIRE argument can be used to specify an expiration date for
2851 the key. Several formats are supported; commonly the ISO formats
2852 "YYYY-MM-DD" or "YYYYMMDDThhmmss" are used. To make the key expire
2853 in N seconds, N days, N weeks, N months, or N years use
2854 "seconds=N", "Nd", "Nw", "Nm", or "Ny" respectively. Not
2855 specifying a value, or using "-" results in a key expiring in a
2856 reasonable default interval. The values "never", "none" can be
2857 used for no expiration date.
2861 Generate a new key pair using the current default parameters. This
2862 is the standard command to create a new key. In addition to the
2863 key a revocation certificate is created and stored in the
2864 'openpgp-revocs.d' directory below the GnuPG home directory.
2866 '--full-generate-key'
2868 Generate a new key pair with dialogs for all options. This is an
2869 extended version of '--generate-key'.
2871 There is also a feature which allows you to create keys in batch
2872 mode. See the manual section "Unattended key generation" on how to
2875 '--generate-revocation NAME'
2877 Generate a revocation certificate for the complete key. To only
2878 revoke a subkey or a key signature, use the '--edit' command.
2880 This command merely creates the revocation certificate so that it
2881 can be used to revoke the key if that is ever needed. To actually
2882 revoke a key the created revocation certificate needs to be merged
2883 with the key to revoke. This is done by importing the revocation
2884 certificate using the '--import' command. Then the revoked key
2885 needs to be published, which is best done by sending the key to a
2886 keyserver (command '--send-key') and by exporting ('--export') it
2887 to a file which is then send to frequent communication partners.
2889 '--generate-designated-revocation NAME'
2890 '--desig-revoke NAME'
2891 Generate a designated revocation certificate for a key. This
2892 allows a user (with the permission of the keyholder) to revoke
2896 Present a menu which enables you to do most of the key management
2897 related tasks. It expects the specification of a key on the
2901 Toggle selection of user ID or photographic user ID with index
2902 N. Use '*' to select all and '0' to deselect all.
2905 Toggle selection of subkey with index N or key ID N. Use '*'
2906 to select all and '0' to deselect all.
2909 Make a signature on key of user 'name'. If the key is not yet
2910 signed by the default user (or the users given with '-u'), the
2911 program displays the information of the key again, together
2912 with its fingerprint and asks whether it should be signed.
2913 This question is repeated for all users specified with '-u'.
2916 Same as "sign" but the signature is marked as non-exportable
2917 and will therefore never be used by others. This may be used
2918 to make keys valid only in the local environment.
2921 Same as "sign" but the signature is marked as non-revocable
2922 and can therefore never be revoked.
2925 Make a trust signature. This is a signature that combines the
2926 notions of certification (like a regular signature), and trust
2927 (like the "trust" command). It is generally only useful in
2928 distinct communities or groups. For more information please
2929 read the sections "Trust Signature" and "Regular Expression"
2932 Note that "l" (for local / non-exportable), "nr" (for
2933 non-revocable, and "t" (for trust) may be freely mixed and prefixed
2934 to "sign" to create a signature of any type desired.
2936 If the option '--only-sign-text-ids' is specified, then any
2937 non-text based user ids (e.g., photo IDs) will not be selected for
2941 Delete a signature. Note that it is not possible to retract a
2942 signature, once it has been send to the public (i.e. to a
2943 keyserver). In that case you better use 'revsig'.
2946 Revoke a signature. For every signature which has been
2947 generated by one of the secret keys, GnuPG asks whether a
2948 revocation certificate should be generated.
2951 Check the signatures on all selected user IDs. With the extra
2952 option 'selfsig' only self-signatures are shown.
2955 Create an additional user ID.
2958 Create a photographic user ID. This will prompt for a JPEG
2959 file that will be embedded into the user ID. Note that a very
2960 large JPEG will make for a very large key. Also note that
2961 some programs will display your JPEG unchanged (GnuPG), and
2962 some programs will scale it to fit in a dialog box (PGP).
2965 Display the selected photographic user ID.
2968 Delete a user ID or photographic user ID. Note that it is not
2969 possible to retract a user id, once it has been send to the
2970 public (i.e. to a keyserver). In that case you better use
2974 Revoke a user ID or photographic user ID.
2977 Flag the current user id as the primary one, removes the
2978 primary user id flag from all other user ids and sets the
2979 timestamp of all affected self-signatures one second ahead.
2980 Note that setting a photo user ID as primary makes it primary
2981 over other photo user IDs, and setting a regular user ID as
2982 primary makes it primary over other regular user IDs.
2985 Set a preferred keyserver for the specified user ID(s). This
2986 allows other users to know where you prefer they get your key
2987 from. See '--keyserver-options honor-keyserver-url' for more
2988 on how this works. Setting a value of "none" removes an
2989 existing preferred keyserver.
2992 Set a name=value notation for the specified user ID(s). See
2993 '--cert-notation' for more on how this works. Setting a value
2994 of "none" removes all notations, setting a notation prefixed
2995 with a minus sign (-) removes that notation, and setting a
2996 notation name (without the =value) prefixed with a minus sign
2997 removes all notations with that name.
3000 List preferences from the selected user ID. This shows the
3001 actual preferences, without including any implied preferences.
3004 More verbose preferences listing for the selected user ID.
3005 This shows the preferences in effect by including the implied
3006 preferences of 3DES (cipher), SHA-1 (digest), and Uncompressed
3007 (compression) if they are not already included in the
3008 preference list. In addition, the preferred keyserver and
3009 signature notations (if any) are shown.
3012 Set the list of user ID preferences to STRING for all (or just
3013 the selected) user IDs. Calling setpref with no arguments
3014 sets the preference list to the default (either built-in or
3015 set via '--default-preference-list'), and calling setpref with
3016 "none" as the argument sets an empty preference list. Use
3017 'gpg --version' to get a list of available algorithms. Note
3018 that while you can change the preferences on an attribute user
3019 ID (aka "photo ID"), GnuPG does not select keys via attribute
3020 user IDs so these preferences will not be used by GnuPG.
3022 When setting preferences, you should list the algorithms in
3023 the order which you'd like to see them used by someone else
3024 when encrypting a message to your key. If you don't include
3025 3DES, it will be automatically added at the end. Note that
3026 there are many factors that go into choosing an algorithm (for
3027 example, your key may not be the only recipient), and so the
3028 remote OpenPGP application being used to send to you may or
3029 may not follow your exact chosen order for a given message.
3030 It will, however, only choose an algorithm that is present on
3031 the preference list of every recipient key. See also the
3032 INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER OPENPGP PROGRAMS section below.
3035 Add a subkey to this key.
3038 Generate a subkey on a card and add it to this key.
3041 Transfer the selected secret subkey (or the primary key if no
3042 subkey has been selected) to a smartcard. The secret key in
3043 the keyring will be replaced by a stub if the key could be
3044 stored successfully on the card and you use the save command
3045 later. Only certain key types may be transferred to the card.
3046 A sub menu allows you to select on what card to store the key.
3047 Note that it is not possible to get that key back from the
3048 card - if the card gets broken your secret key will be lost
3049 unless you have a backup somewhere.
3052 Restore the given FILE to a card. This command may be used to
3053 restore a backup key (as generated during card initialization)
3054 to a new card. In almost all cases this will be the
3055 encryption key. You should use this command only with the
3056 corresponding public key and make sure that the file given as
3057 argument is indeed the backup to restore. You should then
3058 select 2 to restore as encryption key. You will first be
3059 asked to enter the passphrase of the backup key and then for
3060 the Admin PIN of the card.
3063 Remove a subkey (secondary key). Note that it is not possible
3064 to retract a subkey, once it has been send to the public (i.e.
3065 to a keyserver). In that case you better use 'revkey'. Also
3066 note that this only deletes the public part of a key.
3072 Change the key or subkey expiration time. If a subkey is
3073 selected, the expiration time of this subkey will be changed.
3074 With no selection, the key expiration of the primary key is
3078 Change the owner trust value for the key. This updates the
3079 trust-db immediately and no save is required.
3083 Disable or enable an entire key. A disabled key can not
3084 normally be used for encryption.
3087 Add a designated revoker to the key. This takes one optional
3088 argument: "sensitive". If a designated revoker is marked as
3089 sensitive, it will not be exported by default (see
3093 Change the passphrase of the secret key.
3096 This is dummy command which exists only for backward
3100 Compact (by removing all signatures except the selfsig) any
3101 user ID that is no longer usable (e.g. revoked, or expired).
3102 Then, remove any signatures that are not usable by the trust
3103 calculations. Specifically, this removes any signature that
3104 does not validate, any signature that is superseded by a later
3105 signature, revoked signatures, and signatures issued by keys
3106 that are not present on the keyring.
3109 Make the key as small as possible. This removes all
3110 signatures from each user ID except for the most recent
3114 Change the usage flags (capabilities) of the primary key or of
3115 subkeys. These usage flags (e.g. Certify, Sign,
3116 Authenticate, Encrypt) are set during key creation. Sometimes
3117 it is useful to have the opportunity to change them (for
3118 example to add Authenticate) after they have been created.
3119 Please take care when doing this; the allowed usage flags
3120 depend on the key algorithm.
3123 Add cross-certification signatures to signing subkeys that may
3124 not currently have them. Cross-certification signatures
3125 protect against a subtle attack against signing subkeys. See
3126 '--require-cross-certification'. All new keys generated have
3127 this signature by default, so this command is only useful to
3128 bring older keys up to date.
3131 Save all changes to the keyrings and quit.
3134 Quit the program without updating the keyrings.
3136 The listing shows you the key with its secondary keys and all user
3137 IDs. The primary user ID is indicated by a dot, and selected keys
3138 or user IDs are indicated by an asterisk. The trust value is
3139 displayed with the primary key: "trust" is the assigned owner trust
3140 and "validity" is the calculated validity of the key. Validity
3141 values are also displayed for all user IDs. For possible values of
3142 trust, *note trust-values::.
3145 Signs a public key with your secret key. This is a shortcut
3146 version of the subcommand "sign" from '--edit'.
3149 Signs a public key with your secret key but marks it as
3150 non-exportable. This is a shortcut version of the subcommand
3151 "lsign" from '--edit-key'.
3153 '--quick-sign-key FPR [NAMES]'
3154 '--quick-lsign-key FPR [NAMES]'
3155 Directly sign a key from the passphrase without any further user
3156 interaction. The FPR must be the verified primary fingerprint of a
3157 key in the local keyring. If no NAMES are given, all useful user
3158 ids are signed; with given [NAMES] only useful user ids matching
3159 one of theses names are signed. By default, or if a name is
3160 prefixed with a '*', a case insensitive substring match is used.
3161 If a name is prefixed with a '=' a case sensitive exact match is
3164 The command '--quick-lsign-key' marks the signatures as
3165 non-exportable. If such a non-exportable signature already exists
3166 the '--quick-sign-key' turns it into a exportable signature.
3168 This command uses reasonable defaults and thus does not provide the
3169 full flexibility of the "sign" subcommand from '--edit-key'. Its
3170 intended use is to help unattended key signing by utilizing a list
3171 of verified fingerprints.
3173 '--quick-add-uid USER-ID NEW-USER-ID'
3174 This command adds a new user id to an existing key. In contrast to
3175 the interactive sub-command 'adduid' of '--edit-key' the
3176 NEW-USER-ID is added verbatim with only leading and trailing white
3177 space removed, it is expected to be UTF-8 encoded, and no checks on
3178 its form are applied.
3180 '--quick-revoke-uid USER-ID USER-ID-TO-REVOKE'
3181 This command revokes a user ID on an existing key. It cannot be
3182 used to revoke the last user ID on key (some non-revoked user ID
3183 must remain), with revocation reason "User ID is no longer valid".
3184 If you want to specify a different revocation reason, or to supply
3185 supplementary revocation text, you should use the interactive
3186 sub-command 'revuid' of '--edit-key'.
3188 '--quick-revoke-sig FPR SIGNING-FPR [NAMES]'
3189 This command revokes the key signatures made by SIGNING-FPR from
3190 the key specified by the fingerprint FPR. With NAMES given only
3191 the signatures on user ids of the key matching any of the given
3192 names are affected (see '--quick-sign-key'). If a revocation
3193 already exists a notice is printed instead of creating a new
3194 revocation; no error is returned in this case. Note that key
3195 signature revocations may be superseded by a newer key signature
3196 and in turn again revoked.
3198 '--quick-set-primary-uid USER-ID PRIMARY-USER-ID'
3199 This command sets or updates the primary user ID flag on an
3200 existing key. USER-ID specifies the key and PRIMARY-USER-ID the
3201 user ID which shall be flagged as the primary user ID. The primary
3202 user ID flag is removed from all other user ids and the timestamp
3203 of all affected self-signatures is set one second ahead.
3205 '--change-passphrase USER-ID'
3207 Change the passphrase of the secret key belonging to the
3208 certificate specified as USER-ID. This is a shortcut for the
3209 sub-command 'passwd' of the edit key menu. When using together
3210 with the option '--dry-run' this will not actually change the
3211 passphrase but check that the current passphrase is correct.
3214 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Options, Next: GPG Configuration, Prev: GPG Commands, Up: Invoking GPG
3219 'gpg' features a bunch of options to control the exact behaviour and to
3220 change the default configuration.
3224 * GPG Configuration Options:: How to change the configuration.
3225 * GPG Key related Options:: Key related options.
3226 * GPG Input and Output:: Input and Output.
3227 * OpenPGP Options:: OpenPGP protocol specific options.
3228 * Compliance Options:: Compliance options.
3229 * GPG Esoteric Options:: Doing things one usually doesn't want to do.
3230 * Deprecated Options:: Deprecated options.
3232 Long options can be put in an options file (default
3233 "~/.gnupg/gpg.conf"). Short option names will not work - for example,
3234 "armor" is a valid option for the options file, while "a" is not. Do
3235 not write the 2 dashes, but simply the name of the option and any
3236 required arguments. Lines with a hash ('#') as the first
3237 non-white-space character are ignored. Commands may be put in this file
3238 too, but that is not generally useful as the command will execute
3239 automatically with every execution of gpg.
3241 Please remember that option parsing stops as soon as a non-option is
3242 encountered, you can explicitly stop parsing by using the special option
3246 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Configuration Options, Next: GPG Key related Options, Up: GPG Options
3248 4.2.1 How to change the configuration
3249 -------------------------------------
3251 These options are used to change the configuration and are usually found
3254 '--default-key NAME'
3255 Use NAME as the default key to sign with. If this option is not
3256 used, the default key is the first key found in the secret keyring.
3257 Note that '-u' or '--local-user' overrides this option. This
3258 option may be given multiple times. In this case, the last key for
3259 which a secret key is available is used. If there is no secret key
3260 available for any of the specified values, GnuPG will not emit an
3261 error message but continue as if this option wasn't given.
3263 '--default-recipient NAME'
3264 Use NAME as default recipient if option '--recipient' is not used
3265 and don't ask if this is a valid one. NAME must be non-empty.
3267 '--default-recipient-self'
3268 Use the default key as default recipient if option '--recipient' is
3269 not used and don't ask if this is a valid one. The default key is
3270 the first one from the secret keyring or the one set with
3273 '--no-default-recipient'
3274 Reset '--default-recipient' and '--default-recipient-self'.
3277 Give more information during processing. If used twice, the input
3278 data is listed in detail.
3281 Reset verbose level to 0.
3284 Try to be as quiet as possible.
3288 Use batch mode. Never ask, do not allow interactive commands.
3289 '--no-batch' disables this option. Note that even with a filename
3290 given on the command line, gpg might still need to read from STDIN
3291 (in particular if gpg figures that the input is a detached
3292 signature and no data file has been specified). Thus if you do not
3293 want to feed data via STDIN, you should connect STDIN to
3296 It is highly recommended to use this option along with the options
3297 '--status-fd' and '--with-colons' for any unattended use of 'gpg'.
3300 Make sure that the TTY (terminal) is never used for any output.
3301 This option is needed in some cases because GnuPG sometimes prints
3302 warnings to the TTY even if '--batch' is used.
3305 Assume "yes" on most questions.
3308 Assume "no" on most questions.
3310 '--list-options PARAMETERS'
3311 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options used
3312 when listing keys and signatures (that is, '--list-keys',
3313 '--check-signatures', '--list-public-keys', '--list-secret-keys',
3314 and the '--edit-key' functions). Options can be prepended with a
3315 'no-' (after the two dashes) to give the opposite meaning. The
3319 Causes '--list-keys', '--check-signatures',
3320 '--list-public-keys', and '--list-secret-keys' to display any
3321 photo IDs attached to the key. Defaults to no. See also
3322 '--photo-viewer'. Does not work with '--with-colons': see
3323 '--attribute-fd' for the appropriate way to get photo data for
3324 scripts and other frontends.
3327 Show usage information for keys and subkeys in the standard
3328 key listing. This is a list of letters indicating the allowed
3329 usage for a key ('E'=encryption, 'S'=signing,
3330 'C'=certification, 'A'=authentication). Defaults to yes.
3333 Show policy URLs in the '--check-signatures' listings.
3339 Show all, IETF standard, or user-defined signature notations
3340 in the '--check-signatures' listings. Defaults to no.
3343 Show any preferred keyserver URL in the '--check-signatures'
3344 listings. Defaults to no.
3347 Display the calculated validity of user IDs during key
3348 listings. Defaults to yes.
3351 Show revoked and expired user IDs in key listings. Defaults
3354 show-unusable-subkeys
3355 Show revoked and expired subkeys in key listings. Defaults to
3359 Display the keyring name at the head of key listings to show
3360 which keyring a given key resides on. Defaults to no.
3363 Show signature expiration dates (if any) during
3364 '--check-signatures' listings. Defaults to no.
3367 Include signature subpackets in the key listing. This option
3368 can take an optional argument list of the subpackets to list.
3369 If no argument is passed, list all subpackets. Defaults to
3370 no. This option is only meaningful when using '--with-colons'
3371 along with '--check-signatures'.
3374 For each user-id which has a valid mail address print only the
3375 fingerprint followed by the mail address.
3377 '--verify-options PARAMETERS'
3378 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options used
3379 when verifying signatures. Options can be prepended with a 'no-'
3380 to give the opposite meaning. The options are:
3383 Display any photo IDs present on the key that issued the
3384 signature. Defaults to no. See also '--photo-viewer'.
3387 Show policy URLs in the signature being verified. Defaults to
3393 Show all, IETF standard, or user-defined signature notations
3394 in the signature being verified. Defaults to IETF standard.
3397 Show any preferred keyserver URL in the signature being
3398 verified. Defaults to yes.
3401 Display the calculated validity of the user IDs on the key
3402 that issued the signature. Defaults to yes.
3405 Show revoked and expired user IDs during signature
3406 verification. Defaults to no.
3408 show-primary-uid-only
3409 Show only the primary user ID during signature verification.
3410 That is all the AKA lines as well as photo Ids are not shown
3411 with the signature verification status.
