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 there are no severe errors, 1 if at least a
38 signature was bad, and other error codes for fatal errors.
39 Note that signature verification requires exact knowledge of what has
41 been signed and by whom it has been signed. Using only the return code
42 is thus not an appropriate way to verify a signature by a script. Ei‐
43 ther make proper use or the status codes or use the gpgv tool which has
44 been designed to make signature verification easy for scripts.
45
48 Use a good password for your user account and make sure that all secu‐
49 rity issues are always fixed on your machine. Also employ diligent
50 physical protection to your machine. Consider to use a good passphrase
51 as a last resort protection to your secret key in the case your machine
52 gets stolen. It is important that your secret key is never leaked.
53 Using an easy to carry around token or smartcard with the secret key is
54 often a advisable.
55 If you are going to verify detached signatures, make sure that the pro‐
57 gram knows about it; either give both filenames on the command line or
58 use ‘-’ to specify STDIN.
59 For scripted or other unattended use of gpg make sure to use the ma‐
61 chine-parseable interface and not the default interface which is in‐
62 tended for direct use by humans. The machine-parseable interface pro‐
63 vides a stable and well documented API independent of the locale or fu‐
64 ture changes of gpg. To enable this interface use the options --with-
65 colons and --status-fd. For certain operations the option --command-fd
66 may come handy too. See this man page and the file ‘DETAILS’ for the
67 specification of the interface. Note that the GnuPG ``info'' pages as
68 well as the PDF version of the GnuPG manual features a chapter on unat‐
69 tended use of GnuPG. As an alternative the library GPGME can be used
70 as a high-level abstraction on top of that interface.
71
74 GnuPG tries to be a very flexible implementation of the OpenPGP stan‐
75 dard. In particular, GnuPG implements many of the optional parts of the
76 standard, such as the SHA-512 hash, and the ZLIB and BZIP2 compression
77 algorithms. It is important to be aware that not all OpenPGP programs
78 implement these optional algorithms and that by forcing their use via
79 the --cipher-algo, --digest-algo, --cert-digest-algo, or --compress-
80 algo options in GnuPG, it is possible to create a perfectly valid
81 OpenPGP message, but one that cannot be read by the intended recipient.
82 There are dozens of variations of OpenPGP programs available, and each
84 supports a slightly different subset of these optional algorithms. For
85 example, until recently, no (unhacked) version of PGP supported the
86 BLOWFISH cipher algorithm. A message using BLOWFISH simply could not be
87 read by a PGP user. By default, GnuPG uses the standard OpenPGP prefer‐
88 ences system that will always do the right thing and create messages
89 that are usable by all recipients, regardless of which OpenPGP program
90 they use. Only override this safe default if you really know what you
91 are doing.
92 If you absolutely must override the safe default, or if the preferences
94 on a given key are invalid for some reason, you are far better off us‐
95 ing the --pgp6, --pgp7, or --pgp8 options. These options are safe as
96 they do not force any particular algorithms in violation of OpenPGP,
97 but rather reduce the available algorithms to a "PGP-safe" list.
98
101 Commands are not distinguished from options except for the fact that
102 only one command is allowed. Generally speaking, irrelevant options
103 are silently ignored, and may not be checked for correctness.
104 gpg may be run with no commands. In this case it will print a warning
106 perform a reasonable action depending on the type of file it is given
107 as input (an encrypted message is decrypted, a signature is verified, a
108 file containing keys is listed, etc.).
109 If you run into any problems, please add the option --verbose to the
111 invocation to see more diagnostics.
112 Commands not specific to the function
119 --version
123 Print the program version and licensing information. Note that
124 you cannot abbreviate this command.
125 --help
128 -h Print a usage message summarizing the most useful command-line
129 options. Note that you cannot arbitrarily abbreviate this com‐
130 mand (though you can use its short form -h).
131 --warranty
134 Print warranty information.
135 --dump-options
138 Print a list of all available options and commands. Note that
139 you cannot abbreviate this command.
140 Commands to select the type of operation
142 --sign
148 -s Sign a message. This command may be combined with --encrypt (to
149 sign and encrypt a message), --symmetric (to sign and symmetri‐
150 cally encrypt a message), or both --encrypt and --symmetric (to
151 sign and encrypt a message that can be decrypted using a secret
152 key or a passphrase). The signing key is chosen by default or
153 can be set explicitly using the --local-user and --default-key
154 options.
155 --clear-sign
158 --clearsign
159 Make a cleartext signature. The content in a cleartext signa‐
160 ture is readable without any special software. OpenPGP software
161 is only needed to verify the signature. cleartext signatures
162 may modify end-of-line whitespace for platform independence and
163 are not intended to be reversible. The signing key is chosen by
164 default or can be set explicitly using the --local-user and
165 --default-key options.
166 --detach-sign
170 -b Make a detached signature.
171 --encrypt
174 -e Encrypt data to one or more public keys. This command may be
175 combined with --sign (to sign and encrypt a message), --symmet‐
176 ric (to encrypt a message that can be decrypted using a secret
177 key or a passphrase), or --sign and --symmetric together (for a
178 signed message that can be decrypted using a secret key or a
179 passphrase). --recipient and related options specify which pub‐
180 lic keys to use for encryption.
181 --symmetric
184 -c Encrypt with a symmetric cipher using a passphrase. The default
185 symmetric cipher used is AES-128, but may be chosen with the
186 --cipher-algo option. This command may be combined with --sign
187 (for a signed and symmetrically encrypted message), --encrypt
188 (for a message that may be decrypted via a secret key or a
189 passphrase), or --sign and --encrypt together (for a signed mes‐
190 sage that may be decrypted via a secret key or a passphrase).
191 gpg caches the passphrase used for symmetric encryption so that
192 a decrypt operation may not require that the user needs to enter
193 the passphrase. The option --no-symkey-cache can be used to
194 disable this feature.
195 --store
198 Store only (make a simple literal data packet).
199 --decrypt
202 -d Decrypt the file given on the command line (or STDIN if no file
203 is specified) and write it to STDOUT (or the file specified with
204 --output). If the decrypted file is signed, the signature is
205 also verified. This command differs from the default operation,
206 as it never writes to the filename which is included in the file
207 and it rejects files that don't begin with an encrypted message.
208 --verify
211 Assume that the first argument is a signed file and verify it
212 without generating any output. With no arguments, the signature
213 packet is read from STDIN. If only one argument is given, the
214 specified file is expected to include a complete signature.
215 With more than one argument, the first argument should specify a
217 file with a detached signature and the remaining files should
218 contain the signed data. To read the signed data from STDIN, use
219 ‘-’ as the second filename. For security reasons, a detached
220 signature will not read the signed material from STDIN if not
221 explicitly specified.
222 Note: If the option --batch is not used, gpg may assume that a
224 single argument is a file with a detached signature, and it will
225 try to find a matching data file by stripping certain suffixes.
226 Using this historical feature to verify a detached signature is
227 strongly discouraged; you should always specify the data file
228 explicitly.
229 Note: When verifying a cleartext signature, gpg verifies only
231 what makes up the cleartext signed data and not any extra data
232 outside of the cleartext signature or the header lines directly
233 following the dash marker line. The option --output may be used
234 to write out the actual signed data, but there are other pit‐
235 falls with this format as well. It is suggested to avoid clear‐
236 text signatures in favor of detached signatures.
