1GPG(1) GNU Privacy Guard 2.2 GPG(1)
2
6 gpg - OpenPGP encryption and signing tool
7
9 gpg [--homedir dir] [--options file] [options] command [args]
10
15 gpg is the OpenPGP part of the GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG). It is a tool
16 to provide digital encryption and signing services using the OpenPGP
17 standard. gpg features complete key management and all the bells and
18 whistles you would expect from a full OpenPGP implementation.
19 There are two main versions of GnuPG: GnuPG 1.x and GnuPG 2.x. GnuPG
21 2.x supports modern encryption algorithms and thus should be preferred
22 over GnuPG 1.x. You only need to use GnuPG 1.x if your platform
23 doesn't support GnuPG 2.x, or you need support for some features that
24 GnuPG 2.x has deprecated, e.g., decrypting data created with PGP-2
25 keys.
26 If you are looking for version 1 of GnuPG, you may find that version
28 installed under the name gpg1.
29
37 The program returns 0 if everything was fine, 1 if at least a signature
38 was bad, and other error codes for fatal errors.
39
42 Use a *good* password for your user account and a *good* passphrase to
43 protect your secret key. This passphrase is the weakest part of the
44 whole system. Programs to do dictionary attacks on your secret keyring
45 are very easy to write and so you should protect your "~/.gnupg/"
46 directory very well.
47 Keep in mind that, if this program is used over a network (telnet), it
49 is *very* easy to spy out your passphrase!
50 If you are going to verify detached signatures, make sure that the pro‐
52 gram knows about it; either give both filenames on the command line or
53 use '-' to specify STDIN.
54 For scripted or other unattended use of gpg make sure to use the
56 machine-parseable interface and not the default interface which is
57 intended for direct use by humans. The machine-parseable interface
58 provides a stable and well documented API independent of the locale or
59 future changes of gpg. To enable this interface use the options
60 --with-colons and --status-fd. For certain operations the option
61 --command-fd may come handy too. See this man page and the file
62 ‘DETAILS’ for the specification of the interface. Note that the GnuPG
63 ``info'' pages as well as the PDF version of the GnuPG manual features
64 a chapter on unattended use of GnuPG. As an alternative the library
65 GPGME can be used as a high-level abstraction on top of that interface.
66
69 GnuPG tries to be a very flexible implementation of the OpenPGP stan‐
70 dard. In particular, GnuPG implements many of the optional parts of the
71 standard, such as the SHA-512 hash, and the ZLIB and BZIP2 compression
72 algorithms. It is important to be aware that not all OpenPGP programs
73 implement these optional algorithms and that by forcing their use via
74 the --cipher-algo, --digest-algo, --cert-digest-algo, or --compress-
75 algo options in GnuPG, it is possible to create a perfectly valid
76 OpenPGP message, but one that cannot be read by the intended recipient.
77 There are dozens of variations of OpenPGP programs available, and each
79 supports a slightly different subset of these optional algorithms. For
80 example, until recently, no (unhacked) version of PGP supported the
81 BLOWFISH cipher algorithm. A message using BLOWFISH simply could not be
82 read by a PGP user. By default, GnuPG uses the standard OpenPGP prefer‐
83 ences system that will always do the right thing and create messages
84 that are usable by all recipients, regardless of which OpenPGP program
85 they use. Only override this safe default if you really know what you
86 are doing.
87 If you absolutely must override the safe default, or if the preferences
89 on a given key are invalid for some reason, you are far better off
90 using the --pgp6, --pgp7, or --pgp8 options. These options are safe as
91 they do not force any particular algorithms in violation of OpenPGP,
92 but rather reduce the available algorithms to a "PGP-safe" list.
93
96 Commands are not distinguished from options except for the fact that
97 only one command is allowed. Generally speaking, irrelevant options
98 are silently ignored, and may not be checked for correctness.
99 gpg may be run with no commands. In this case it will print a warning
101 perform a reasonable action depending on the type of file it is given
102 as input (an encrypted message is decrypted, a signature is verified, a
103 file containing keys is listed, etc.).
104 If you run into any problems, please add the option --verbose to the
106 invocation to see more diagnostics.
107 Commands not specific to the function
114 --version
118 Print the program version and licensing information. Note that
119 you cannot abbreviate this command.
120 --help
123 -h Print a usage message summarizing the most useful command-line
124 options. Note that you cannot arbitrarily abbreviate this com‐
125 mand (though you can use its short form -h).
126 --warranty
129 Print warranty information.
130 --dump-options
133 Print a list of all available options and commands. Note that
134 you cannot abbreviate this command.
135 Commands to select the type of operation
137 --sign
143 -s Sign a message. This command may be combined with --encrypt (to
144 sign and encrypt a message), --symmetric (to sign and symmetri‐
145 cally encrypt a message), or both --encrypt and --symmetric (to
146 sign and encrypt a message that can be decrypted using a secret
147 key or a passphrase). The signing key is chosen by default or
148 can be set explicitly using the --local-user and --default-key
149 options.
150 --clear-sign
153 --clearsign
154 Make a cleartext signature. The content in a cleartext signa‐
155 ture is readable without any special software. OpenPGP software
156 is only needed to verify the signature. cleartext signatures
157 may modify end-of-line whitespace for platform independence and
158 are not intended to be reversible. The signing key is chosen by
159 default or can be set explicitly using the --local-user and
160 --default-key options.
161 --detach-sign
165 -b Make a detached signature.
166 --encrypt
169 -e Encrypt data to one or more public keys. This command may be
170 combined with --sign (to sign and encrypt a message), --symmet‐
171 ric (to encrypt a message that can be decrypted using a secret
172 key or a passphrase), or --sign and --symmetric together (for a
173 signed message that can be decrypted using a secret key or a
174 passphrase). --recipient and related options specify which pub‐
175 lic keys to use for encryption.
176 --symmetric
179 -c Encrypt with a symmetric cipher using a passphrase. The default
180 symmetric cipher used is AES-128, but may be chosen with the
181 --cipher-algo option. This command may be combined with --sign
182 (for a signed and symmetrically encrypted message), --encrypt
183 (for a message that may be decrypted via a secret key or a
184 passphrase), or --sign and --encrypt together (for a signed mes‐
185 sage that may be decrypted via a secret key or a passphrase).
186 gpg caches the passphrase used for symmetric encryption so that
187 a decrypt operation may not require that the user needs to enter
188 the passphrase. The option --no-symkey-cache can be used to
189 disable this feature.
190 --store
193 Store only (make a simple literal data packet).
194 --decrypt
197 -d Decrypt the file given on the command line (or STDIN if no file
198 is specified) and write it to STDOUT (or the file specified with
199 --output). If the decrypted file is signed, the signature is
200 also verified. This command differs from the default operation,
201 as it never writes to the filename which is included in the file
202 and it rejects files that don't begin with an encrypted message.
203 --verify
206 Assume that the first argument is a signed file and verify it
207 without generating any output. With no arguments, the signature
208 packet is read from STDIN. If only one argument is given, the
209 specified file is expected to include a complete signature.
210 With more than one argument, the first argument should specify a
212 file with a detached signature and the remaining files should
213 contain the signed data. To read the signed data from STDIN, use
214 '-' as the second filename. For security reasons, a detached
215 signature will not read the signed material from STDIN if not
216 explicitly specified.
217 Note: If the option --batch is not used, gpg may assume that a
219 single argument is a file with a detached signature, and it will
220 try to find a matching data file by stripping certain suffixes.
221 Using this historical feature to verify a detached signature is
222 strongly discouraged; you should always specify the data file
223 explicitly.
224 Note: When verifying a cleartext signature, gpg verifies only
226 what makes up the cleartext signed data and not any extra data
227 outside of the cleartext signature or the header lines directly
228 following the dash marker line. The option --output may be used
229 to write out the actual signed data, but there are other pit‐
230 falls with this format as well. It is suggested to avoid clear‐
231 text signatures in favor of detached signatures.
232 Note: Sometimes the use of the gpgv tool is easier than using
234 the full-fledged gpg with this option. gpgv is designed to com‐
235 pare signed data against a list of trusted keys and returns with
236 success only for a good signature. It has its own manual page.
237 --multifile
241 This modifies certain other commands to accept multiple files
242 for processing on the command line or read from STDIN with each
243 filename on a separate line. This allows for many files to be
244 processed at once. --multifile may currently be used along with
245 --verify, --encrypt, and --decrypt. Note that --multifile --ver‐
246 ify may not be used with detached signatures.
247 --verify-files
250 Identical to --multifile --verify.
251 --encrypt-files
254 Identical to --multifile --encrypt.
255 --decrypt-files
258 Identical to --multifile --decrypt.
259 --list-keys
262 -k
263 --list-public-keys
264 List the specified keys. If no keys are specified, then all
265 keys from the configured public keyrings are listed.
266 Never use the output of this command in scripts or other pro‐
268 grams. The output is intended only for humans and its format is
269 likely to change. The --with-colons option emits the output in
270 a stable, machine-parseable format, which is intended for use by
271 scripts and other programs.
272 --list-secret-keys
275 -K List the specified secret keys. If no keys are specified, then
276 all known secret keys are listed. A # after the initial tags
277 sec or ssb means that the secret key or subkey is currently not
278 usable. We also say that this key has been taken offline (for
279 example, a primary key can be taken offline by exporting the key
280 using the command --export-secret-subkeys). A > after these
281 tags indicate that the key is stored on a smartcard. See also
282 --list-keys.
283 --check-signatures
286 --check-sigs
287 Same as --list-keys, but the key signatures are verified and
288 listed too. Note that for performance reasons the revocation
289 status of a signing key is not shown. This command has the same
290 effect as using --list-keys with --with-sig-check.
291 The status of the verification is indicated by a flag directly
293 following the "sig" tag (and thus before the flags described
294 below. A "!" indicates that the signature has been successfully
295 verified, a "-" denotes a bad signature and a "%" is used if an
296 error occurred while checking the signature (e.g. a non sup‐
297 ported algorithm). Signatures where the public key is not
298 available are not listed; to see their keyids the command
299 --list-sigs can be used.
300 For each signature listed, there are several flags in between
302 the signature status flag and keyid. These flags give addi‐
303 tional information about each key signature. From left to
304 right, they are the numbers 1-3 for certificate check level (see
305 --ask-cert-level), "L" for a local or non-exportable signature
306 (see --lsign-key), "R" for a nonRevocable signature (see the
307 --edit-key command "nrsign"), "P" for a signature that contains
308 a policy URL (see --cert-policy-url), "N" for a signature that
309 contains a notation (see --cert-notation), "X" for an eXpired
310 signature (see --ask-cert-expire), and the numbers 1-9 or "T"
311 for 10 and above to indicate trust signature levels (see the
312 --edit-key command "tsign").
313 --locate-keys
317 --locate-external-keys
318 Locate the keys given as arguments. This command basically uses
319 the same algorithm as used when locating keys for encryption or
320 signing and may thus be used to see what keys gpg might use. In
321 particular external methods as defined by --auto-key-locate may
322 be used to locate a key. Only public keys are listed. The
323 variant --locate-external-keys does not consider a locally
324 existing key and can thus be used to force the refresh of a key
325 via the defined external methods.
326 --show-keys
329 This commands takes OpenPGP keys as input and prints information
330 about them in the same way the command --list-keys does for
331 locally stored key. In addition the list options show-unusable-
332 uids, show-unusable-subkeys, show-notations and show-policy-urls
333 are also enabled. As usual for automated processing, this com‐
334 mand should be combined with the option --with-colons.
335 --fingerprint
338 List all keys (or the specified ones) along with their finger‐
339 prints. This is the same output as --list-keys but with the
340 additional output of a line with the fingerprint. May also be
341 combined with --check-signatures. If this command is given
342 twice, the fingerprints of all secondary keys are listed too.
343 This command also forces pretty printing of fingerprints if the
344 keyid format has been set to "none".
345 --list-packets
348 List only the sequence of packets. This command is only useful
349 for debugging. When used with option --verbose the actual MPI
350 values are dumped and not only their lengths. Note that the
351 output of this command may change with new releases.
352 --edit-card
356 --card-edit
357 Present a menu to work with a smartcard. The subcommand "help"
358 provides an overview on available commands. For a detailed
359 description, please see the Card HOWTO at https://gnupg.org/doc‐
360 umentation/howtos.html#GnuPG-cardHOWTO .
361 --card-status
364 Show the content of the smart card.
365 --change-pin
368 Present a menu to allow changing the PIN of a smartcard. This
369 functionality is also available as the subcommand "passwd" with
370 the --edit-card command.
371 --delete-keys name
374 Remove key from the public keyring. In batch mode either --yes
375 is required or the key must be specified by fingerprint. This is
376 a safeguard against accidental deletion of multiple keys. If
377 the exclamation mark syntax is used with the fingerprint of a
378 subkey only that subkey is deleted; if the exclamation mark is
379 used with the fingerprint of the primary key the entire public
380 key is deleted.
381 --delete-secret-keys name
384 Remove key from the secret keyring. In batch mode the key must
385 be specified by fingerprint. The option --yes can be used to
386 advice gpg-agent not to request a confirmation. This extra pre-
387 caution is done because gpg can't be sure that the secret key
388 (as controlled by gpg-agent) is only used for the given OpenPGP
389 public key. If the exclamation mark syntax is used with the
390 fingerprint of a subkey only the secret part of that subkey is
391 deleted; if the exclamation mark is used with the fingerprint of
392 the primary key only the secret part of the primary key is
393 deleted.
394 --delete-secret-and-public-key name
398 Same as --delete-key, but if a secret key exists, it will be
399 removed first. In batch mode the key must be specified by fin‐
400 gerprint. The option --yes can be used to advice gpg-agent not
401 to request a confirmation.
402 --export
405 Either export all keys from all keyrings (default keyrings and
406 those registered via option --keyring), or if at least one name
407 is given, those of the given name. The exported keys are written
408 to STDOUT or to the file given with option --output. Use
409 together with --armor to mail those keys.
410 --send-keys keyIDs
413 Similar to --export but sends the keys to a keyserver. Finger‐
414 prints may be used instead of key IDs. Don't send your complete
415 keyring to a keyserver --- select only those keys which are new
416 or changed by you. If no keyIDs are given, gpg does nothing.
417 --export-secret-keys
420 --export-secret-subkeys
421 Same as --export, but exports the secret keys instead. The
422 exported keys are written to STDOUT or to the file given with
423 option --output. This command is often used along with the
424 option --armor to allow for easy printing of the key for paper
425 backup; however the external tool paperkey does a better job of
426 creating backups on paper. Note that exporting a secret key can
427 be a security risk if the exported keys are sent over an inse‐
428 cure channel.
429 The second form of the command has the special property to ren‐
431 der the secret part of the primary key useless; this is a GNU
432 extension to OpenPGP and other implementations can not be
433 expected to successfully import such a key. Its intended use is
434 in generating a full key with an additional signing subkey on a
435 dedicated machine. This command then exports the key without
436 the primary key to the main machine.
437 GnuPG may ask you to enter the passphrase for the key. This is
439 required, because the internal protection method of the secret
440 key is different from the one specified by the OpenPGP protocol.
441 --export-ssh-key
444 This command is used to export a key in the OpenSSH public key
445 format. It requires the specification of one key by the usual
446 means and exports the latest valid subkey which has an authenti‐
447 cation capability to STDOUT or to the file given with option
448 --output. That output can directly be added to ssh's ‘autho‐
449 rized_key’ file.
450 By specifying the key to export using a key ID or a fingerprint
452 suffixed with an exclamation mark (!), a specific subkey or the
453 primary key can be exported. This does not even require that
454 the key has the authentication capability flag set.
455 --import
458 --fast-import
459 Import/merge keys. This adds the given keys to the keyring. The
460 fast version is currently just a synonym.
461 There are a few other options which control how this command
463 works. Most notable here is the --import-options merge-only
464 option which does not insert new keys but does only the merging
465 of new signatures, user-IDs and subkeys.
466 --receive-keys keyIDs
469 --recv-keys keyIDs
470 Import the keys with the given keyIDs from a keyserver.
471 --refresh-keys
474 Request updates from a keyserver for keys that already exist on
475 the local keyring. This is useful for updating a key with the
476 latest signatures, user IDs, etc. Calling this with no arguments
477 will refresh the entire keyring.