3414 Enable PKA lookups to verify sender addresses. Note that PKA
3415 is based on DNS, and so enabling this option may disclose
3416 information on when and what signatures are verified or to
3417 whom data is encrypted. This is similar to the "web bug"
3418 described for the '--auto-key-retrieve' option.
3421 Raise the trust in a signature to full if the signature passes
3422 PKA validation. This option is only meaningful if pka-lookups
3425 '--enable-large-rsa'
3426 '--disable-large-rsa'
3427 With -generate-key and -batch, enable the creation of RSA secret
3428 keys as large as 8192 bit. Note: 8192 bit is more than is
3429 generally recommended. These large keys don't significantly
3430 improve security, but they are more expensive to use, and their
3431 signatures and certifications are larger. This option is only
3432 available if the binary was build with large-secmem support.
3436 Enable hash truncation for all DSA keys even for old DSA Keys up to
3437 1024 bit. This is also the default with '--openpgp'. Note that
3438 older versions of GnuPG also required this flag to allow the
3439 generation of DSA larger than 1024 bit.
3441 '--photo-viewer STRING'
3442 This is the command line that should be run to view a photo ID.
3443 "%i" will be expanded to a filename containing the photo. "%I"
3444 does the same, except the file will not be deleted once the viewer
3445 exits. Other flags are "%k" for the key ID, "%K" for the long key
3446 ID, "%f" for the key fingerprint, "%t" for the extension of the
3447 image type (e.g. "jpg"), "%T" for the MIME type of the image (e.g.
3448 "image/jpeg"), "%v" for the single-character calculated validity of
3449 the image being viewed (e.g. "f"), "%V" for the calculated
3450 validity as a string (e.g. "full"), "%U" for a base32 encoded hash
3451 of the user ID, and "%%" for an actual percent sign. If neither %i
3452 or %I are present, then the photo will be supplied to the viewer on
3455 On Unix the default viewer is 'xloadimage -fork -quiet -title
3456 'KeyID 0x%k' STDIN' with a fallback to 'display -title 'KeyID 0x%k'
3457 %i' and finally to 'xdg-open %i'. On Windows '!ShellExecute 400
3458 %i' is used; here the command is a meta command to use that API
3459 call followed by a wait time in milliseconds which is used to give
3460 the viewer time to read the temporary image file before gpg deletes
3461 it again. Note that if your image viewer program is not secure,
3462 then executing it from gpg does not make it secure.
3464 '--exec-path STRING'
3465 Sets a list of directories to search for photo viewers If not
3466 provided photo viewers use the 'PATH' environment variable.
3469 Add FILE to the current list of keyrings. If FILE begins with a
3470 tilde and a slash, these are replaced by the $HOME directory. If
3471 the filename does not contain a slash, it is assumed to be in the
3472 GnuPG home directory ("~/.gnupg" if '--homedir' or $GNUPGHOME is
3475 Note that this adds a keyring to the current list. If the intent
3476 is to use the specified keyring alone, use '--keyring' along with
3477 '--no-default-keyring'.
3479 If the option '--no-keyring' has been used no keyrings will be used
3482 '--secret-keyring FILE'
3483 This is an obsolete option and ignored. All secret keys are stored
3484 in the 'private-keys-v1.d' directory below the GnuPG home
3487 '--primary-keyring FILE'
3488 Designate FILE as the primary public keyring. This means that
3489 newly imported keys (via '--import' or keyserver '--recv-from')
3490 will go to this keyring.
3492 '--trustdb-name FILE'
3493 Use FILE instead of the default trustdb. If FILE begins with a
3494 tilde and a slash, these are replaced by the $HOME directory. If
3495 the filename does not contain a slash, it is assumed to be in the
3496 GnuPG home directory ('~/.gnupg' if '--homedir' or $GNUPGHOME is
3500 Set the name of the home directory to DIR. If this option is not
3501 used, the home directory defaults to '~/.gnupg'. It is only
3502 recognized when given on the command line. It also overrides any
3503 home directory stated through the environment variable 'GNUPGHOME'
3504 or (on Windows systems) by means of the Registry entry
3505 HKCU\SOFTWARE\GNU\GNUPG:HOMEDIR.
3507 On Windows systems it is possible to install GnuPG as a portable
3508 application. In this case only this command line option is
3509 considered, all other ways to set a home directory are ignored.
3511 To install GnuPG as a portable application under Windows, create an
3512 empty file named 'gpgconf.ctl' in the same directory as the tool
3513 'gpgconf.exe'. The root of the installation is then that
3514 directory; or, if 'gpgconf.exe' has been installed directly below a
3515 directory named 'bin', its parent directory. You also need to make
3516 sure that the following directories exist and are writable:
3517 'ROOT/home' for the GnuPG home and 'ROOT/usr/local/var/cache/gnupg'
3518 for internal cache files.
3520 '--display-charset NAME'
3521 Set the name of the native character set. This is used to convert
3522 some informational strings like user IDs to the proper UTF-8
3523 encoding. Note that this has nothing to do with the character set
3524 of data to be encrypted or signed; GnuPG does not recode
3525 user-supplied data. If this option is not used, the default
3526 character set is determined from the current locale. A verbosity
3527 level of 3 shows the chosen set. Valid values for NAME are:
3530 This is the Latin 1 set.
3536 This is currently an alias for the Latin 1 set.
3539 The usual Russian set (RFC-1489).
3542 Bypass all translations and assume that the OS uses native
3547 Assume that command line arguments are given as UTF-8 strings. The
3548 default ('--no-utf8-strings') is to assume that arguments are
3549 encoded in the character set as specified by '--display-charset'.
3550 These options affect all following arguments. Both options may be
3551 used multiple times.
3554 Read options from FILE and do not try to read them from the default
3555 options file in the homedir (see '--homedir'). This option is
3556 ignored if used in an options file.
3559 Shortcut for '--options /dev/null'. This option is detected before
3560 an attempt to open an option file. Using this option will also
3561 prevent the creation of a '~/.gnupg' homedir.
3564 '--compress-level N'
3565 '--bzip2-compress-level N'
3566 Set compression level to N for the ZIP and ZLIB compression
3567 algorithms. The default is to use the default compression level of
3568 zlib (normally 6). '--bzip2-compress-level' sets the compression
3569 level for the BZIP2 compression algorithm (defaulting to 6 as
3570 well). This is a different option from '--compress-level' since
3571 BZIP2 uses a significant amount of memory for each additional
3572 compression level. '-z' sets both. A value of 0 for N disables
3575 '--bzip2-decompress-lowmem'
3576 Use a different decompression method for BZIP2 compressed files.
3577 This alternate method uses a bit more than half the memory, but
3578 also runs at half the speed. This is useful under extreme low
3579 memory circumstances when the file was originally compressed at a
3580 high '--bzip2-compress-level'.
3582 '--mangle-dos-filenames'
3583 '--no-mangle-dos-filenames'
3584 Older version of Windows cannot handle filenames with more than one
3585 dot. '--mangle-dos-filenames' causes GnuPG to replace (rather than
3586 add to) the extension of an output filename to avoid this problem.
3587 This option is off by default and has no effect on non-Windows
3591 '--no-ask-cert-level'
3592 When making a key signature, prompt for a certification level. If
3593 this option is not specified, the certification level used is set
3594 via '--default-cert-level'. See '--default-cert-level' for
3595 information on the specific levels and how they are used.
3596 '--no-ask-cert-level' disables this option. This option defaults
3599 '--default-cert-level N'
3600 The default to use for the check level when signing a key.
3602 0 means you make no particular claim as to how carefully you
3605 1 means you believe the key is owned by the person who claims to
3606 own it but you could not, or did not verify the key at all. This
3607 is useful for a "persona" verification, where you sign the key of a
3610 2 means you did casual verification of the key. For example, this
3611 could mean that you verified the key fingerprint and checked the
3612 user ID on the key against a photo ID.
3614 3 means you did extensive verification of the key. For example,
3615 this could mean that you verified the key fingerprint with the
3616 owner of the key in person, and that you checked, by means of a
3617 hard to forge document with a photo ID (such as a passport) that
3618 the name of the key owner matches the name in the user ID on the
3619 key, and finally that you verified (by exchange of email) that the
3620 email address on the key belongs to the key owner.
3622 Note that the examples given above for levels 2 and 3 are just
3623 that: examples. In the end, it is up to you to decide just what
3624 "casual" and "extensive" mean to you.
3626 This option defaults to 0 (no particular claim).
3629 When building the trust database, treat any signatures with a
3630 certification level below this as invalid. Defaults to 2, which
3631 disregards level 1 signatures. Note that level 0 "no particular
3632 claim" signatures are always accepted.
3634 '--trusted-key LONG KEY ID OR FINGERPRINT'
3635 Assume that the specified key (which must be given as a full 8 byte
3636 key ID or 20 byte fingerprint) is as trustworthy as one of your own
3637 secret keys. This option is useful if you don't want to keep your
3638 secret keys (or one of them) online but still want to be able to
3639 check the validity of a given recipient's or signator's key.
3641 '--trust-model {pgp|classic|tofu|tofu+pgp|direct|always|auto}'
3642 Set what trust model GnuPG should follow. The models are:
3645 This is the Web of Trust combined with trust signatures as
3646 used in PGP 5.x and later. This is the default trust model
3647 when creating a new trust database.
3650 This is the standard Web of Trust as introduced by PGP 2.
3653 TOFU stands for Trust On First Use. In this trust model, the
3654 first time a key is seen, it is memorized. If later another
3655 key with a user id with the same email address is seen, both
3656 keys are marked as suspect. In that case, the next time
3657 either is used, a warning is displayed describing the
3658 conflict, why it might have occurred (either the user
3659 generated a new key and failed to cross sign the old and new
3660 keys, the key is forgery, or a man-in-the-middle attack is
3661 being attempted), and the user is prompted to manually confirm
3662 the validity of the key in question.
3664 Because a potential attacker is able to control the email
3665 address and thereby circumvent the conflict detection
3666 algorithm by using an email address that is similar in
3667 appearance to a trusted email address, whenever a message is
3668 verified, statistics about the number of messages signed with
3669 the key are shown. In this way, a user can easily identify
3670 attacks using fake keys for regular correspondents.
3672 When compared with the Web of Trust, TOFU offers significantly
3673 weaker security guarantees. In particular, TOFU only helps
3674 ensure consistency (that is, that the binding between a key
3675 and email address doesn't change). A major advantage of TOFU
3676 is that it requires little maintenance to use correctly. To
3677 use the web of trust properly, you need to actively sign keys
3678 and mark users as trusted introducers. This is a
3679 time-consuming process and anecdotal evidence suggests that
3680 even security-conscious users rarely take the time to do this
3681 thoroughly and instead rely on an ad-hoc TOFU process.
3683 In the TOFU model, policies are associated with bindings
3684 between keys and email addresses (which are extracted from
3685 user ids and normalized). There are five policies, which can
3686 be set manually using the '--tofu-policy' option. The default
3687 policy can be set using the '--tofu-default-policy' option.
3689 The TOFU policies are: 'auto', 'good', 'unknown', 'bad' and
3690 'ask'. The 'auto' policy is used by default (unless
3691 overridden by '--tofu-default-policy') and marks a binding as
3692 marginally trusted. The 'good', 'unknown' and 'bad' policies
3693 mark a binding as fully trusted, as having unknown trust or as
3694 having trust never, respectively. The 'unknown' policy is
3695 useful for just using TOFU to detect conflicts, but to never
3696 assign positive trust to a binding. The final policy, 'ask'
3697 prompts the user to indicate the binding's trust. If batch
3698 mode is enabled (or input is inappropriate in the context),
3699 then the user is not prompted and the 'undefined' trust level
3703 This trust model combines TOFU with the Web of Trust. This is
3704 done by computing the trust level for each model and then
3705 taking the maximum trust level where the trust levels are
3706 ordered as follows: 'unknown < undefined < marginal < fully <
3707 ultimate < expired < never'.
3709 By setting '--tofu-default-policy=unknown', this model can be
3710 used to implement the web of trust with TOFU's conflict
3711 detection algorithm, but without its assignment of positive
3712 trust values, which some security-conscious users don't like.
3715 Key validity is set directly by the user and not calculated
3716 via the Web of Trust. This model is solely based on the key
3717 and does not distinguish user IDs. Note that when changing to
3718 another trust model the trust values assigned to a key are
3719 transformed into ownertrust values, which also indicate how
3720 you trust the owner of the key to sign other keys.
3723 Skip key validation and assume that used keys are always fully
3724 valid. You generally won't use this unless you are using some
3725 external validation scheme. This option also suppresses the
3726 "[uncertain]" tag printed with signature checks when there is
3727 no evidence that the user ID is bound to the key. Note that
3728 this trust model still does not allow the use of expired,
3729 revoked, or disabled keys.
3732 Select the trust model depending on whatever the internal
3733 trust database says. This is the default model if such a
3734 database already exists. Note that a tofu trust model is not
3735 considered here and must be enabled explicitly.
3737 '--auto-key-locate MECHANISMS'
3738 '--no-auto-key-locate'
3739 GnuPG can automatically locate and retrieve keys as needed using
3740 this option. This happens when encrypting to an email address (in
3741 the "user@example.com" form), and there are no "user@example.com"
3742 keys on the local keyring. This option takes any number of the
3743 mechanisms listed below, in the order they are to be tried.
3744 Instead of listing the mechanisms as comma delimited arguments, the
3745 option may also be given several times to add more mechanism. The
3746 option '--no-auto-key-locate' or the mechanism "clear" resets the
3747 list. The default is "local,wkd".
3750 Locate a key using DNS CERT, as specified in RFC-4398.
3753 Locate a key using DNS PKA.
3756 Locate a key using DANE, as specified in
3757 draft-ietf-dane-openpgpkey-05.txt.
3760 Locate a key using the Web Key Directory protocol.
3763 Using DNS Service Discovery, check the domain in question for
3764 any LDAP keyservers to use. If this fails, attempt to locate
3765 the key using the PGP Universal method of checking
3766 'ldap://keys.(thedomain)'.
3769 Locate the key using the Active Directory (Windows only).
3772 Locate a key using a keyserver.
3775 In addition, a keyserver URL as used in the 'dirmngr'
3776 configuration may be used here to query that particular
3780 Locate the key using the local keyrings. This mechanism
3781 allows the user to select the order a local key lookup is
3782 done. Thus using '--auto-key-locate local' is identical to
3783 '--no-auto-key-locate'.
3786 This flag disables the standard local key lookup, done before
3787 any of the mechanisms defined by the '--auto-key-locate' are
3788 tried. The position of this mechanism in the list does not
3789 matter. It is not required if 'local' is also used.
3792 Clear all defined mechanisms. This is useful to override
3793 mechanisms given in a config file. Note that a 'nodefault' in
3794 MECHANISMS will also be cleared unless it is given after the
3798 '--no-auto-key-import'
3799 This is an offline mechanism to get a missing key for signature
3800 verification and for later encryption to this key. If this option
3801 is enabled and a signature includes an embedded key, that key is
3802 used to verify the signature and on verification success that key
3803 is imported. The default is '--no-auto-key-import'.
3805 On the sender (signing) site the option '--include-key-block' needs
3806 to be used to put the public part of the signing key as “Key Block
3807 subpacket” into the signature.
3809 '--auto-key-retrieve'
3810 '--no-auto-key-retrieve'
3811 These options enable or disable the automatic retrieving of keys
3812 from a keyserver when verifying signatures made by keys that are
3813 not on the local keyring. The default is '--no-auto-key-retrieve'.
3815 The order of methods tried to lookup the key is:
3817 1. If the option '--auto-key-import' is set and the signatures
3818 includes an embedded key, that key is used to verify the signature
3819 and on verification success that key is imported.
3821 2. If a preferred keyserver is specified in the signature and the
3822 option 'honor-keyserver-url' is active (which is not the default),
3823 that keyserver is tried. Note that the creator of the signature
3824 uses the option '--sig-keyserver-url' to specify the preferred
3825 keyserver for data signatures.
3827 3. If the signature has the Signer's UID set (e.g. using
3828 '--sender' while creating the signature) a Web Key Directory (WKD)
3829 lookup is done. This is the default configuration but can be
3830 disabled by removing WKD from the auto-key-locate list or by using
3831 the option '--disable-signer-uid'.
3833 4. If the option 'honor-pka-record' is active, the legacy PKA
3836 5. If any keyserver is configured and the Issuer Fingerprint is
3837 part of the signature (since GnuPG 2.1.16), the configured
3838 keyservers are tried.
3840 Note that this option makes a "web bug" like behavior possible.
3841 Keyserver or Web Key Directory operators can see which keys you
3842 request, so by sending you a message signed by a brand new key
3843 (which you naturally will not have on your local keyring), the
3844 operator can tell both your IP address and the time when you
3845 verified the signature.
3847 '--keyid-format {none|short|0xshort|long|0xlong}'
3848 Select how to display key IDs. "none" does not show the key ID at
3849 all but shows the fingerprint in a separate line. "short" is the
3850 traditional 8-character key ID. "long" is the more accurate (but
3851 less convenient) 16-character key ID. Add an "0x" to either to
3852 include an "0x" at the beginning of the key ID, as in 0x99242560.
3853 Note that this option is ignored if the option '--with-colons' is
3857 This option is deprecated - please use the '--keyserver' in
3858 'dirmngr.conf' instead.
3860 Use NAME as your keyserver. This is the server that
3861 '--receive-keys', '--send-keys', and '--search-keys' will
3862 communicate with to receive keys from, send keys to, and search for
3863 keys on. The format of the NAME is a URI:
3864 'scheme:[//]keyservername[:port]' The scheme is the type of
3865 keyserver: "hkp" for the HTTP (or compatible) keyservers, "ldap"
3866 for the LDAP keyservers, or "mailto" for the Graff email keyserver.
3867 Note that your particular installation of GnuPG may have other
3868 keyserver types available as well. Keyserver schemes are
3869 case-insensitive. After the keyserver name, optional keyserver
3870 configuration options may be provided. These are the same as the
3871 global '--keyserver-options' from below, but apply only to this
3872 particular keyserver.
3874 Most keyservers synchronize with each other, so there is generally
3875 no need to send keys to more than one server. The keyserver
3876 'hkp://keys.gnupg.net' uses round robin DNS to give a different
3877 keyserver each time you use it.
3879 '--keyserver-options {NAME=VALUE}'
3880 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
3881 the keyserver. Options can be prefixed with a 'no-' to give the
3882 opposite meaning. Valid import-options or export-options may be
3883 used here as well to apply to importing ('--recv-key') or exporting
3884 ('--send-key') a key from a keyserver. While not all options are
3885 available for all keyserver types, some common options are:
3888 When searching for a key with '--search-keys', include keys
3889 that are marked on the keyserver as revoked. Note that not
3890 all keyservers differentiate between revoked and unrevoked
3891 keys, and for such keyservers this option is meaningless.
3892 Note also that most keyservers do not have cryptographic
3893 verification of key revocations, and so turning this option
3894 off may result in skipping keys that are incorrectly marked as
3898 When searching for a key with '--search-keys', include keys
3899 that are marked on the keyserver as disabled. Note that this
3900 option is not used with HKP keyservers.