237 Note: Sometimes the use of the gpgv tool is easier than using
239 the full-fledged gpg with this option. gpgv is designed to com‐
240 pare signed data against a list of trusted keys and returns with
241 success only for a good signature. It has its own manual page.
242 --multifile
246 This modifies certain other commands to accept multiple files
247 for processing on the command line or read from STDIN with each
248 filename on a separate line. This allows for many files to be
249 processed at once. --multifile may currently be used along with
250 --verify, --encrypt, and --decrypt. Note that --multifile --ver‐
251 ify may not be used with detached signatures.
252 --verify-files
255 Identical to --multifile --verify.
256 --encrypt-files
259 Identical to --multifile --encrypt.
260 --decrypt-files
263 Identical to --multifile --decrypt.
264 --list-keys
267 -k
268 --list-public-keys
269 List the specified keys. If no keys are specified, then all
270 keys from the configured public keyrings are listed.
271 Never use the output of this command in scripts or other pro‐
273 grams. The output is intended only for humans and its format is
274 likely to change. The --with-colons option emits the output in
275 a stable, machine-parseable format, which is intended for use by
276 scripts and other programs.
277 --list-secret-keys
280 -K List the specified secret keys. If no keys are specified, then
281 all known secret keys are listed. A # after the initial tags
282 sec or ssb means that the secret key or subkey is currently not
283 usable. We also say that this key has been taken offline (for
284 example, a primary key can be taken offline by exporting the key
285 using the command --export-secret-subkeys). A > after these
286 tags indicate that the key is stored on a smartcard. See also
287 --list-keys.
288 --check-signatures
291 --check-sigs
292 Same as --list-keys, but the key signatures are verified and
293 listed too. Note that for performance reasons the revocation
294 status of a signing key is not shown. This command has the same
295 effect as using --list-keys with --with-sig-check.
296 The status of the verification is indicated by a flag directly
298 following the "sig" tag (and thus before the flags described be‐
299 low. A "!" indicates that the signature has been successfully
300 verified, a "-" denotes a bad signature and a "%" is used if an
301 error occurred while checking the signature (e.g. a non sup‐
302 ported algorithm). Signatures where the public key is not
303 available are not listed; to see their keyids the command
304 --list-sigs can be used.
305 For each signature listed, there are several flags in between
307 the signature status flag and keyid. These flags give addi‐
308 tional information about each key signature. From left to
309 right, they are the numbers 1-3 for certificate check level (see
310 --ask-cert-level), "L" for a local or non-exportable signature
311 (see --lsign-key), "R" for a nonRevocable signature (see the
312 --edit-key command "nrsign"), "P" for a signature that contains
313 a policy URL (see --cert-policy-url), "N" for a signature that
314 contains a notation (see --cert-notation), "X" for an eXpired
315 signature (see --ask-cert-expire), and the numbers 1-9 or "T"
316 for 10 and above to indicate trust signature levels (see the
317 --edit-key command "tsign").
318 --locate-keys
322 --locate-external-keys
323 Locate the keys given as arguments. This command basically uses
324 the same algorithm as used when locating keys for encryption and
325 may thus be used to see what keys gpg might use. In particular
326 external methods as defined by --auto-key-locate are used to lo‐
327 cate a key if the arguments comain valid mail addresses. Only
328 public keys are listed.
329 The variant --locate-external-keys does not consider a locally
331 existing key and can thus be used to force the refresh of a key
332 via the defined external methods. If a fingerprint is given and
333 and the methods defined by --auto-key-locate define LDAP
334 servers, the key is fetched from these resources; defined non-
335 LDAP keyservers are skipped.
336 --show-keys
340 This commands takes OpenPGP keys as input and prints information
341 about them in the same way the command --list-keys does for lo‐
342 cally stored key. In addition the list options show-unusable-
343 uids, show-unusable-subkeys, show-notations and show-policy-urls
344 are also enabled. As usual for automated processing, this com‐
345 mand should be combined with the option --with-colons.
346 --fingerprint
349 List all keys (or the specified ones) along with their finger‐
350 prints. This is the same output as --list-keys but with the ad‐
351 ditional output of a line with the fingerprint. May also be com‐
352 bined with --check-signatures. If this command is given twice,
353 the fingerprints of all secondary keys are listed too. This
354 command also forces pretty printing of fingerprints if the keyid
355 format has been set to "none".
356 --list-packets
359 List only the sequence of packets. This command is only useful
360 for debugging. When used with option --verbose the actual MPI
361 values are dumped and not only their lengths. Note that the
362 output of this command may change with new releases.
363 --edit-card
367 --card-edit
368 Present a menu to work with a smartcard. The subcommand "help"
369 provides an overview on available commands. For a detailed de‐
370 scription, please see the Card HOWTO at https://gnupg.org/docu‐
371 mentation/howtos.html#GnuPG-cardHOWTO .
372 --card-status
375 Show the content of the smart card.
376 --change-pin
379 Present a menu to allow changing the PIN of a smartcard. This
380 functionality is also available as the subcommand "passwd" with
381 the --edit-card command.
382 --delete-keys name
385 Remove key from the public keyring. In batch mode either --yes
386 is required or the key must be specified by fingerprint. This is
387 a safeguard against accidental deletion of multiple keys. If
388 the exclamation mark syntax is used with the fingerprint of a
389 subkey only that subkey is deleted; if the exclamation mark is
390 used with the fingerprint of the primary key the entire public
391 key is deleted.
392 --delete-secret-keys name
395 Remove key from the secret keyring. In batch mode the key must
396 be specified by fingerprint. The option --yes can be used to
397 advise gpg-agent not to request a confirmation. This extra pre-
398 caution is done because gpg can't be sure that the secret key
399 (as controlled by gpg-agent) is only used for the given OpenPGP
400 public key. If the exclamation mark syntax is used with the
401 fingerprint of a subkey only the secret part of that subkey is
402 deleted; if the exclamation mark is used with the fingerprint of
403 the primary key only the secret part of the primary key is
404 deleted.
405 --delete-secret-and-public-key name
409 Same as --delete-key, but if a secret key exists, it will be re‐
410 moved first. In batch mode the key must be specified by finger‐
411 print. The option --yes can be used to advise gpg-agent not to
412 request a confirmation.
413 --export
416 Either export all keys from all keyrings (default keyring and
417 those registered via option --keyring), or if at least one name
418 is given, those of the given name. The exported keys are written
419 to STDOUT or to the file given with option --output. Use to‐
420 gether with --armor to mail those keys.
421 --send-keys keyIDs
424 Similar to --export but sends the keys to a keyserver. Finger‐
425 prints may be used instead of key IDs. Don't send your complete
426 keyring to a keyserver --- select only those keys which are new
427 or changed by you. If no keyIDs are given, gpg does nothing.
428 Take care: Keyservers are by design write only systems and thus
430 it is not possible to ever delete keys once they have been send
431 to a keyserver.
432 --export-secret-keys
436 --export-secret-subkeys
437 Same as --export, but exports the secret keys instead. The ex‐
438 ported keys are written to STDOUT or to the file given with op‐
439 tion --output. This command is often used along with the option
440 --armor to allow for easy printing of the key for paper backup;
441 however the external tool paperkey does a better job of creating
442 backups on paper. Note that exporting a secret key can be a se‐
443 curity risk if the exported keys are sent over an insecure chan‐
444 nel.
445 The second form of the command has the special property to ren‐
447 der the secret part of the primary key useless; this is a GNU
448 extension to OpenPGP and other implementations can not be ex‐
449 pected to successfully import such a key. Its intended use is
450 in generating a full key with an additional signing subkey on a
451 dedicated machine. This command then exports the key without
452 the primary key to the main machine.