478 --search-keys names
481 Search the keyserver for the given names. Multiple names given
482 here will be joined together to create the search string for the
483 keyserver. Note that keyservers search for names in a different
484 and simpler way than gpg does. The best choice is to use a mail
485 address. Due to data privacy reasons keyservers may even not
486 even allow searching by user id or mail address and thus may
487 only return results when being used with the --recv-key command
488 to search by key fingerprint or keyid.
489 --fetch-keys URIs
492 Retrieve keys located at the specified URIs. Note that different
493 installations of GnuPG may support different protocols (HTTP,
494 FTP, LDAP, etc.). When using HTTPS the system provided root
495 certificates are used by this command.
496 --update-trustdb
499 Do trust database maintenance. This command iterates over all
500 keys and builds the Web of Trust. This is an interactive command
501 because it may have to ask for the "ownertrust" values for keys.
502 The user has to give an estimation of how far she trusts the
503 owner of the displayed key to correctly certify (sign) other
504 keys. GnuPG only asks for the ownertrust value if it has not yet
505 been assigned to a key. Using the --edit-key menu, the assigned
506 value can be changed at any time.
507 --check-trustdb
510 Do trust database maintenance without user interaction. From
511 time to time the trust database must be updated so that expired
512 keys or signatures and the resulting changes in the Web of Trust
513 can be tracked. Normally, GnuPG will calculate when this is
514 required and do it automatically unless --no-auto-check-trustdb
515 is set. This command can be used to force a trust database check
516 at any time. The processing is identical to that of --update-
517 trustdb but it skips keys with a not yet defined "ownertrust".
518 For use with cron jobs, this command can be used together with
520 --batch in which case the trust database check is done only if a
521 check is needed. To force a run even in batch mode add the
522 option --yes.
523 --export-ownertrust
527 Send the ownertrust values to STDOUT. This is useful for backup
528 purposes as these values are the only ones which can't be re-
529 created from a corrupted trustdb. Example:
530 gpg --export-ownertrust > otrust.txt
531 --import-ownertrust
535 Update the trustdb with the ownertrust values stored in files
536 (or STDIN if not given); existing values will be overwritten.
537 In case of a severely damaged trustdb and if you have a recent
538 backup of the ownertrust values (e.g. in the file ‘otrust.txt’),
539 you may re-create the trustdb using these commands:
540 cd ~/.gnupg
541 rm trustdb.gpg
542 gpg --import-ownertrust < otrust.txt
543 --rebuild-keydb-caches
547 When updating from version 1.0.6 to 1.0.7 this command should be
548 used to create signature caches in the keyring. It might be
549 handy in other situations too.
550 --print-md algo
553 --print-mds
554 Print message digest of algorithm algo for all given files or
555 STDIN. With the second form (or a deprecated "*" for algo)
556 digests for all available algorithms are printed.
557 --gen-random 0|1|2 count
560 Emit count random bytes of the given quality level 0, 1 or 2. If
561 count is not given or zero, an endless sequence of random bytes
562 will be emitted. If used with --armor the output will be base64
563 encoded. PLEASE, don't use this command unless you know what
564 you are doing; it may remove precious entropy from the system!
565 --gen-prime mode bits
568 Use the source, Luke :-). The output format is subject to change
569 with ant release.
570 --enarmor
574 --dearmor
575 Pack or unpack an arbitrary input into/from an OpenPGP ASCII
576 armor. This is a GnuPG extension to OpenPGP and in general not
577 very useful.
578 --tofu-policy {auto|good|unknown|bad|ask} keys
581 Set the TOFU policy for all the bindings associated with the
582 specified keys. For more information about the meaning of the
583 policies, see: [trust-model-tofu]. The keys may be specified
584 either by their fingerprint (preferred) or their keyid.
585 How to manage your keys
589 This section explains the main commands for key management.
592 --quick-generate-key user-id [algo [usage [expire]]]
596 --quick-gen-key
597 This is a simple command to generate a standard key with one
598 user id. In contrast to --generate-key the key is generated
599 directly without the need to answer a bunch of prompts. Unless
600 the option --yes is given, the key creation will be canceled if
601 the given user id already exists in the keyring.
602 If invoked directly on the console without any special options
604 an answer to a ``Continue?'' style confirmation prompt is
605 required. In case the user id already exists in the keyring a
606 second prompt to force the creation of the key will show up.
607 If algo or usage are given, only the primary key is created and
609 no prompts are shown. To specify an expiration date but still
610 create a primary and subkey use ``default'' or ``future-
611 default'' for algo and ``default'' for usage. For a description
612 of these optional arguments see the command --quick-add-key.
613 The usage accepts also the value ``cert'' which can be used to
614 create a certification only primary key; the default is to a
615 create certification and signing key.
616 The expire argument can be used to specify an expiration date
618 for the key. Several formats are supported; commonly the ISO
619 formats ``YYYY-MM-DD'' or ``YYYYMMDDThhmmss'' are used. To make
620 the key expire in N seconds, N days, N weeks, N months, or N
621 years use ``seconds=N'', ``Nd'', ``Nw'', ``Nm'', or ``Ny''
622 respectively. Not specifying a value, or using ``-'' results in
623 a key expiring in a reasonable default interval. The values
624 ``never'', ``none'' can be used for no expiration date.
625 If this command is used with --batch, --pinentry-mode has been
627 set to loopback, and one of the passphrase options
628 (--passphrase, --passphrase-fd, or passphrase-file) is used, the
629 supplied passphrase is used for the new key and the agent does
630 not ask for it. To create a key without any protection
631 --passphrase '' may be used.
632 To create an OpenPGP key from the keys available on the cur‐
634 rently inserted smartcard, the special string ``card'' can be
635 used for algo. If the card features an encryption and a signing
636 key, gpg will figure them out and creates an OpenPGP key con‐
637 sisting of the usual primary key and one subkey. This works
638 only with certain smartcards. Note that the interactive --full-
639 gen-key command allows to do the same but with greater flexibil‐
640 ity in the selection of the smartcard keys.
641 Note that it is possible to create a primary key and a subkey
643 using non-default algorithms by using ``default'' and changing
644 the default parameters using the option --default-new-key-algo.
645 --quick-set-expire fpr expire [*|subfprs]
648 With two arguments given, directly set the expiration time of
649 the primary key identified by fpr to expire. To remove the
650 expiration time 0 can be used. With three arguments and the
651 third given as an asterisk, the expiration time of all non-
652 revoked and not yet expired subkeys are set to expire. With
653 more than two arguments and a list of fingerprints given for
654 subfprs, all non-revoked subkeys matching these fingerprints are
655 set to expire.
656 --quick-add-key fpr [algo [usage [expire]]]
660 Directly add a subkey to the key identified by the fingerprint
661 fpr. Without the optional arguments an encryption subkey is
662 added. If any of the arguments are given a more specific subkey
663 is added.
664 algo may be any of the supported algorithms or curve names given
666 in the format as used by key listings. To use the default algo‐
667 rithm the string ``default'' or ``-'' can be used. Supported
668 algorithms are ``rsa'', ``dsa'', ``elg'', ``ed25519'',
669 ``cv25519'', and other ECC curves. For example the string
670 ``rsa'' adds an RSA key with the default key length; a string
671 ``rsa4096'' requests that the key length is 4096 bits. The
672 string ``future-default'' is an alias for the algorithm which
673 will likely be used as default algorithm in future versions of
674 gpg. To list the supported ECC curves the command gpg --with-
675 colons --list-config curve can be used.
676 Depending on the given algo the subkey may either be an encryp‐
678 tion subkey or a signing subkey. If an algorithm is capable of
679 signing and encryption and such a subkey is desired, a usage
680 string must be given. This string is either ``default'' or
681 ``-'' to keep the default or a comma delimited list (or space
682 delimited list) of keywords: ``sign'' for a signing subkey,
683 ``auth'' for an authentication subkey, and ``encr'' for an
684 encryption subkey (``encrypt'' can be used as alias for
685 ``encr''). The valid combinations depend on the algorithm.
686 The expire argument can be used to specify an expiration date
688 for the key. Several formats are supported; commonly the ISO
689 formats ``YYYY-MM-DD'' or ``YYYYMMDDThhmmss'' are used. To make
690 the key expire in N seconds, N days, N weeks, N months, or N
691 years use ``seconds=N'', ``Nd'', ``Nw'', ``Nm'', or ``Ny''
692 respectively. Not specifying a value, or using ``-'' results in
693 a key expiring in a reasonable default interval. The values
694 ``never'', ``none'' can be used for no expiration date.
695 --generate-key
698 --gen-key
699 Generate a new key pair using the current default parameters.
700 This is the standard command to create a new key. In addition
701 to the key a revocation certificate is created and stored in the
702 ‘openpgp-revocs.d’ directory below the GnuPG home directory.
703 --full-generate-key
706 --full-gen-key
707 Generate a new key pair with dialogs for all options. This is
708 an extended version of --generate-key.
709 There is also a feature which allows you to create keys in batch
711 mode. See the manual section ``Unattended key generation'' on
712 how to use this.
713 --generate-revocation name
717 --gen-revoke name
718 Generate a revocation certificate for the complete key. To only
719 revoke a subkey or a key signature, use the --edit command.
720 This command merely creates the revocation certificate so that
722 it can be used to revoke the key if that is ever needed. To
723 actually revoke a key the created revocation certificate needs
724 to be merged with the key to revoke. This is done by importing
725 the revocation certificate using the --import command. Then the
726 revoked key needs to be published, which is best done by sending
727 the key to a keyserver (command --send-key) and by exporting
728 (--export) it to a file which is then send to frequent communi‐
729 cation partners.
730 --generate-designated-revocation name
734 --desig-revoke name
735 Generate a designated revocation certificate for a key. This
736 allows a user (with the permission of the keyholder) to revoke
737 someone else's key.
738 --edit-key
742 Present a menu which enables you to do most of the key manage‐
743 ment related tasks. It expects the specification of a key on
744 the command line.
745 uid n Toggle selection of user ID or photographic user ID with
749 index n. Use * to select all and 0 to deselect all.
750 key n Toggle selection of subkey with index n or key ID n. Use
753 * to select all and 0 to deselect all.
754 sign Make a signature on key of user name. If the key is not
757 yet signed by the default user (or the users given with
758 -u), the program displays the information of the key
759 again, together with its fingerprint and asks whether it
760 should be signed. This question is repeated for all users
761 specified with -u.
762 lsign Same as "sign" but the signature is marked as non-
765 exportable and will therefore never be used by others.
766 This may be used to make keys valid only in the local
767 environment.
768 nrsign Same as "sign" but the signature is marked as non-revoca‐
771 ble and can therefore never be revoked.
772 tsign Make a trust signature. This is a signature that combines
775 the notions of certification (like a regular signature),
776 and trust (like the "trust" command). It is generally
777 only useful in distinct communities or groups. For more
778 information please read the sections ``Trust Signature''
779 and ``Regular Expression'' in RFC-4880.
780 Note that "l" (for local / non-exportable), "nr" (for non-revo‐
782 cable, and "t" (for trust) may be freely mixed and prefixed to
783 "sign" to create a signature of any type desired.
784 If the option --only-sign-text-ids is specified, then any non-text
786 based user ids (e.g., photo IDs) will not be selected for signing.
787 delsig Delete a signature. Note that it is not possible to
791 retract a signature, once it has been send to the public
792 (i.e. to a keyserver). In that case you better use
793 revsig.
794 revsig Revoke a signature. For every signature which has been
797 generated by one of the secret keys, GnuPG asks whether a
798 revocation certificate should be generated.
799 check Check the signatures on all selected user IDs. With the
802 extra option selfsig only self-signatures are shown.
803 adduid Create an additional user ID.
806 addphoto
809 Create a photographic user ID. This will prompt for a
810 JPEG file that will be embedded into the user ID. Note
811 that a very large JPEG will make for a very large key.
812 Also note that some programs will display your JPEG
813 unchanged (GnuPG), and some programs will scale it to fit
814 in a dialog box (PGP).
815 showphoto
818 Display the selected photographic user ID.
819 deluid Delete a user ID or photographic user ID. Note that it
822 is not possible to retract a user id, once it has been
823 send to the public (i.e. to a keyserver). In that case
824 you better use revuid.
825 revuid Revoke a user ID or photographic user ID.
828 primary
831 Flag the current user id as the primary one, removes the
832 primary user id flag from all other user ids and sets the
833 timestamp of all affected self-signatures one second
834 ahead. Note that setting a photo user ID as primary makes
835 it primary over other photo user IDs, and setting a regu‐
836 lar user ID as primary makes it primary over other regu‐
837 lar user IDs.
838 keyserver
841 Set a preferred keyserver for the specified user ID(s).
842 This allows other users to know where you prefer they get
843 your key from. See --keyserver-options honor-keyserver-
844 url for more on how this works. Setting a value of
845 "none" removes an existing preferred keyserver.
846 notation
849 Set a name=value notation for the specified user ID(s).
850 See --cert-notation for more on how this works. Setting a
851 value of "none" removes all notations, setting a notation
852 prefixed with a minus sign (-) removes that notation, and
853 setting a notation name (without the =value) prefixed
854 with a minus sign removes all notations with that name.
855 pref List preferences from the selected user ID. This shows
858 the actual preferences, without including any implied
859 preferences.
860 showpref
863 More verbose preferences listing for the selected user
864 ID. This shows the preferences in effect by including the
865 implied preferences of 3DES (cipher), SHA-1 (digest), and
866 Uncompressed (compression) if they are not already
867 included in the preference list. In addition, the pre‐
868 ferred keyserver and signature notations (if any) are
869 shown.
870 setpref string
873 Set the list of user ID preferences to string for all (or
874 just the selected) user IDs. Calling setpref with no
875 arguments sets the preference list to the default (either
876 built-in or set via --default-preference-list), and call‐
877 ing setpref with "none" as the argument sets an empty
878 preference list. Use gpg --version to get a list of
879 available algorithms. Note that while you can change the
880 preferences on an attribute user ID (aka "photo ID"),
881 GnuPG does not select keys via attribute user IDs so
882 these preferences will not be used by GnuPG.
883 When setting preferences, you should list the algorithms
885 in the order which you'd like to see them used by someone
886 else when encrypting a message to your key. If you don't
887 include 3DES, it will be automatically added at the end.
888 Note that there are many factors that go into choosing an
889 algorithm (for example, your key may not be the only
890 recipient), and so the remote OpenPGP application being
891 used to send to you may or may not follow your exact cho‐
892 sen order for a given message. It will, however, only
893 choose an algorithm that is present on the preference
894 list of every recipient key. See also the INTEROPERABIL‐
895 ITY WITH OTHER OPENPGP PROGRAMS section below.
896 addkey Add a subkey to this key.
899 addcardkey
902 Generate a subkey on a card and add it to this key.
903 keytocard
906 Transfer the selected secret subkey (or the primary key
907 if no subkey has been selected) to a smartcard. The
908 secret key in the keyring will be replaced by a stub if
909 the key could be stored successfully on the card and you
910 use the save command later. Only certain key types may be
911 transferred to the card. A sub menu allows you to select
912 on what card to store the key. Note that it is not possi‐
913 ble to get that key back from the card - if the card gets
914 broken your secret key will be lost unless you have a
915 backup somewhere.
916 bkuptocard file
919 Restore the given file to a card. This command may be
920 used to restore a backup key (as generated during card
921 initialization) to a new card. In almost all cases this
922 will be the encryption key. You should use this command
923 only with the corresponding public key and make sure that
924 the file given as argument is indeed the backup to
925 restore. You should then select 2 to restore as encryp‐
926 tion key. You will first be asked to enter the
927 passphrase of the backup key and then for the Admin PIN
928 of the card.
929 delkey Remove a subkey (secondary key). Note that it is not pos‐
932 sible to retract a subkey, once it has been send to the
933 public (i.e. to a keyserver). In that case you better
934 use revkey. Also note that this only deletes the public
935 part of a key.
936 revkey Revoke a subkey.
939 expire Change the key or subkey expiration time. If a subkey is
942 selected, the expiration time of this subkey will be
943 changed. With no selection, the key expiration of the
944 primary key is changed.