3903 This is an obsolete alias for the option 'auto-key-retrieve'.
3904 Please do not use it; it will be removed in future versions..
3907 When using '--refresh-keys', if the key in question has a
3908 preferred keyserver URL, then use that preferred keyserver to
3909 refresh the key from. In addition, if auto-key-retrieve is
3910 set, and the signature being verified has a preferred
3911 keyserver URL, then use that preferred keyserver to fetch the
3912 key from. Note that this option introduces a "web bug": The
3913 creator of the key can see when the keys is refreshed. Thus
3914 this option is not enabled by default.
3917 If '--auto-key-retrieve' is used, and the signature being
3918 verified has a PKA record, then use the PKA information to
3919 fetch the key. Defaults to "yes".
3922 When receiving a key, include subkeys as potential targets.
3923 Note that this option is not used with HKP keyservers, as they
3924 do not support retrieving keys by subkey id.
3932 These options have no more function since GnuPG 2.1. Use the
3933 'dirmngr' configuration options instead.
3935 The default list of options is: "self-sigs-only, import-clean,
3936 repair-keys, repair-pks-subkey-bug, export-attributes,
3939 '--completes-needed N'
3940 Number of completely trusted users to introduce a new key signer
3943 '--marginals-needed N'
3944 Number of marginally trusted users to introduce a new key signer
3947 '--tofu-default-policy {auto|good|unknown|bad|ask}'
3948 The default TOFU policy (defaults to 'auto'). For more information
3949 about the meaning of this option, *note trust-model-tofu::.
3951 '--max-cert-depth N'
3952 Maximum depth of a certification chain (default is 5).
3955 Do not cache the verification status of key signatures. Caching
3956 gives a much better performance in key listings. However, if you
3957 suspect that your public keyring is not safe against write
3958 modifications, you can use this option to disable the caching. It
3959 probably does not make sense to disable it because all kind of
3960 damage can be done if someone else has write access to your public
3963 '--auto-check-trustdb'
3964 '--no-auto-check-trustdb'
3965 If GnuPG feels that its information about the Web of Trust has to
3966 be updated, it automatically runs the '--check-trustdb' command
3967 internally. This may be a time consuming process.
3968 '--no-auto-check-trustdb' disables this option.
3972 This is dummy option. 'gpg' always requires the agent.
3975 This is dummy option. It has no effect when used with 'gpg'.
3977 '--agent-program FILE'
3978 Specify an agent program to be used for secret key operations. The
3979 default value is determined by running 'gpgconf' with the option
3980 '--list-dirs'. Note that the pipe symbol ('|') is used for a
3981 regression test suite hack and may thus not be used in the file
3984 '--dirmngr-program FILE'
3985 Specify a dirmngr program to be used for keyserver access. The
3986 default value is '/usr/local/bin/dirmngr'.
3989 Entirely disable the use of the Dirmngr.
3992 Do not start the gpg-agent or the dirmngr if it has not yet been
3993 started and its service is required. This option is mostly useful
3994 on machines where the connection to gpg-agent has been redirected
3995 to another machines. If dirmngr is required on the remote machine,
3996 it may be started manually using 'gpgconf --launch dirmngr'.
3999 Lock the databases the first time a lock is requested and do not
4000 release the lock until the process terminates.
4003 Release the locks every time a lock is no longer needed. Use this
4004 to override a previous '--lock-once' from a config file.
4007 Disable locking entirely. This option should be used only in very
4008 special environments, where it can be assured that only one process
4009 is accessing those files. A bootable floppy with a stand-alone
4010 encryption system will probably use this. Improper usage of this
4011 option may lead to data and key corruption.
4013 '--exit-on-status-write-error'
4014 This option will cause write errors on the status FD to immediately
4015 terminate the process. That should in fact be the default but it
4016 never worked this way and thus we need an option to enable this, so
4017 that the change won't break applications which close their end of a
4018 status fd connected pipe too early. Using this option along with
4019 '--enable-progress-filter' may be used to cleanly cancel long
4020 running gpg operations.
4022 '--limit-card-insert-tries N'
4023 With N greater than 0 the number of prompts asking to insert a
4024 smartcard gets limited to N-1. Thus with a value of 1 gpg won't at
4025 all ask to insert a card if none has been inserted at startup.
4026 This option is useful in the configuration file in case an
4027 application does not know about the smartcard support and waits ad
4028 infinitum for an inserted card.
4030 '--no-random-seed-file'
4031 GnuPG uses a file to store its internal random pool over
4032 invocations. This makes random generation faster; however
4033 sometimes write operations are not desired. This option can be
4034 used to achieve that with the cost of slower random generation.
4037 Suppress the initial copyright message.
4039 '--no-secmem-warning'
4040 Suppress the warning about "using insecure memory".
4042 '--no-permission-warning'
4043 Suppress the warning about unsafe file and home directory
4044 ('--homedir') permissions. Note that the permission checks that
4045 GnuPG performs are not intended to be authoritative, but rather
4046 they simply warn about certain common permission problems. Do not
4047 assume that the lack of a warning means that your system is secure.
4049 Note that the warning for unsafe '--homedir' permissions cannot be
4050 suppressed in the gpg.conf file, as this would allow an attacker to
4051 place an unsafe gpg.conf file in place, and use this file to
4052 suppress warnings about itself. The '--homedir' permissions
4053 warning may only be suppressed on the command line.
4056 '--no-require-secmem'
4057 Refuse to run if GnuPG cannot get secure memory. Defaults to no
4058 (i.e. run, but give a warning).
4060 '--require-cross-certification'
4061 '--no-require-cross-certification'
4062 When verifying a signature made from a subkey, ensure that the
4063 cross certification "back signature" on the subkey is present and
4064 valid. This protects against a subtle attack against subkeys that
4065 can sign. Defaults to '--require-cross-certification' for 'gpg'.
4069 Allow the user to do certain nonsensical or "silly" things like
4070 signing an expired or revoked key, or certain potentially
4071 incompatible things like generating unusual key types. This also
4072 disables certain warning messages about potentially incompatible
4073 actions. As the name implies, this option is for experts only. If
4074 you don't fully understand the implications of what it allows you
4075 to do, leave this off. '--no-expert' disables this option.
4078 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Key related Options, Next: GPG Input and Output, Prev: GPG Configuration Options, Up: GPG Options
4080 4.2.2 Key related options
4081 -------------------------
4085 Encrypt for user id NAME. If this option or '--hidden-recipient'
4086 is not specified, GnuPG asks for the user-id unless
4087 '--default-recipient' is given.
4089 '--hidden-recipient NAME'
4091 Encrypt for user ID NAME, but hide the key ID of this user's key.
4092 This option helps to hide the receiver of the message and is a
4093 limited countermeasure against traffic analysis. If this option or
4094 '--recipient' is not specified, GnuPG asks for the user ID unless
4095 '--default-recipient' is given.
4097 '--recipient-file FILE'
4099 This option is similar to '--recipient' except that it encrypts to
4100 a key stored in the given file. FILE must be the name of a file
4101 containing exactly one key. 'gpg' assumes that the key in this
4102 file is fully valid.
4104 '--hidden-recipient-file FILE'
4106 This option is similar to '--hidden-recipient' except that it
4107 encrypts to a key stored in the given file. FILE must be the name
4108 of a file containing exactly one key. 'gpg' assumes that the key
4109 in this file is fully valid.
4112 Same as '--recipient' but this one is intended for use in the
4113 options file and may be used with your own user-id as an
4114 "encrypt-to-self". These keys are only used when there are other
4115 recipients given either by use of '--recipient' or by the asked
4116 user id. No trust checking is performed for these user ids and
4117 even disabled keys can be used.
4119 '--hidden-encrypt-to NAME'
4120 Same as '--hidden-recipient' but this one is intended for use in
4121 the options file and may be used with your own user-id as a hidden
4122 "encrypt-to-self". These keys are only used when there are other
4123 recipients given either by use of '--recipient' or by the asked
4124 user id. No trust checking is performed for these user ids and
4125 even disabled keys can be used.
4128 Disable the use of all '--encrypt-to' and '--hidden-encrypt-to'
4131 '--group {NAME=VALUE}'
4132 Sets up a named group, which is similar to aliases in email
4133 programs. Any time the group name is a recipient ('-r' or
4134 '--recipient'), it will be expanded to the values specified.
4135 Multiple groups with the same name are automatically merged into a
4138 The values are 'key IDs' or fingerprints, but any key description
4139 is accepted. Note that a value with spaces in it will be treated
4140 as two different values. Note also there is only one level of
4141 expansion -- you cannot make an group that points to another group.
4142 When used from the command line, it may be necessary to quote the
4143 argument to this option to prevent the shell from treating it as
4147 Remove a given entry from the '--group' list.
4150 Remove all entries from the '--group' list.
4154 Use NAME as the key to sign with. Note that this option overrides
4158 This option has two purposes. MBOX must either be a complete user
4159 id with a proper mail address or just a mail address. When
4160 creating a signature this option tells gpg the user id of a key
4161 used to make a signature if the key was not directly specified by a
4162 user id. When verifying a signature the MBOX is used to restrict
4163 the information printed by the TOFU code to matching user ids.
4165 '--try-secret-key NAME'
4166 For hidden recipients GPG needs to know the keys to use for trial
4167 decryption. The key set with '--default-key' is always tried
4168 first, but this is often not sufficient. This option allows
4169 setting more keys to be used for trial decryption. Although any
4170 valid user-id specification may be used for NAME it makes sense to
4171 use at least the long keyid to avoid ambiguities. Note that
4172 gpg-agent might pop up a pinentry for a lot keys to do the trial
4173 decryption. If you want to stop all further trial decryption you
4174 may use close-window button instead of the cancel button.
4177 Don't look at the key ID as stored in the message but try all
4178 secret keys in turn to find the right decryption key. This option
4179 forces the behaviour as used by anonymous recipients (created by
4180 using '--throw-keyids' or '--hidden-recipient') and might come
4181 handy in case where an encrypted message contains a bogus key ID.
4183 '--skip-hidden-recipients'
4184 '--no-skip-hidden-recipients'
4185 During decryption skip all anonymous recipients. This option helps
4186 in the case that people use the hidden recipients feature to hide
4187 their own encrypt-to key from others. If one has many secret keys
4188 this may lead to a major annoyance because all keys are tried in
4189 turn to decrypt something which was not really intended for it.
4190 The drawback of this option is that it is currently not possible to
4191 decrypt a message which includes real anonymous recipients.
4194 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Input and Output, Next: OpenPGP Options, Prev: GPG Key related Options, Up: GPG Options
4196 4.2.3 Input and Output
4197 ----------------------
4201 Create ASCII armored output. The default is to create the binary
4205 Assume the input data is not in ASCII armored format.
4209 Write output to FILE. To write to stdout use '-' as the filename.
4212 This option sets a limit on the number of bytes that will be
4213 generated when processing a file. Since OpenPGP supports various
4214 levels of compression, it is possible that the plaintext of a given
4215 message may be significantly larger than the original OpenPGP
4216 message. While GnuPG works properly with such messages, there is
4217 often a desire to set a maximum file size that will be generated
4218 before processing is forced to stop by the OS limits. Defaults to
4219 0, which means "no limit".
4221 '--input-size-hint N'
4222 This option can be used to tell GPG the size of the input data in
4223 bytes. N must be a positive base-10 number. This option is only
4224 useful if the input is not taken from a file. GPG may use this
4225 hint to optimize its buffer allocation strategy. It is also used
4226 by the '--status-fd' line "PROGRESS" to provide a value for "total"
4227 if that is not available by other means.
4229 '--key-origin STRING[,URL]'
4230 gpg can track the origin of a key. Certain origins are implicitly
4231 known (e.g. keyserver, web key directory) and set. For a standard
4232 import the origin of the keys imported can be set with this option.
4233 To list the possible values use "help" for STRING. Some origins
4234 can store an optional URL argument. That URL can appended to
4235 STRING after a comma.
4237 '--import-options PARAMETERS'
4238 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
4239 importing keys. Options can be prepended with a 'no-' to give the
4240 opposite meaning. The options are:
4243 Allow importing key signatures marked as "local". This is not
4244 generally useful unless a shared keyring scheme is being used.
4248 Normally possible still existing ownertrust values of a key
4249 are cleared if a key is imported. This is in general
4250 desirable so that a formerly deleted key does not
4251 automatically gain an ownertrust values merely due to import.
4252 On the other hand it is sometimes necessary to re-import a
4253 trusted set of keys again but keeping already assigned
4254 ownertrust values. This can be achieved by using this option.
4256 repair-pks-subkey-bug
4257 During import, attempt to repair the damage caused by the PKS
4258 keyserver bug (pre version 0.9.6) that mangles keys with
4259 multiple subkeys. Note that this cannot completely repair the
4260 damaged key as some crucial data is removed by the keyserver,
4261 but it does at least give you back one subkey. Defaults to no
4262 for regular '--import' and to yes for keyserver
4267 Show a listing of the key as imported right before it is
4268 stored. This can be combined with the option '--dry-run' to
4269 only look at keys; the option 'show-only' is a shortcut for
4270 this combination. The command '--show-keys' is another
4271 shortcut for this. Note that suffixes like '#' for "sec" and
4272 "sbb" lines may or may not be printed.
4275 Run the entire import code but instead of storing the key to
4276 the local keyring write it to the output. The export options
4277 'export-pka' and 'export-dane' affect the output. This option
4278 can be used to remove all invalid parts from a key without the
4282 During import, allow key updates to existing keys, but do not
4283 allow any new keys to be imported. Defaults to no.
4286 After import, compact (remove all signatures except the
4287 self-signature) any user IDs from the new key that are not
4288 usable. Then, remove any signatures from the new key that are
4289 not usable. This includes signatures that were issued by keys
4290 that are not present on the keyring. This option is the same
4291 as running the '--edit-key' command "clean" after import.
4295 Accept only self-signatures while importing a key. All other
4296 key signatures are skipped at an early import stage. This
4297 option can be used with 'keyserver-options' to mitigate
4298 attempts to flood a key with bogus signatures from a
4299 keyserver. The drawback is that all other valid key
4300 signatures, as required by the Web of Trust are also not
4301 imported. Note that when using this option along with
4302 import-clean it suppresses the final clean step after merging
4303 the imported key into the existing key.
4306 After import, fix various problems with the keys. For
4307 example, this reorders signatures, and strips duplicate
4308 signatures. Defaults to yes.
4311 Import the smallest key possible. This removes all signatures
4312 except the most recent self-signature on each user ID. This
4313 option is the same as running the '--edit-key' command
4314 "minimize" after import. Defaults to no.
4318 Import in key restore mode. This imports all data which is
4319 usually skipped during import; including all GnuPG specific
4320 data. All other contradicting options are overridden.
4322 '--import-filter {NAME=EXPR}'
4323 '--export-filter {NAME=EXPR}'
4324 These options define an import/export filter which are applied to
4325 the imported/exported keyblock right before it will be
4326 stored/written. NAME defines the type of filter to use, EXPR the
4327 expression to evaluate. The option can be used several times which
4328 then appends more expression to the same NAME.
4330 The available filter types are:
4333 This filter will keep a user id packet and its dependent
4334 packets in the keyblock if the expression evaluates to true.
4337 This filter drops the selected subkeys. Currently only
4338 implemented for -export-filter.
4341 This filter drops the selected key signatures on user ids.
4342 Self-signatures are not considered. Currently only
4343 implemented for -import-filter.
4345 For the syntax of the expression see the chapter "FILTER
4346 EXPRESSIONS". The property names for the expressions depend on the
4347 actual filter type and are indicated in the following table.
4349 The available properties are:
4352 A string with the user id. (keep-uid)
4355 The addr-spec part of a user id with mailbox or the empty
4359 A number with the public key algorithm of a key or subkey
4360 packet. (drop-subkey)
4364 The first is the timestamp a public key or subkey packet was
4365 created. The second is the same but given as an ISO string,
4366 e.g. "2016-08-17". (drop-subkey)
4369 The hexified fingerprint of the current subkey or primary key.
4373 Boolean indicating whether the user id is the primary one.
4377 Boolean indicating whether a user id (keep-uid), a key
4378 (drop-subkey), or a signature (drop-sig) expired.
4381 Boolean indicating whether a user id (keep-uid) or a key
4382 (drop-subkey) has been revoked.
4385 Boolean indicating whether a primary key is disabled. (not
4389 Boolean indicating whether a key or subkey is a secret one.
4393 A string indicating the usage flags for the subkey, from the
4394 sequence "ecsa?". For example, a subkey capable of just
4395 signing and authentication would be an exact match for "sa".
4400 The first is the timestamp a signature packet was created.
4401 The second is the same but given as an ISO date string, e.g.
4402 "2016-08-17". (drop-sig)
4405 A number with the public key algorithm of a signature packet.
4409 A number with the digest algorithm of a signature packet.
4412 '--export-options PARAMETERS'
4413 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
4414 exporting keys. Options can be prepended with a 'no-' to give the
4415 opposite meaning. The options are:
4418 Allow exporting key signatures marked as "local". This is not
4419 generally useful unless a shared keyring scheme is being used.
4423 Include attribute user IDs (photo IDs) while exporting. Not
4424 including attribute user IDs is useful to export keys that are
4425 going to be used by an OpenPGP program that does not accept
4426 attribute user IDs. Defaults to yes.
4428 export-sensitive-revkeys
4429 Include designated revoker information that was marked as
4430 "sensitive". Defaults to no.
4434 Export for use as a backup. The exported data includes all
4435 data which is needed to restore the key or keys later with
4436 GnuPG. The format is basically the OpenPGP format but enhanced
4437 with GnuPG specific data. All other contradicting options are
4441 Compact (remove all signatures from) user IDs on the key being
4442 exported if the user IDs are not usable. Also, do not export
4443 any signatures that are not usable. This includes signatures
4444 that were issued by keys that are not present on the keyring.
4445 This option is the same as running the '--edit-key' command
4446 "clean" before export except that the local copy of the key is
4447 not modified. Defaults to no.
4450 Export the smallest key possible. This removes all signatures
4451 except the most recent self-signature on each user ID. This
4452 option is the same as running the '--edit-key' command
4453 "minimize" before export except that the local copy of the key
4454 is not modified. Defaults to no.
4457 Instead of outputting the key material output PKA records
4458 suitable to put into DNS zone files. An ORIGIN line is
4459 printed before each record to allow diverting the records to
4460 the corresponding zone file.
4463 Instead of outputting the key material output OpenPGP DANE
4464 records suitable to put into DNS zone files. An ORIGIN line
4465 is printed before each record to allow diverting the records
4466 to the corresponding zone file.
4469 Print key listings delimited by colons. Note that the output will
4470 be encoded in UTF-8 regardless of any '--display-charset' setting.
4471 This format is useful when GnuPG is called from scripts and other
4472 programs as it is easily machine parsed. The details of this
4473 format are documented in the file 'doc/DETAILS', which is included
4474 in the GnuPG source distribution.