453 GnuPG may ask you to enter the passphrase for the key. This is
455 required, because the internal protection method of the secret
456 key is different from the one specified by the OpenPGP protocol.
457 --export-ssh-key
460 This command is used to export a key in the OpenSSH public key
461 format. It requires the specification of one key by the usual
462 means and exports the latest valid subkey which has an authenti‐
463 cation capability to STDOUT or to the file given with option
464 --output. That output can directly be added to ssh's ‘autho‐
465 rized_key’ file.
466 By specifying the key to export using a key ID or a fingerprint
468 suffixed with an exclamation mark (!), a specific subkey or the
469 primary key can be exported. This does not even require that
470 the key has the authentication capability flag set.
471 --import
474 --fast-import
475 Import/merge keys. This adds the given keys to the keyring. The
476 fast version is currently just a synonym.
477 There are a few other options which control how this command
479 works. Most notable here is the --import-options merge-only op‐
480 tion which does not insert new keys but does only the merging of
481 new signatures, user-IDs and subkeys.
482 --receive-keys keyIDs
485 --recv-keys keyIDs
486 Import the keys with the given keyIDs from a keyserver.
487 --refresh-keys
490 Request updates from a keyserver for keys that already exist on
491 the local keyring. This is useful for updating a key with the
492 latest signatures, user IDs, etc. Calling this with no arguments
493 will refresh the entire keyring.
494 --search-keys names
497 Search the keyserver for the given names. Multiple names given
498 here will be joined together to create the search string for the
499 keyserver. Note that keyservers search for names in a different
500 and simpler way than gpg does. The best choice is to use a mail
501 address. Due to data privacy reasons keyservers may even not
502 even allow searching by user id or mail address and thus may
503 only return results when being used with the --recv-key command
504 to search by key fingerprint or keyid.
505 --fetch-keys URIs
508 Retrieve keys located at the specified URIs. Note that different
509 installations of GnuPG may support different protocols (HTTP,
510 FTP, LDAP, etc.). When using HTTPS the system provided root
511 certificates are used by this command.
512 --update-trustdb
515 Do trust database maintenance. This command iterates over all
516 keys and builds the Web of Trust. This is an interactive command
517 because it may have to ask for the "ownertrust" values for keys.
518 The user has to give an estimation of how far she trusts the
519 owner of the displayed key to correctly certify (sign) other
520 keys. GnuPG only asks for the ownertrust value if it has not yet
521 been assigned to a key. Using the --edit-key menu, the assigned
522 value can be changed at any time.
523 --check-trustdb
526 Do trust database maintenance without user interaction. From
527 time to time the trust database must be updated so that expired
528 keys or signatures and the resulting changes in the Web of Trust
529 can be tracked. Normally, GnuPG will calculate when this is re‐
530 quired and do it automatically unless --no-auto-check-trustdb is
531 set. This command can be used to force a trust database check at
532 any time. The processing is identical to that of --update-
533 trustdb but it skips keys with a not yet defined "ownertrust".
534 For use with cron jobs, this command can be used together with
536 --batch in which case the trust database check is done only if a
537 check is needed. To force a run even in batch mode add the op‐
538 tion --yes.
539 --export-ownertrust
543 Send the ownertrust values to STDOUT. This is useful for backup
544 purposes as these values are the only ones which can't be re-
545 created from a corrupted trustdb. Example:
546 gpg --export-ownertrust > otrust.txt
547 --import-ownertrust
551 Update the trustdb with the ownertrust values stored in files
552 (or STDIN if not given); existing values will be overwritten.
553 In case of a severely damaged trustdb and if you have a recent
554 backup of the ownertrust values (e.g. in the file ‘otrust.txt’),
555 you may re-create the trustdb using these commands:
556 cd ~/.gnupg
557 rm trustdb.gpg
558 gpg --import-ownertrust < otrust.txt
559 --rebuild-keydb-caches
563 When updating from version 1.0.6 to 1.0.7 this command should be
564 used to create signature caches in the keyring. It might be
565 handy in other situations too.
566 --print-md algo
569 --print-mds
570 Print message digest of algorithm algo for all given files or
571 STDIN. With the second form (or a deprecated "*" for algo) di‐
572 gests for all available algorithms are printed.
573 --gen-random 0|1|2 count
576 Emit count random bytes of the given quality level 0, 1 or 2. If
577 count is not given or zero, an endless sequence of random bytes
578 will be emitted. If used with --armor the output will be base64
579 encoded. PLEASE, don't use this command unless you know what
580 you are doing; it may remove precious entropy from the system!
581 --gen-prime mode bits
584 Use the source, Luke :-). The output format is subject to change
585 with ant release.
586 --enarmor
590 --dearmor
591 Pack or unpack an arbitrary input into/from an OpenPGP ASCII ar‐
592 mor. This is a GnuPG extension to OpenPGP and in general not
593 very useful.
594 --unwrap
597 This command is similar to --decrypt with the change that the
598 output is not the usual plaintext but the original message with
599 the decryption layer removed. Thus the output will be an
600 OpenPGP data structure which often means a signed OpenPGP mes‐
601 sage. Note that this command may or may not remove a compres‐
602 sion layer which is often found beneath the encryption layer.
603 --tofu-policy {auto|good|unknown|bad|ask} keys
606 Set the TOFU policy for all the bindings associated with the
607 specified keys. For more information about the meaning of the
608 policies, see: [trust-model-tofu]. The keys may be specified
609 either by their fingerprint (preferred) or their keyid.
610 How to manage your keys
614 This section explains the main commands for key management.
617 --quick-generate-key user-id [algo [usage [expire]]]
621 --quick-gen-key
622 This is a simple command to generate a standard key with one
623 user id. In contrast to --generate-key the key is generated di‐
624 rectly without the need to answer a bunch of prompts. Unless
625 the option --yes is given, the key creation will be canceled if
626 the given user id already exists in the keyring.
627 If invoked directly on the console without any special options
629 an answer to a ``Continue?'' style confirmation prompt is re‐
630 quired. In case the user id already exists in the keyring a
631 second prompt to force the creation of the key will show up.
632 If algo or usage are given, only the primary key is created and
634 no prompts are shown. To specify an expiration date but still
635 create a primary and subkey use ``default'' or ``future-de‐
636 fault'' for algo and ``default'' for usage. For a description
637 of these optional arguments see the command --quick-add-key.
638 The usage accepts also the value ``cert'' which can be used to
639 create a certification only primary key; the default is to a
640 create certification and signing key.
641 The expire argument can be used to specify an expiration date
643 for the key. Several formats are supported; commonly the ISO
644 formats ``YYYY-MM-DD'' or ``YYYYMMDDThhmmss'' are used. To make
645 the key expire in N seconds, N days, N weeks, N months, or N
646 years use ``seconds=N'', ``Nd'', ``Nw'', ``Nm'', or ``Ny'' re‐
647 spectively. Not specifying a value, or using ``-'' results in a
648 key expiring in a reasonable default interval. The values
649 ``never'', ``none'' can be used for no expiration date.
650 If this command is used with --batch, --pinentry-mode has been
652 set to loopback, and one of the passphrase options
653 (--passphrase, --passphrase-fd, or --passphrase-file) is used,
654 the supplied passphrase is used for the new key and the agent
655 does not ask for it. To create a key without any protection
656 --passphrase '' may be used.