945 trust Change the owner trust value for the key. This updates
948 the trust-db immediately and no save is required.
949 disable
952 enable Disable or enable an entire key. A disabled key can not
953 normally be used for encryption.
954 addrevoker
957 Add a designated revoker to the key. This takes one
958 optional argument: "sensitive". If a designated revoker
959 is marked as sensitive, it will not be exported by
960 default (see export-options).
961 passwd Change the passphrase of the secret key.
964 toggle This is dummy command which exists only for backward com‐
967 patibility.
968 clean Compact (by removing all signatures except the selfsig)
971 any user ID that is no longer usable (e.g. revoked, or
972 expired). Then, remove any signatures that are not usable
973 by the trust calculations. Specifically, this removes
974 any signature that does not validate, any signature that
975 is superseded by a later signature, revoked signatures,
976 and signatures issued by keys that are not present on the
977 keyring.
978 minimize
981 Make the key as small as possible. This removes all sig‐
982 natures from each user ID except for the most recent
983 self-signature.
984 change-usage
987 Change the usage flags (capabilities) of the primary key
988 or of subkeys. These usage flags (e.g. Certify, Sign,
989 Authenticate, Encrypt) are set during key creation.
990 Sometimes it is useful to have the opportunity to change
991 them (for example to add Authenticate) after they have
992 been created. Please take care when doing this; the
993 allowed usage flags depend on the key algorithm.
994 cross-certify
997 Add cross-certification signatures to signing subkeys
998 that may not currently have them. Cross-certification
999 signatures protect against a subtle attack against sign‐
1000 ing subkeys. See --require-cross-certification. All new
1001 keys generated have this signature by default, so this
1002 command is only useful to bring older keys up to date.
1003 save Save all changes to the keyrings and quit.
1006 quit Quit the program without updating the keyrings.
1009 The listing shows you the key with its secondary keys and all
1011 user IDs. The primary user ID is indicated by a dot, and
1012 selected keys or user IDs are indicated by an asterisk. The
1013 trust value is displayed with the primary key: "trust" is the
1014 assigned owner trust and "validity" is the calculated validity
1015 of the key. Validity values are also displayed for all user
1016 IDs. For possible values of trust, see: [trust-values].
1017 --sign-key name
1020 Signs a public key with your secret key. This is a shortcut ver‐
1021 sion of the subcommand "sign" from --edit.
1022 --lsign-key name
1025 Signs a public key with your secret key but marks it as non-
1026 exportable. This is a shortcut version of the subcommand "lsign"
1027 from --edit-key.
1028 --quick-sign-key fpr [names]
1031 --quick-lsign-key fpr [names]
1032 Directly sign a key from the passphrase without any further user
1033 interaction. The fpr must be the verified primary fingerprint
1034 of a key in the local keyring. If no names are given, all useful
1035 user ids are signed; with given [names] only useful user ids
1036 matching one of theses names are signed. By default, or if a
1037 name is prefixed with a '*', a case insensitive substring match
1038 is used. If a name is prefixed with a '=' a case sensitive
1039 exact match is done.
1040 The command --quick-lsign-key marks the signatures as non-
1042 exportable. If such a non-exportable signature already exists
1043 the --quick-sign-key turns it into a exportable signature.
1044 This command uses reasonable defaults and thus does not provide
1046 the full flexibility of the "sign" subcommand from --edit-key.
1047 Its intended use is to help unattended key signing by utilizing
1048 a list of verified fingerprints.
1049 --quick-add-uid user-id new-user-id
1052 This command adds a new user id to an existing key. In contrast
1053 to the interactive sub-command adduid of --edit-key the new-
1054 user-id is added verbatim with only leading and trailing white
1055 space removed, it is expected to be UTF-8 encoded, and no checks
1056 on its form are applied.
1057 --quick-revoke-uid user-id user-id-to-revoke
1060 This command revokes a user ID on an existing key. It cannot be
1061 used to revoke the last user ID on key (some non-revoked user ID
1062 must remain), with revocation reason ``User ID is no longer
1063 valid''. If you want to specify a different revocation reason,
1064 or to supply supplementary revocation text, you should use the
1065 interactive sub-command revuid of --edit-key.
1066 --quick-set-primary-uid user-id primary-user-id
1069 This command sets or updates the primary user ID flag on an
1070 existing key. user-id specifies the key and primary-user-id the
1071 user ID which shall be flagged as the primary user ID. The pri‐
1072 mary user ID flag is removed from all other user ids and the
1073 timestamp of all affected self-signatures is set one second
1074 ahead.
1075 --change-passphrase user-id
1079 --passwd user-id
1080 Change the passphrase of the secret key belonging to the cer‐
1081 tificate specified as user-id. This is a shortcut for the sub-
1082 command passwd of the edit key menu. When using together with
1083 the option --dry-run this will not actually change the
1084 passphrase but check that the current passphrase is correct.
1085
1088 gpg features a bunch of options to control the exact behaviour and to
1089 change the default configuration.
1090 Long options can be put in an options file (default
1093 "~/.gnupg/gpg.conf"). Short option names will not work - for example,
1094 "armor" is a valid option for the options file, while "a" is not. Do
1095 not write the 2 dashes, but simply the name of the option and any
1096 required arguments. Lines with a hash ('#') as the first non-white-
1097 space character are ignored. Commands may be put in this file too, but
1098 that is not generally useful as the command will execute automatically
1099 with every execution of gpg.
1100 Please remember that option parsing stops as soon as a non-option is
1102 encountered, you can explicitly stop parsing by using the special
1103 option --.
1104 How to change the configuration
1108 These options are used to change the configuration and are usually
1111 found in the option file.
1112 --default-key name
1116 Use name as the default key to sign with. If this option is not
1117 used, the default key is the first key found in the secret
1118 keyring. Note that -u or --local-user overrides this option.
1119 This option may be given multiple times. In this case, the last
1120 key for which a secret key is available is used. If there is no
1121 secret key available for any of the specified values, GnuPG will
1122 not emit an error message but continue as if this option wasn't
1123 given.
1124 --default-recipient name
1127 Use name as default recipient if option --recipient is not used
1128 and don't ask if this is a valid one. name must be non-empty.
1129 --default-recipient-self
1132 Use the default key as default recipient if option --recipient
1133 is not used and don't ask if this is a valid one. The default
1134 key is the first one from the secret keyring or the one set with
1135 --default-key.
1136 --no-default-recipient
1139 Reset --default-recipient and --default-recipient-self.
1140 -v, --verbose
1143 Give more information during processing. If used twice, the
1144 input data is listed in detail.
1145 --no-verbose
1148 Reset verbose level to 0.
1149 -q, --quiet
1152 Try to be as quiet as possible.
1153 --batch
1156 --no-batch
1157 Use batch mode. Never ask, do not allow interactive commands.
1158 --no-batch disables this option. Note that even with a filename
1159 given on the command line, gpg might still need to read from
1160 STDIN (in particular if gpg figures that the input is a detached
1161 signature and no data file has been specified). Thus if you do
1162 not want to feed data via STDIN, you should connect STDIN to
1163 g‘/dev/null’.
1164 It is highly recommended to use this option along with the
1166 options --status-fd and --with-colons for any unattended use of
1167 gpg.
1168 --no-tty
1171 Make sure that the TTY (terminal) is never used for any output.
1172 This option is needed in some cases because GnuPG sometimes
1173 prints warnings to the TTY even if --batch is used.
1174 --yes Assume "yes" on most questions.
1177 --no Assume "no" on most questions.
1180 --list-options parameters
1184 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options
1185 used when listing keys and signatures (that is, --list-keys,
1186 --check-signatures, --list-public-keys, --list-secret-keys, and
1187 the --edit-key functions). Options can be prepended with a no-
1188 (after the two dashes) to give the opposite meaning. The
1189 options are:
1190 show-photos
1194 Causes --list-keys, --check-signatures, --list-public-
1195 keys, and --list-secret-keys to display any photo IDs
1196 attached to the key. Defaults to no. See also --photo-
1197 viewer. Does not work with --with-colons: see
1198 --attribute-fd for the appropriate way to get photo data
1199 for scripts and other frontends.
1200 show-usage
1203 Show usage information for keys and subkeys in the stan‐
1204 dard key listing. This is a list of letters indicating
1205 the allowed usage for a key (E=encryption, S=signing,
1206 C=certification, A=authentication). Defaults to yes.
1207 show-policy-urls
1210 Show policy URLs in the --check-signatures listings.
1211 Defaults to no.
1212 show-notations
1215 show-std-notations
1216 show-user-notations
1217 Show all, IETF standard, or user-defined signature nota‐
1218 tions in the --check-signatures listings. Defaults to no.
1219 show-keyserver-urls
1222 Show any preferred keyserver URL in the --check-signa‐
1223 tures listings. Defaults to no.
1224 show-uid-validity
1227 Display the calculated validity of user IDs during key
1228 listings. Defaults to yes.
1229 show-unusable-uids
1232 Show revoked and expired user IDs in key listings.
1233 Defaults to no.
1234 show-unusable-subkeys
1237 Show revoked and expired subkeys in key listings.
1238 Defaults to no.
1239 show-keyring
1242 Display the keyring name at the head of key listings to
1243 show which keyring a given key resides on. Defaults to
1244 no.
1245 show-sig-expire
1248 Show signature expiration dates (if any) during --check-
1249 signatures listings. Defaults to no.
1250 show-sig-subpackets
1253 Include signature subpackets in the key listing. This
1254 option can take an optional argument list of the subpack‐
1255 ets to list. If no argument is passed, list all subpack‐
1256 ets. Defaults to no. This option is only meaningful when
1257 using --with-colons along with --check-signatures.
1258 show-only-fpr-mbox
1261 For each user-id which has a valid mail address print
1262 only the fingerprint followed by the mail address.
1263 --verify-options parameters
1266 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options
1267 used when verifying signatures. Options can be prepended with a
1268 `no-' to give the opposite meaning. The options are:
1269 show-photos
1273 Display any photo IDs present on the key that issued the
1274 signature. Defaults to no. See also --photo-viewer.
1275 show-policy-urls
1278 Show policy URLs in the signature being verified.
1279 Defaults to yes.
1280 show-notations
1283 show-std-notations
1284 show-user-notations
1285 Show all, IETF standard, or user-defined signature nota‐
1286 tions in the signature being verified. Defaults to IETF
1287 standard.
1288 show-keyserver-urls
1291 Show any preferred keyserver URL in the signature being
1292 verified. Defaults to yes.
1293 show-uid-validity
1296 Display the calculated validity of the user IDs on the
1297 key that issued the signature. Defaults to yes.
1298 show-unusable-uids
1301 Show revoked and expired user IDs during signature veri‐
1302 fication. Defaults to no.
1303 show-primary-uid-only
1306 Show only the primary user ID during signature verifica‐
1307 tion. That is all the AKA lines as well as photo Ids are
1308 not shown with the signature verification status.
1309 pka-lookups
1312 Enable PKA lookups to verify sender addresses. Note that
1313 PKA is based on DNS, and so enabling this option may dis‐
1314 close information on when and what signatures are veri‐
1315 fied or to whom data is encrypted. This is similar to the
1316 "web bug" described for the --auto-key-retrieve option.
1317 pka-trust-increase
1320 Raise the trust in a signature to full if the signature
1321 passes PKA validation. This option is only meaningful if
1322 pka-lookups is set.
1323 --enable-large-rsa
1326 --disable-large-rsa
1327 With --generate-key and --batch, enable the creation of RSA
1328 secret keys as large as 8192 bit. Note: 8192 bit is more than
1329 is generally recommended. These large keys don't significantly
1330 improve security, but they are more expensive to use, and their
1331 signatures and certifications are larger. This option is only
1332 available if the binary was build with large-secmem support.
1333 --enable-dsa2
1336 --disable-dsa2
1337 Enable hash truncation for all DSA keys even for old DSA Keys up
1338 to 1024 bit. This is also the default with --openpgp. Note
1339 that older versions of GnuPG also required this flag to allow
1340 the generation of DSA larger than 1024 bit.
1341 --photo-viewer string
1344 This is the command line that should be run to view a photo ID.
1345 "%i" will be expanded to a filename containing the photo. "%I"
1346 does the same, except the file will not be deleted once the
1347 viewer exits. Other flags are "%k" for the key ID, "%K" for the
1348 long key ID, "%f" for the key fingerprint, "%t" for the exten‐
1349 sion of the image type (e.g. "jpg"), "%T" for the MIME type of
1350 the image (e.g. "image/jpeg"), "%v" for the single-character
1351 calculated validity of the image being viewed (e.g. "f"), "%V"
1352 for the calculated validity as a string (e.g. "full"), "%U" for
1353 a base32 encoded hash of the user ID, and "%%" for an actual
1354 percent sign. If neither %i or %I are present, then the photo
1355 will be supplied to the viewer on standard input.
1356 On Unix the default viewer is xloadimage -fork -quiet -title
1358 'KeyID 0x%k' STDIN with a fallback to display -title 'KeyID
1359 0x%k' %i and finally to xdg-open %i. On Windows !ShellExecute
1360 400 %i is used; here the command is a meta command to use that
1361 API call followed by a wait time in milliseconds which is used
1362 to give the viewer time to read the temporary image file before
1363 gpg deletes it again. Note that if your image viewer program is
1364 not secure, then executing it from gpg does not make it secure.
1365 --exec-path string
1368 Sets a list of directories to search for photo viewers If not
1369 provided photo viewers use the PATH environment variable.
1370 --keyring file
1373 Add file to the current list of keyrings. If file begins with a
1374 tilde and a slash, these are replaced by the $HOME directory. If
1375 the filename does not contain a slash, it is assumed to be in
1376 the GnuPG home directory ("~/.gnupg" if --homedir or $GNUPGHOME
1377 is not used).
1378 Note that this adds a keyring to the current list. If the intent
1380 is to use the specified keyring alone, use --keyring along with
1381 --no-default-keyring.
1382 If the option --no-keyring has been used no keyrings will be
1384 used at all.
1385 --secret-keyring file
1389 This is an obsolete option and ignored. All secret keys are
1390 stored in the ‘private-keys-v1.d’ directory below the GnuPG home
1391 directory.
1392 --primary-keyring file
1395 Designate file as the primary public keyring. This means that
1396 newly imported keys (via --import or keyserver --recv-from) will
1397 go to this keyring.
1398 --trustdb-name file
1401 Use file instead of the default trustdb. If file begins with a
1402 tilde and a slash, these are replaced by the $HOME directory. If
1403 the filename does not contain a slash, it is assumed to be in
1404 the GnuPG home directory (‘~/.gnupg’ if --homedir or $GNUPGHOME
1405 is not used).
1406 --homedir dir
1409 Set the name of the home directory to dir. If this option is not
1410 used, the home directory defaults to ‘~/.gnupg’. It is only
1411 recognized when given on the command line. It also overrides
1412 any home directory stated through the environment variable
1413 ‘GNUPGHOME’ or (on Windows systems) by means of the Registry
1414 entry HKCU\Software\GNU\GnuPG:HomeDir.
1415 On Windows systems it is possible to install GnuPG as a portable
1417 application. In this case only this command line option is con‐
1418 sidered, all other ways to set a home directory are ignored.
1419 To install GnuPG as a portable application under Windows, create
1421 an empty file named ‘gpgconf.ctl’ in the same directory as the
1422 tool ‘gpgconf.exe’. The root of the installation is then that
1423 directory; or, if ‘gpgconf.exe’ has been installed directly
1424 below a directory named ‘bin’, its parent directory. You also
1425 need to make sure that the following directories exist and are
1426 writable: ‘ROOT/home’ for the GnuPG home and
1427 ‘ROOT/var/cache/gnupg’ for internal cache files.
1428 --display-charset name
1432 Set the name of the native character set. This is used to con‐
1433 vert some informational strings like user IDs to the proper
1434 UTF-8 encoding. Note that this has nothing to do with the char‐
1435 acter set of data to be encrypted or signed; GnuPG does not
1436 recode user-supplied data. If this option is not used, the
1437 default character set is determined from the current locale. A
1438 verbosity level of 3 shows the chosen set. Valid values for
1439 name are:
1440 iso-8859-1
1444 This is the Latin 1 set.
1445 iso-8859-2
1448 The Latin 2 set.
1449 iso-8859-15
1452 This is currently an alias for the Latin 1 set.
1453 koi8-r The usual Russian set (RFC-1489).