4477 Do not merge primary user ID and primary key in '--with-colon'
4478 listing mode and print all timestamps as seconds since 1970-01-01.
4479 Since GnuPG 2.0.10, this mode is always used and thus this option
4480 is obsolete; it does not harm to use it though.
4482 '--legacy-list-mode'
4483 Revert to the pre-2.1 public key list mode. This only affects the
4484 human readable output and not the machine interface (i.e.
4485 '--with-colons'). Note that the legacy format does not convey
4486 suitable information for elliptic curves.
4488 '--with-fingerprint'
4489 Same as the command '--fingerprint' but changes only the format of
4490 the output and may be used together with another command.
4492 '--with-subkey-fingerprint'
4493 If a fingerprint is printed for the primary key, this option forces
4494 printing of the fingerprint for all subkeys. This could also be
4495 achieved by using the '--with-fingerprint' twice but by using this
4496 option along with keyid-format "none" a compact fingerprint is
4499 '--with-icao-spelling'
4500 Print the ICAO spelling of the fingerprint in addition to the hex
4504 Include the keygrip in the key listings. In '--with-colons' mode
4505 this is implicitly enable for secret keys.
4508 Include the locally held information on the origin and last update
4509 of a key in a key listing. In '--with-colons' mode this is always
4510 printed. This data is currently experimental and shall not be
4511 considered part of the stable API.
4514 Print a Web Key Directory identifier along with each user ID in key
4515 listings. This is an experimental feature and semantics may
4519 Include info about the presence of a secret key in public key
4520 listings done with '--with-colons'.
4523 File: gnupg.info, Node: OpenPGP Options, Next: Compliance Options, Prev: GPG Input and Output, Up: GPG Options
4525 4.2.4 OpenPGP protocol specific options
4526 ---------------------------------------
4530 Treat input files as text and store them in the OpenPGP canonical
4531 text form with standard "CRLF" line endings. This also sets the
4532 necessary flags to inform the recipient that the encrypted or
4533 signed data is text and may need its line endings converted back to
4534 whatever the local system uses. This option is useful when
4535 communicating between two platforms that have different line ending
4536 conventions (UNIX-like to Mac, Mac to Windows, etc).
4537 '--no-textmode' disables this option, and is the default.
4540 '--no-force-v3-sigs'
4542 '--no-force-v4-certs'
4543 These options are obsolete and have no effect since GnuPG 2.1.
4547 These options are obsolete and have no effect since GnuPG 2.2.8.
4548 The MDC is always used. But note: If the creation of a legacy
4549 non-MDC message is exceptionally required, the option '--rfc2440'
4552 '--disable-signer-uid'
4553 By default the user ID of the signing key is embedded in the data
4554 signature. As of now this is only done if the signing key has been
4555 specified with 'local-user' using a mail address, or with 'sender'.
4556 This information can be helpful for verifier to locate the key; see
4557 option '--auto-key-retrieve'.
4559 '--include-key-block'
4560 This option is used to embed the actual signing key into a data
4561 signature. The embedded key is stripped down to a single user id
4562 and includes only the signing subkey used to create the signature
4563 as well as as valid encryption subkeys. All other info is removed
4564 from the key to keep it and thus the signature small. This option
4565 is the OpenPGP counterpart to the 'gpgsm' option '--include-certs'.
4567 '--personal-cipher-preferences STRING'
4568 Set the list of personal cipher preferences to STRING. Use 'gpg
4569 --version' to get a list of available algorithms, and use 'none' to
4570 set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely override
4571 the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as GPG will
4572 only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipients. The
4573 most highly ranked cipher in this list is also used for the
4574 '--symmetric' encryption command.
4576 '--personal-digest-preferences STRING'
4577 Set the list of personal digest preferences to STRING. Use 'gpg
4578 --version' to get a list of available algorithms, and use 'none' to
4579 set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely override
4580 the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as GPG will
4581 only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipients. The
4582 most highly ranked digest algorithm in this list is also used when
4583 signing without encryption (e.g. '--clear-sign' or '--sign').
4585 '--personal-compress-preferences STRING'
4586 Set the list of personal compression preferences to STRING. Use
4587 'gpg --version' to get a list of available algorithms, and use
4588 'none' to set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely
4589 override the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as
4590 GPG will only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipients.
4591 The most highly ranked compression algorithm in this list is also
4592 used when there are no recipient keys to consider (e.g.
4595 '--s2k-cipher-algo NAME'
4596 Use NAME as the cipher algorithm for symmetric encryption with a
4597 passphrase if '--personal-cipher-preferences' and '--cipher-algo'
4598 are not given. The default is AES-128.
4600 '--s2k-digest-algo NAME'
4601 Use NAME as the digest algorithm used to mangle the passphrases for
4602 symmetric encryption. The default is SHA-1.
4605 Selects how passphrases for symmetric encryption are mangled. If N
4606 is 0 a plain passphrase (which is in general not recommended) will
4607 be used, a 1 adds a salt (which should not be used) to the
4608 passphrase and a 3 (the default) iterates the whole process a
4609 number of times (see '--s2k-count').
4612 Specify how many times the passphrases mangling for symmetric
4613 encryption is repeated. This value may range between 1024 and
4614 65011712 inclusive. The default is inquired from gpg-agent. Note
4615 that not all values in the 1024-65011712 range are legal and if an
4616 illegal value is selected, GnuPG will round up to the nearest legal
4617 value. This option is only meaningful if '--s2k-mode' is set to
4621 File: gnupg.info, Node: Compliance Options, Next: GPG Esoteric Options, Prev: OpenPGP Options, Up: GPG Options
4623 4.2.5 Compliance options
4624 ------------------------
4626 These options control what GnuPG is compliant to. Only one of these
4627 options may be active at a time. Note that the default setting of this
4628 is nearly always the correct one. See the INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER
4629 OPENPGP PROGRAMS section below before using one of these options.
4632 Use standard GnuPG behavior. This is essentially OpenPGP behavior
4633 (see '--openpgp'), but with some additional workarounds for common
4634 compatibility problems in different versions of PGP. This is the
4635 default option, so it is not generally needed, but it may be useful
4636 to override a different compliance option in the gpg.conf file.
4639 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict OpenPGP
4640 behavior. Use this option to reset all previous options like
4641 '--s2k-*', '--cipher-algo', '--digest-algo' and '--compress-algo'
4642 to OpenPGP compliant values. All PGP workarounds are disabled.
4645 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict RFC-4880
4646 behavior. Note that this is currently the same thing as
4650 Enable experimental features from proposed updates to RFC-4880.
4651 This option can be used in addition to the other compliance
4652 options. Warning: The behavior may change with any GnuPG release
4653 and created keys or data may not be usable with future GnuPG
4657 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict RFC-2440
4658 behavior. Note that by using this option encryption packets are
4659 created in a legacy mode without MDC protection. This is dangerous
4660 and should thus only be used for experiments. See also option
4661 '--ignore-mdc-error'.
4664 Set up all options to be as PGP 6 compliant as possible. This
4665 restricts you to the ciphers IDEA (if the IDEA plugin is
4666 installed), 3DES, and CAST5, the hashes MD5, SHA1 and RIPEMD160,
4667 and the compression algorithms none and ZIP. This also disables
4668 '--throw-keyids', and making signatures with signing subkeys as PGP
4669 6 does not understand signatures made by signing subkeys.
4671 This option implies '--escape-from-lines'.
4674 Set up all options to be as PGP 7 compliant as possible. This is
4675 identical to '--pgp6' except that MDCs are not disabled, and the
4676 list of allowable ciphers is expanded to add AES128, AES192,
4677 AES256, and TWOFISH.
4680 Set up all options to be as PGP 8 compliant as possible. PGP 8 is
4681 a lot closer to the OpenPGP standard than previous versions of PGP,
4682 so all this does is disable '--throw-keyids' and set
4683 '--escape-from-lines'. All algorithms are allowed except for the
4684 SHA224, SHA384, and SHA512 digests.
4686 '--compliance STRING'
4687 This option can be used instead of one of the options above. Valid
4688 values for STRING are the above option names (without the double
4689 dash) and possibly others as shown when using "help" for VALUE.
4692 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Esoteric Options, Next: Deprecated Options, Prev: Compliance Options, Up: GPG Options
4694 4.2.6 Doing things one usually doesn't want to do
4695 -------------------------------------------------
4699 Don't make any changes (this is not completely implemented).
4702 Changes the behaviour of some commands. This is like '--dry-run'
4703 but different in some cases. The semantic of this option may be
4704 extended in the future. Currently it only skips the actual
4705 decryption pass and therefore enables a fast listing of the
4710 Prompt before overwriting any files.
4712 '--debug-level LEVEL'
4713 Select the debug level for investigating problems. LEVEL may be a
4714 numeric value or by a keyword:
4717 No debugging at all. A value of less than 1 may be used
4718 instead of the keyword.
4720 Some basic debug messages. A value between 1 and 2 may be
4721 used instead of the keyword.
4723 More verbose debug messages. A value between 3 and 5 may be
4724 used instead of the keyword.
4726 Even more detailed messages. A value between 6 and 8 may be
4727 used instead of the keyword.
4729 All of the debug messages you can get. A value greater than 8
4730 may be used instead of the keyword. The creation of hash
4731 tracing files is only enabled if the keyword is used.
4733 How these messages are mapped to the actual debugging flags is not
4734 specified and may change with newer releases of this program. They
4735 are however carefully selected to best aid in debugging.
4738 Set debugging flags. All flags are or-ed and FLAGS may be given in
4739 C syntax (e.g. 0x0042) or as a comma separated list of flag names.
4740 To get a list of all supported flags the single word "help" can be
4744 Set all useful debugging flags.
4747 Set stdout into line buffered mode. This option is only honored
4748 when given on the command line.
4750 '--faked-system-time EPOCH'
4751 This option is only useful for testing; it sets the system time
4752 back or forth to EPOCH which is the number of seconds elapsed since
4753 the year 1970. Alternatively EPOCH may be given as a full ISO time
4754 string (e.g. "20070924T154812").
4756 If you suffix EPOCH with an exclamation mark (!), the system time
4757 will appear to be frozen at the specified time.
4759 '--enable-progress-filter'
4760 Enable certain PROGRESS status outputs. This option allows
4761 frontends to display a progress indicator while gpg is processing
4762 larger files. There is a slight performance overhead using it.
4765 Write special status strings to the file descriptor N. See the
4766 file DETAILS in the documentation for a listing of them.
4768 '--status-file FILE'
4769 Same as '--status-fd', except the status data is written to file
4773 Write log output to file descriptor N and not to STDERR.
4776 '--logger-file FILE'
4777 Same as '--logger-fd', except the logger data is written to file
4778 FILE. Use 'socket://' to log to a socket. Note that in this
4779 version of gpg the option has only an effect if '--batch' is also
4783 Write attribute subpackets to the file descriptor N. This is most
4784 useful for use with '--status-fd', since the status messages are
4785 needed to separate out the various subpackets from the stream
4786 delivered to the file descriptor.
4788 '--attribute-file FILE'
4789 Same as '--attribute-fd', except the attribute data is written to
4794 Use STRING as a comment string in cleartext signatures and ASCII
4795 armored messages or keys (see '--armor'). The default behavior is
4796 not to use a comment string. '--comment' may be repeated multiple
4797 times to get multiple comment strings. '--no-comments' removes all
4798 comments. It is a good idea to keep the length of a single comment
4799 below 60 characters to avoid problems with mail programs wrapping
4800 such lines. Note that comment lines, like all other header lines,
4801 are not protected by the signature.
4805 Force inclusion of the version string in ASCII armored output. If
4806 given once only the name of the program and the major number is
4807 emitted, given twice the minor is also emitted, given thrice the
4808 micro is added, and given four times an operating system
4809 identification is also emitted. '--no-emit-version' (default)
4810 disables the version line.
4812 '--sig-notation {NAME=VALUE}'
4813 '--cert-notation {NAME=VALUE}'
4814 '-N, --set-notation {NAME=VALUE}'
4815 Put the name value pair into the signature as notation data. NAME
4816 must consist only of printable characters or spaces, and must
4817 contain a '@' character in the form keyname@domain.example.com
4818 (substituting the appropriate keyname and domain name, of course).
4819 This is to help prevent pollution of the IETF reserved notation
4820 namespace. The '--expert' flag overrides the '@' check. VALUE may
4821 be any printable string; it will be encoded in UTF-8, so you should
4822 check that your '--display-charset' is set correctly. If you
4823 prefix NAME with an exclamation mark (!), the notation data will be
4824 flagged as critical (rfc4880:5.2.3.16). '--sig-notation' sets a
4825 notation for data signatures. '--cert-notation' sets a notation
4826 for key signatures (certifications). '--set-notation' sets both.
4828 There are special codes that may be used in notation names. "%k"
4829 will be expanded into the key ID of the key being signed, "%K" into
4830 the long key ID of the key being signed, "%f" into the fingerprint
4831 of the key being signed, "%s" into the key ID of the key making the
4832 signature, "%S" into the long key ID of the key making the
4833 signature, "%g" into the fingerprint of the key making the
4834 signature (which might be a subkey), "%p" into the fingerprint of
4835 the primary key of the key making the signature, "%c" into the
4836 signature count from the OpenPGP smartcard, and "%%" results in a
4837 single "%". %k, %K, and %f are only meaningful when making a key
4838 signature (certification), and %c is only meaningful when using the
4841 '--known-notation NAME'
4842 Adds NAME to a list of known critical signature notations. The
4843 effect of this is that gpg will not mark a signature with a
4844 critical signature notation of that name as bad. Note that gpg
4845 already knows by default about a few critical signatures notation
4848 '--sig-policy-url STRING'
4849 '--cert-policy-url STRING'
4850 '--set-policy-url STRING'
4851 Use STRING as a Policy URL for signatures (rfc4880:5.2.3.20). If
4852 you prefix it with an exclamation mark (!), the policy URL packet
4853 will be flagged as critical. '--sig-policy-url' sets a policy url
4854 for data signatures. '--cert-policy-url' sets a policy url for key
4855 signatures (certifications). '--set-policy-url' sets both.
4857 The same %-expandos used for notation data are available here as
4860 '--sig-keyserver-url STRING'
4861 Use STRING as a preferred keyserver URL for data signatures. If
4862 you prefix it with an exclamation mark (!), the keyserver URL
4863 packet will be flagged as critical.
4865 The same %-expandos used for notation data are available here as
4868 '--set-filename STRING'
4869 Use STRING as the filename which is stored inside messages. This
4870 overrides the default, which is to use the actual filename of the
4871 file being encrypted. Using the empty string for STRING
4872 effectively removes the filename from the output.
4874 '--for-your-eyes-only'
4875 '--no-for-your-eyes-only'
4876 Set the 'for your eyes only' flag in the message. This causes
4877 GnuPG to refuse to save the file unless the '--output' option is
4878 given, and PGP to use a "secure viewer" with a claimed
4879 Tempest-resistant font to display the message. This option
4880 overrides '--set-filename'. '--no-for-your-eyes-only' disables
4883 '--use-embedded-filename'
4884 '--no-use-embedded-filename'
4885 Try to create a file with a name as embedded in the data. This can
4886 be a dangerous option as it enables overwriting files. Defaults to
4887 no. Note that the option '--output' overrides this option.
4889 '--cipher-algo NAME'
4890 Use NAME as cipher algorithm. Running the program with the command
4891 '--version' yields a list of supported algorithms. If this is not
4892 used the cipher algorithm is selected from the preferences stored
4893 with the key. In general, you do not want to use this option as it
4894 allows you to violate the OpenPGP standard.
4895 '--personal-cipher-preferences' is the safe way to accomplish the
4898 '--digest-algo NAME'
4899 Use NAME as the message digest algorithm. Running the program with
4900 the command '--version' yields a list of supported algorithms. In
4901 general, you do not want to use this option as it allows you to
4902 violate the OpenPGP standard. '--personal-digest-preferences' is
4903 the safe way to accomplish the same thing.
4905 '--compress-algo NAME'
4906 Use compression algorithm NAME. "zlib" is RFC-1950 ZLIB
4907 compression. "zip" is RFC-1951 ZIP compression which is used by
4908 PGP. "bzip2" is a more modern compression scheme that can compress
4909 some things better than zip or zlib, but at the cost of more memory
4910 used during compression and decompression. "uncompressed" or
4911 "none" disables compression. If this option is not used, the
4912 default behavior is to examine the recipient key preferences to see
4913 which algorithms the recipient supports. If all else fails, ZIP is
4914 used for maximum compatibility.
4916 ZLIB may give better compression results than ZIP, as the
4917 compression window size is not limited to 8k. BZIP2 may give even
4918 better compression results than that, but will use a significantly
4919 larger amount of memory while compressing and decompressing. This
4920 may be significant in low memory situations. Note, however, that
4921 PGP (all versions) only supports ZIP compression. Using any
4922 algorithm other than ZIP or "none" will make the message unreadable
4923 with PGP. In general, you do not want to use this option as it
4924 allows you to violate the OpenPGP standard.
4925 '--personal-compress-preferences' is the safe way to accomplish the
4928 '--cert-digest-algo NAME'
4929 Use NAME as the message digest algorithm used when signing a key.
4930 Running the program with the command '--version' yields a list of
4931 supported algorithms. Be aware that if you choose an algorithm
4932 that GnuPG supports but other OpenPGP implementations do not, then
4933 some users will not be able to use the key signatures you make, or
4934 quite possibly your entire key.
4936 '--disable-cipher-algo NAME'
4937 Never allow the use of NAME as cipher algorithm. The given name
4938 will not be checked so that a later loaded algorithm will still get
4941 '--disable-pubkey-algo NAME'
4942 Never allow the use of NAME as public key algorithm. The given
4943 name will not be checked so that a later loaded algorithm will
4948 Do not put the recipient key IDs into encrypted messages. This
4949 helps to hide the receivers of the message and is a limited
4950 countermeasure against traffic analysis.(1) On the receiving side,
4951 it may slow down the decryption process because all available
4952 secret keys must be tried. '--no-throw-keyids' disables this
4953 option. This option is essentially the same as using
4954 '--hidden-recipient' for all recipients.
4956 '--not-dash-escaped'
4957 This option changes the behavior of cleartext signatures so that
4958 they can be used for patch files. You should not send such an
4959 armored file via email because all spaces and line endings are
4960 hashed too. You can not use this option for data which has 5
4961 dashes at the beginning of a line, patch files don't have this. A
4962 special armor header line tells GnuPG about this cleartext
4965 '--escape-from-lines'
4966 '--no-escape-from-lines'
4967 Because some mailers change lines starting with "From " to ">From "
4968 it is good to handle such lines in a special way when creating
4969 cleartext signatures to prevent the mail system from breaking the
4970 signature. Note that all other PGP versions do it this way too.
4971 Enabled by default. '--no-escape-from-lines' disables this option.
4973 '--passphrase-repeat N'
4974 Specify how many times 'gpg' will request a new passphrase be
4975 repeated. This is useful for helping memorize a passphrase.