657 To create an OpenPGP key from the keys available on the cur‐
659 rently inserted smartcard, the special string ``card'' can be
660 used for algo. If the card features an encryption and a signing
661 key, gpg will figure them out and creates an OpenPGP key con‐
662 sisting of the usual primary key and one subkey. This works
663 only with certain smartcards. Note that the interactive --full-
664 gen-key command allows to do the same but with greater flexibil‐
665 ity in the selection of the smartcard keys.
666 Note that it is possible to create a primary key and a subkey
668 using non-default algorithms by using ``default'' and changing
669 the default parameters using the option --default-new-key-algo.
670 --quick-set-expire fpr expire [*|subfprs]
673 With two arguments given, directly set the expiration time of
674 the primary key identified by fpr to expire. To remove the ex‐
675 piration time 0 can be used. With three arguments and the third
676 given as an asterisk, the expiration time of all non-revoked and
677 not yet expired subkeys are set to expire. With more than two
678 arguments and a list of fingerprints given for subfprs, all non-
679 revoked subkeys matching these fingerprints are set to expire.
680 --quick-add-key fpr [algo [usage [expire]]]
684 Directly add a subkey to the key identified by the fingerprint
685 fpr. Without the optional arguments an encryption subkey is
686 added. If any of the arguments are given a more specific subkey
687 is added.
688 algo may be any of the supported algorithms or curve names given
690 in the format as used by key listings. To use the default algo‐
691 rithm the string ``default'' or ``-'' can be used. Supported
692 algorithms are ``rsa'', ``dsa'', ``elg'', ``ed25519'',
693 ``cv25519'', and other ECC curves. For example the string
694 ``rsa'' adds an RSA key with the default key length; a string
695 ``rsa4096'' requests that the key length is 4096 bits. The
696 string ``future-default'' is an alias for the algorithm which
697 will likely be used as default algorithm in future versions of
698 gpg. To list the supported ECC curves the command gpg --with-
699 colons --list-config curve can be used.
700 Depending on the given algo the subkey may either be an encryp‐
702 tion subkey or a signing subkey. If an algorithm is capable of
703 signing and encryption and such a subkey is desired, a usage
704 string must be given. This string is either ``default'' or
705 ``-'' to keep the default or a comma delimited list (or space
706 delimited list) of keywords: ``sign'' for a signing subkey,
707 ``auth'' for an authentication subkey, and ``encr'' for an en‐
708 cryption subkey (``encrypt'' can be used as alias for ``encr'').
709 The valid combinations depend on the algorithm.
710 The expire argument can be used to specify an expiration date
712 for the key. Several formats are supported; commonly the ISO
713 formats ``YYYY-MM-DD'' or ``YYYYMMDDThhmmss'' are used. To make
714 the key expire in N seconds, N days, N weeks, N months, or N
715 years use ``seconds=N'', ``Nd'', ``Nw'', ``Nm'', or ``Ny'' re‐
716 spectively. Not specifying a value, or using ``-'' results in a
717 key expiring in a reasonable default interval. The values
718 ``never'', ``none'' can be used for no expiration date.
719 --generate-key
722 --gen-key
723 Generate a new key pair using the current default parameters.
724 This is the standard command to create a new key. In addition
725 to the key a revocation certificate is created and stored in the
726 ‘openpgp-revocs.d’ directory below the GnuPG home directory.
727 --full-generate-key
730 --full-gen-key
731 Generate a new key pair with dialogs for all options. This is
732 an extended version of --generate-key.
733 There is also a feature which allows you to create keys in batch
735 mode. See the manual section ``Unattended key generation'' on
736 how to use this.
737 --generate-revocation name
741 --gen-revoke name
742 Generate a revocation certificate for the complete key. To only
743 revoke a subkey or a key signature, use the --edit command.
744 This command merely creates the revocation certificate so that
746 it can be used to revoke the key if that is ever needed. To ac‐
747 tually revoke a key the created revocation certificate needs to
748 be merged with the key to revoke. This is done by importing the
749 revocation certificate using the --import command. Then the re‐
750 voked key needs to be published, which is best done by sending
751 the key to a keyserver (command --send-key) and by exporting
752 (--export) it to a file which is then send to frequent communi‐
753 cation partners.
754 --generate-designated-revocation name
758 --desig-revoke name
759 Generate a designated revocation certificate for a key. This al‐
760 lows a user (with the permission of the keyholder) to revoke
761 someone else's key.
762 --edit-key
766 Present a menu which enables you to do most of the key manage‐
767 ment related tasks. It expects the specification of a key on
768 the command line.
769 uid n Toggle selection of user ID or photographic user ID with
773 index n. Use * to select all and 0 to deselect all.
774 key n Toggle selection of subkey with index n or key ID n. Use
777 * to select all and 0 to deselect all.
778 sign Make a signature on key of user name. If the key is not
781 yet signed by the default user (or the users given with
782 -u), the program displays the information of the key
783 again, together with its fingerprint and asks whether it
784 should be signed. This question is repeated for all users
785 specified with -u.
786 lsign Same as "sign" but the signature is marked as non-ex‐
789 portable and will therefore never be used by others. This
790 may be used to make keys valid only in the local environ‐
791 ment.
792 nrsign Same as "sign" but the signature is marked as non-revoca‐
795 ble and can therefore never be revoked.
796 tsign Make a trust signature. This is a signature that combines
799 the notions of certification (like a regular signature),
800 and trust (like the "trust" command). It is generally
801 only useful in distinct communities or groups. For more
802 information please read the sections ``Trust Signature''
803 and ``Regular Expression'' in RFC-4880.
804 Note that "l" (for local / non-exportable), "nr" (for non-revo‐
806 cable, and "t" (for trust) may be freely mixed and prefixed to
807 "sign" to create a signature of any type desired.
808 If the option --only-sign-text-ids is specified, then any non-text
810 based user ids (e.g., photo IDs) will not be selected for signing.
811 delsig Delete a signature. Note that it is not possible to re‐
815 tract a signature, once it has been send to the public
816 (i.e. to a keyserver). In that case you better use
817 revsig.
818 revsig Revoke a signature. For every signature which has been
821 generated by one of the secret keys, GnuPG asks whether a
822 revocation certificate should be generated.
823 check Check the signatures on all selected user IDs. With the
826 extra option selfsig only self-signatures are shown.
827 adduid Create an additional user ID.
830 addphoto
833 Create a photographic user ID. This will prompt for a
834 JPEG file that will be embedded into the user ID. Note
835 that a very large JPEG will make for a very large key.
836 Also note that some programs will display your JPEG un‐
837 changed (GnuPG), and some programs will scale it to fit
838 in a dialog box (PGP).
839 showphoto
842 Display the selected photographic user ID.
843 deluid Delete a user ID or photographic user ID. Note that it
846 is not possible to retract a user id, once it has been
847 send to the public (i.e. to a keyserver). In that case
848 you better use revuid.
849 revuid Revoke a user ID or photographic user ID.
852 primary
855 Flag the current user id as the primary one, removes the
856 primary user id flag from all other user ids and sets the
857 timestamp of all affected self-signatures one second
858 ahead. Note that setting a photo user ID as primary makes
859 it primary over other photo user IDs, and setting a regu‐
860 lar user ID as primary makes it primary over other regu‐
861 lar user IDs.
862 keyserver
865 Set a preferred keyserver for the specified user ID(s).
866 This allows other users to know where you prefer they get
867 your key from. See --keyserver-options honor-keyserver-
868 url for more on how this works. Setting a value of
869 "none" removes an existing preferred keyserver.