1456 utf-8 Bypass all translations and assume that the OS uses
1459 native UTF-8 encoding.
1460 --utf8-strings
1463 --no-utf8-strings
1464 Assume that command line arguments are given as UTF-8 strings.
1465 The default (--no-utf8-strings) is to assume that arguments are
1466 encoded in the character set as specified by --display-charset.
1467 These options affect all following arguments. Both options may
1468 be used multiple times.
1469 --options file
1473 Read options from file and do not try to read them from the
1474 default options file in the homedir (see --homedir). This option
1475 is ignored if used in an options file.
1476 --no-options
1479 Shortcut for --options /dev/null. This option is detected before
1480 an attempt to open an option file. Using this option will also
1481 prevent the creation of a ‘~/.gnupg’ homedir.
1482 -z n
1485 --compress-level n
1486 --bzip2-compress-level n
1487 Set compression level to n for the ZIP and ZLIB compression
1488 algorithms. The default is to use the default compression level
1489 of zlib (normally 6). --bzip2-compress-level sets the compres‐
1490 sion level for the BZIP2 compression algorithm (defaulting to 6
1491 as well). This is a different option from --compress-level since
1492 BZIP2 uses a significant amount of memory for each additional
1493 compression level. -z sets both. A value of 0 for n disables
1494 compression.
1495 --bzip2-decompress-lowmem
1498 Use a different decompression method for BZIP2 compressed files.
1499 This alternate method uses a bit more than half the memory, but
1500 also runs at half the speed. This is useful under extreme low
1501 memory circumstances when the file was originally compressed at
1502 a high --bzip2-compress-level.
1503 --mangle-dos-filenames
1507 --no-mangle-dos-filenames
1508 Older version of Windows cannot handle filenames with more than
1509 one dot. --mangle-dos-filenames causes GnuPG to replace (rather
1510 than add to) the extension of an output filename to avoid this
1511 problem. This option is off by default and has no effect on non-
1512 Windows platforms.
1513 --ask-cert-level
1516 --no-ask-cert-level
1517 When making a key signature, prompt for a certification level.
1518 If this option is not specified, the certification level used is
1519 set via --default-cert-level. See --default-cert-level for
1520 information on the specific levels and how they are used. --no-
1521 ask-cert-level disables this option. This option defaults to no.
1522 --default-cert-level n
1525 The default to use for the check level when signing a key.
1526 0 means you make no particular claim as to how carefully you
1528 verified the key.
1529 1 means you believe the key is owned by the person who claims to
1531 own it but you could not, or did not verify the key at all. This
1532 is useful for a "persona" verification, where you sign the key
1533 of a pseudonymous user.
1534 2 means you did casual verification of the key. For example,
1536 this could mean that you verified the key fingerprint and
1537 checked the user ID on the key against a photo ID.
1538 3 means you did extensive verification of the key. For example,
1540 this could mean that you verified the key fingerprint with the
1541 owner of the key in person, and that you checked, by means of a
1542 hard to forge document with a photo ID (such as a passport) that
1543 the name of the key owner matches the name in the user ID on the
1544 key, and finally that you verified (by exchange of email) that
1545 the email address on the key belongs to the key owner.
1546 Note that the examples given above for levels 2 and 3 are just
1548 that: examples. In the end, it is up to you to decide just what
1549 "casual" and "extensive" mean to you.
1550 This option defaults to 0 (no particular claim).
1552 --min-cert-level
1555 When building the trust database, treat any signatures with a
1556 certification level below this as invalid. Defaults to 2, which
1557 disregards level 1 signatures. Note that level 0 "no particular
1558 claim" signatures are always accepted.
1559 --trusted-key long key ID
1562 Assume that the specified key (which must be given as a full 8
1563 byte key ID) is as trustworthy as one of your own secret keys.
1564 This option is useful if you don't want to keep your secret keys
1565 (or one of them) online but still want to be able to check the
1566 validity of a given recipient's or signator's key.
1567 --trust-model {pgp|classic|tofu|tofu+pgp|direct|always|auto}
1570 Set what trust model GnuPG should follow. The models are:
1571 pgp This is the Web of Trust combined with trust signatures
1575 as used in PGP 5.x and later. This is the default trust
1576 model when creating a new trust database.
1577 classic
1580 This is the standard Web of Trust as introduced by PGP 2.
1581 tofu
1584 TOFU stands for Trust On First Use. In this trust model,
1586 the first time a key is seen, it is memorized. If later
1587 another key with a user id with the same email address is
1588 seen, both keys are marked as suspect. In that case, the
1589 next time either is used, a warning is displayed describ‐
1590 ing the conflict, why it might have occurred (either the
1591 user generated a new key and failed to cross sign the old
1592 and new keys, the key is forgery, or a man-in-the-middle
1593 attack is being attempted), and the user is prompted to
1594 manually confirm the validity of the key in question.
1595 Because a potential attacker is able to control the email
1597 address and thereby circumvent the conflict detection
1598 algorithm by using an email address that is similar in
1599 appearance to a trusted email address, whenever a message
1600 is verified, statistics about the number of messages
1601 signed with the key are shown. In this way, a user can
1602 easily identify attacks using fake keys for regular cor‐
1603 respondents.
1604 When compared with the Web of Trust, TOFU offers signifi‐
1606 cantly weaker security guarantees. In particular, TOFU
1607 only helps ensure consistency (that is, that the binding
1608 between a key and email address doesn't change). A major
1609 advantage of TOFU is that it requires little maintenance
1610 to use correctly. To use the web of trust properly, you
1611 need to actively sign keys and mark users as trusted
1612 introducers. This is a time-consuming process and anec‐
1613 dotal evidence suggests that even security-conscious
1614 users rarely take the time to do this thoroughly and
1615 instead rely on an ad-hoc TOFU process.
1616 In the TOFU model, policies are associated with bindings
1618 between keys and email addresses (which are extracted
1619 from user ids and normalized). There are five policies,
1620 which can be set manually using the --tofu-policy option.
1621 The default policy can be set using the --tofu-default-
1622 policy option.
1623 The TOFU policies are: auto, good, unknown, bad and ask.
1625 The auto policy is used by default (unless overridden by
1626 --tofu-default-policy) and marks a binding as marginally
1627 trusted. The good, unknown and bad policies mark a bind‐
1628 ing as fully trusted, as having unknown trust or as hav‐
1629 ing trust never, respectively. The unknown policy is
1630 useful for just using TOFU to detect conflicts, but to
1631 never assign positive trust to a binding. The final pol‐
1632 icy, ask prompts the user to indicate the binding's
1633 trust. If batch mode is enabled (or input is inappropri‐
1634 ate in the context), then the user is not prompted and
1635 the undefined trust level is returned.
1636 tofu+pgp
1639 This trust model combines TOFU with the Web of Trust.
1640 This is done by computing the trust level for each model
1641 and then taking the maximum trust level where the trust
1642 levels are ordered as follows: unknown < undefined < mar‐
1643 ginal < fully < ultimate < expired < never.
1644 By setting --tofu-default-policy=unknown, this model can
1646 be used to implement the web of trust with TOFU's con‐
1647 flict detection algorithm, but without its assignment of
1648 positive trust values, which some security-conscious
1649 users don't like.
1650 direct Key validity is set directly by the user and not calcu‐
1653 lated via the Web of Trust. This model is solely based
1654 on the key and does not distinguish user IDs. Note that
1655 when changing to another trust model the trust values
1656 assigned to a key are transformed into ownertrust values,
1657 which also indicate how you trust the owner of the key to
1658 sign other keys.
1659 always Skip key validation and assume that used keys are always
1662 fully valid. You generally won't use this unless you are
1663 using some external validation scheme. This option also
1664 suppresses the "[uncertain]" tag printed with signature
1665 checks when there is no evidence that the user ID is
1666 bound to the key. Note that this trust model still does
1667 not allow the use of expired, revoked, or disabled keys.
1668 auto Select the trust model depending on whatever the internal
1671 trust database says. This is the default model if such a
1672 database already exists. Note that a tofu trust model is
1673 not considered here and must be enabled explicitly.
1674 --auto-key-locate mechanisms
1677 --no-auto-key-locate
1678 GnuPG can automatically locate and retrieve keys as needed using
1679 this option. This happens when encrypting to an email address
1680 (in the "user@example.com" form), and there are no "user@exam‐
1681 ple.com" keys on the local keyring. This option takes any num‐
1682 ber of the mechanisms listed below, in the order they are to be
1683 tried. Instead of listing the mechanisms as comma delimited
1684 arguments, the option may also be given several times to add
1685 more mechanism. The option --no-auto-key-locate or the mecha‐
1686 nism "clear" resets the list. The default is "local,wkd".
1687 cert Locate a key using DNS CERT, as specified in RFC-4398.
1691 pka Locate a key using DNS PKA.
1694 dane Locate a key using DANE, as specified in draft-ietf-dane-
1697 openpgpkey-05.txt.
1698 wkd Locate a key using the Web Key Directory protocol.
1701 ldap Using DNS Service Discovery, check the domain in question
1704 for any LDAP keyservers to use. If this fails, attempt
1705 to locate the key using the PGP Universal method of
1706 checking 'ldap://keys.(thedomain)'.
1707 keyserver
1710 Locate a key using a keyserver.
1711 keyserver-URL
1714 In addition, a keyserver URL as used in the dirmngr con‐
1715 figuration may be used here to query that particular key‐
1716 server.
1717 local Locate the key using the local keyrings. This mechanism
1720 allows the user to select the order a local key lookup is
1721 done. Thus using '--auto-key-locate local' is identical
1722 to --no-auto-key-locate.
1723 nodefault
1726 This flag disables the standard local key lookup, done
1727 before any of the mechanisms defined by the --auto-key-
1728 locate are tried. The position of this mechanism in the
1729 list does not matter. It is not required if local is
1730 also used.
1731 clear Clear all defined mechanisms. This is useful to override
1734 mechanisms given in a config file. Note that a nodefault
1735 in mechanisms will also be cleared unless it is given
1736 after the clear.
1737 --auto-key-retrieve
1742 --no-auto-key-retrieve
1743 These options enable or disable the automatic retrieving of keys
1744 from a keyserver when verifying signatures made by keys that are
1745 not on the local keyring. The default is --no-auto-key-
1746 retrieve.
1747 The order of methods tried to lookup the key is:
1749 1. If a preferred keyserver is specified in the signature and
1751 the option honor-keyserver-url is active (which is not the
1752 default), that keyserver is tried. Note that the creator of the
1753 signature uses the option --sig-keyserver-url to specify the
1754 preferred keyserver for data signatures.
1755 2. If the signature has the Signer's UID set (e.g. using
1757 --sender while creating the signature) a Web Key Directory (WKD)
1758 lookup is done. This is the default configuration but can be
1759 disabled by removing WKD from the auto-key-locate list or by
1760 using the option --disable-signer-uid.
1761 3. If the option honor-pka-record is active, the legacy PKA
1763 method is used.
1764 4. If any keyserver is configured and the Issuer Fingerprint is
1766 part of the signature (since GnuPG 2.1.16), the configured key‐
1767 servers are tried.
1768 Note that this option makes a "web bug" like behavior possible.
1770 Keyserver or Web Key Directory operators can see which keys you
1771 request, so by sending you a message signed by a brand new key
1772 (which you naturally will not have on your local keyring), the
1773 operator can tell both your IP address and the time when you
1774 verified the signature.
1775 --keyid-format {none|short|0xshort|long|0xlong}
1778 Select how to display key IDs. "none" does not show the key ID
1779 at all but shows the fingerprint in a separate line. "short" is
1780 the traditional 8-character key ID. "long" is the more accurate
1781 (but less convenient) 16-character key ID. Add an "0x" to
1782 either to include an "0x" at the beginning of the key ID, as in
1783 0x99242560. Note that this option is ignored if the option
1784 --with-colons is used.
1785 --keyserver name
1788 This option is deprecated - please use the --keyserver in ‘dirm‐
1789 ngr.conf’ instead.
1790 Use name as your keyserver. This is the server that --receive-
1792 keys, --send-keys, and --search-keys will communicate with to
1793 receive keys from, send keys to, and search for keys on. The
1794 format of the name is a URI: `scheme:[//]keyservername[:port]'
1795 The scheme is the type of keyserver: "hkp" for the HTTP (or com‐
1796 patible) keyservers, "ldap" for the LDAP keyservers, or "mailto"
1797 for the Graff email keyserver. Note that your particular instal‐
1798 lation of GnuPG may have other keyserver types available as
1799 well. Keyserver schemes are case-insensitive. After the key‐
1800 server name, optional keyserver configuration options may be
1801 provided. These are the same as the global --keyserver-options
1802 from below, but apply only to this particular keyserver.
1803 Most keyservers synchronize with each other, so there is gener‐
1805 ally no need to send keys to more than one server. The keyserver
1806 hkp://keys.gnupg.net uses round robin DNS to give a different
1807 keyserver each time you use it.
1808 --keyserver-options {name=value}
1811 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
1812 the keyserver. Options can be prefixed with a `no-' to give the
1813 opposite meaning. Valid import-options or export-options may be
1814 used here as well to apply to importing (--recv-key) or export‐
1815 ing (--send-key) a key from a keyserver. While not all options
1816 are available for all keyserver types, some common options are:
1817 include-revoked
1821 When searching for a key with --search-keys, include keys
1822 that are marked on the keyserver as revoked. Note that
1823 not all keyservers differentiate between revoked and
1824 unrevoked keys, and for such keyservers this option is
1825 meaningless. Note also that most keyservers do not have
1826 cryptographic verification of key revocations, and so
1827 turning this option off may result in skipping keys that
1828 are incorrectly marked as revoked.
1829 include-disabled
1832 When searching for a key with --search-keys, include keys
1833 that are marked on the keyserver as disabled. Note that
1834 this option is not used with HKP keyservers.
1835 auto-key-retrieve
1838 This is an obsolete alias for the option auto-key-
1839 retrieve. Please do not use it; it will be removed in
1840 future versions..
1841 honor-keyserver-url
1844 When using --refresh-keys, if the key in question has a
1845 preferred keyserver URL, then use that preferred key‐
1846 server to refresh the key from. In addition, if auto-key-
1847 retrieve is set, and the signature being verified has a
1848 preferred keyserver URL, then use that preferred key‐
1849 server to fetch the key from. Note that this option
1850 introduces a "web bug": The creator of the key can see
1851 when the keys is refreshed. Thus this option is not
1852 enabled by default.
1853 honor-pka-record
1856 If --auto-key-retrieve is used, and the signature being
1857 verified has a PKA record, then use the PKA information
1858 to fetch the key. Defaults to "yes".
1859 include-subkeys
1862 When receiving a key, include subkeys as potential tar‐
1863 gets. Note that this option is not used with HKP key‐
1864 servers, as they do not support retrieving keys by subkey
1865 id.
1866 timeout
1869 http-proxy=value
1870 verbose
1871 debug
1872 check-cert
1873 ca-cert-file
1875 These options have no more function since GnuPG 2.1. Use
1876 the dirmngr configuration options instead.
1877 The default list of options is: "self-sigs-only, import-clean, repair-
1880 keys, repair-pks-subkey-bug, export-attributes, honor-pka-record".
1881 --completes-needed n
1885 Number of completely trusted users to introduce a new key signer
1886 (defaults to 1).
1887 --marginals-needed n
1890 Number of marginally trusted users to introduce a new key signer
1891 (defaults to 3)
1892 --tofu-default-policy {auto|good|unknown|bad|ask}
1895 The default TOFU policy (defaults to auto). For more informa‐
1896 tion about the meaning of this option, see: [trust-model-tofu].
1897 --max-cert-depth n
1900 Maximum depth of a certification chain (default is 5).
1901 --no-sig-cache
1904 Do not cache the verification status of key signatures. Caching
1905 gives a much better performance in key listings. However, if you
1906 suspect that your public keyring is not safe against write modi‐
1907 fications, you can use this option to disable the caching. It
1908 probably does not make sense to disable it because all kind of
1909 damage can be done if someone else has write access to your pub‐
1910 lic keyring.