4976 Defaults to 1 repetition; can be set to 0 to disable any passphrase
4977 repetition. Note that a N greater than 1 will pop up the pinentry
4978 window N+1 times even if a modern pinentry with two entry fields is
4982 Read the passphrase from file descriptor N. Only the first line
4983 will be read from file descriptor N. If you use 0 for N, the
4984 passphrase will be read from STDIN. This can only be used if only
4985 one passphrase is supplied.
4987 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
4988 option '--batch' has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
4989 '--pinentry-mode' also needs to be set to 'loopback'.
4991 '--passphrase-file FILE'
4992 Read the passphrase from file FILE. Only the first line will be
4993 read from file FILE. This can only be used if only one passphrase
4994 is supplied. Obviously, a passphrase stored in a file is of
4995 questionable security if other users can read this file. Don't use
4996 this option if you can avoid it.
4998 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
4999 option '--batch' has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
5000 '--pinentry-mode' also needs to be set to 'loopback'.
5002 '--passphrase STRING'
5003 Use STRING as the passphrase. This can only be used if only one
5004 passphrase is supplied. Obviously, this is of very questionable
5005 security on a multi-user system. Don't use this option if you can
5008 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
5009 option '--batch' has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
5010 '--pinentry-mode' also needs to be set to 'loopback'.
5012 '--pinentry-mode MODE'
5013 Set the pinentry mode to MODE. Allowed values for MODE are:
5015 Use the default of the agent, which is 'ask'.
5017 Force the use of the Pinentry.
5019 Emulate use of Pinentry's cancel button.
5021 Return a Pinentry error ("No Pinentry").
5023 Redirect Pinentry queries to the caller. Note that in
5024 contrast to Pinentry the user is not prompted again if he
5025 enters a bad password.
5028 Disable the passphrase cache used for symmetrical en- and
5029 decryption. This cache is based on the message specific salt value
5032 '--request-origin ORIGIN'
5033 Tell gpg to assume that the operation ultimately originated at
5034 ORIGIN. Depending on the origin certain restrictions are applied
5035 and the Pinentry may include an extra note on the origin.
5036 Supported values for ORIGIN are: 'local' which is the default,
5037 'remote' to indicate a remote origin or 'browser' for an operation
5038 requested by a web browser.
5041 This is a replacement for the deprecated shared-memory IPC mode.
5042 If this option is enabled, user input on questions is not expected
5043 from the TTY but from the given file descriptor. It should be used
5044 together with '--status-fd'. See the file doc/DETAILS in the
5045 source distribution for details on how to use it.
5047 '--command-file FILE'
5048 Same as '--command-fd', except the commands are read out of file
5051 '--allow-non-selfsigned-uid'
5052 '--no-allow-non-selfsigned-uid'
5053 Allow the import and use of keys with user IDs which are not
5054 self-signed. This is not recommended, as a non self-signed user ID
5055 is trivial to forge. '--no-allow-non-selfsigned-uid' disables.
5057 '--allow-freeform-uid'
5058 Disable all checks on the form of the user ID while generating a
5059 new one. This option should only be used in very special
5060 environments as it does not ensure the de-facto standard format of
5063 '--ignore-time-conflict'
5064 GnuPG normally checks that the timestamps associated with keys and
5065 signatures have plausible values. However, sometimes a signature
5066 seems to be older than the key due to clock problems. This option
5067 makes these checks just a warning. See also '--ignore-valid-from'
5068 for timestamp issues on subkeys.
5070 '--ignore-valid-from'
5071 GnuPG normally does not select and use subkeys created in the
5072 future. This option allows the use of such keys and thus exhibits
5073 the pre-1.0.7 behaviour. You should not use this option unless
5074 there is some clock problem. See also '--ignore-time-conflict' for
5075 timestamp issues with signatures.
5077 '--ignore-crc-error'
5078 The ASCII armor used by OpenPGP is protected by a CRC checksum
5079 against transmission errors. Occasionally the CRC gets mangled
5080 somewhere on the transmission channel but the actual content (which
5081 is protected by the OpenPGP protocol anyway) is still okay. This
5082 option allows GnuPG to ignore CRC errors.
5084 '--ignore-mdc-error'
5085 This option changes a MDC integrity protection failure into a
5086 warning. It is required to decrypt old messages which did not use
5087 an MDC. It may also be useful if a message is partially garbled,
5088 but it is necessary to get as much data as possible out of that
5089 garbled message. Be aware that a missing or failed MDC can be an
5090 indication of an attack. Use with great caution; see also option
5093 '--allow-weak-digest-algos'
5094 Signatures made with known-weak digest algorithms are normally
5095 rejected with an "invalid digest algorithm" message. This option
5096 allows the verification of signatures made with such weak
5097 algorithms. MD5 is the only digest algorithm considered weak by
5098 default. See also '--weak-digest' to reject other digest
5101 '--weak-digest NAME'
5102 Treat the specified digest algorithm as weak. Signatures made over
5103 weak digests algorithms are normally rejected. This option can be
5104 supplied multiple times if multiple algorithms should be considered
5105 weak. See also '--allow-weak-digest-algos' to disable rejection of
5106 weak digests. MD5 is always considered weak, and does not need to
5107 be listed explicitly.
5109 '--allow-weak-key-signatures'
5110 To avoid a minor risk of collision attacks on third-party key
5111 signatures made using SHA-1, those key signatures are considered
5112 invalid. This options allows to override this restriction.
5114 '--no-default-keyring'
5115 Do not add the default keyrings to the list of keyrings. Note that
5116 GnuPG will not operate without any keyrings, so if you use this
5117 option and do not provide alternate keyrings via '--keyring' or
5118 '--secret-keyring', then GnuPG will still use the default public or
5122 Do not use any keyring at all. This overrides the default and all
5123 options which specify keyrings.
5126 Skip the signature verification step. This may be used to make the
5127 decryption faster if the signature verification is not needed.
5130 Print key listings delimited by colons (like '--with-colons') and
5131 print the public key data.
5135 Same as '--list-keys', but the signatures are listed too. This
5136 command has the same effect as using '--list-keys' with
5137 '--with-sig-list'. Note that in contrast to '--check-signatures'
5138 the key signatures are not verified. This command can be used to
5139 create a list of signing keys missing in the local keyring; for
5142 gpg --list-sigs --with-colons USERID | \
5143 awk -F: '$1=="sig" && $2=="?" {if($13){print $13}else{print $5}}'
5146 Changes the output of the list commands to work faster; this is
5147 achieved by leaving some parts empty. Some applications don't need
5148 the user ID and the trust information given in the listings. By
5149 using this options they can get a faster listing. The exact
5150 behaviour of this option may change in future versions. If you are
5151 missing some information, don't use this option.
5154 This is not for normal use. Use the source to see for what it
5158 This is not for normal use. Use the source to see for what it
5161 '--show-session-key'
5162 Display the session key used for one message. See
5163 '--override-session-key' for the counterpart of this option.
5165 We think that Key Escrow is a Bad Thing; however the user should
5166 have the freedom to decide whether to go to prison or to reveal the
5167 content of one specific message without compromising all messages
5168 ever encrypted for one secret key.
5170 You can also use this option if you receive an encrypted message
5171 which is abusive or offensive, to prove to the administrators of
5172 the messaging system that the ciphertext transmitted corresponds to
5173 an inappropriate plaintext so they can take action against the
5176 '--override-session-key STRING'
5177 '--override-session-key-fd FD'
5178 Don't use the public key but the session key STRING respective the
5179 session key taken from the first line read from file descriptor FD.
5180 The format of this string is the same as the one printed by
5181 '--show-session-key'. This option is normally not used but comes
5182 handy in case someone forces you to reveal the content of an
5183 encrypted message; using this option you can do this without
5184 handing out the secret key. Note that using
5185 '--override-session-key' may reveal the session key to all local
5186 users via the global process table. Often it is useful to combine
5187 this option with '--no-keyring'.
5190 '--no-ask-sig-expire'
5191 When making a data signature, prompt for an expiration time. If
5192 this option is not specified, the expiration time set via
5193 '--default-sig-expire' is used. '--no-ask-sig-expire' disables
5196 '--default-sig-expire'
5197 The default expiration time to use for signature expiration. Valid
5198 values are "0" for no expiration, a number followed by the letter d
5199 (for days), w (for weeks), m (for months), or y (for years) (for
5200 example "2m" for two months, or "5y" for five years), or an
5201 absolute date in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to "0".
5204 '--no-ask-cert-expire'
5205 When making a key signature, prompt for an expiration time. If
5206 this option is not specified, the expiration time set via
5207 '--default-cert-expire' is used. '--no-ask-cert-expire' disables
5210 '--default-cert-expire'
5211 The default expiration time to use for key signature expiration.
5212 Valid values are "0" for no expiration, a number followed by the
5213 letter d (for days), w (for weeks), m (for months), or y (for
5214 years) (for example "2m" for two months, or "5y" for five years),
5215 or an absolute date in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to "0".
5217 '--default-new-key-algo STRING'
5218 This option can be used to change the default algorithms for key
5219 generation. The STRING is similar to the arguments required for
5220 the command '--quick-add-key' but slightly different. For example
5221 the current default of '"rsa2048/cert,sign+rsa2048/encr"' (or
5222 '"rsa3072"') can be changed to the value of what we currently call
5223 future default, which is '"ed25519/cert,sign+cv25519/encr"'. You
5224 need to consult the source code to learn the details. Note that
5225 the advanced key generation commands can always be used to specify
5226 a key algorithm directly.
5228 '--allow-secret-key-import'
5229 This is an obsolete option and is not used anywhere.
5231 '--allow-multiple-messages'
5232 '--no-allow-multiple-messages'
5233 Allow processing of multiple OpenPGP messages contained in a single
5234 file or stream. Some programs that call GPG are not prepared to
5235 deal with multiple messages being processed together, so this
5236 option defaults to no. Note that versions of GPG prior to 1.4.7
5237 always allowed multiple messages. Future versions of GnUPG will
5240 Warning: Do not use this option unless you need it as a temporary
5243 '--enable-special-filenames'
5244 This option enables a mode in which filenames of the form '-&n',
5245 where n is a non-negative decimal number, refer to the file
5246 descriptor n and not to a file with that name.
5248 '--no-expensive-trust-checks'
5249 Experimental use only.
5251 '--preserve-permissions'
5252 Don't change the permissions of a secret keyring back to user
5253 read/write only. Use this option only if you really know what you
5256 '--default-preference-list STRING'
5257 Set the list of default preferences to STRING. This preference
5258 list is used for new keys and becomes the default for "setpref" in
5261 '--default-keyserver-url NAME'
5262 Set the default keyserver URL to NAME. This keyserver will be used
5263 as the keyserver URL when writing a new self-signature on a key,
5264 which includes key generation and changing preferences.
5267 Display various internal configuration parameters of GnuPG. This
5268 option is intended for external programs that call GnuPG to perform
5269 tasks, and is thus not generally useful. See the file
5270 'doc/DETAILS' in the source distribution for the details of which
5271 configuration items may be listed. '--list-config' is only usable
5272 with '--with-colons' set.
5274 '--list-gcrypt-config'
5275 Display various internal configuration parameters of Libgcrypt.
5278 This command is similar to '--list-config' but in general only
5279 internally used by the 'gpgconf' tool.
5282 This is more or less dummy action. However it parses the
5283 configuration file and returns with failure if the configuration
5284 file would prevent 'gpg' from startup. Thus it may be used to run
5285 a syntax check on the configuration file.
5287 ---------- Footnotes ----------
5289 (1) Using a little social engineering anyone who is able to decrypt
5290 the message can check whether one of the other recipients is the one he
5294 File: gnupg.info, Node: Deprecated Options, Prev: GPG Esoteric Options, Up: GPG Options
5296 4.2.7 Deprecated options
5297 ------------------------
5301 Causes '--list-keys', '--list-signatures', '--list-public-keys',
5302 '--list-secret-keys', and verifying a signature to also display the
5303 photo ID attached to the key, if any. See also '--photo-viewer'.
5304 These options are deprecated. Use '--list-options
5305 [no-]show-photos' and/or '--verify-options [no-]show-photos'
5309 Display the keyring name at the head of key listings to show which
5310 keyring a given key resides on. This option is deprecated: use
5311 '--list-options [no-]show-keyring' instead.
5314 Identical to '--trust-model always'. This option is deprecated.
5317 '--no-show-notation'
5318 Show signature notations in the '--list-signatures' or
5319 '--check-signatures' listings as well as when verifying a signature
5320 with a notation in it. These options are deprecated. Use
5321 '--list-options [no-]show-notation' and/or '--verify-options
5322 [no-]show-notation' instead.
5325 '--no-show-policy-url'
5326 Show policy URLs in the '--list-signatures' or '--check-signatures'
5327 listings as well as when verifying a signature with a policy URL in
5328 it. These options are deprecated. Use '--list-options
5329 [no-]show-policy-url' and/or '--verify-options
5330 [no-]show-policy-url' instead.
5333 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Configuration, Next: GPG Examples, Prev: GPG Options, Up: Invoking GPG
5335 4.3 Configuration files
5336 =======================
5338 There are a few configuration files to control certain aspects of
5339 'gpg''s operation. Unless noted, they are expected in the current home
5340 directory (*note option --homedir::).
5343 This is the standard configuration file read by 'gpg' on startup.
5344 It may contain any valid long option; the leading two dashes may
5345 not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated. This default
5346 name may be changed on the command line (*note gpg-option
5347 --options::). You should backup this file.
5349 Note that on larger installations, it is useful to put predefined
5350 files into the directory '/etc/skel/.gnupg' so that newly created users
5351 start up with a working configuration. For existing users a small
5352 helper script is provided to create these files (*note addgnupghome::).
5354 For internal purposes 'gpg' creates and maintains a few other files;
5355 They all live in the current home directory (*note option --homedir::).
5356 Only the 'gpg' program may modify these files.
5359 This is the default home directory which is used if neither the
5360 environment variable 'GNUPGHOME' nor the option '--homedir' is
5363 '~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg'
5364 The public keyring using a legacy format. You should backup this
5367 If this file is not available, 'gpg' defaults to the new keybox
5368 format and creates a file 'pubring.kbx' unless that file already
5369 exists in which case that file will also be used for OpenPGP keys.
5371 Note that in the case that both files, 'pubring.gpg' and
5372 'pubring.kbx' exists but the latter has no OpenPGP keys, the legacy
5373 file 'pubring.gpg' will be used. Take care: GnuPG versions before
5374 2.1 will always use the file 'pubring.gpg' because they do not know
5375 about the new keybox format. In the case that you have to use
5376 GnuPG 1.4 to decrypt archived data you should keep this file.
5378 '~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg.lock'
5379 The lock file for the public keyring.
5381 '~/.gnupg/pubring.kbx'
5382 The public keyring using the new keybox format. This file is
5383 shared with 'gpgsm'. You should backup this file. See above for
5384 the relation between this file and it predecessor.
5386 To convert an existing 'pubring.gpg' file to the keybox format, you
5387 first backup the ownertrust values, then rename 'pubring.gpg' to
5388 'publickeys.backup', so it won’t be recognized by any GnuPG
5389 version, run import, and finally restore the ownertrust values:
5392 $ gpg --export-ownertrust >otrust.lst
5393 $ mv pubring.gpg publickeys.backup
5394 $ gpg --import-options restore --import publickeys.backups
5395 $ gpg --import-ownertrust otrust.lst
5397 '~/.gnupg/pubring.kbx.lock'
5398 The lock file for 'pubring.kbx'.
5400 '~/.gnupg/secring.gpg'
5401 The legacy secret keyring as used by GnuPG versions before 2.1. It
5402 is not used by GnuPG 2.1 and later. You may want to keep it in
5403 case you have to use GnuPG 1.4 to decrypt archived data.
5405 '~/.gnupg/secring.gpg.lock'
5406 The lock file for the legacy secret keyring.
5408 '~/.gnupg/.gpg-v21-migrated'
5409 File indicating that a migration to GnuPG 2.1 has been done.
5411 '~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg'
5412 The trust database. There is no need to backup this file; it is
5413 better to backup the ownertrust values (*note option
5414 --export-ownertrust::).
5416 '~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg.lock'
5417 The lock file for the trust database.
5419 '~/.gnupg/random_seed'
5420 A file used to preserve the state of the internal random pool.
5422 '~/.gnupg/openpgp-revocs.d/'
5423 This is the directory where gpg stores pre-generated revocation
5424 certificates. The file name corresponds to the OpenPGP fingerprint
5425 of the respective key. It is suggested to backup those
5426 certificates and if the primary private key is not stored on the
5427 disk to move them to an external storage device. Anyone who can
5428 access theses files is able to revoke the corresponding key. You
5429 may want to print them out. You should backup all files in this
5430 directory and take care to keep this backup closed away.
5432 Operation is further controlled by a few environment variables:
5435 Used to locate the default home directory.
5438 If set directory used instead of "~/.gnupg".
5441 This variable is obsolete; it was used by GnuPG versions before
5445 This value is passed via gpg-agent to pinentry. It is useful to
5446 convey extra information to a custom pinentry.
5450 Used to size some displays to the full size of the screen.
5453 Apart from its use by GNU, it is used in the W32 version to
5454 override the language selection done through the Registry. If used
5455 and set to a valid and available language name (LANGID), the file
5456 with the translation is loaded from 'GPGDIR/gnupg.nls/LANGID.mo'.
5457 Here GPGDIR is the directory out of which the gpg binary has been
5458 loaded. If it can't be loaded the Registry is tried and as last
5459 resort the native Windows locale system is used.
5461 When calling the gpg-agent component 'gpg' sends a set of environment
5462 variables to gpg-agent. The names of these variables can be listed
5465 gpg-connect-agent 'getinfo std_env_names' /bye | awk '$1=="D" {print $2}'
5468 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPG Examples, Next: Unattended Usage of GPG, Prev: GPG Configuration, Up: Invoking GPG
5473 gpg -se -r 'Bob' 'file'
5474 sign and encrypt for user Bob
5476 gpg -clear-sign 'file'
5477 make a cleartext signature
5480 make a detached signature
5482 gpg -u 0x12345678 -sb 'file'
5483 make a detached signature with the key 0x12345678
5485 gpg -list-keys 'user_ID'
5488 gpg -fingerprint 'user_ID'
5491 gpg -verify 'pgpfile'
5492 gpg -verify 'sigfile' ['datafile']
5493 Verify the signature of the file but do not output the data unless
5494 requested. The second form is used for detached signatures, where
5495 'sigfile' is the detached signature (either ASCII armored or
5496 binary) and 'datafile' are the signed data; if this is not given,
5497 the name of the file holding the signed data is constructed by
5498 cutting off the extension (".asc" or ".sig") of 'sigfile' or by
5499 asking the user for the filename. If the option '--output' is also
5500 used the signed data is written to the file specified by that
5501 option; use '-' to write the signed data to stdout.