870 notation
873 Set a name=value notation for the specified user ID(s).
874 See --cert-notation for more on how this works. Setting a
875 value of "none" removes all notations, setting a notation
876 prefixed with a minus sign (-) removes that notation, and
877 setting a notation name (without the =value) prefixed
878 with a minus sign removes all notations with that name.
879 pref List preferences from the selected user ID. This shows
882 the actual preferences, without including any implied
883 preferences.
884 showpref
887 More verbose preferences listing for the selected user
888 ID. This shows the preferences in effect by including the
889 implied preferences of 3DES (cipher), SHA-1 (digest), and
890 Uncompressed (compression) if they are not already in‐
891 cluded in the preference list. In addition, the preferred
892 keyserver and signature notations (if any) are shown.
893 setpref string
896 Set the list of user ID preferences to string for all (or
897 just the selected) user IDs. Calling setpref with no ar‐
898 guments sets the preference list to the default (either
899 built-in or set via --default-preference-list), and call‐
900 ing setpref with "none" as the argument sets an empty
901 preference list. Use gpg --version to get a list of
902 available algorithms. Note that while you can change the
903 preferences on an attribute user ID (aka "photo ID"),
904 GnuPG does not select keys via attribute user IDs so
905 these preferences will not be used by GnuPG.
906 When setting preferences, you should list the algorithms
908 in the order which you'd like to see them used by someone
909 else when encrypting a message to your key. If you don't
910 include 3DES, it will be automatically added at the end.
911 Note that there are many factors that go into choosing an
912 algorithm (for example, your key may not be the only re‐
913 cipient), and so the remote OpenPGP application being
914 used to send to you may or may not follow your exact cho‐
915 sen order for a given message. It will, however, only
916 choose an algorithm that is present on the preference
917 list of every recipient key. See also the INTEROPERABIL‐
918 ITY WITH OTHER OPENPGP PROGRAMS section below.
919 addkey Add a subkey to this key.
922 addcardkey
925 Generate a subkey on a card and add it to this key.
926 keytocard
929 Transfer the selected secret subkey (or the primary key
930 if no subkey has been selected) to a smartcard. The se‐
931 cret key in the keyring will be replaced by a stub if the
932 key could be stored successfully on the card and you use
933 the save command later. Only certain key types may be
934 transferred to the card. A sub menu allows you to select
935 on what card to store the key. Note that it is not possi‐
936 ble to get that key back from the card - if the card gets
937 broken your secret key will be lost unless you have a
938 backup somewhere.
939 bkuptocard file
942 Restore the given file to a card. This command may be
943 used to restore a backup key (as generated during card
944 initialization) to a new card. In almost all cases this
945 will be the encryption key. You should use this command
946 only with the corresponding public key and make sure that
947 the file given as argument is indeed the backup to re‐
948 store. You should then select 2 to restore as encryption
949 key. You will first be asked to enter the passphrase of
950 the backup key and then for the Admin PIN of the card.
951 keytotpm
954 Transfer the selected secret subkey (or the primary key
955 if no subkey has been selected) to TPM form. The secret
956 key in the keyring will be replaced by the TPM represen‐
957 tation of that key, which can only be read by the partic‐
958 ular TPM that created it (so the keyfile now becomes
959 locked to the laptop containing the TPM). Only certain
960 key types may be transferred to the TPM (all TPM 2.0 sys‐
961 tems are mandated to have the rsa2048 and nistp256 algo‐
962 rithms but newer TPMs may have more). Note that the key
963 itself is not transferred into the TPM, merely encrypted
964 by the TPM in-place, so if the keyfile is deleted, the
965 key will be lost. Once transferred to TPM representa‐
966 tion, the key file can never be converted back to non-TPM
967 form and the key will die when the TPM does, so you
968 should first have a backup on secure offline storage of
969 the actual secret key file before conversion. It is es‐
970 sential to use the physical system TPM that you have rw
971 permission on the TPM resource manager device
972 (/dev/tpmrm0). Usually this means you must be a member
973 of the tss group.
974 delkey Remove a subkey (secondary key). Note that it is not pos‐
977 sible to retract a subkey, once it has been send to the
978 public (i.e. to a keyserver). In that case you better
979 use revkey. Also note that this only deletes the public
980 part of a key.
981 revkey Revoke a subkey.
984 expire Change the key or subkey expiration time. If a subkey is
987 selected, the expiration time of this subkey will be
988 changed. With no selection, the key expiration of the
989 primary key is changed.
990 trust Change the owner trust value for the key. This updates
993 the trust-db immediately and no save is required.
994 disable
997 enable Disable or enable an entire key. A disabled key can not
998 normally be used for encryption.
999 addrevoker
1002 Add a designated revoker to the key. This takes one op‐
1003 tional argument: "sensitive". If a designated revoker is
1004 marked as sensitive, it will not be exported by default
1005 (see export-options).
1006 passwd Change the passphrase of the secret key.
1009 toggle This is dummy command which exists only for backward com‐
1012 patibility.
1013 clean Compact (by removing all signatures except the selfsig)
1016 any user ID that is no longer usable (e.g. revoked, or
1017 expired). Then, remove any signatures that are not usable
1018 by the trust calculations. Specifically, this removes
1019 any signature that does not validate, any signature that
1020 is superseded by a later signature, revoked signatures,
1021 and signatures issued by keys that are not present on the
1022 keyring.
1023 minimize
1026 Make the key as small as possible. This removes all sig‐
1027 natures from each user ID except for the most recent
1028 self-signature.
1029 change-usage
1032 Change the usage flags (capabilities) of the primary key
1033 or of subkeys. These usage flags (e.g. Certify, Sign,
1034 Authenticate, Encrypt) are set during key creation.
1035 Sometimes it is useful to have the opportunity to change
1036 them (for example to add Authenticate) after they have
1037 been created. Please take care when doing this; the al‐
1038 lowed usage flags depend on the key algorithm.
1039 cross-certify
1042 Add cross-certification signatures to signing subkeys
1043 that may not currently have them. Cross-certification
1044 signatures protect against a subtle attack against sign‐
1045 ing subkeys. See --require-cross-certification. All new
1046 keys generated have this signature by default, so this
1047 command is only useful to bring older keys up to date.
1048 save Save all changes to the keyring and quit.
1051 quit Quit the program without updating the keyring.
1054 The listing shows you the key with its secondary keys and all
1056 user IDs. The primary user ID is indicated by a dot, and se‐
1057 lected keys or user IDs are indicated by an asterisk. The trust
1058 value is displayed with the primary key: "trust" is the assigned
1059 owner trust and "validity" is the calculated validity of the
1060 key. Validity values are also displayed for all user IDs. For
1061 possible values of trust, see: [trust-values].
1062 --sign-key name
1065 Signs a public key with your secret key. This is a shortcut ver‐
1066 sion of the subcommand "sign" from --edit-key.
1067 --lsign-key name
1070 Signs a public key with your secret key but marks it as non-ex‐
1071 portable. This is a shortcut version of the subcommand "lsign"
1072 from --edit-key.
1073 --quick-sign-key fpr [names]
1076 --quick-lsign-key fpr [names]
1077 Directly sign a key from the passphrase without any further user
1078 interaction. The fpr must be the verified primary fingerprint
1079 of a key in the local keyring. If no names are given, all useful
1080 user ids are signed; with given [names] only useful user ids
1081 matching one of these names are signed. By default, or if a
1082 name is prefixed with a '*', a case insensitive substring match
1083 is used. If a name is prefixed with a '=' a case sensitive ex‐
1084 act match is done.