1911 --auto-check-trustdb
1914 --no-auto-check-trustdb
1915 If GnuPG feels that its information about the Web of Trust has
1916 to be updated, it automatically runs the --check-trustdb command
1917 internally. This may be a time consuming process. --no-auto-
1918 check-trustdb disables this option.
1919 --use-agent
1922 --no-use-agent
1923 This is dummy option. gpg always requires the agent.
1924 --gpg-agent-info
1927 This is dummy option. It has no effect when used with gpg.
1928 --agent-program file
1932 Specify an agent program to be used for secret key operations.
1933 The default value is determined by running gpgconf with the
1934 option --list-dirs. Note that the pipe symbol (|) is used for a
1935 regression test suite hack and may thus not be used in the file
1936 name.
1937 --dirmngr-program file
1940 Specify a dirmngr program to be used for keyserver access. The
1941 default value is ‘/usr/bin/dirmngr’.
1942 --disable-dirmngr
1945 Entirely disable the use of the Dirmngr.
1946 --no-autostart
1949 Do not start the gpg-agent or the dirmngr if it has not yet been
1950 started and its service is required. This option is mostly use‐
1951 ful on machines where the connection to gpg-agent has been redi‐
1952 rected to another machines. If dirmngr is required on the
1953 remote machine, it may be started manually using gpgconf
1954 --launch dirmngr.
1955 --lock-once
1958 Lock the databases the first time a lock is requested and do not
1959 release the lock until the process terminates.
1960 --lock-multiple
1963 Release the locks every time a lock is no longer needed. Use
1964 this to override a previous --lock-once from a config file.
1965 --lock-never
1968 Disable locking entirely. This option should be used only in
1969 very special environments, where it can be assured that only one
1970 process is accessing those files. A bootable floppy with a
1971 stand-alone encryption system will probably use this. Improper
1972 usage of this option may lead to data and key corruption.
1973 --exit-on-status-write-error
1976 This option will cause write errors on the status FD to immedi‐
1977 ately terminate the process. That should in fact be the default
1978 but it never worked this way and thus we need an option to
1979 enable this, so that the change won't break applications which
1980 close their end of a status fd connected pipe too early. Using
1981 this option along with --enable-progress-filter may be used to
1982 cleanly cancel long running gpg operations.
1983 --limit-card-insert-tries n
1986 With n greater than 0 the number of prompts asking to insert a
1987 smartcard gets limited to N-1. Thus with a value of 1 gpg won't
1988 at all ask to insert a card if none has been inserted at
1989 startup. This option is useful in the configuration file in case
1990 an application does not know about the smartcard support and
1991 waits ad infinitum for an inserted card.
1992 --no-random-seed-file
1995 GnuPG uses a file to store its internal random pool over invoca‐
1996 tions. This makes random generation faster; however sometimes
1997 write operations are not desired. This option can be used to
1998 achieve that with the cost of slower random generation.
1999 --no-greeting
2002 Suppress the initial copyright message.
2003 --no-secmem-warning
2006 Suppress the warning about "using insecure memory".
2007 --no-permission-warning
2010 Suppress the warning about unsafe file and home directory
2011 (--homedir) permissions. Note that the permission checks that
2012 GnuPG performs are not intended to be authoritative, but rather
2013 they simply warn about certain common permission problems. Do
2014 not assume that the lack of a warning means that your system is
2015 secure.
2016 Note that the warning for unsafe --homedir permissions cannot be
2018 suppressed in the gpg.conf file, as this would allow an attacker
2019 to place an unsafe gpg.conf file in place, and use this file to
2020 suppress warnings about itself. The --homedir permissions warn‐
2021 ing may only be suppressed on the command line.
2022 --require-secmem
2025 --no-require-secmem
2026 Refuse to run if GnuPG cannot get secure memory. Defaults to no
2027 (i.e. run, but give a warning).
2028 --require-cross-certification
2032 --no-require-cross-certification
2033 When verifying a signature made from a subkey, ensure that the
2034 cross certification "back signature" on the subkey is present
2035 and valid. This protects against a subtle attack against sub‐
2036 keys that can sign. Defaults to --require-cross-certification
2037 for gpg.
2038 --expert
2041 --no-expert
2042 Allow the user to do certain nonsensical or "silly" things like
2043 signing an expired or revoked key, or certain potentially incom‐
2044 patible things like generating unusual key types. This also dis‐
2045 ables certain warning messages about potentially incompatible
2046 actions. As the name implies, this option is for experts only.
2047 If you don't fully understand the implications of what it allows
2048 you to do, leave this off. --no-expert disables this option.
2049 Key related options
2052 --recipient name
2057 -r Encrypt for user id name. If this option or --hidden-recipient
2058 is not specified, GnuPG asks for the user-id unless --default-
2059 recipient is given.
2060 --hidden-recipient name
2063 -R Encrypt for user ID name, but hide the key ID of this user's
2064 key. This option helps to hide the receiver of the message and
2065 is a limited countermeasure against traffic analysis. If this
2066 option or --recipient is not specified, GnuPG asks for the user
2067 ID unless --default-recipient is given.
2068 --recipient-file file
2071 -f This option is similar to --recipient except that it encrypts to
2072 a key stored in the given file. file must be the name of a file
2073 containing exactly one key. gpg assumes that the key in this
2074 file is fully valid.
2075 --hidden-recipient-file file
2078 -F This option is similar to --hidden-recipient except that it
2079 encrypts to a key stored in the given file. file must be the
2080 name of a file containing exactly one key. gpg assumes that the
2081 key in this file is fully valid.
2082 --encrypt-to name
2085 Same as --recipient but this one is intended for use in the
2086 options file and may be used with your own user-id as an
2087 "encrypt-to-self". These keys are only used when there are other
2088 recipients given either by use of --recipient or by the asked
2089 user id. No trust checking is performed for these user ids and
2090 even disabled keys can be used.
2091 --hidden-encrypt-to name
2094 Same as --hidden-recipient but this one is intended for use in
2095 the options file and may be used with your own user-id as a hid‐
2096 den "encrypt-to-self". These keys are only used when there are
2097 other recipients given either by use of --recipient or by the
2098 asked user id. No trust checking is performed for these user
2099 ids and even disabled keys can be used.
2100 --no-encrypt-to
2103 Disable the use of all --encrypt-to and --hidden-encrypt-to
2104 keys.
2105 --group {name=value}
2108 Sets up a named group, which is similar to aliases in email pro‐
2109 grams. Any time the group name is a recipient (-r or --recipi‐
2110 ent), it will be expanded to the values specified. Multiple
2111 groups with the same name are automatically merged into a single
2112 group.
2113 The values are key IDs or fingerprints, but any key description
2115 is accepted. Note that a value with spaces in it will be treated
2116 as two different values. Note also there is only one level of
2117 expansion --- you cannot make an group that points to another
2118 group. When used from the command line, it may be necessary to
2119 quote the argument to this option to prevent the shell from
2120 treating it as multiple arguments.
2121 --ungroup name
2124 Remove a given entry from the --group list.
2125 --no-groups
2128 Remove all entries from the --group list.
2129 --local-user name
2132 -u Use name as the key to sign with. Note that this option over‐
2133 rides --default-key.
2134 --sender mbox
2137 This option has two purposes. mbox must either be a complete
2138 user id with a proper mail address or just a mail address. When
2139 creating a signature this option tells gpg the user id of a key
2140 used to make a signature if the key was not directly specified
2141 by a user id. When verifying a signature the mbox is used to
2142 restrict the information printed by the TOFU code to matching
2143 user ids.
2144 --try-secret-key name
2147 For hidden recipients GPG needs to know the keys to use for
2148 trial decryption. The key set with --default-key is always
2149 tried first, but this is often not sufficient. This option
2150 allows setting more keys to be used for trial decryption.
2151 Although any valid user-id specification may be used for name it
2152 makes sense to use at least the long keyid to avoid ambiguities.
2153 Note that gpg-agent might pop up a pinentry for a lot keys to do
2154 the trial decryption. If you want to stop all further trial
2155 decryption you may use close-window button instead of the cancel
2156 button.
2157 --try-all-secrets
2160 Don't look at the key ID as stored in the message but try all
2161 secret keys in turn to find the right decryption key. This
2162 option forces the behaviour as used by anonymous recipients
2163 (created by using --throw-keyids or --hidden-recipient) and
2164 might come handy in case where an encrypted message contains a
2165 bogus key ID.
2166 --skip-hidden-recipients
2169 --no-skip-hidden-recipients
2170 During decryption skip all anonymous recipients. This option
2171 helps in the case that people use the hidden recipients feature
2172 to hide their own encrypt-to key from others. If one has many
2173 secret keys this may lead to a major annoyance because all keys
2174 are tried in turn to decrypt something which was not really
2175 intended for it. The drawback of this option is that it is cur‐
2176 rently not possible to decrypt a message which includes real
2177 anonymous recipients.
2178 Input and Output
2182 --armor
2187 -a Create ASCII armored output. The default is to create the
2188 binary OpenPGP format.
2189 --no-armor
2192 Assume the input data is not in ASCII armored format.
2193 --output file
2196 -o file
2197 Write output to file. To write to stdout use - as the filename.
2198 --max-output n
2201 This option sets a limit on the number of bytes that will be
2202 generated when processing a file. Since OpenPGP supports various
2203 levels of compression, it is possible that the plaintext of a
2204 given message may be significantly larger than the original
2205 OpenPGP message. While GnuPG works properly with such messages,
2206 there is often a desire to set a maximum file size that will be
2207 generated before processing is forced to stop by the OS limits.
2208 Defaults to 0, which means "no limit".
2209 --input-size-hint n
2212 This option can be used to tell GPG the size of the input data
2213 in bytes. n must be a positive base-10 number. This option is
2214 only useful if the input is not taken from a file. GPG may use
2215 this hint to optimize its buffer allocation strategy. It is
2216 also used by the --status-fd line ``PROGRESS'' to provide a
2217 value for ``total'' if that is not available by other means.
2218 --key-origin string[,url]
2221 gpg can track the origin of a key. Certain origins are implic‐
2222 itly known (e.g. keyserver, web key directory) and set. For a
2223 standard import the origin of the keys imported can be set with
2224 this option. To list the possible values use "help" for string.
2225 Some origins can store an optional url argument. That URL can
2226 appended to string after a comma.
2227 --import-options parameters
2230 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
2231 importing keys. Options can be prepended with a `no-' to give
2232 the opposite meaning. The options are:
2233 import-local-sigs
2237 Allow importing key signatures marked as "local". This is
2238 not generally useful unless a shared keyring scheme is
2239 being used. Defaults to no.
2240 keep-ownertrust
2243 Normally possible still existing ownertrust values of a
2244 key are cleared if a key is imported. This is in general
2245 desirable so that a formerly deleted key does not auto‐
2246 matically gain an ownertrust values merely due to import.
2247 On the other hand it is sometimes necessary to re-import
2248 a trusted set of keys again but keeping already assigned
2249 ownertrust values. This can be achieved by using this
2250 option.
2251 repair-pks-subkey-bug
2254 During import, attempt to repair the damage caused by the
2255 PKS keyserver bug (pre version 0.9.6) that mangles keys
2256 with multiple subkeys. Note that this cannot completely
2257 repair the damaged key as some crucial data is removed by
2258 the keyserver, but it does at least give you back one
2259 subkey. Defaults to no for regular --import and to yes
2260 for keyserver --receive-keys.
2261 import-show
2264 show-only
2265 Show a listing of the key as imported right before it is
2266 stored. This can be combined with the option --dry-run
2267 to only look at keys; the option show-only is a shortcut
2268 for this combination. The command --show-keys is another
2269 shortcut for this. Note that suffixes like '#' for "sec"
2270 and "sbb" lines may or may not be printed.
2271 import-export
2274 Run the entire import code but instead of storing the key
2275 to the local keyring write it to the output. The export
2276 options export-pka and export-dane affect the output.
2277 This option can be used to remove all invalid parts from
2278 a key without the need to store it.
2279 merge-only
2282 During import, allow key updates to existing keys, but do
2283 not allow any new keys to be imported. Defaults to no.
2284 import-clean
2287 After import, compact (remove all signatures except the
2288 self-signature) any user IDs from the new key that are
2289 not usable. Then, remove any signatures from the new key
2290 that are not usable. This includes signatures that were
2291 issued by keys that are not present on the keyring. This
2292 option is the same as running the --edit-key command
2293 "clean" after import. Defaults to no.
2294 self-sigs-only
2297 Accept only self-signatures while importing a key. All
2298 other key signatures are skipped at an early import
2299 stage. This option can be used with keyserver-options to
2300 mitigate attempts to flood a key with bogus signatures
2301 from a keyserver. The drawback is that all other valid
2302 key signatures, as required by the Web of Trust are also
2303 not imported. Note that when using this option along
2304 with import-clean it suppresses the final clean step
2305 after merging the imported key into the existing key.
2306 repair-keys
2309 After import, fix various problems with the keys. For
2310 example, this reorders signatures, and strips duplicate
2311 signatures. Defaults to yes.
2312 import-minimal
2315 Import the smallest key possible. This removes all signa‐
2316 tures except the most recent self-signature on each user
2317 ID. This option is the same as running the --edit-key
2318 command "minimize" after import. Defaults to no.
2319 restore
2322 import-restore
2323 Import in key restore mode. This imports all data which
2324 is usually skipped during import; including all GnuPG
2325 specific data. All other contradicting options are over‐
2326 ridden.
2327 --import-filter {name=expr}
2330 --export-filter {name=expr}
2331 These options define an import/export filter which are applied
2332 to the imported/exported keyblock right before it will be
2333 stored/written. name defines the type of filter to use, expr
2334 the expression to evaluate. The option can be used several
2335 times which then appends more expression to the same name.
2336 The available filter types are:
2339 keep-uid
2343 This filter will keep a user id packet and its dependent
2344 packets in the keyblock if the expression evaluates to
2345 true.
2346 drop-subkey
2349 This filter drops the selected subkeys. Currently only
2350 implemented for --export-filter.
2351 drop-sig
2354 This filter drops the selected key signatures on user
2355 ids. Self-signatures are not considered. Currently only
2356 implemented for --import-filter.
2357 For the syntax of the expression see the chapter "FILTER EXPRESSIONS".
2360 The property names for the expressions depend on the actual filter type
2361 and are indicated in the following table.
2362 The available properties are:
2364 uid A string with the user id. (keep-uid)
2368 mbox The addr-spec part of a user id with mailbox or the empty
2371 string. (keep-uid)
2372 key_algo
2375 A number with the public key algorithm of a key or subkey
2376 packet. (drop-subkey)
2377 key_created
2380 key_created_d
2381 The first is the timestamp a public key or subkey packet
2382 was created. The second is the same but given as an ISO
2383 string, e.g. "2016-08-17". (drop-subkey)
2384 primary
2387 Boolean indicating whether the user id is the primary
2388 one. (keep-uid)
2389 expired
2392 Boolean indicating whether a user id (keep-uid), a key
2393 (drop-subkey), or a signature (drop-sig) expired.
2394 revoked
2397 Boolean indicating whether a user id (keep-uid) or a key
2398 (drop-subkey) has been revoked.
2399 disabled
2402 Boolean indicating whether a primary key is disabled.
2403 (not used)
2404 secret Boolean indicating whether a key or subkey is a secret
2407 one. (drop-subkey)
2408 usage A string indicating the usage flags for the subkey, from
2411 the sequence ``ecsa?''. For example, a subkey capable of
2412 just signing and authentication would be an exact match
2413 for ``sa''. (drop-subkey)
2414 sig_created
2417 sig_created_d
2418 The first is the timestamp a signature packet was cre‐
2419 ated. The second is the same but given as an ISO date
2420 string, e.g. "2016-08-17". (drop-sig)
2421 sig_algo
2424 A number with the public key algorithm of a signature
2425 packet. (drop-sig)
2426 sig_digest_algo
2429 A number with the digest algorithm of a signature packet.
2430 (drop-sig)
2431 --export-options parameters
2435 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
2436 exporting keys. Options can be prepended with a `no-' to give
2437 the opposite meaning. The options are:
2438 export-local-sigs
2442 Allow exporting key signatures marked as "local". This is
2443 not generally useful unless a shared keyring scheme is
2444 being used. Defaults to no.