5506 The options '--import-filter' and '--export-filter' use expressions with
5507 this syntax (square brackets indicate an optional part and curly braces
5508 a repetition, white space between the elements are allowed):
5510 [lc] {[{flag}] PROPNAME op VALUE [lc]}
5512 The name of a property (PROPNAME) may only consist of letters, digits
5513 and underscores. The description for the filter type describes which
5514 properties are defined. If an undefined property is used it evaluates
5515 to the empty string. Unless otherwise noted, the VALUE must always be
5516 given and may not be the empty string. No quoting is defined for the
5517 value, thus the value may not contain the strings '&&' or '||', which
5518 are used as logical connection operators. The flag '--' can be used to
5519 remove this restriction.
5521 Numerical values are computed as long int; standard C notation
5522 applies. LC is the logical connection operator; either '&&' for a
5523 conjunction or '||' for a disjunction. A conjunction is assumed at the
5524 begin of an expression. Conjunctions have higher precedence than
5525 disjunctions. If VALUE starts with one of the characters used in any OP
5526 a space after the OP is required.
5528 The supported operators (OP) are:
5531 Substring must match.
5534 Substring must not match.
5537 The full string must match.
5540 The full string must not match.
5543 The numerical value must match.
5546 The numerical value must not match.
5549 The numerical value of the field must be LE than the value.
5552 The numerical value of the field must be LT than the value.
5555 The numerical value of the field must be GT than the value.
5558 The numerical value of the field must be GE than the value.
5561 The string value of the field must be less or equal than the value.
5564 The string value of the field must be less than the value.
5567 The string value of the field must be greater than the value.
5570 The string value of the field must be greater or equal than the
5574 True if value is not empty (no value allowed).
5577 True if value is empty (no value allowed).
5580 Alias for "PROPNAME != 0" (no value allowed).
5583 Alias for "PROPNAME == 0" (no value allowed).
5585 Values for FLAG must be space separated. The supported flags are:
5588 VALUE spans to the end of the expression.
5590 The string match in this part is done case-sensitive.
5592 The filter options concatenate several specifications for a filter of
5593 the same type. For example the four options in this example:
5595 --import-filter keep-uid="uid =~ Alfa"
5596 --import-filter keep-uid="&& uid !~ Test"
5597 --import-filter keep-uid="|| uid =~ Alpha"
5598 --import-filter keep-uid="uid !~ Test"
5600 which is equivalent to
5603 keep-uid="uid =~ Alfa" && uid !~ Test" || uid =~ Alpha" && "uid !~ Test"
5605 imports only the user ids of a key containing the strings "Alfa" or
5606 "Alpha" but not the string "test".
5611 The program returns 0 if there are no severe errors, 1 if at least a
5612 signature was bad, and other error codes for fatal errors.
5614 Note that signature verification requires exact knowledge of what has
5615 been signed and by whom it has beensigned. Using only the return code
5616 is thus not an appropriate way to verify a signature by a script.
5617 Either make proper use or the status codes or use the 'gpgv' tool which
5618 has been designed to make signature verification easy for scripts.
5623 Use a good password for your user account and make sure that all
5624 security issues are always fixed on your machine. Also employ diligent
5625 physical protection to your machine. Consider to use a good passphrase
5626 as a last resort protection to your secret key in the case your machine
5627 gets stolen. It is important that your secret key is never leaked.
5628 Using an easy to carry around token or smartcard with the secret key is
5631 If you are going to verify detached signatures, make sure that the
5632 program knows about it; either give both filenames on the command line
5633 or use '-' to specify STDIN.
5635 For scripted or other unattended use of 'gpg' make sure to use the
5636 machine-parseable interface and not the default interface which is
5637 intended for direct use by humans. The machine-parseable interface
5638 provides a stable and well documented API independent of the locale or
5639 future changes of 'gpg'. To enable this interface use the options
5640 '--with-colons' and '--status-fd'. For certain operations the option
5641 '--command-fd' may come handy too. See this man page and the file
5642 'DETAILS' for the specification of the interface. Note that the GnuPG
5643 "info" pages as well as the PDF version of the GnuPG manual features a
5644 chapter on unattended use of GnuPG. As an alternative the library
5645 'GPGME' can be used as a high-level abstraction on top of that
5648 INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER OPENPGP PROGRAMS
5649 ********************************************
5651 GnuPG tries to be a very flexible implementation of the OpenPGP
5652 standard. In particular, GnuPG implements many of the optional parts of
5653 the standard, such as the SHA-512 hash, and the ZLIB and BZIP2
5654 compression algorithms. It is important to be aware that not all
5655 OpenPGP programs implement these optional algorithms and that by forcing
5656 their use via the '--cipher-algo', '--digest-algo',
5657 '--cert-digest-algo', or '--compress-algo' options in GnuPG, it is
5658 possible to create a perfectly valid OpenPGP message, but one that
5659 cannot be read by the intended recipient.
5661 There are dozens of variations of OpenPGP programs available, and
5662 each supports a slightly different subset of these optional algorithms.
5663 For example, until recently, no (unhacked) version of PGP supported the
5664 BLOWFISH cipher algorithm. A message using BLOWFISH simply could not be
5665 read by a PGP user. By default, GnuPG uses the standard OpenPGP
5666 preferences system that will always do the right thing and create
5667 messages that are usable by all recipients, regardless of which OpenPGP
5668 program they use. Only override this safe default if you really know
5671 If you absolutely must override the safe default, or if the
5672 preferences on a given key are invalid for some reason, you are far
5673 better off using the '--pgp6', '--pgp7', or '--pgp8' options. These
5674 options are safe as they do not force any particular algorithms in
5675 violation of OpenPGP, but rather reduce the available algorithms to a
5681 On older systems this program should be installed as setuid(root). This
5682 is necessary to lock memory pages. Locking memory pages prevents the
5683 operating system from writing memory pages (which may contain
5684 passphrases or other sensitive material) to disk. If you get no warning
5685 message about insecure memory your operating system supports locking
5686 without being root. The program drops root privileges as soon as locked
5687 memory is allocated.
5689 Note also that some systems (especially laptops) have the ability to
5690 "suspend to disk" (also known as "safe sleep" or "hibernate"). This
5691 writes all memory to disk before going into a low power or even powered
5692 off mode. Unless measures are taken in the operating system to protect
5693 the saved memory, passphrases or other sensitive material may be
5694 recoverable from it later.
5696 Before you report a bug you should first search the mailing list
5697 archives for similar problems and second check whether such a bug has
5698 already been reported to our bug tracker at <https://bugs.gnupg.org>.
5701 File: gnupg.info, Node: Unattended Usage of GPG, Prev: GPG Examples, Up: Invoking GPG
5703 4.5 Unattended Usage
5704 ====================
5706 'gpg' is often used as a backend engine by other software. To help with
5707 this a machine interface has been defined to have an unambiguous way to
5708 do this. The options '--status-fd' and '--batch' are almost always
5713 * Programmatic use of GnuPG:: Programmatic use of GnuPG
5714 * Ephemeral home directories:: Ephemeral home directories
5715 * The quick key manipulation interface:: The quick key manipulation interface
5716 * Unattended GPG key generation:: Unattended key generation
5719 File: gnupg.info, Node: Programmatic use of GnuPG, Next: Ephemeral home directories, Up: Unattended Usage of GPG
5721 4.5.1 Programmatic use of GnuPG
5722 -------------------------------
5724 Please consider using GPGME instead of calling 'gpg' directly. GPGME
5725 offers a stable, backend-independent interface for many cryptographic
5726 operations. It supports OpenPGP and S/MIME, and also allows interaction
5727 with various GnuPG components.
5729 GPGME provides a C-API, and comes with bindings for C++, Qt, and
5730 Python. Bindings for other languages are available.
5733 File: gnupg.info, Node: Ephemeral home directories, Next: The quick key manipulation interface, Prev: Programmatic use of GnuPG, Up: Unattended Usage of GPG
5735 4.5.2 Ephemeral home directories
5736 --------------------------------
5738 Sometimes you want to contain effects of some operation, for example you
5739 want to import a key to inspect it, but you do not want this key to be
5740 added to your keyring. In earlier versions of GnuPG, it was possible to
5741 specify alternate keyring files for both public and secret keys. In
5742 modern GnuPG versions, however, we changed how secret keys are stored in
5743 order to better protect secret key material, and it was not possible to
5744 preserve this interface.
5746 The preferred way to do this is to use ephemeral home directories.
5747 This technique works across all versions of GnuPG.
5749 Create a temporary directory, create (or copy) a configuration that
5750 meets your needs, make 'gpg' use this directory either using the
5751 environment variable GNUPGHOME, or the option '--homedir'. GPGME
5752 supports this too on a per-context basis, by modifying the engine info
5753 of contexts. Now execute whatever operation you like, import and export
5754 key material as necessary. Once finished, you can delete the directory.
5755 All GnuPG backend services that were started will detect this and shut
5759 File: gnupg.info, Node: The quick key manipulation interface, Next: Unattended GPG key generation, Prev: Ephemeral home directories, Up: Unattended Usage of GPG
5761 4.5.3 The quick key manipulation interface
5762 ------------------------------------------
5764 Recent versions of GnuPG have an interface to manipulate keys without
5765 using the interactive command '--edit-key'. This interface was added
5766 mainly for the benefit of GPGME (please consider using GPGME, see the
5767 manual subsection "Programmatic use of GnuPG"). This interface is
5768 described in the subsection "How to manage your keys".
5771 File: gnupg.info, Node: Unattended GPG key generation, Prev: The quick key manipulation interface, Up: Unattended Usage of GPG
5773 4.5.4 Unattended key generation
5774 -------------------------------
5776 The command '--generate-key' may be used along with the option '--batch'
5777 for unattended key generation. This is the most flexible way of
5778 generating keys, but it is also the most complex one. Consider using
5779 the quick key manipulation interface described in the previous
5780 subsection "The quick key manipulation interface".
5782 The parameters for the key are either read from stdin or given as a
5783 file on the command line. The format of the parameter file is as
5786 * Text only, line length is limited to about 1000 characters.
5787 * UTF-8 encoding must be used to specify non-ASCII characters.
5788 * Empty lines are ignored.
5789 * Leading and trailing white space is ignored.
5790 * A hash sign as the first non white space character indicates a
5792 * Control statements are indicated by a leading percent sign, the
5793 arguments are separated by white space from the keyword.
5794 * Parameters are specified by a keyword, followed by a colon.
5795 Arguments are separated by white space.
5796 * The first parameter must be 'Key-Type'; control statements may be
5798 * The order of the parameters does not matter except for 'Key-Type'
5799 which must be the first parameter. The parameters are only used
5800 for the generated keyblock (primary and subkeys); parameters from
5801 previous sets are not used. Some syntactically checks may be
5803 * Key generation takes place when either the end of the parameter
5804 file is reached, the next 'Key-Type' parameter is encountered or at
5805 the control statement '%commit' is encountered.
5810 Print TEXT as diagnostic.
5813 Suppress actual key generation (useful for syntax checking).
5816 Perform the key generation. Note that an implicit commit is done
5817 at the next Key-Type parameter.
5820 Do not write the key to the default or commandline given keyring
5821 but to FILENAME. This must be given before the first commit to
5822 take place, duplicate specification of the same filename is
5823 ignored, the last filename before a commit is used. The filename
5824 is used until a new filename is used (at commit points) and all
5825 keys are written to that file. If a new filename is given, this
5826 file is created (and overwrites an existing one).
5828 See the previous subsection "Ephemeral home directories" for a more
5829 robust way to contain side-effects.
5832 This option is a no-op for GnuPG 2.1 and later.
5834 See the previous subsection "Ephemeral home directories".
5838 This option is a no-op for GnuPG 2.1 and later.
5841 Using this option allows the creation of keys without any
5842 passphrase protection. This option is mainly intended for
5846 If given the keys are created using a faster and a somewhat less
5847 secure random number generator. This option may be used for keys
5848 which are only used for a short time and do not require full
5849 cryptographic strength. It takes only effect if used together with
5850 the control statement '%no-protection'.
5855 Starts a new parameter block by giving the type of the primary key.
5856 The algorithm must be capable of signing. This is a required
5857 parameter. ALGO may either be an OpenPGP algorithm number or a
5858 string with the algorithm name. The special value 'default' may be
5859 used for ALGO to create the default key type; in this case a
5860 'Key-Usage' shall not be given and 'default' also be used for
5864 The requested length of the generated key in bits. The default is
5865 returned by running the command 'gpg --gpgconf-list'. For ECC keys
5866 this parameter is ignored.
5869 The requested elliptic curve of the generated key. This is a
5870 required parameter for ECC keys. It is ignored for non-ECC keys.
5873 This is optional and used to generate a CSR or certificate for an
5874 already existing key. Key-Length will be ignored when given.
5876 Key-Usage: USAGE-LIST
5877 Space or comma delimited list of key usages. Allowed values are
5878 'encrypt', 'sign', and 'auth'. This is used to generate the key
5879 flags. Please make sure that the algorithm is capable of this
5880 usage. Note that OpenPGP requires that all primary keys are
5881 capable of certification, so no matter what usage is given here,
5882 the 'cert' flag will be on. If no 'Key-Usage' is specified and the
5883 'Key-Type' is not 'default', all allowed usages for that particular
5884 algorithm are used; if it is not given but 'default' is used the
5885 usage will be 'sign'.
5888 This generates a secondary key (subkey). Currently only one subkey
5889 can be handled. See also 'Key-Type' above.
5891 Subkey-Length: NBITS
5892 Length of the secondary key (subkey) in bits. The default is
5893 returned by running the command 'gpg --gpgconf-list'.
5896 Key curve for a subkey; similar to 'Key-Curve'.
5898 Subkey-Usage: USAGE-LIST
5899 Key usage lists for a subkey; similar to 'Key-Usage'.
5902 If you want to specify a passphrase for the secret key, enter it
5903 here. Default is to use the Pinentry dialog to ask for a
5907 Name-Comment: COMMENT
5909 The three parts of a user name. Remember to use UTF-8 encoding
5910 here. If you don't give any of them, no user ID is created.
5912 Expire-Date: ISO-DATE|(NUMBER[d|w|m|y])
5913 Set the expiration date for the key (and the subkey). It may
5914 either be entered in ISO date format (e.g. "20000815T145012") or
5915 as number of days, weeks, month or years after the creation date.
5916 The special notation "seconds=N" is also allowed to specify a
5917 number of seconds since creation. Without a letter days are
5918 assumed. Note that there is no check done on the overflow of the
5919 type used by OpenPGP for timestamps. Thus you better make sure
5920 that the given value make sense. Although OpenPGP works with time
5921 intervals, GnuPG uses an absolute value internally and thus the
5922 last year we can represent is 2105.
5924 Creation-Date: ISO-DATE
5925 Set the creation date of the key as stored in the key information
5926 and which is also part of the fingerprint calculation. Either a
5927 date like "1986-04-26" or a full timestamp like "19860426T042640"
5928 may be used. The time is considered to be UTC. The special
5929 notation "seconds=N" may be used to directly specify a the number
5930 of seconds since Epoch (Unix time). If it is not given the current
5934 Set the cipher, hash, and compression preference values for this
5935 key. This expects the same type of string as the sub-command
5936 'setpref' in the '--edit-key' menu.
5938 Revoker: ALGO:FPR [sensitive]
5939 Add a designated revoker to the generated key. Algo is the public
5940 key algorithm of the designated revoker (i.e. RSA=1, DSA=17, etc.)
5941 FPR is the fingerprint of the designated revoker. The optional
5942 'sensitive' flag marks the designated revoker as sensitive
5943 information. Only v4 keys may be designated revokers.
5946 This is an optional parameter that specifies the preferred
5947 keyserver URL for the key.
5950 This is an optional parameter only used with the status lines
5951 KEY_CREATED and KEY_NOT_CREATED. STRING may be up to 100 characters
5952 and should not contain spaces. It is useful for batch key
5953 generation to associate a key parameter block with a status line.
5955 Here is an example on how to create a key in an ephemeral home
5957 $ export GNUPGHOME="$(mktemp -d)"
5959 %echo Generating a basic OpenPGP key
5964 Name-Real: Joe Tester
5965 Name-Comment: with stupid passphrase
5966 Name-Email: joe@foo.bar
5969 # Do a commit here, so that we can later print "done" :-)
5973 $ gpg --batch --generate-key foo
5975 $ gpg --list-secret-keys
5976 /tmp/tmp.0NQxB74PEf/pubring.kbx
5977 -------------------------------
5978 sec dsa1024 2016-12-16 [SCA]
5979 768E895903FC1C44045C8CB95EEBDB71E9E849D0
5980 uid [ultimate] Joe Tester (with stupid passphrase) <joe@foo.bar>
5981 ssb elg1024 2016-12-16 [E]
5983 If you want to create a key with the default algorithms you would use
5985 %echo Generating a default key
5987 Subkey-Type: default
5988 Name-Real: Joe Tester
5989 Name-Comment: with stupid passphrase
5990 Name-Email: joe@foo.bar
5993 # Do a commit here, so that we can later print "done" :-)
5998 File: gnupg.info, Node: Invoking GPGSM, Next: Invoking SCDAEMON, Prev: Invoking GPG, Up: Top
6003 'gpgsm' is a tool similar to 'gpg' to provide digital encryption and
6004 signing services on X.509 certificates and the CMS protocol. It is
6005 mainly used as a backend for S/MIME mail processing. 'gpgsm' includes a
6006 full featured certificate management and complies with all rules defined
6007 for the German Sphinx project.
6009 *Note Option Index::, for an index to 'GPGSM''s commands and options.
6013 * GPGSM Commands:: List of all commands.
6014 * GPGSM Options:: List of all options.
6015 * GPGSM Configuration:: Configuration files.
6016 * GPGSM Examples:: Some usage examples.
6018 Developer information:
6019 * Unattended Usage:: Using 'gpgsm' from other programs.
6020 * GPGSM Protocol:: The protocol the server mode uses.
6023 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Commands, Next: GPGSM Options, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6028 Commands are not distinguished from options except for the fact that
6029 only one command is allowed.
6033 * General GPGSM Commands:: Commands not specific to the functionality.
6034 * Operational GPGSM Commands:: Commands to select the type of operation.
6035 * Certificate Management:: How to manage certificates.
6038 File: gnupg.info, Node: General GPGSM Commands, Next: Operational GPGSM Commands, Up: GPGSM Commands
6040 5.1.1 Commands not specific to the function
6041 -------------------------------------------
6044 Print the program version and licensing information. Note that you
6045 cannot abbreviate this command.
6048 Print a usage message summarizing the most useful command-line
6049 options. Note that you cannot abbreviate this command.
6052 Print warranty information. Note that you cannot abbreviate this
6056 Print a list of all available options and commands. Note that you
6057 cannot abbreviate this command.
6060 File: gnupg.info, Node: Operational GPGSM Commands, Next: Certificate Management, Prev: General GPGSM Commands, Up: GPGSM Commands
6062 5.1.2 Commands to select the type of operation
6063 ----------------------------------------------
6066 Perform an encryption. The keys the data is encrypted to must be
6067 set using the option '--recipient'.