1085 The command --quick-lsign-key marks the signatures as non-ex‐
1087 portable. If such a non-exportable signature already exists the
1088 --quick-sign-key turns it into a exportable signature. If you
1089 need to update an existing signature, for example to add or
1090 change notation data, you need to use the option --force-sign-
1091 key.
1092 This command uses reasonable defaults and thus does not provide
1094 the full flexibility of the "sign" subcommand from --edit-key.
1095 Its intended use is to help unattended key signing by utilizing
1096 a list of verified fingerprints.
1097 --quick-add-uid user-id new-user-id
1100 This command adds a new user id to an existing key. In contrast
1101 to the interactive sub-command adduid of --edit-key the new-
1102 user-id is added verbatim with only leading and trailing white
1103 space removed, it is expected to be UTF-8 encoded, and no checks
1104 on its form are applied.
1105 --quick-revoke-uid user-id user-id-to-revoke
1108 This command revokes a user ID on an existing key. It cannot be
1109 used to revoke the last user ID on key (some non-revoked user ID
1110 must remain), with revocation reason ``User ID is no longer
1111 valid''. If you want to specify a different revocation reason,
1112 or to supply supplementary revocation text, you should use the
1113 interactive sub-command revuid of --edit-key.
1114 --quick-revoke-sig fpr signing-fpr [names]
1117 This command revokes the key signatures made by signing-fpr from
1118 the key specified by the fingerprint fpr. With names given only
1119 the signatures on user ids of the key matching any of the given
1120 names are affected (see --quick-sign-key). If a revocation al‐
1121 ready exists a notice is printed instead of creating a new revo‐
1122 cation; no error is returned in this case. Note that key signa‐
1123 ture revocations may be superseded by a newer key signature and
1124 in turn again revoked.
1125 --quick-set-primary-uid user-id primary-user-id
1128 This command sets or updates the primary user ID flag on an ex‐
1129 isting key. user-id specifies the key and primary-user-id the
1130 user ID which shall be flagged as the primary user ID. The pri‐
1131 mary user ID flag is removed from all other user ids and the
1132 timestamp of all affected self-signatures is set one second
1133 ahead.
1134 --change-passphrase user-id
1138 --passwd user-id
1139 Change the passphrase of the secret key belonging to the cer‐
1140 tificate specified as user-id. This is a shortcut for the sub-
1141 command passwd of the --edit-key menu. When using together with
1142 the option --dry-run this will not actually change the
1143 passphrase but check that the current passphrase is correct.
1144
1147 gpg features a bunch of options to control the exact behaviour and to
1148 change the default configuration.
1149 Long options can be put in an options file (default
1152 "~/.gnupg/gpg.conf"). Short option names will not work - for example,
1153 "armor" is a valid option for the options file, while "a" is not. Do
1154 not write the 2 dashes, but simply the name of the option and any re‐
1155 quired arguments. Lines with a hash ('#') as the first non-white-space
1156 character are ignored. Commands may be put in this file too, but that
1157 is not generally useful as the command will execute automatically with
1158 every execution of gpg.
1159 Please remember that option parsing stops as soon as a non-option is
1161 encountered, you can explicitly stop parsing by using the special op‐
1162 tion --.
1163 How to change the configuration
1167 These options are used to change the configuration and most of them are
1170 usually found in the option file.
1171 --default-key name
1175 Use name as the default key to sign with. If this option is not
1176 used, the default key is the first key found in the secret
1177 keyring. Note that -u or --local-user overrides this option.
1178 This option may be given multiple times. In this case, the last
1179 key for which a secret key is available is used. If there is no
1180 secret key available for any of the specified values, GnuPG will
1181 not emit an error message but continue as if this option wasn't
1182 given.
1183 --default-recipient name
1186 Use name as default recipient if option --recipient is not used
1187 and don't ask if this is a valid one. name must be non-empty.
1188 --default-recipient-self
1191 Use the default key as default recipient if option --recipient
1192 is not used and don't ask if this is a valid one. The default
1193 key is the first one from the secret keyring or the one set with
1194 --default-key.
1195 --no-default-recipient
1198 Reset --default-recipient and --default-recipient-self. Should
1199 not be used in an option file.
1200 -v, --verbose
1203 Give more information during processing. If used twice, the in‐
1204 put data is listed in detail.
1205 --no-verbose
1208 Reset verbose level to 0. Should not be used in an option file.
1209 -q, --quiet
1212 Try to be as quiet as possible. Should not be used in an option
1213 file.
1214 --batch
1217 --no-batch
1218 Use batch mode. Never ask, do not allow interactive commands.
1219 --no-batch disables this option. Note that even with a filename
1220 given on the command line, gpg might still need to read from
1221 STDIN (in particular if gpg figures that the input is a detached
1222 signature and no data file has been specified). Thus if you do
1223 not want to feed data via STDIN, you should connect STDIN to
1224 ‘/dev/null’.
1225 It is highly recommended to use this option along with the op‐
1227 tions --status-fd and --with-colons for any unattended use of
1228 gpg. Should not be used in an option file.
1229 --no-tty
1232 Make sure that the TTY (terminal) is never used for any output.
1233 This option is needed in some cases because GnuPG sometimes
1234 prints warnings to the TTY even if --batch is used.
1235 --yes Assume "yes" on most questions. Should not be used in an option
1238 file.
1239 --no Assume "no" on most questions. Should not be used in an option
1242 file.
1243 --list-options parameters
1247 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options
1248 used when listing keys and signatures (that is, --list-keys,
1249 --check-signatures, --list-public-keys, --list-secret-keys, and
1250 the --edit-key functions). Options can be prepended with a no-
1251 (after the two dashes) to give the opposite meaning. The op‐
1252 tions are:
1253 show-photos
1257 Causes --list-keys, --check-signatures, --list-public-
1258 keys, and --list-secret-keys to display any photo IDs at‐
1259 tached to the key. Defaults to no. See also --photo-
1260 viewer. Does not work with --with-colons: see --attri‐
1261 bute-fd for the appropriate way to get photo data for
1262 scripts and other frontends.
1263 show-usage
1266 Show usage information for keys and subkeys in the stan‐
1267 dard key listing. This is a list of letters indicating
1268 the allowed usage for a key (E=encryption, S=signing,
1269 C=certification, A=authentication). Defaults to yes.
1270 show-policy-urls
1273 Show policy URLs in the --check-signatures listings.
1274 Defaults to no.
1275 show-notations
1278 show-std-notations
1279 show-user-notations
1280 Show all, IETF standard, or user-defined signature nota‐
1281 tions in the --check-signatures listings. Defaults to no.
1282 show-keyserver-urls
1285 Show any preferred keyserver URL in the --check-signa‐
1286 tures listings. Defaults to no.
1287 show-uid-validity
1290 Display the calculated validity of user IDs during key
1291 listings. Defaults to yes.
1292 show-unusable-uids
1295 Show revoked and expired user IDs in key listings. De‐
1296 faults to no.
1297 show-unusable-subkeys
1300 Show revoked and expired subkeys in key listings. De‐
1301 faults to no.
1302 show-keyring
1305 Display the keyring name at the head of key listings to
1306 show which keyring a given key resides on. Defaults to
1307 no.