2445 export-attributes
2448 Include attribute user IDs (photo IDs) while exporting.
2449 Not including attribute user IDs is useful to export keys
2450 that are going to be used by an OpenPGP program that does
2451 not accept attribute user IDs. Defaults to yes.
2452 export-sensitive-revkeys
2455 Include designated revoker information that was marked as
2456 "sensitive". Defaults to no.
2457 backup
2461 export-backup
2462 Export for use as a backup. The exported data includes
2463 all data which is needed to restore the key or keys later
2464 with GnuPG. The format is basically the OpenPGP format
2465 but enhanced with GnuPG specific data. All other contra‐
2466 dicting options are overridden.
2467 export-clean
2470 Compact (remove all signatures from) user IDs on the key
2471 being exported if the user IDs are not usable. Also, do
2472 not export any signatures that are not usable. This
2473 includes signatures that were issued by keys that are not
2474 present on the keyring. This option is the same as run‐
2475 ning the --edit-key command "clean" before export except
2476 that the local copy of the key is not modified. Defaults
2477 to no.
2478 export-minimal
2481 Export the smallest key possible. This removes all signa‐
2482 tures except the most recent self-signature on each user
2483 ID. This option is the same as running the --edit-key
2484 command "minimize" before export except that the local
2485 copy of the key is not modified. Defaults to no.
2486 export-pka
2489 Instead of outputting the key material output PKA records
2490 suitable to put into DNS zone files. An ORIGIN line is
2491 printed before each record to allow diverting the records
2492 to the corresponding zone file.
2493 export-dane
2496 Instead of outputting the key material output OpenPGP
2497 DANE records suitable to put into DNS zone files. An
2498 ORIGIN line is printed before each record to allow
2499 diverting the records to the corresponding zone file.
2500 --with-colons
2504 Print key listings delimited by colons. Note that the output
2505 will be encoded in UTF-8 regardless of any --display-charset
2506 setting. This format is useful when GnuPG is called from scripts
2507 and other programs as it is easily machine parsed. The details
2508 of this format are documented in the file ‘doc/DETAILS’, which
2509 is included in the GnuPG source distribution.
2510 --fixed-list-mode
2513 Do not merge primary user ID and primary key in --with-colon
2514 listing mode and print all timestamps as seconds since
2515 1970-01-01. Since GnuPG 2.0.10, this mode is always used and
2516 thus this option is obsolete; it does not harm to use it though.
2517 --legacy-list-mode
2520 Revert to the pre-2.1 public key list mode. This only affects
2521 the human readable output and not the machine interface (i.e.
2522 --with-colons). Note that the legacy format does not convey
2523 suitable information for elliptic curves.
2524 --with-fingerprint
2527 Same as the command --fingerprint but changes only the format of
2528 the output and may be used together with another command.
2529 --with-subkey-fingerprint
2532 If a fingerprint is printed for the primary key, this option
2533 forces printing of the fingerprint for all subkeys. This could
2534 also be achieved by using the --with-fingerprint twice but by
2535 using this option along with keyid-format "none" a compact fin‐
2536 gerprint is printed.
2537 --with-icao-spelling
2540 Print the ICAO spelling of the fingerprint in addition to the
2541 hex digits.
2542 --with-keygrip
2545 Include the keygrip in the key listings. In --with-colons mode
2546 this is implicitly enable for secret keys.
2547 --with-key-origin
2550 Include the locally held information on the origin and last
2551 update of a key in a key listing. In --with-colons mode this is
2552 always printed. This data is currently experimental and shall
2553 not be considered part of the stable API.
2554 --with-wkd-hash
2557 Print a Web Key Directory identifier along with each user ID in
2558 key listings. This is an experimental feature and semantics may
2559 change.
2560 --with-secret
2563 Include info about the presence of a secret key in public key
2564 listings done with --with-colons.
2565 OpenPGP protocol specific options
2568 -t, --textmode
2573 --no-textmode
2574 Treat input files as text and store them in the OpenPGP canoni‐
2575 cal text form with standard "CRLF" line endings. This also sets
2576 the necessary flags to inform the recipient that the encrypted
2577 or signed data is text and may need its line endings converted
2578 back to whatever the local system uses. This option is useful
2579 when communicating between two platforms that have different
2580 line ending conventions (UNIX-like to Mac, Mac to Windows, etc).
2581 --no-textmode disables this option, and is the default.
2582 --force-v3-sigs
2585 --no-force-v3-sigs
2586 --force-v4-certs
2588 --no-force-v4-certs
2589 These options are obsolete and have no effect since GnuPG 2.1.
2590 --force-mdc
2593 --disable-mdc
2594 These options are obsolete and have no effect since GnuPG 2.2.8.
2595 The MDC is always used. But note: If the creation of a legacy
2596 non-MDC message is exceptionally required, the option --rfc2440
2597 allows for this.
2598 --disable-signer-uid
2601 By default the user ID of the signing key is embedded in the
2602 data signature. As of now this is only done if the signing key
2603 has been specified with local-user using a mail address, or with
2604 sender. This information can be helpful for verifier to locate
2605 the key; see option --auto-key-retrieve.
2606 --personal-cipher-preferences string
2609 Set the list of personal cipher preferences to string. Use gpg
2610 --version to get a list of available algorithms, and use none to
2611 set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely over‐
2612 ride the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as
2613 GPG will only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipi‐
2614 ents. The most highly ranked cipher in this list is also used
2615 for the --symmetric encryption command.
2616 --personal-digest-preferences string
2619 Set the list of personal digest preferences to string. Use gpg
2620 --version to get a list of available algorithms, and use none to
2621 set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely over‐
2622 ride the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as
2623 GPG will only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipi‐
2624 ents. The most highly ranked digest algorithm in this list is
2625 also used when signing without encryption (e.g. --clear-sign or
2626 --sign).
2627 --personal-compress-preferences string
2630 Set the list of personal compression preferences to string. Use
2631 gpg --version to get a list of available algorithms, and use
2632 none to set no preference at all. This allows the user to
2633 safely override the algorithm chosen by the recipient key pref‐
2634 erences, as GPG will only select an algorithm that is usable by
2635 all recipients. The most highly ranked compression algorithm in
2636 this list is also used when there are no recipient keys to con‐
2637 sider (e.g. --symmetric).
2638 --s2k-cipher-algo name
2641 Use name as the cipher algorithm for symmetric encryption with a
2642 passphrase if --personal-cipher-preferences and --cipher-algo
2643 are not given. The default is AES-128.
2644 --s2k-digest-algo name
2647 Use name as the digest algorithm used to mangle the passphrases
2648 for symmetric encryption. The default is SHA-1.
2649 --s2k-mode n
2652 Selects how passphrases for symmetric encryption are mangled. If
2653 n is 0 a plain passphrase (which is in general not recommended)
2654 will be used, a 1 adds a salt (which should not be used) to the
2655 passphrase and a 3 (the default) iterates the whole process a
2656 number of times (see --s2k-count).
2657 --s2k-count n
2660 Specify how many times the passphrases mangling for symmetric
2661 encryption is repeated. This value may range between 1024 and
2662 65011712 inclusive. The default is inquired from gpg-agent.
2663 Note that not all values in the 1024-65011712 range are legal
2664 and if an illegal value is selected, GnuPG will round up to the
2665 nearest legal value. This option is only meaningful if --s2k-
2666 mode is set to the default of 3.
2667 Compliance options
2671 These options control what GnuPG is compliant to. Only one of these
2674 options may be active at a time. Note that the default setting of this
2675 is nearly always the correct one. See the INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER
2676 OPENPGP PROGRAMS section below before using one of these options.
2677 --gnupg
2681 Use standard GnuPG behavior. This is essentially OpenPGP behav‐
2682 ior (see --openpgp), but with some additional workarounds for
2683 common compatibility problems in different versions of PGP. This
2684 is the default option, so it is not generally needed, but it may
2685 be useful to override a different compliance option in the
2686 gpg.conf file.
2687 --openpgp
2690 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict OpenPGP
2691 behavior. Use this option to reset all previous options like
2692 --s2k-*, --cipher-algo, --digest-algo and --compress-algo to
2693 OpenPGP compliant values. All PGP workarounds are disabled.
2694 --rfc4880
2697 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict RFC-4880
2698 behavior. Note that this is currently the same thing as
2699 --openpgp.
2700 --rfc4880bis
2703 Enable experimental features from proposed updates to RFC-4880.
2704 This option can be used in addition to the other compliance
2705 options. Warning: The behavior may change with any GnuPG
2706 release and created keys or data may not be usable with future
2707 GnuPG versions.
2708 --rfc2440
2711 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict RFC-2440
2712 behavior. Note that by using this option encryption packets are
2713 created in a legacy mode without MDC protection. This is dan‐
2714 gerous and should thus only be used for experiments. See also
2715 option --ignore-mdc-error.
2716 --pgp6 Set up all options to be as PGP 6 compliant as possible. This
2719 restricts you to the ciphers IDEA (if the IDEA plugin is
2720 installed), 3DES, and CAST5, the hashes MD5, SHA1 and RIPEMD160,
2721 and the compression algorithms none and ZIP. This also disables
2722 --throw-keyids, and making signatures with signing subkeys as
2723 PGP 6 does not understand signatures made by signing subkeys.
2724 This option implies --escape-from-lines.
2726 --pgp7 Set up all options to be as PGP 7 compliant as possible. This is
2729 identical to --pgp6 except that MDCs are not disabled, and the
2730 list of allowable ciphers is expanded to add AES128, AES192,
2731 AES256, and TWOFISH.
2732 --pgp8 Set up all options to be as PGP 8 compliant as possible. PGP 8
2735 is a lot closer to the OpenPGP standard than previous versions
2736 of PGP, so all this does is disable --throw-keyids and set
2737 --escape-from-lines. All algorithms are allowed except for the
2738 SHA224, SHA384, and SHA512 digests.
2739 --compliance string
2742 This option can be used instead of one of the options above.
2743 Valid values for string are the above option names (without the
2744 double dash) and possibly others as shown when using "help" for
2745 value.
2746 Doing things one usually doesn't want to do
2749 -n
2754 --dry-run
2755 Don't make any changes (this is not completely implemented).
2756 --list-only
2759 Changes the behaviour of some commands. This is like --dry-run
2760 but different in some cases. The semantic of this option may be
2761 extended in the future. Currently it only skips the actual
2762 decryption pass and therefore enables a fast listing of the
2763 encryption keys.
2764 -i
2767 --interactive
2768 Prompt before overwriting any files.
2769 --debug-level level
2772 Select the debug level for investigating problems. level may be
2773 a numeric value or by a keyword:
2774 none No debugging at all. A value of less than 1 may be used
2777 instead of the keyword.
2778 basic Some basic debug messages. A value between 1 and 2 may
2780 be used instead of the keyword.
2781 advanced
2783 More verbose debug messages. A value between 3 and 5 may
2784 be used instead of the keyword.
2785 expert Even more detailed messages. A value between 6 and 8 may
2787 be used instead of the keyword.
2788 guru All of the debug messages you can get. A value greater
2790 than 8 may be used instead of the keyword. The creation
2791 of hash tracing files is only enabled if the keyword is
2792 used.
2793 How these messages are mapped to the actual debugging flags is not
2795 specified and may change with newer releases of this program. They are
2796 however carefully selected to best aid in debugging.
2797 --debug flags
2800 Set debugging flags. All flags are or-ed and flags may be given
2801 in C syntax (e.g. 0x0042) or as a comma separated list of flag
2802 names. To get a list of all supported flags the single word
2803 "help" can be used.
2804 --debug-all
2807 Set all useful debugging flags.
2808 --debug-iolbf
2811 Set stdout into line buffered mode. This option is only honored
2812 when given on the command line.
2813 --faked-system-time epoch
2816 This option is only useful for testing; it sets the system time
2817 back or forth to epoch which is the number of seconds elapsed
2818 since the year 1970. Alternatively epoch may be given as a full
2819 ISO time string (e.g. "20070924T154812").
2820 If you suffix epoch with an exclamation mark (!), the system
2822 time will appear to be frozen at the specified time.
2823 --enable-progress-filter
2826 Enable certain PROGRESS status outputs. This option allows fron‐
2827 tends to display a progress indicator while gpg is processing
2828 larger files. There is a slight performance overhead using it.
2829 --status-fd n
2832 Write special status strings to the file descriptor n. See the
2833 file DETAILS in the documentation for a listing of them.
2834 --status-file file
2837 Same as --status-fd, except the status data is written to file
2838 file.
2839 --logger-fd n
2842 Write log output to file descriptor n and not to STDERR.
2843 --log-file file
2846 --logger-file file
2847 Same as --logger-fd, except the logger data is written to file
2848 file. Use ‘socket://’ to log to a socket. Note that in this
2849 version of gpg the option has only an effect if --batch is also
2850 used.
2851 --attribute-fd n
2854 Write attribute subpackets to the file descriptor n. This is
2855 most useful for use with --status-fd, since the status messages
2856 are needed to separate out the various subpackets from the
2857 stream delivered to the file descriptor.
2858 --attribute-file file
2861 Same as --attribute-fd, except the attribute data is written to
2862 file file.
2863 --comment string
2866 --no-comments
2867 Use string as a comment string in cleartext signatures and ASCII
2868 armored messages or keys (see --armor). The default behavior is
2869 not to use a comment string. --comment may be repeated multiple
2870 times to get multiple comment strings. --no-comments removes all
2871 comments. It is a good idea to keep the length of a single com‐
2872 ment below 60 characters to avoid problems with mail programs
2873 wrapping such lines. Note that comment lines, like all other
2874 header lines, are not protected by the signature.
2875 --emit-version
2878 --no-emit-version
2879 Force inclusion of the version string in ASCII armored output.
2880 If given once only the name of the program and the major number
2881 is emitted, given twice the minor is also emitted, given thrice
2882 the micro is added, and given four times an operating system
2883 identification is also emitted. --no-emit-version (default)
2884 disables the version line.
2885 --sig-notation {name=value}
2888 --cert-notation {name=value}
2889 -N, --set-notation {name=value}
2890 Put the name value pair into the signature as notation data.
2891 name must consist only of printable characters or spaces, and
2892 must contain a '@' character in the form keyname@domain.exam‐
2893 ple.com (substituting the appropriate keyname and domain name,
2894 of course). This is to help prevent pollution of the IETF
2895 reserved notation namespace. The --expert flag overrides the '@'
2896 check. value may be any printable string; it will be encoded in
2897 UTF-8, so you should check that your --display-charset is set
2898 correctly. If you prefix name with an exclamation mark (!), the
2899 notation data will be flagged as critical (rfc4880:5.2.3.16).
2900 --sig-notation sets a notation for data signatures. --cert-nota‐
2901 tion sets a notation for key signatures (certifications). --set-
2902 notation sets both.
2903 There are special codes that may be used in notation names. "%k"
2905 will be expanded into the key ID of the key being signed, "%K"
2906 into the long key ID of the key being signed, "%f" into the fin‐
2907 gerprint of the key being signed, "%s" into the key ID of the
2908 key making the signature, "%S" into the long key ID of the key
2909 making the signature, "%g" into the fingerprint of the key mak‐
2910 ing the signature (which might be a subkey), "%p" into the fin‐
2911 gerprint of the primary key of the key making the signature,
2912 "%c" into the signature count from the OpenPGP smartcard, and
2913 "%%" results in a single "%". %k, %K, and %f are only meaningful
2914 when making a key signature (certification), and %c is only
2915 meaningful when using the OpenPGP smartcard.
2916 --known-notation name
2919 Adds name to a list of known critical signature notations. The
2920 effect of this is that gpg will not mark a signature with a
2921 critical signature notation of that name as bad. Note that gpg
2922 already knows by default about a few critical signatures nota‐
2923 tion names.