6070 Perform a decryption; the type of input is automatically
6071 determined. It may either be in binary form or PEM encoded;
6072 automatic determination of base-64 encoding is not done.
6075 Create a digital signature. The key used is either the fist one
6076 found in the keybox or those set with the '--local-user' option.
6079 Check a signature file for validity. Depending on the arguments a
6080 detached signature may also be checked.
6083 Run in server mode and wait for commands on the 'stdin'.
6085 '--call-dirmngr COMMAND [ARGS]'
6086 Behave as a Dirmngr client issuing the request COMMAND with the
6087 optional list of ARGS. The output of the Dirmngr is printed
6088 stdout. Please note that file names given as arguments should have
6089 an absolute file name (i.e. commencing with '/') because they are
6090 passed verbatim to the Dirmngr and the working directory of the
6091 Dirmngr might not be the same as the one of this client. Currently
6092 it is not possible to pass data via stdin to the Dirmngr. COMMAND
6093 should not contain spaces.
6095 This is command is required for certain maintaining tasks of the
6096 dirmngr where a dirmngr must be able to call back to 'gpgsm'. See
6097 the Dirmngr manual for details.
6099 '--call-protect-tool ARGUMENTS'
6100 Certain maintenance operations are done by an external program call
6101 'gpg-protect-tool'; this is usually not installed in a directory
6102 listed in the PATH variable. This command provides a simple
6103 wrapper to access this tool. ARGUMENTS are passed verbatim to this
6104 command; use '--help' to get a list of supported operations.
6107 File: gnupg.info, Node: Certificate Management, Prev: Operational GPGSM Commands, Up: GPGSM Commands
6109 5.1.3 How to manage the certificates and keys
6110 ---------------------------------------------
6114 This command allows the creation of a certificate signing request
6115 or a self-signed certificate. It is commonly used along with the
6116 '--output' option to save the created CSR or certificate into a
6117 file. If used with the '--batch' a parameter file is used to
6118 create the CSR or certificate and it is further possible to create
6119 non-self-signed certificates.
6123 List all available certificates stored in the local key database.
6124 Note that the displayed data might be reformatted for better human
6125 readability and illegal characters are replaced by safe
6128 '--list-secret-keys'
6130 List all available certificates for which a corresponding a secret
6133 '--list-external-keys PATTERN'
6134 List certificates matching PATTERN using an external server. This
6135 utilizes the 'dirmngr' service.
6138 Same as '--list-keys' but also prints all keys making up the chain.
6142 List all available certificates stored in the local key database
6143 using a format useful mainly for debugging.
6146 Same as '--dump-keys' but also prints all keys making up the chain.
6148 '--dump-secret-keys'
6149 List all available certificates for which a corresponding a secret
6150 key is available using a format useful mainly for debugging.
6152 '--dump-external-keys PATTERN'
6153 List certificates matching PATTERN using an external server. This
6154 utilizes the 'dirmngr' service. It uses a format useful mainly for
6157 '--keydb-clear-some-cert-flags'
6158 This is a debugging aid to reset certain flags in the key database
6159 which are used to cache certain certificate stati. It is
6160 especially useful if a bad CRL or a weird running OCSP responder
6161 did accidentally revoke certificate. There is no security issue
6162 with this command because 'gpgsm' always make sure that the
6163 validity of a certificate is checked right before it is used.
6165 '--delete-keys PATTERN'
6166 Delete the keys matching PATTERN. Note that there is no command to
6167 delete the secret part of the key directly. In case you need to do
6168 this, you should run the command 'gpgsm --dump-secret-keys KEYID'
6169 before you delete the key, copy the string of hex-digits in the
6170 "keygrip" line and delete the file consisting of these hex-digits
6171 and the suffix '.key' from the 'private-keys-v1.d' directory below
6172 our GnuPG home directory (usually '~/.gnupg').
6174 '--export [PATTERN]'
6175 Export all certificates stored in the Keybox or those specified by
6176 the optional PATTERN. Those pattern consist of a list of user ids
6177 (*note how-to-specify-a-user-id::). When used along with the
6178 '--armor' option a few informational lines are prepended before
6179 each block. There is one limitation: As there is no commonly
6180 agreed upon way to pack more than one certificate into an ASN.1
6181 structure, the binary export (i.e. without using 'armor') works
6182 only for the export of one certificate. Thus it is required to
6183 specify a PATTERN which yields exactly one certificate. Ephemeral
6184 certificate are only exported if all PATTERN are given as
6185 fingerprints or keygrips.
6187 '--export-secret-key-p12 KEY-ID'
6188 Export the private key and the certificate identified by KEY-ID
6189 using the PKCS#12 format. When used with the '--armor' option a
6190 few informational lines are prepended to the output. Note, that
6191 the PKCS#12 format is not very secure and proper transport security
6192 should be used to convey the exported key. (*Note option
6195 '--export-secret-key-p8 KEY-ID'
6196 '--export-secret-key-raw KEY-ID'
6197 Export the private key of the certificate identified by KEY-ID with
6198 any encryption stripped. The '...-raw' command exports in PKCS#1
6199 format; the '...-p8' command exports in PKCS#8 format. When used
6200 with the '--armor' option a few informational lines are prepended
6201 to the output. These commands are useful to prepare a key for use
6205 Import the certificates from the PEM or binary encoded files as
6206 well as from signed-only messages. This command may also be used
6207 to import a secret key from a PKCS#12 file.
6210 Read information about the private keys from the smartcard and
6211 import the certificates from there. This command utilizes the
6212 'gpg-agent' and in turn the 'scdaemon'.
6214 '--change-passphrase USER_ID'
6216 Change the passphrase of the private key belonging to the
6217 certificate specified as USER_ID. Note, that changing the
6218 passphrase/PIN of a smartcard is not yet supported.
6221 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Options, Next: GPGSM Configuration, Prev: GPGSM Commands, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6226 'GPGSM' features a bunch of options to control the exact behaviour and
6227 to change the default configuration.
6231 * Configuration Options:: How to change the configuration.
6232 * Certificate Options:: Certificate related options.
6233 * Input and Output:: Input and Output.
6234 * CMS Options:: How to change how the CMS is created.
6235 * Esoteric Options:: Doing things one usually do not want to do.
6238 File: gnupg.info, Node: Configuration Options, Next: Certificate Options, Up: GPGSM Options
6240 5.2.1 How to change the configuration
6241 -------------------------------------
6243 These options are used to change the configuration and are usually found
6247 Reads configuration from FILE instead of from the default per-user
6248 configuration file. The default configuration file is named
6249 'gpgsm.conf' and expected in the '.gnupg' directory directly below
6250 the home directory of the user.
6253 Set the name of the home directory to DIR. If this option is not
6254 used, the home directory defaults to '~/.gnupg'. It is only
6255 recognized when given on the command line. It also overrides any
6256 home directory stated through the environment variable 'GNUPGHOME'
6257 or (on Windows systems) by means of the Registry entry
6258 HKCU\SOFTWARE\GNU\GNUPG:HOMEDIR.
6260 On Windows systems it is possible to install GnuPG as a portable
6261 application. In this case only this command line option is
6262 considered, all other ways to set a home directory are ignored.
6264 To install GnuPG as a portable application under Windows, create an
6265 empty file named 'gpgconf.ctl' in the same directory as the tool
6266 'gpgconf.exe'. The root of the installation is then that
6267 directory; or, if 'gpgconf.exe' has been installed directly below a
6268 directory named 'bin', its parent directory. You also need to make
6269 sure that the following directories exist and are writable:
6270 'ROOT/home' for the GnuPG home and 'ROOT/usr/local/var/cache/gnupg'
6271 for internal cache files.
6275 Outputs additional information while running. You can increase the
6276 verbosity by giving several verbose commands to 'gpgsm', such as
6279 '--policy-file FILENAME'
6280 Change the default name of the policy file to FILENAME.
6282 '--agent-program FILE'
6283 Specify an agent program to be used for secret key operations. The
6284 default value is determined by running the command 'gpgconf'. Note
6285 that the pipe symbol ('|') is used for a regression test suite hack
6286 and may thus not be used in the file name.
6288 '--dirmngr-program FILE'
6289 Specify a dirmngr program to be used for CRL checks. The default
6290 value is '/usr/local/bin/dirmngr'.
6292 '--prefer-system-dirmngr'
6293 This option is obsolete and ignored.
6296 Entirely disable the use of the Dirmngr.
6299 Do not start the gpg-agent or the dirmngr if it has not yet been
6300 started and its service is required. This option is mostly useful
6301 on machines where the connection to gpg-agent has been redirected
6302 to another machines. If dirmngr is required on the remote machine,
6303 it may be started manually using 'gpgconf --launch dirmngr'.
6305 '--no-secmem-warning'
6306 Do not print a warning when the so called "secure memory" cannot be
6310 When running in server mode, append all logging output to FILE.
6311 Use 'socket://' to log to socket.
6314 File: gnupg.info, Node: Certificate Options, Next: Input and Output, Prev: Configuration Options, Up: GPGSM Options
6316 5.2.2 Certificate related options
6317 ---------------------------------
6319 '--enable-policy-checks'
6320 '--disable-policy-checks'
6321 By default policy checks are enabled. These options may be used to
6324 '--enable-crl-checks'
6325 '--disable-crl-checks'
6326 By default the CRL checks are enabled and the DirMngr is used to
6327 check for revoked certificates. The disable option is most useful
6328 with an off-line network connection to suppress this check and also
6329 to avoid that new certificates introduce a web bug by including a
6330 certificate specific CRL DP. The disable option also disables an
6331 issuer certificate lookup via the authorityInfoAccess property of
6332 the certificate; the '--enable-issuer-key-retrieve' can be used to
6333 make use of that property anyway.
6335 '--enable-trusted-cert-crl-check'
6336 '--disable-trusted-cert-crl-check'
6337 By default the CRL for trusted root certificates are checked like
6338 for any other certificates. This allows a CA to revoke its own
6339 certificates voluntary without the need of putting all ever issued
6340 certificates into a CRL. The disable option may be used to switch
6341 this extra check off. Due to the caching done by the Dirmngr,
6342 there will not be any noticeable performance gain. Note, that this
6343 also disables possible OCSP checks for trusted root certificates.
6344 A more specific way of disabling this check is by adding the
6345 "relax" keyword to the root CA line of the 'trustlist.txt'
6347 '--force-crl-refresh'
6348 Tell the dirmngr to reload the CRL for each request. For better
6349 performance, the dirmngr will actually optimize this by suppressing
6350 the loading for short time intervals (e.g. 30 minutes). This
6351 option is useful to make sure that a fresh CRL is available for
6352 certificates hold in the keybox. The suggested way of doing this
6353 is by using it along with the option '--with-validation' for a key
6354 listing command. This option should not be used in a configuration
6357 '--enable-issuer-based-crl-check'
6358 Run a CRL check even for certificates which do not have any CRL
6359 distribution point. This requires that a suitable LDAP server has
6360 been configured in Dirmngr and that the CRL can be found using the
6361 issuer. This option reverts to what GnuPG did up to version
6362 2.2.20. This option is in general not useful.
6366 By default OCSP checks are disabled. The enable option may be used
6367 to enable OCSP checks via Dirmngr. If CRL checks are also enabled,
6368 CRLs will be used as a fallback if for some reason an OCSP request
6369 will not succeed. Note, that you have to allow OCSP requests in
6370 Dirmngr's configuration too (option '--allow-ocsp') and configure
6371 Dirmngr properly. If you do not do so you will get the error code
6374 '--auto-issuer-key-retrieve'
6375 If a required certificate is missing while validating the chain of
6376 certificates, try to load that certificate from an external
6377 location. This usually means that Dirmngr is employed to search
6378 for the certificate. Note that this option makes a "web bug" like
6379 behavior possible. LDAP server operators can see which keys you
6380 request, so by sending you a message signed by a brand new key
6381 (which you naturally will not have on your local keybox), the
6382 operator can tell both your IP address and the time when you
6383 verified the signature.
6385 '--validation-model NAME'
6386 This option changes the default validation model. The only
6387 possible values are "shell" (which is the default), "chain" which
6388 forces the use of the chain model and "steed" for a new simplified
6389 model. The chain model is also used if an option in the
6390 'trustlist.txt' or an attribute of the certificate requests it.
6391 However the standard model (shell) is in that case always tried
6394 '--ignore-cert-extension OID'
6395 Add OID to the list of ignored certificate extensions. The OID is
6396 expected to be in dotted decimal form, like '2.5.29.3'. This
6397 option may be used more than once. Critical flagged certificate
6398 extensions matching one of the OIDs in the list are treated as if
6399 they are actually handled and thus the certificate will not be
6400 rejected due to an unknown critical extension. Use this option
6401 with care because extensions are usually flagged as critical for a
6405 File: gnupg.info, Node: Input and Output, Next: CMS Options, Prev: Certificate Options, Up: GPGSM Options
6407 5.2.3 Input and Output
6408 ----------------------
6412 Create PEM encoded output. Default is binary output.
6415 Create Base-64 encoded output; i.e. PEM without the header lines.
6418 Assume the input data is PEM encoded. Default is to autodetect the
6419 encoding but this is may fail.
6422 Assume the input data is plain base-64 encoded.
6425 Assume the input data is binary encoded.
6427 '--p12-charset NAME'
6428 'gpgsm' uses the UTF-8 encoding when encoding passphrases for
6429 PKCS#12 files. This option may be used to force the passphrase to
6430 be encoded in the specified encoding NAME. This is useful if the
6431 application used to import the key uses a different encoding and
6432 thus will not be able to import a file generated by 'gpgsm'.
6433 Commonly used values for NAME are 'Latin1' and 'CP850'. Note that
6434 'gpgsm' itself automagically imports any file with a passphrase
6435 encoded to the most commonly used encodings.
6437 '--default-key USER_ID'
6438 Use USER_ID as the standard key for signing. This key is used if
6439 no other key has been defined as a signing key. Note, that the
6440 first '--local-users' option also sets this key if it has not yet
6441 been set; however '--default-key' always overrides this.
6443 '--local-user USER_ID'
6445 Set the user(s) to be used for signing. The default is the first
6446 secret key found in the database.
6450 Encrypt to the user id NAME. There are several ways a user id may
6451 be given (*note how-to-specify-a-user-id::).
6455 Write output to FILE. The default is to write it to stdout.
6458 Displays extra information with the '--list-keys' commands.
6459 Especially a line tagged 'grp' is printed which tells you the
6460 keygrip of a key. This string is for example used as the file name
6461 of the secret key. Implies '--with-colons'.
6464 When doing a key listing, do a full validation check for each key
6465 and print the result. This is usually a slow operation because it
6466 requires a CRL lookup and other operations.
6468 When used along with '--import', a validation of the certificate to
6469 import is done and only imported if it succeeds the test. Note
6470 that this does not affect an already available certificate in the
6471 DB. This option is therefore useful to simply verify a certificate.
6473 '--with-md5-fingerprint'
6474 For standard key listings, also print the MD5 fingerprint of the
6478 Include the keygrip in standard key listings. Note that the
6479 keygrip is always listed in '--with-colons' mode.
6482 Include info about the presence of a secret key in public key
6483 listings done with '--with-colons'.
6486 File: gnupg.info, Node: CMS Options, Next: Esoteric Options, Prev: Input and Output, Up: GPGSM Options
6488 5.2.4 How to change how the CMS is created
6489 ------------------------------------------
6492 Using N of -2 includes all certificate except for the root cert, -1
6493 includes all certs, 0 does not include any certs, 1 includes only
6494 the signers cert and all other positive values include up to N
6495 certificates starting with the signer cert. The default is -2.
6498 Use the cipher algorithm with the ASN.1 object identifier OID for
6499 encryption. For convenience the strings '3DES', 'AES' and 'AES256'
6500 may be used instead of their OIDs. The default is 'AES'
6501 (2.16.840.1.101.3.4.1.2).
6503 '--digest-algo name'
6504 Use 'name' as the message digest algorithm. Usually this algorithm
6505 is deduced from the respective signing certificate. This option
6506 forces the use of the given algorithm and may lead to severe
6507 interoperability problems.
6510 File: gnupg.info, Node: Esoteric Options, Prev: CMS Options, Up: GPGSM Options
6512 5.2.5 Doing things one usually do not want to do
6513 ------------------------------------------------
6515 '--extra-digest-algo NAME'
6516 Sometimes signatures are broken in that they announce a different
6517 digest algorithm than actually used. 'gpgsm' uses a one-pass data
6518 processing model and thus needs to rely on the announced digest
6519 algorithms to properly hash the data. As a workaround this option
6520 may be used to tell 'gpgsm' to also hash the data using the
6521 algorithm NAME; this slows processing down a little bit but allows
6522 verification of such broken signatures. If 'gpgsm' prints an error
6523 like "digest algo 8 has not been enabled" you may want to try this
6524 option, with 'SHA256' for NAME.
6526 '--faked-system-time EPOCH'
6527 This option is only useful for testing; it sets the system time
6528 back or forth to EPOCH which is the number of seconds elapsed since
6529 the year 1970. Alternatively EPOCH may be given as a full ISO time
6530 string (e.g. "20070924T154812").
6532 '--with-ephemeral-keys'
6533 Include ephemeral flagged keys in the output of key listings. Note
6534 that they are included anyway if the key specification for a
6535 listing is given as fingerprint or keygrip.
6537 '--debug-level LEVEL'
6538 Select the debug level for investigating problems. LEVEL may be a
6539 numeric value or by a keyword:
6542 No debugging at all. A value of less than 1 may be used
6543 instead of the keyword.
6545 Some basic debug messages. A value between 1 and 2 may be
6546 used instead of the keyword.
6548 More verbose debug messages. A value between 3 and 5 may be
6549 used instead of the keyword.
6551 Even more detailed messages. A value between 6 and 8 may be
6552 used instead of the keyword.
6554 All of the debug messages you can get. A value greater than 8
6555 may be used instead of the keyword. The creation of hash
6556 tracing files is only enabled if the keyword is used.
6558 How these messages are mapped to the actual debugging flags is not
6559 specified and may change with newer releases of this program. They
6560 are however carefully selected to best aid in debugging.
6563 This option is only useful for debugging and the behaviour may
6564 change at any time without notice; using '--debug-levels' is the
6565 preferred method to select the debug verbosity. FLAGS are bit
6566 encoded and may be given in usual C-Syntax. The currently defined
6570 X.509 or OpenPGP protocol related data
6572 values of big number integers
6574 low level crypto operations
6580 show memory statistics
6582 write hashed data to files named 'dbgmd-000*'
6584 trace Assuan protocol
6586 Note, that all flags set using this option may get overridden by
6590 Same as '--debug=0xffffffff'
6592 '--debug-allow-core-dump'
6593 Usually 'gpgsm' tries to avoid dumping core by well written code
6594 and by disabling core dumps for security reasons. However, bugs
6595 are pretty durable beasts and to squash them it is sometimes useful
6596 to have a core dump. This option enables core dumps unless the Bad
6597 Thing happened before the option parsing.
6599 '--debug-no-chain-validation'
6600 This is actually not a debugging option but only useful as such.
6601 It lets 'gpgsm' bypass all certificate chain validation checks.
6603 '--debug-ignore-expiration'
6604 This is actually not a debugging option but only useful as such.
6605 It lets 'gpgsm' ignore all notAfter dates, this is used by the
6609 Read the passphrase from file descriptor 'n'. Only the first line
6610 will be read from file descriptor 'n'. If you use 0 for 'n', the
6611 passphrase will be read from STDIN. This can only be used if only
6612 one passphrase is supplied.