1308 show-sig-expire
1311 Show signature expiration dates (if any) during --check-
1312 signatures listings. Defaults to no.
1313 show-sig-subpackets
1316 Include signature subpackets in the key listing. This op‐
1317 tion can take an optional argument list of the subpackets
1318 to list. If no argument is passed, list all subpackets.
1319 Defaults to no. This option is only meaningful when using
1320 --with-colons along with --check-signatures.
1321 show-only-fpr-mbox
1324 For each user-id which has a valid mail address print
1325 only the fingerprint followed by the mail address.
1326 sort-sigs
1329 With --list-sigs and --check-sigs sort the signatures by
1330 keyID and creation time to make it easier to view the
1331 history of these signatures. The self-signature is also
1332 listed before other signatures. Defaults to yes.
1333 --verify-options parameters
1337 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options
1338 used when verifying signatures. Options can be prepended with a
1339 `no-' to give the opposite meaning. The options are:
1340 show-photos
1344 Display any photo IDs present on the key that issued the
1345 signature. Defaults to no. See also --photo-viewer.
1346 show-policy-urls
1349 Show policy URLs in the signature being verified. De‐
1350 faults to yes.
1351 show-notations
1354 show-std-notations
1355 show-user-notations
1356 Show all, IETF standard, or user-defined signature nota‐
1357 tions in the signature being verified. Defaults to IETF
1358 standard.
1359 show-keyserver-urls
1362 Show any preferred keyserver URL in the signature being
1363 verified. Defaults to yes.
1364 show-uid-validity
1367 Display the calculated validity of the user IDs on the
1368 key that issued the signature. Defaults to yes.
1369 show-unusable-uids
1372 Show revoked and expired user IDs during signature veri‐
1373 fication. Defaults to no.
1374 show-primary-uid-only
1377 Show only the primary user ID during signature verifica‐
1378 tion. That is all the AKA lines as well as photo Ids are
1379 not shown with the signature verification status.
1380 --enable-large-rsa
1384 --disable-large-rsa
1385 With --generate-key and --batch, enable the creation of RSA se‐
1386 cret keys as large as 8192 bit. Note: 8192 bit is more than is
1387 generally recommended. These large keys don't significantly im‐
1388 prove security, but they are more expensive to use, and their
1389 signatures and certifications are larger. This option is only
1390 available if the binary was build with large-secmem support.
1391 --enable-dsa2
1394 --disable-dsa2
1395 Enable hash truncation for all DSA keys even for old DSA Keys up
1396 to 1024 bit. This is also the default with --openpgp. Note
1397 that older versions of GnuPG also required this flag to allow
1398 the generation of DSA larger than 1024 bit.
1399 --photo-viewer string
1402 This is the command line that should be run to view a photo ID.
1403 "%i" will be expanded to a filename containing the photo. "%I"
1404 does the same, except the file will not be deleted once the
1405 viewer exits. Other flags are "%k" for the key ID, "%K" for the
1406 long key ID, "%f" for the key fingerprint, "%t" for the exten‐
1407 sion of the image type (e.g. "jpg"), "%T" for the MIME type of
1408 the image (e.g. "image/jpeg"), "%v" for the single-character
1409 calculated validity of the image being viewed (e.g. "f"), "%V"
1410 for the calculated validity as a string (e.g. "full"), "%U" for
1411 a base32 encoded hash of the user ID, and "%%" for an actual
1412 percent sign. If neither %i or %I are present, then the photo
1413 will be supplied to the viewer on standard input.
1414 On Unix the default viewer is xloadimage -fork -quiet -title
1416 'KeyID 0x%k' STDIN with a fallback to display -title 'KeyID
1417 0x%k' %i and finally to xdg-open %i. On Windows !ShellExecute
1418 400 %i is used; here the command is a meta command to use that
1419 API call followed by a wait time in milliseconds which is used
1420 to give the viewer time to read the temporary image file before
1421 gpg deletes it again. Note that if your image viewer program is
1422 not secure, then executing it from gpg does not make it secure.
1423 --exec-path string
1426 Sets a list of directories to search for photo viewers If not
1427 provided photo viewers use the PATH environment variable.
1428 --keyring file
1431 Add file to the current list of keyrings. If file begins with a
1432 tilde and a slash, these are replaced by the $HOME directory. If
1433 the filename does not contain a slash, it is assumed to be in
1434 the GnuPG home directory ("~/.gnupg" unless --homedir or
1435 $GNUPGHOME is used).
1436 Note that this adds a keyring to the current list. If the intent
1438 is to use the specified keyring alone, use --keyring along with
1439 --no-default-keyring.
1440 If the option --no-keyring has been used no keyrings will be
1442 used at all.
1443 Note that if the option use-keyboxd is enabled in ‘common.conf’,
1445 no keyrings are used at all and keys are all maintained by the
1446 keyboxd process in its own database.
1447 --primary-keyring file
1450 This is a varian of --keyring and designates file as the primary
1451 public keyring. This means that newly imported keys (via --im‐
1452 port or keyserver --recv-from) will go to this keyring.
1453 --secret-keyring file
1457 This is an obsolete option and ignored. All secret keys are
1458 stored in the ‘private-keys-v1.d’ directory below the GnuPG home
1459 directory.
1460 --trustdb-name file
1463 Use file instead of the default trustdb. If file begins with a
1464 tilde and a slash, these are replaced by the $HOME directory. If
1465 the filename does not contain a slash, it is assumed to be in
1466 the GnuPG home directory (‘~/.gnupg’ if --homedir or $GNUPGHOME
1467 is not used).
1468 --homedir dir
1471 Set the name of the home directory to dir. If this option is not
1472 used, the home directory defaults to ‘~/.gnupg’. It is only
1473 recognized when given on the command line. It also overrides
1474 any home directory stated through the environment variable
1475 ‘GNUPGHOME’ or (on Windows systems) by means of the Registry en‐
1476 try HKCU\Software\GNU\GnuPG:HomeDir.
1477 On Windows systems it is possible to install GnuPG as a portable
1479 application. In this case only this command line option is con‐
1480 sidered, all other ways to set a home directory are ignored.
1481 To install GnuPG as a portable application under Windows, create
1483 an empty file named ‘gpgconf.ctl’ in the same directory as the
1484 tool ‘gpgconf.exe’. The root of the installation is then that
1485 directory; or, if ‘gpgconf.exe’ has been installed directly be‐
1486 low a directory named ‘bin’, its parent directory. You also
1487 need to make sure that the following directories exist and are
1488 writable: ‘ROOT/home’ for the GnuPG home and
1489 ‘ROOT/var/cache/gnupg’ for internal cache files.
1490 --display-charset name
1494 Set the name of the native character set. This is used to con‐
1495 vert some informational strings like user IDs to the proper
1496 UTF-8 encoding. Note that this has nothing to do with the char‐
1497 acter set of data to be encrypted or signed; GnuPG does not re‐
1498 code user-supplied data. If this option is not used, the default
1499 character set is determined from the current locale. A verbosity
1500 level of 3 shows the chosen set. This option should not be used
1501 on Windows. Valid values for name are:
1502 iso-8859-1
1506 This is the Latin 1 set.
1507 iso-8859-2
1510 The Latin 2 set.
1511 iso-8859-15
1514 This is currently an alias for the Latin 1 set.
1515 koi8-r The usual Russian set (RFC-1489).
1518 utf-8 Bypass all translations and assume that the OS uses na‐
1521 tive UTF-8 encoding.