2924 --sig-policy-url string
2927 --cert-policy-url string
2928 --set-policy-url string
2929 Use string as a Policy URL for signatures (rfc4880:5.2.3.20).
2930 If you prefix it with an exclamation mark (!), the policy URL
2931 packet will be flagged as critical. --sig-policy-url sets a pol‐
2932 icy url for data signatures. --cert-policy-url sets a policy url
2933 for key signatures (certifications). --set-policy-url sets both.
2934 The same %-expandos used for notation data are available here as
2936 well.
2937 --sig-keyserver-url string
2940 Use string as a preferred keyserver URL for data signatures. If
2941 you prefix it with an exclamation mark (!), the keyserver URL
2942 packet will be flagged as critical.
2943 The same %-expandos used for notation data are available here as
2945 well.
2946 --set-filename string
2949 Use string as the filename which is stored inside messages.
2950 This overrides the default, which is to use the actual filename
2951 of the file being encrypted. Using the empty string for string
2952 effectively removes the filename from the output.
2953 --for-your-eyes-only
2956 --no-for-your-eyes-only
2957 Set the `for your eyes only' flag in the message. This causes
2958 GnuPG to refuse to save the file unless the --output option is
2959 given, and PGP to use a "secure viewer" with a claimed Tempest-
2960 resistant font to display the message. This option overrides
2961 --set-filename. --no-for-your-eyes-only disables this option.
2962 --use-embedded-filename
2965 --no-use-embedded-filename
2966 Try to create a file with a name as embedded in the data. This
2967 can be a dangerous option as it enables overwriting files.
2968 Defaults to no. Note that the option --output overrides this
2969 option.
2970 --cipher-algo name
2973 Use name as cipher algorithm. Running the program with the com‐
2974 mand --version yields a list of supported algorithms. If this is
2975 not used the cipher algorithm is selected from the preferences
2976 stored with the key. In general, you do not want to use this
2977 option as it allows you to violate the OpenPGP standard. --per‐
2978 sonal-cipher-preferences is the safe way to accomplish the same
2979 thing.
2980 --digest-algo name
2983 Use name as the message digest algorithm. Running the program
2984 with the command --version yields a list of supported algo‐
2985 rithms. In general, you do not want to use this option as it
2986 allows you to violate the OpenPGP standard. --personal-digest-
2987 preferences is the safe way to accomplish the same thing.
2988 --compress-algo name
2991 Use compression algorithm name. "zlib" is RFC-1950 ZLIB compres‐
2992 sion. "zip" is RFC-1951 ZIP compression which is used by PGP.
2993 "bzip2" is a more modern compression scheme that can compress
2994 some things better than zip or zlib, but at the cost of more
2995 memory used during compression and decompression. "uncompressed"
2996 or "none" disables compression. If this option is not used, the
2997 default behavior is to examine the recipient key preferences to
2998 see which algorithms the recipient supports. If all else fails,
2999 ZIP is used for maximum compatibility.
3000 ZLIB may give better compression results than ZIP, as the com‐
3002 pression window size is not limited to 8k. BZIP2 may give even
3003 better compression results than that, but will use a signifi‐
3004 cantly larger amount of memory while compressing and decompress‐
3005 ing. This may be significant in low memory situations. Note,
3006 however, that PGP (all versions) only supports ZIP compression.
3007 Using any algorithm other than ZIP or "none" will make the mes‐
3008 sage unreadable with PGP. In general, you do not want to use
3009 this option as it allows you to violate the OpenPGP standard.
3010 --personal-compress-preferences is the safe way to accomplish
3011 the same thing.
3012 --cert-digest-algo name
3015 Use name as the message digest algorithm used when signing a
3016 key. Running the program with the command --version yields a
3017 list of supported algorithms. Be aware that if you choose an
3018 algorithm that GnuPG supports but other OpenPGP implementations
3019 do not, then some users will not be able to use the key signa‐
3020 tures you make, or quite possibly your entire key.
3021 --disable-cipher-algo name
3024 Never allow the use of name as cipher algorithm. The given name
3025 will not be checked so that a later loaded algorithm will still
3026 get disabled.
3027 --disable-pubkey-algo name
3030 Never allow the use of name as public key algorithm. The given
3031 name will not be checked so that a later loaded algorithm will
3032 still get disabled.
3033 --throw-keyids
3036 --no-throw-keyids
3037 Do not put the recipient key IDs into encrypted messages. This
3038 helps to hide the receivers of the message and is a limited
3039 countermeasure against traffic analysis. ([Using a little social
3040 engineering anyone who is able to decrypt the message can check
3041 whether one of the other recipients is the one he suspects.])
3042 On the receiving side, it may slow down the decryption process
3043 because all available secret keys must be tried. --no-throw-
3044 keyids disables this option. This option is essentially the same
3045 as using --hidden-recipient for all recipients.
3046 --not-dash-escaped
3049 This option changes the behavior of cleartext signatures so that
3050 they can be used for patch files. You should not send such an
3051 armored file via email because all spaces and line endings are
3052 hashed too. You can not use this option for data which has 5
3053 dashes at the beginning of a line, patch files don't have this.
3054 A special armor header line tells GnuPG about this cleartext
3055 signature option.
3056 --escape-from-lines
3059 --no-escape-from-lines
3060 Because some mailers change lines starting with "From " to
3061 ">From " it is good to handle such lines in a special way when
3062 creating cleartext signatures to prevent the mail system from
3063 breaking the signature. Note that all other PGP versions do it
3064 this way too. Enabled by default. --no-escape-from-lines dis‐
3065 ables this option.
3066 --passphrase-repeat n
3069 Specify how many times gpg will request a new passphrase be
3070 repeated. This is useful for helping memorize a passphrase.
3071 Defaults to 1 repetition.
3072 --passphrase-fd n
3075 Read the passphrase from file descriptor n. Only the first line
3076 will be read from file descriptor n. If you use 0 for n, the
3077 passphrase will be read from STDIN. This can only be used if
3078 only one passphrase is supplied.
3079 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
3081 option --batch has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
3082 --pinentry-mode also needs to be set to loopback.
3083 --passphrase-file file
3086 Read the passphrase from file file. Only the first line will be
3087 read from file file. This can only be used if only one
3088 passphrase is supplied. Obviously, a passphrase stored in a file
3089 is of questionable security if other users can read this file.
3090 Don't use this option if you can avoid it.
3091 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
3093 option --batch has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
3094 --pinentry-mode also needs to be set to loopback.
3095 --passphrase string
3098 Use string as the passphrase. This can only be used if only one
3099 passphrase is supplied. Obviously, this is of very questionable
3100 security on a multi-user system. Don't use this option if you
3101 can avoid it.
3102 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
3104 option --batch has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
3105 --pinentry-mode also needs to be set to loopback.
3106 --pinentry-mode mode
3109 Set the pinentry mode to mode. Allowed values for mode are:
3110 default
3112 Use the default of the agent, which is ask.
3113 ask Force the use of the Pinentry.
3115 cancel Emulate use of Pinentry's cancel button.
3117 error Return a Pinentry error (``No Pinentry'').
3119 loopback
3121 Redirect Pinentry queries to the caller. Note that in
3122 contrast to Pinentry the user is not prompted again if he
3123 enters a bad password.
3124 --no-symkey-cache
3127 Disable the passphrase cache used for symmetrical en- and
3128 decryption. This cache is based on the message specific salt
3129 value (cf. --s2k-mode).
3130 --request-origin origin
3133 Tell gpg to assume that the operation ultimately originated at
3134 origin. Depending on the origin certain restrictions are
3135 applied and the Pinentry may include an extra note on the ori‐
3136 gin. Supported values for origin are: local which is the
3137 default, remote to indicate a remote origin or browser for an
3138 operation requested by a web browser.
3139 --command-fd n
3142 This is a replacement for the deprecated shared-memory IPC mode.
3143 If this option is enabled, user input on questions is not
3144 expected from the TTY but from the given file descriptor. It
3145 should be used together with --status-fd. See the file
3146 doc/DETAILS in the source distribution for details on how to use
3147 it.
3148 --command-file file
3151 Same as --command-fd, except the commands are read out of file
3152 file
3153 --allow-non-selfsigned-uid
3156 --no-allow-non-selfsigned-uid
3157 Allow the import and use of keys with user IDs which are not
3158 self-signed. This is not recommended, as a non self-signed user
3159 ID is trivial to forge. --no-allow-non-selfsigned-uid disables.
3160 --allow-freeform-uid
3163 Disable all checks on the form of the user ID while generating a
3164 new one. This option should only be used in very special envi‐
3165 ronments as it does not ensure the de-facto standard format of
3166 user IDs.
3167 --ignore-time-conflict
3170 GnuPG normally checks that the timestamps associated with keys
3171 and signatures have plausible values. However, sometimes a sig‐
3172 nature seems to be older than the key due to clock problems.
3173 This option makes these checks just a warning. See also
3174 --ignore-valid-from for timestamp issues on subkeys.
3175 --ignore-valid-from
3178 GnuPG normally does not select and use subkeys created in the
3179 future. This option allows the use of such keys and thus
3180 exhibits the pre-1.0.7 behaviour. You should not use this option
3181 unless there is some clock problem. See also --ignore-time-con‐
3182 flict for timestamp issues with signatures.
3183 --ignore-crc-error
3186 The ASCII armor used by OpenPGP is protected by a CRC checksum
3187 against transmission errors. Occasionally the CRC gets mangled
3188 somewhere on the transmission channel but the actual content
3189 (which is protected by the OpenPGP protocol anyway) is still
3190 okay. This option allows GnuPG to ignore CRC errors.
3191 --ignore-mdc-error
3194 This option changes a MDC integrity protection failure into a
3195 warning. It is required to decrypt old messages which did not
3196 use an MDC. It may also be useful if a message is partially
3197 garbled, but it is necessary to get as much data as possible out
3198 of that garbled message. Be aware that a missing or failed MDC
3199 can be an indication of an attack. Use with great caution; see
3200 also option --rfc2440.
3201 --allow-weak-digest-algos
3204 Signatures made with known-weak digest algorithms are normally
3205 rejected with an ``invalid digest algorithm'' message. This
3206 option allows the verification of signatures made with such weak
3207 algorithms. MD5 is the only digest algorithm considered weak by
3208 default. See also --weak-digest to reject other digest algo‐
3209 rithms.
3210 --weak-digest name
3213 Treat the specified digest algorithm as weak. Signatures made
3214 over weak digests algorithms are normally rejected. This option
3215 can be supplied multiple times if multiple algorithms should be
3216 considered weak. See also --allow-weak-digest-algos to disable
3217 rejection of weak digests. MD5 is always considered weak, and
3218 does not need to be listed explicitly.
3219 --allow-weak-key-signatures
3222 To avoid a minor risk of collision attacks on third-party key
3223 signatures made using SHA-1, those key signatures are considered
3224 invalid. This options allows to override this restriction.
3225 --no-default-keyring
3228 Do not add the default keyrings to the list of keyrings. Note
3229 that GnuPG will not operate without any keyrings, so if you use
3230 this option and do not provide alternate keyrings via --keyring
3231 or --secret-keyring, then GnuPG will still use the default pub‐
3232 lic or secret keyrings.
3233 --no-keyring
3236 Do not use any keyring at all. This overrides the default and
3237 all options which specify keyrings.
3238 --skip-verify
3241 Skip the signature verification step. This may be used to make
3242 the decryption faster if the signature verification is not
3243 needed.
3244 --with-key-data
3247 Print key listings delimited by colons (like --with-colons) and
3248 print the public key data.
3249 --list-signatures
3252 --list-sigs
3253 Same as --list-keys, but the signatures are listed too. This
3254 command has the same effect as using --list-keys with --with-
3255 sig-list. Note that in contrast to --check-signatures the key
3256 signatures are not verified. This command can be used to create
3257 a list of signing keys missing in the local keyring; for exam‐
3258 ple:
3259 gpg --list-sigs --with-colons USERID | \
3261 awk -F: '$1=="sig" && $2=="?" {if($13){print $13}else{print $5}}'
3262 --fast-list-mode
3265 Changes the output of the list commands to work faster; this is
3266 achieved by leaving some parts empty. Some applications don't
3267 need the user ID and the trust information given in the list‐
3268 ings. By using this options they can get a faster listing. The
3269 exact behaviour of this option may change in future versions.
3270 If you are missing some information, don't use this option.
3271 --no-literal
3274 This is not for normal use. Use the source to see for what it
3275 might be useful.
3276 --set-filesize
3279 This is not for normal use. Use the source to see for what it
3280 might be useful.
3281 --show-session-key
3284 Display the session key used for one message. See --override-
3285 session-key for the counterpart of this option.
3286 We think that Key Escrow is a Bad Thing; however the user should
3288 have the freedom to decide whether to go to prison or to reveal
3289 the content of one specific message without compromising all
3290 messages ever encrypted for one secret key.
3291 You can also use this option if you receive an encrypted message
3293 which is abusive or offensive, to prove to the administrators of
3294 the messaging system that the ciphertext transmitted corresponds
3295 to an inappropriate plaintext so they can take action against
3296 the offending user.
3297 --override-session-key string
3300 --override-session-key-fd fd
3301 Don't use the public key but the session key string respective
3302 the session key taken from the first line read from file
3303 descriptor fd. The format of this string is the same as the one
3304 printed by --show-session-key. This option is normally not used
3305 but comes handy in case someone forces you to reveal the content
3306 of an encrypted message; using this option you can do this with‐
3307 out handing out the secret key. Note that using --override-ses‐
3308 sion-key may reveal the session key to all local users via the
3309 global process table. Often it is useful to combine this option
3310 with --no-keyring.
3311 --ask-sig-expire
3314 --no-ask-sig-expire
3315 When making a data signature, prompt for an expiration time. If
3316 this option is not specified, the expiration time set via
3317 --default-sig-expire is used. --no-ask-sig-expire disables this
3318 option.
3319 --default-sig-expire
3322 The default expiration time to use for signature expiration.
3323 Valid values are "0" for no expiration, a number followed by the
3324 letter d (for days), w (for weeks), m (for months), or y (for
3325 years) (for example "2m" for two months, or "5y" for five
3326 years), or an absolute date in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to
3327 "0".
3328 --ask-cert-expire
3331 --no-ask-cert-expire
3332 When making a key signature, prompt for an expiration time. If
3333 this option is not specified, the expiration time set via
3334 --default-cert-expire is used. --no-ask-cert-expire disables
3335 this option.
3336 --default-cert-expire
3339 The default expiration time to use for key signature expiration.
3340 Valid values are "0" for no expiration, a number followed by the
3341 letter d (for days), w (for weeks), m (for months), or y (for
3342 years) (for example "2m" for two months, or "5y" for five
3343 years), or an absolute date in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to
3344 "0".
3345 --default-new-key-algo string
3348 This option can be used to change the default algorithms for key
3349 generation. The string is similar to the arguments required for
3350 the command --quick-add-key but slightly different. For example
3351 the current default of "rsa2048/cert,sign+rsa2048/encr" (or
3352 "rsa3072") can be changed to the value of what we currently call
3353 future default, which is "ed25519/cert,sign+cv25519/encr". You
3354 need to consult the source code to learn the details. Note that
3355 the advanced key generation commands can always be used to spec‐
3356 ify a key algorithm directly.
3357 --allow-secret-key-import
3360 This is an obsolete option and is not used anywhere.
3361 --allow-multiple-messages
3364 --no-allow-multiple-messages
3366 Allow processing of multiple OpenPGP messages contained in a
3367 single file or stream. Some programs that call GPG are not pre‐
3368 pared to deal with multiple messages being processed together,
3369 so this option defaults to no. Note that versions of GPG prior
3370 to 1.4.7 always allowed multiple messages.
3371 Warning: Do not use this option unless you need it as a tempo‐
3373 rary workaround!
3374 --enable-special-filenames
3378 This option enables a mode in which filenames of the form ‘-&n’,
3379 where n is a non-negative decimal number, refer to the file
3380 descriptor n and not to a file with that name.
3381 --no-expensive-trust-checks
3384 Experimental use only.
3385 --preserve-permissions
3388 Don't change the permissions of a secret keyring back to user
3389 read/write only. Use this option only if you really know what
3390 you are doing.
3391 --default-preference-list string
3394 Set the list of default preferences to string. This preference
3395 list is used for new keys and becomes the default for "setpref"
3396 in the edit menu.