6614 Note that this passphrase is only used if the option '--batch' has
6617 '--pinentry-mode mode'
6618 Set the pinentry mode to 'mode'. Allowed values for 'mode' are:
6620 Use the default of the agent, which is 'ask'.
6622 Force the use of the Pinentry.
6624 Emulate use of Pinentry's cancel button.
6626 Return a Pinentry error ("No Pinentry").
6628 Redirect Pinentry queries to the caller. Note that in
6629 contrast to Pinentry the user is not prompted again if he
6630 enters a bad password.
6632 '--request-origin ORIGIN'
6633 Tell gpgsm to assume that the operation ultimately originated at
6634 ORIGIN. Depending on the origin certain restrictions are applied
6635 and the Pinentry may include an extra note on the origin.
6636 Supported values for ORIGIN are: 'local' which is the default,
6637 'remote' to indicate a remote origin or 'browser' for an operation
6638 requested by a web browser.
6640 '--no-common-certs-import'
6641 Suppress the import of common certificates on keybox creation.
6643 All the long options may also be given in the configuration file
6644 after stripping off the two leading dashes.
6647 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Configuration, Next: GPGSM Examples, Prev: GPGSM Options, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6649 5.3 Configuration files
6650 =======================
6652 There are a few configuration files to control certain aspects of
6653 'gpgsm''s operation. Unless noted, they are expected in the current
6654 home directory (*note option --homedir::).
6657 This is the standard configuration file read by 'gpgsm' on startup.
6658 It may contain any valid long option; the leading two dashes may
6659 not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated. This default
6660 name may be changed on the command line (*note gpgsm-option
6661 --options::). You should backup this file.
6664 This is a list of allowed CA policies. This file should list the
6665 object identifiers of the policies line by line. Empty lines and
6666 lines starting with a hash mark are ignored. Policies missing in
6667 this file and not marked as critical in the certificate will print
6668 only a warning; certificates with policies marked as critical and
6669 not listed in this file will fail the signature verification. You
6670 should backup this file.
6672 For example, to allow only the policy 2.289.9.9, the file should
6679 This is the list of root certificates used for qualified
6680 certificates. They are defined as certificates capable of creating
6681 legally binding signatures in the same way as handwritten
6682 signatures are. Comments start with a hash mark and empty lines
6683 are ignored. Lines do have a length limit but this is not a
6684 serious limitation as the format of the entries is fixed and
6685 checked by 'gpgsm': A non-comment line starts with optional
6686 whitespace, followed by exactly 40 hex characters, white space and
6687 a lowercased 2 letter country code. Additional data delimited with
6688 by a white space is current ignored but might late be used for
6691 Note that even if a certificate is listed in this file, this does
6692 not mean that the certificate is trusted; in general the
6693 certificates listed in this file need to be listed also in
6696 This is a global file an installed in the data directory (e.g.
6697 '/usr/local/share/gnupg/qualified.txt'). GnuPG installs a suitable
6698 file with root certificates as used in Germany. As new Root-CA
6699 certificates may be issued over time, these entries may need to be
6700 updated; new distributions of this software should come with an
6701 updated list but it is still the responsibility of the
6702 Administrator to check that this list is correct.
6704 Every time 'gpgsm' uses a certificate for signing or verification
6705 this file will be consulted to check whether the certificate under
6706 question has ultimately been issued by one of these CAs. If this
6707 is the case the user will be informed that the verified signature
6708 represents a legally binding ("qualified") signature. When
6709 creating a signature using such a certificate an extra prompt will
6710 be issued to let the user confirm that such a legally binding
6711 signature shall really be created.
6713 Because this software has not yet been approved for use with such
6714 certificates, appropriate notices will be shown to indicate this
6718 This is plain text file with a few help entries used with
6719 'pinentry' as well as a large list of help items for 'gpg' and
6720 'gpgsm'. The standard file has English help texts; to install
6721 localized versions use filenames like 'help.LL.txt' with LL
6722 denoting the locale. GnuPG comes with a set of predefined help
6723 files in the data directory (e.g.
6724 '/usr/local/share/gnupg/gnupg/help.de.txt') and allows overriding
6725 of any help item by help files stored in the system configuration
6726 directory (e.g. '/etc/gnupg/help.de.txt'). For a reference of the
6727 help file's syntax, please see the installed 'help.txt' file.
6730 This file is a collection of common certificates used to populated
6731 a newly created 'pubring.kbx'. An administrator may replace this
6732 file with a custom one. The format is a concatenation of PEM
6733 encoded X.509 certificates. This global file is installed in the
6734 data directory (e.g. '/usr/local/share/gnupg/com-certs.pem').
6736 Note that on larger installations, it is useful to put predefined
6737 files into the directory '/etc/skel/.gnupg/' so that newly created users
6738 start up with a working configuration. For existing users a small
6739 helper script is provided to create these files (*note addgnupghome::).
6741 For internal purposes 'gpgsm' creates and maintains a few other
6742 files; they all live in the current home directory (*note option
6743 --homedir::). Only 'gpgsm' may modify these files.
6746 This a database file storing the certificates as well as meta
6747 information. For debugging purposes the tool 'kbxutil' may be used
6748 to show the internal structure of this file. You should backup
6752 This content of this file is used to maintain the internal state of
6753 the random number generator across invocations. The same file is
6754 used by other programs of this software too.
6757 If this file exists 'gpgsm' will first try to connect to this
6758 socket for accessing 'gpg-agent' before starting a new 'gpg-agent'
6759 instance. Under Windows this socket (which in reality be a plain
6760 file describing a regular TCP listening port) is the standard way
6761 of connecting the 'gpg-agent'.
6764 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Examples, Next: Unattended Usage, Prev: GPGSM Configuration, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6769 $ gpgsm -er goo@bar.net <plaintext >ciphertext
6772 File: gnupg.info, Node: Unattended Usage, Next: GPGSM Protocol, Prev: GPGSM Examples, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6774 5.5 Unattended Usage
6775 ====================
6777 'gpgsm' is often used as a backend engine by other software. To help
6778 with this a machine interface has been defined to have an unambiguous
6779 way to do this. This is most likely used with the '--server' command
6780 but may also be used in the standard operation mode by using the
6781 '--status-fd' option.
6785 * Automated signature checking:: Automated signature checking.
6786 * CSR and certificate creation:: CSR and certificate creation.
6789 File: gnupg.info, Node: Automated signature checking, Next: CSR and certificate creation, Up: Unattended Usage
6791 5.5.1 Automated signature checking
6792 ----------------------------------
6794 It is very important to understand the semantics used with signature
6795 verification. Checking a signature is not as simple as it may sound and
6796 so the operation is a bit complicated. In most cases it is required to
6797 look at several status lines. Here is a table of all cases a signed
6800 The signature is valid
6801 This does mean that the signature has been successfully verified,
6802 the certificates are all sane. However there are two subcases with
6803 important information: One of the certificates may have expired or
6804 a signature of a message itself as expired. It is a sound practise
6805 to consider such a signature still as valid but additional
6806 information should be displayed. Depending on the subcase 'gpgsm'
6807 will issue these status codes:
6808 signature valid and nothing did expire
6809 'GOODSIG', 'VALIDSIG', 'TRUST_FULLY'
6810 signature valid but at least one certificate has expired
6811 'EXPKEYSIG', 'VALIDSIG', 'TRUST_FULLY'
6812 signature valid but expired
6813 'EXPSIG', 'VALIDSIG', 'TRUST_FULLY' Note, that this case is
6814 currently not implemented.
6816 The signature is invalid
6817 This means that the signature verification failed (this is an
6818 indication of a transfer error, a program error or tampering with
6819 the message). 'gpgsm' issues one of these status codes sequences:
6821 'GOODSIG, VALIDSIG TRUST_NEVER'
6823 Error verifying a signature
6824 For some reason the signature could not be verified, i.e. it
6825 cannot be decided whether the signature is valid or invalid. A
6826 common reason for this is a missing certificate.
6829 File: gnupg.info, Node: CSR and certificate creation, Prev: Automated signature checking, Up: Unattended Usage
6831 5.5.2 CSR and certificate creation
6832 ----------------------------------
6834 The command '--generate-key' may be used along with the option '--batch'
6835 to either create a certificate signing request (CSR) or an X.509
6836 certificate. This is controlled by a parameter file; the format of this
6839 * Text only, line length is limited to about 1000 characters.
6840 * UTF-8 encoding must be used to specify non-ASCII characters.
6841 * Empty lines are ignored.
6842 * Leading and trailing while space is ignored.
6843 * A hash sign as the first non white space character indicates a
6845 * Control statements are indicated by a leading percent sign, the
6846 arguments are separated by white space from the keyword.
6847 * Parameters are specified by a keyword, followed by a colon.
6848 Arguments are separated by white space.
6849 * The first parameter must be 'Key-Type', control statements may be
6851 * The order of the parameters does not matter except for 'Key-Type'
6852 which must be the first parameter. The parameters are only used
6853 for the generated CSR/certificate; parameters from previous sets
6854 are not used. Some syntactically checks may be performed.
6855 * Key generation takes place when either the end of the parameter
6856 file is reached, the next 'Key-Type' parameter is encountered or at
6857 the control statement '%commit' is encountered.
6862 Print TEXT as diagnostic.
6865 Suppress actual key generation (useful for syntax checking).
6868 Perform the key generation. Note that an implicit commit is done
6869 at the next Key-Type parameter.
6874 Starts a new parameter block by giving the type of the primary key.
6875 The algorithm must be capable of signing. This is a required
6876 parameter. The only supported value for ALGO is 'rsa'.
6879 The requested length of a generated key in bits. Defaults to 3072.
6882 This is optional and used to generate a CSR or certificate for an
6883 already existing key. Key-Length will be ignored when given.
6885 Key-Usage: USAGE-LIST
6886 Space or comma delimited list of key usage, allowed values are
6887 'encrypt', 'sign' and 'cert'. This is used to generate the
6888 keyUsage extension. Please make sure that the algorithm is capable
6889 of this usage. Default is to allow encrypt and sign.
6891 Name-DN: SUBJECT-NAME
6892 This is the Distinguished Name (DN) of the subject in RFC-2253
6896 This is an email address for the altSubjectName. This parameter is
6897 optional but may occur several times to add several email addresses
6901 The is an DNS name for the altSubjectName. This parameter is
6902 optional but may occur several times to add several DNS names to a
6906 This is an URI for the altSubjectName. This parameter is optional
6907 but may occur several times to add several URIs to a certificate.
6909 Additional parameters used to create a certificate (in contrast to a
6910 certificate signing request):
6913 If this parameter is given an X.509 certificate will be generated.
6914 SN is expected to be a hex string representing an unsigned integer
6915 of arbitrary length. The special value 'random' can be used to
6916 create a 64 bit random serial number.
6918 Issuer-DN: ISSUER-NAME
6919 This is the DN name of the issuer in RFC-2253 format. If it is not
6920 set it will default to the subject DN and a special GnuPG extension
6921 will be included in the certificate to mark it as a standalone
6924 Creation-Date: ISO-DATE
6925 Not-Before: ISO-DATE
6926 Set the notBefore date of the certificate. Either a date like
6927 '1986-04-26' or '1986-04-26 12:00' or a standard ISO timestamp like
6928 '19860426T042640' may be used. The time is considered to be UTC.
6929 If it is not given the current date is used.
6931 Expire-Date: ISO-DATE
6933 Set the notAfter date of the certificate. Either a date like
6934 '2063-04-05' or '2063-04-05 17:00' or a standard ISO timestamp like
6935 '20630405T170000' may be used. The time is considered to be UTC.
6936 If it is not given a default value in the not too far future is
6939 Signing-Key: KEYGRIP
6940 This gives the keygrip of the key used to sign the certificate. If
6941 it is not given a self-signed certificate will be created. For
6942 compatibility with future versions, it is suggested to prefix the
6945 Hash-Algo: HASH-ALGO
6946 Use HASH-ALGO for this CSR or certificate. The supported hash
6947 algorithms are: 'sha1', 'sha256', 'sha384' and 'sha512'; they may
6948 also be specified with uppercase letters. The default is 'sha256'.
6951 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM Protocol, Prev: Unattended Usage, Up: Invoking GPGSM
6953 5.6 The Protocol the Server Mode Uses
6954 =====================================
6956 Description of the protocol used to access 'GPGSM'. 'GPGSM' does
6957 implement the Assuan protocol and in addition provides a regular command
6958 line interface which exhibits a full client to this protocol (but uses
6959 internal linking). To start 'gpgsm' as a server the command line the
6960 option '--server' must be used. Additional options are provided to
6961 select the communication method (i.e. the name of the socket).
6963 We assume that the connection has already been established; see the
6964 Assuan manual for details.
6968 * GPGSM ENCRYPT:: Encrypting a message.
6969 * GPGSM DECRYPT:: Decrypting a message.
6970 * GPGSM SIGN:: Signing a message.
6971 * GPGSM VERIFY:: Verifying a message.
6972 * GPGSM GENKEY:: Generating a key.
6973 * GPGSM LISTKEYS:: List available keys.
6974 * GPGSM EXPORT:: Export certificates.
6975 * GPGSM IMPORT:: Import certificates.
6976 * GPGSM DELETE:: Delete certificates.
6977 * GPGSM GETAUDITLOG:: Retrieve an audit log.
6978 * GPGSM GETINFO:: Information about the process
6979 * GPGSM OPTION:: Session options.
6982 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM ENCRYPT, Next: GPGSM DECRYPT, Up: GPGSM Protocol
6984 5.6.1 Encrypting a Message
6985 --------------------------
6987 Before encryption can be done the recipient must be set using the
6992 Set the recipient for the encryption. USERID should be the internal
6993 representation of the key; the server may accept any other way of
6994 specification. If this is a valid and trusted recipient the server does
6995 respond with OK, otherwise the return is an ERR with the reason why the
6996 recipient cannot be used, the encryption will then not be done for this
6997 recipient. If the policy is not to encrypt at all if not all recipients
6998 are valid, the client has to take care of this. All 'RECIPIENT'
6999 commands are cumulative until a 'RESET' or an successful 'ENCRYPT'
7002 INPUT FD[=N] [--armor|--base64|--binary]
7004 Set the file descriptor for the message to be encrypted to N.
7005 Obviously the pipe must be open at that point, the server establishes
7006 its own end. If the server returns an error the client should consider
7007 this session failed. If N is not given, this commands uses the last
7008 file descriptor passed to the application. *Note the assuan_sendfd
7009 function: (assuan)fun-assuan_sendfd, on how to do descriptor passing.
7011 The '--armor' option may be used to advise the server that the input
7012 data is in PEM format, '--base64' advises that a raw base-64 encoding is
7013 used, '--binary' advises of raw binary input (BER). If none of these
7014 options is used, the server tries to figure out the used encoding, but
7015 this may not always be correct.
7017 OUTPUT FD[=N] [--armor|--base64]
7019 Set the file descriptor to be used for the output (i.e. the
7020 encrypted message). Obviously the pipe must be open at that point, the
7021 server establishes its own end. If the server returns an error the
7022 client should consider this session failed.
7024 The option '--armor' encodes the output in PEM format, the '--base64'
7025 option applies just a base-64 encoding. No option creates binary output
7028 The actual encryption is done using the command
7032 It takes the plaintext from the 'INPUT' command, writes to the
7033 ciphertext to the file descriptor set with the 'OUTPUT' command, take
7034 the recipients from all the recipients set so far. If this command
7035 fails the clients should try to delete all output currently done or
7036 otherwise mark it as invalid. 'GPGSM' does ensure that there will not
7037 be any security problem with leftover data on the output in this case.
7039 This command should in general not fail, as all necessary checks have
7040 been done while setting the recipients. The input and output pipes are
7044 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM DECRYPT, Next: GPGSM SIGN, Prev: GPGSM ENCRYPT, Up: GPGSM Protocol
7046 5.6.2 Decrypting a message
7047 --------------------------
7049 Input and output FDs are set the same way as in encryption, but 'INPUT'
7050 refers to the ciphertext and 'OUTPUT' to the plaintext. There is no
7051 need to set recipients. 'GPGSM' automatically strips any S/MIME headers
7052 from the input, so it is valid to pass an entire MIME part to the INPUT
7055 The decryption is done by using the command
7059 It performs the decrypt operation after doing some check on the
7060 internal state (e.g. that all needed data has been set). Because it
7061 utilizes the GPG-Agent for the session key decryption, there is no need
7062 to ask the client for a protecting passphrase - GpgAgent takes care of
7063 this by requesting this from the user.
7066 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM SIGN, Next: GPGSM VERIFY, Prev: GPGSM DECRYPT, Up: GPGSM Protocol
7068 5.6.3 Signing a Message
7069 -----------------------
7071 Signing is usually done with these commands:
7073 INPUT FD[=N] [--armor|--base64|--binary]
7075 This tells 'GPGSM' to read the data to sign from file descriptor N.
7077 OUTPUT FD[=M] [--armor|--base64]
7079 Write the output to file descriptor M. If a detached signature is
7080 requested, only the signature is written.
7084 Sign the data set with the 'INPUT' command and write it to the sink
7085 set by 'OUTPUT'. With '--detached', a detached signature is created
7088 The key used for signing is the default one or the one specified in
7089 the configuration file. To get finer control over the keys, it is
7090 possible to use the command
7094 to set the signer's key. USERID should be the internal
7095 representation of the key; the server may accept any other way of
7096 specification. If this is a valid and trusted recipient the server does
7097 respond with OK, otherwise the return is an ERR with the reason why the
7098 key cannot be used, the signature will then not be created using this
7099 key. If the policy is not to sign at all if not all keys are valid, the
7100 client has to take care of this. All 'SIGNER' commands are cumulative
7101 until a 'RESET' is done. Note that a 'SIGN' does not reset this list of
7102 signers which is in contrast to the 'RECIPIENT' command.
7105 File: gnupg.info, Node: GPGSM VERIFY, Next: GPGSM GENKEY, Prev: GPGSM SIGN, Up: GPGSM Protocol
7107 5.6.4 Verifying a Message
7108 -------------------------
7110 To verify a message the command:
7114 is used. It does a verify operation on the message send to the input
7115 FD. The result is written out using status lines. If an output FD was
7116 given, the signed text will be written to that. If the signature is a
7117 detached one, the server will inquire about the signed material and the
7118 client must provide it.
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