3397 --default-keyserver-url name
3400 Set the default keyserver URL to name. This keyserver will be
3401 used as the keyserver URL when writing a new self-signature on a
3402 key, which includes key generation and changing preferences.
3403 --list-config
3406 Display various internal configuration parameters of GnuPG. This
3407 option is intended for external programs that call GnuPG to per‐
3408 form tasks, and is thus not generally useful. See the file
3409 ‘doc/DETAILS’ in the source distribution for the details of
3410 which configuration items may be listed. --list-config is only
3411 usable with --with-colons set.
3412 --list-gcrypt-config
3415 Display various internal configuration parameters of Libgcrypt.
3416 --gpgconf-list
3419 This command is similar to --list-config but in general only
3420 internally used by the gpgconf tool.
3421 --gpgconf-test
3424 This is more or less dummy action. However it parses the con‐
3425 figuration file and returns with failure if the configuration
3426 file would prevent gpg from startup. Thus it may be used to run
3427 a syntax check on the configuration file.
3428 Deprecated options
3431 --show-photos
3436 --no-show-photos
3437 Causes --list-keys, --list-signatures, --list-public-keys,
3438 --list-secret-keys, and verifying a signature to also display
3439 the photo ID attached to the key, if any. See also --photo-
3440 viewer. These options are deprecated. Use --list-options
3441 [no-]show-photos and/or --verify-options [no-]show-photos
3442 instead.
3443 --show-keyring
3446 Display the keyring name at the head of key listings to show
3447 which keyring a given key resides on. This option is deprecated:
3448 use --list-options [no-]show-keyring instead.
3449 --always-trust
3452 Identical to --trust-model always. This option is deprecated.
3453 --show-notation
3456 --no-show-notation
3457 Show signature notations in the --list-signatures or --check-
3458 signatures listings as well as when verifying a signature with a
3459 notation in it. These options are deprecated. Use --list-options
3460 [no-]show-notation and/or --verify-options [no-]show-notation
3461 instead.
3462 --show-policy-url
3465 --no-show-policy-url
3466 Show policy URLs in the --list-signatures or --check-signatures
3467 listings as well as when verifying a signature with a policy URL
3468 in it. These options are deprecated. Use --list-options
3469 [no-]show-policy-url and/or --verify-options [no-]show-policy-
3470 url instead.
3471
3475 gpg -se -r Bob file
3476 sign and encrypt for user Bob
3477 gpg --clear-sign file
3480 make a cleartext signature
3481 gpg -sb file
3484 make a detached signature
3485 gpg -u 0x12345678 -sb file
3488 make a detached signature with the key 0x12345678
3489 gpg --list-keys user_ID
3492 show keys
3493 gpg --fingerprint user_ID
3496 show fingerprint
3497 gpg --verify pgpfile
3500 gpg --verify sigfile [datafile]
3501 Verify the signature of the file but do not output the data
3502 unless requested. The second form is used for detached signa‐
3503 tures, where sigfile is the detached signature (either ASCII
3504 armored or binary) and datafile are the signed data; if this is
3505 not given, the name of the file holding the signed data is con‐
3506 structed by cutting off the extension (".asc" or ".sig") of sig‐
3507 file or by asking the user for the filename. If the option
3508 --output is also used the signed data is written to the file
3509 specified by that option; use - to write the signed data to std‐
3510 out.
3511
3513 There are different ways to specify a user ID to GnuPG. Some of them
3514 are only valid for gpg others are only good for gpgsm. Here is the
3515 entire list of ways to specify a key:
3516 By key Id.
3520 This format is deduced from the length of the string and its
3521 content or 0x prefix. The key Id of an X.509 certificate are the
3522 low 64 bits of its SHA-1 fingerprint. The use of key Ids is
3523 just a shortcut, for all automated processing the fingerprint
3524 should be used.
3525 When using gpg an exclamation mark (!) may be appended to force
3527 using the specified primary or secondary key and not to try and
3528 calculate which primary or secondary key to use.
3529 The last four lines of the example give the key ID in their long
3531 form as internally used by the OpenPGP protocol. You can see the
3532 long key ID using the option --with-colons.
3533 234567C4
3535 0F34E556E
3536 01347A56A
3537 0xAB123456
3538 234AABBCC34567C4
3540 0F323456784E56EAB
3541 01AB3FED1347A5612
3542 0x234AABBCC34567C4
3543 By fingerprint.
3548 This format is deduced from the length of the string and its
3549 content or the 0x prefix. Note, that only the 20 byte version
3550 fingerprint is available with gpgsm (i.e. the SHA-1 hash of the
3551 certificate).
3552 When using gpg an exclamation mark (!) may be appended to force
3554 using the specified primary or secondary key and not to try and
3555 calculate which primary or secondary key to use.
3556 The best way to specify a key Id is by using the fingerprint.
3558 This avoids any ambiguities in case that there are duplicated
3559 key IDs.
3560 1234343434343434C434343434343434
3562 123434343434343C3434343434343734349A3434
3563 0E12343434343434343434EAB3484343434343434
3564 0xE12343434343434343434EAB3484343434343434
3565 gpgsm also accepts colons between each pair of hexadecimal digits
3568 because this is the de-facto standard on how to present X.509 finger‐
3569 prints. gpg also allows the use of the space separated SHA-1 finger‐
3570 print as printed by the key listing commands.
3571 By exact match on OpenPGP user ID.
3574 This is denoted by a leading equal sign. It does not make sense
3575 for X.509 certificates.
3576 =Heinrich Heine <heinrichh@uni-duesseldorf.de>
3578 By exact match on an email address.
3581 This is indicated by enclosing the email address in the usual
3582 way with left and right angles.
3583 <heinrichh@uni-duesseldorf.de>
3585 By partial match on an email address.
3589 This is indicated by prefixing the search string with an @.
3590 This uses a substring search but considers only the mail address
3591 (i.e. inside the angle brackets).
3592 @heinrichh
3594 By exact match on the subject's DN.
3597 This is indicated by a leading slash, directly followed by the
3598 RFC-2253 encoded DN of the subject. Note that you can't use the
3599 string printed by gpgsm --list-keys because that one has been
3600 reordered and modified for better readability; use --with-colons
3601 to print the raw (but standard escaped) RFC-2253 string.
3602 /CN=Heinrich Heine,O=Poets,L=Paris,C=FR
3604 By exact match on the issuer's DN.
3607 This is indicated by a leading hash mark, directly followed by a
3608 slash and then directly followed by the RFC-2253 encoded DN of
3609 the issuer. This should return the Root cert of the issuer.
3610 See note above.
3611 #/CN=Root Cert,O=Poets,L=Paris,C=FR
3613 By exact match on serial number and issuer's DN.
3617 This is indicated by a hash mark, followed by the hexadecimal
3618 representation of the serial number, then followed by a slash
3619 and the RFC-2253 encoded DN of the issuer. See note above.
3620 #4F03/CN=Root Cert,O=Poets,L=Paris,C=FR
3622 By keygrip.
3625 This is indicated by an ampersand followed by the 40 hex digits
3626 of a keygrip. gpgsm prints the keygrip when using the command
3627 --dump-cert.
3628 &D75F22C3F86E355877348498CDC92BD21010A480
3630 By substring match.
3634 This is the default mode but applications may want to explicitly
3635 indicate this by putting the asterisk in front. Match is not
3636 case sensitive.
3637 Heine
3639 *Heine
3640 . and + prefixes
3643 These prefixes are reserved for looking up mails anchored at the
3644 end and for a word search mode. They are not yet implemented
3645 and using them is undefined.
3646 Please note that we have reused the hash mark identifier which
3649 was used in old GnuPG versions to indicate the so called local-
3650 id. It is not anymore used and there should be no conflict when
3651 used with X.509 stuff.
3652 Using the RFC-2253 format of DNs has the drawback that it is not
3654 possible to map them back to the original encoding, however we
3655 don't have to do this because our key database stores this
3656 encoding as meta data.
3657
3660 The options --import-filter and --export-filter use expressions with
3661 this syntax (square brackets indicate an optional part and curly braces
3662 a repetition, white space between the elements are allowed):
3663 [lc] {[{flag}] PROPNAME op VALUE [lc]}
3665 The name of a property (PROPNAME) may only consist of letters, digits
3667 and underscores. The description for the filter type describes which
3668 properties are defined. If an undefined property is used it evaluates
3669 to the empty string. Unless otherwise noted, the VALUE must always be
3670 given and may not be the empty string. No quoting is defined for the
3671 value, thus the value may not contain the strings && or ||, which are
3672 used as logical connection operators. The flag -- can be used to
3673 remove this restriction.
3674 Numerical values are computed as long int; standard C notation applies.
3676 lc is the logical connection operator; either && for a conjunction or
3677 || for a disjunction. A conjunction is assumed at the begin of an
3678 expression. Conjunctions have higher precedence than disjunctions. If
3679 VALUE starts with one of the characters used in any op a space after
3680 the op is required.
3681 The supported operators (op) are:
3684 =~ Substring must match.
3688 !~ Substring must not match.
3691 = The full string must match.
3694 <> The full string must not match.
3697 == The numerical value must match.
3700 != The numerical value must not match.
3703 <= The numerical value of the field must be LE than the value.
3706 < The numerical value of the field must be LT than the value.
3709 > The numerical value of the field must be GT than the value.
3712 >= The numerical value of the field must be GE than the value.
3715 -le The string value of the field must be less or equal than the
3718 value.
3719 -lt The string value of the field must be less than the value.
3722 -gt The string value of the field must be greater than the value.
3725 -ge The string value of the field must be greater or equal than the
3728 value.
3729 -n True if value is not empty (no value allowed).
3732 -z True if value is empty (no value allowed).
3735 -t Alias for "PROPNAME != 0" (no value allowed).
3738 -f Alias for "PROPNAME == 0" (no value allowed).
3741 Values for flag must be space separated. The supported flags are:
3744 -- VALUE spans to the end of the expression.
3747 -c The string match in this part is done case-sensitive.
3749 The filter options concatenate several specifications for a filter of
3751 the same type. For example the four options in this example:
3752 --import-filter keep-uid="uid =~ Alfa"
3754 --import-filter keep-uid="&& uid !~ Test"
3755 --import-filter keep-uid="|| uid =~ Alpha"
3756 --import-filter keep-uid="uid !~ Test"
3757 which is equivalent to
3760 --import-filter \
3762 keep-uid="uid =~ Alfa" && uid !~ Test" || uid =~ Alpha" && "uid !~ Test"
3763 imports only the user ids of a key containing the strings "Alfa" or
3765 "Alpha" but not the string "test".
3766
3769 Trust values are used to indicate ownertrust and validity of keys and
3770 user IDs. They are displayed with letters or strings:
3771 -
3775 unknown
3776 No ownertrust assigned / not yet calculated.
3777 e
3780 expired
3781 Trust calculation has failed; probably due to an expired key.
3783 q
3786 undefined, undef
3787 Not enough information for calculation.
3788 n
3791 never Never trust this key.
3792 m
3795 marginal
3796 Marginally trusted.
3797 f
3800 full Fully trusted.
3801 u
3804 ultimate
3805 Ultimately trusted.
3806 r
3809 revoked
3810 For validity only: the key or the user ID has been revoked.
3811 ?
3814 err The program encountered an unknown trust value.
3815
3818 There are a few configuration files to control certain aspects of gpg's
3819 operation. Unless noted, they are expected in the current home direc‐
3820 tory (see: [option --homedir]).
3821 gpg.conf
3825 This is the standard configuration file read by gpg on startup.
3826 It may contain any valid long option; the leading two dashes may
3827 not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated. This
3828 default name may be changed on the command line (see: [gpg-
3829 option --options]). You should backup this file.
3830 Note that on larger installations, it is useful to put predefined files
3833 into the directory ‘/etc/skel/.gnupg’ so that newly created users start
3834 up with a working configuration. For existing users a small helper
3835 script is provided to create these files (see: [addgnupghome]).
3836 For internal purposes gpg creates and maintains a few other files; They
3838 all live in the current home directory (see: [option --homedir]). Only
3839 the gpg program may modify these files.
3840 ~/.gnupg
3844 This is the default home directory which is used if neither the
3845 environment variable GNUPGHOME nor the option --homedir is
3846 given.
3847 ~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg
3850 The public keyring. You should backup this file.
3851 ~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg.lock
3854 The lock file for the public keyring.
3855 ~/.gnupg/pubring.kbx
3858 The public keyring using a different format. This file is
3859 shared with gpgsm. You should backup this file.
3860 ~/.gnupg/pubring.kbx.lock
3863 The lock file for ‘pubring.kbx’.
3864 ~/.gnupg/secring.gpg
3867 A secret keyring as used by GnuPG versions before 2.1. It is
3868 not used by GnuPG 2.1 and later.
3869 ~/.gnupg/secring.gpg.lock
3872 The lock file for the secret keyring.
3873 ~/.gnupg/.gpg-v21-migrated
3876 File indicating that a migration to GnuPG 2.1 has been done.
3877 ~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg
3880 The trust database. There is no need to backup this file; it is
3881 better to backup the ownertrust values (see: [option --export-
3882 ownertrust]).
3883 ~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg.lock
3886 The lock file for the trust database.
3887 ~/.gnupg/random_seed
3890 A file used to preserve the state of the internal random pool.
3891 ~/.gnupg/openpgp-revocs.d/
3894 This is the directory where gpg stores pre-generated revocation
3895 certificates. The file name corresponds to the OpenPGP finger‐
3896 print of the respective key. It is suggested to backup those
3897 certificates and if the primary private key is not stored on the
3898 disk to move them to an external storage device. Anyone who can
3899 access theses files is able to revoke the corresponding key.
3900 You may want to print them out. You should backup all files in
3901 this directory and take care to keep this backup closed away.
3902 Operation is further controlled by a few environment variables:
3905 HOME Used to locate the default home directory.
3909 GNUPGHOME
3912 If set directory used instead of "~/.gnupg".
3913 GPG_AGENT_INFO
3916 This variable is obsolete; it was used by GnuPG versions before
3917 2.1.
3918 PINENTRY_USER_DATA
3921 This value is passed via gpg-agent to pinentry. It is useful to
3922 convey extra information to a custom pinentry.
3923 COLUMNS
3926 LINES Used to size some displays to the full size of the screen.
3927 LANGUAGE
3930 Apart from its use by GNU, it is used in the W32 version to
3931 override the language selection done through the Registry. If
3932 used and set to a valid and available language name (langid),
3933 the file with the translation is loaded from
3934 gpgdir/gnupg.nls/langid.mo. Here gpgdir is the directory out of
3935 which the gpg binary has been loaded. If it can't be loaded the
3936 Registry is tried and as last resort the native Windows locale
3937 system is used.
3938 When calling the gpg-agent component gpg sends a set of environment
3941 variables to gpg-agent. The names of these variables can be listed
3942 using the command:
3943 gpg-connect-agent 'getinfo std_env_names' /bye | awk '$1=="D" {print $2}'
3945
3951 On older systems this program should be installed as setuid(root). This
3952 is necessary to lock memory pages. Locking memory pages prevents the
3953 operating system from writing memory pages (which may contain
3954 passphrases or other sensitive material) to disk. If you get no warning
3955 message about insecure memory your operating system supports locking
3956 without being root. The program drops root privileges as soon as locked
3957 memory is allocated.
3958 Note also that some systems (especially laptops) have the ability to
3960 ``suspend to disk'' (also known as ``safe sleep'' or ``hibernate'').
3961 This writes all memory to disk before going into a low power or even
3962 powered off mode. Unless measures are taken in the operating system to
3963 protect the saved memory, passphrases or other sensitive material may
3964 be recoverable from it later.
3965 Before you report a bug you should first search the mailing list ar‐
3967 chives for similar problems and second check whether such a bug has
3968 already been reported to our bug tracker at https://bugs.gnupg.org.
3969
3973 gpgv(1), gpgsm(1), gpg-agent(1)
3974 The full documentation for this tool is maintained as a Texinfo manual.
3976 If GnuPG and the info program are properly installed at your site, the
3977 command
3978 info gnupg
3980 should give you access to the complete manual including a menu struc‐
3982 ture and an index.
3983GnuPG 2.2.18 2019-11-23 GPG(1)