1522 --utf8-strings
1525 --no-utf8-strings
1526 Assume that command line arguments are given as UTF-8 strings.
1527 The default (--no-utf8-strings) is to assume that arguments are
1528 encoded in the character set as specified by --display-charset.
1529 These options affect all following arguments. Both options may
1530 be used multiple times. This option should not be used in an
1531 option file.
1532 This option has no effect on Windows. There the internal used
1534 UTF-8 encoding is translated for console input and output. The
1535 command line arguments are expected as Unicode and translated to
1536 UTF-8. Thus when calling this program from another, make sure
1537 to use the Unicode version of CreateProcess.
1538 --options file
1542 Read options from file and do not try to read them from the de‐
1543 fault options file in the homedir (see --homedir). This option
1544 is ignored if used in an options file.
1545 --no-options
1548 Shortcut for --options /dev/null. This option is detected before
1549 an attempt to open an option file. Using this option will also
1550 prevent the creation of a ‘~/.gnupg’ homedir.
1551 -z n
1554 --compress-level n
1555 --bzip2-compress-level n
1556 Set compression level to n for the ZIP and ZLIB compression al‐
1557 gorithms. The default is to use the default compression level of
1558 zlib (normally 6). --bzip2-compress-level sets the compression
1559 level for the BZIP2 compression algorithm (defaulting to 6 as
1560 well). This is a different option from --compress-level since
1561 BZIP2 uses a significant amount of memory for each additional
1562 compression level. -z sets both. A value of 0 for n disables
1563 compression.
1564 --bzip2-decompress-lowmem
1567 Use a different decompression method for BZIP2 compressed files.
1568 This alternate method uses a bit more than half the memory, but
1569 also runs at half the speed. This is useful under extreme low
1570 memory circumstances when the file was originally compressed at
1571 a high --bzip2-compress-level.
1572 --mangle-dos-filenames
1576 --no-mangle-dos-filenames
1577 Older version of Windows cannot handle filenames with more than
1578 one dot. --mangle-dos-filenames causes GnuPG to replace (rather
1579 than add to) the extension of an output filename to avoid this
1580 problem. This option is off by default and has no effect on non-
1581 Windows platforms.
1582 --ask-cert-level
1585 --no-ask-cert-level
1586 When making a key signature, prompt for a certification level.
1587 If this option is not specified, the certification level used is
1588 set via --default-cert-level. See --default-cert-level for in‐
1589 formation on the specific levels and how they are used. --no-
1590 ask-cert-level disables this option. This option defaults to no.
1591 --default-cert-level n
1594 The default to use for the check level when signing a key.
1595 0 means you make no particular claim as to how carefully you
1597 verified the key.
1598 1 means you believe the key is owned by the person who claims to
1600 own it but you could not, or did not verify the key at all. This
1601 is useful for a "persona" verification, where you sign the key
1602 of a pseudonymous user.
1603 2 means you did casual verification of the key. For example,
1605 this could mean that you verified the key fingerprint and
1606 checked the user ID on the key against a photo ID.
1607 3 means you did extensive verification of the key. For example,
1609 this could mean that you verified the key fingerprint with the
1610 owner of the key in person, and that you checked, by means of a
1611 hard to forge document with a photo ID (such as a passport) that
1612 the name of the key owner matches the name in the user ID on the
1613 key, and finally that you verified (by exchange of email) that
1614 the email address on the key belongs to the key owner.
1615 Note that the examples given above for levels 2 and 3 are just
1617 that: examples. In the end, it is up to you to decide just what
1618 "casual" and "extensive" mean to you.
1619 This option defaults to 0 (no particular claim).
1621 --min-cert-level
1624 When building the trust database, treat any signatures with a
1625 certification level below this as invalid. Defaults to 2, which
1626 disregards level 1 signatures. Note that level 0 "no particular
1627 claim" signatures are always accepted.
1628 --trusted-key long key ID or fingerprint
1631 Assume that the specified key (which should be given as finger‐
1632 print) is as trustworthy as one of your own secret keys. This
1633 option is useful if you don't want to keep your secret keys (or
1634 one of them) online but still want to be able to check the va‐
1635 lidity of a given recipient's or signator's key. If the given
1636 key is not locally available but an LDAP keyserver is configured
1637 the missing key is imported from that server.
1638 --trust-model {pgp|classic|tofu|tofu+pgp|direct|always|auto}
1641 Set what trust model GnuPG should follow. The models are:
1642 pgp This is the Web of Trust combined with trust signatures
1646 as used in PGP 5.x and later. This is the default trust
1647 model when creating a new trust database.
1648 classic
1651 This is the standard Web of Trust as introduced by PGP 2.
1652 tofu
1655 TOFU stands for Trust On First Use. In this trust model,
1657 the first time a key is seen, it is memorized. If later
1658 another key with a user id with the same email address is
1659 seen, both keys are marked as suspect. In that case, the
1660 next time either is used, a warning is displayed describ‐
1661 ing the conflict, why it might have occurred (either the
1662 user generated a new key and failed to cross sign the old
1663 and new keys, the key is forgery, or a man-in-the-middle
1664 attack is being attempted), and the user is prompted to
1665 manually confirm the validity of the key in question.
1666 Because a potential attacker is able to control the email
1668 address and thereby circumvent the conflict detection al‐
1669 gorithm by using an email address that is similar in ap‐
1670 pearance to a trusted email address, whenever a message
1671 is verified, statistics about the number of messages
1672 signed with the key are shown. In this way, a user can
1673 easily identify attacks using fake keys for regular cor‐
1674 respondents.
1675 When compared with the Web of Trust, TOFU offers signifi‐
1677 cantly weaker security guarantees. In particular, TOFU
1678 only helps ensure consistency (that is, that the binding
1679 between a key and email address doesn't change). A major
1680 advantage of TOFU is that it requires little maintenance
1681 to use correctly. To use the web of trust properly, you
1682 need to actively sign keys and mark users as trusted in‐
1683 troducers. This is a time-consuming process and anecdo‐
1684 tal evidence suggests that even security-conscious users
1685 rarely take the time to do this thoroughly and instead
1686 rely on an ad-hoc TOFU process.
1687 In the TOFU model, policies are associated with bindings
1689 between keys and email addresses (which are extracted
1690 from user ids and normalized). There are five policies,
1691 which can be set manually using the --tofu-policy option.
1692 The default policy can be set using the --tofu-default-
1693 policy option.
1694 The TOFU policies are: auto, good, unknown, bad and ask.
1696 The auto policy is used by default (unless overridden by
1697 --tofu-default-policy) and marks a binding as marginally
1698 trusted. The good, unknown and bad policies mark a bind‐
1699 ing as fully trusted, as having unknown trust or as hav‐
1700 ing trust never, respectively. The unknown policy is
1701 useful for just using TOFU to detect conflicts, but to
1702 never assign positive trust to a binding. The final pol‐
1703 icy, ask prompts the user to indicate the binding's
1704 trust. If batch mode is enabled (or input is inappropri‐
1705 ate in the context), then the user is not prompted and
1706 the undefined trust level is returned.
1707 tofu+pgp
1710 This trust model combines TOFU with the Web of Trust.
1711 This is done by computing the trust level for each model
1712 and then taking the maximum trust level where the trust
1713 levels are ordered as follows: unknown < undefined < mar‐
1714 ginal < fully < ultimate < expired < never.
1715 By setting --tofu-default-policy=unknown, this model can
1717 be used to implement the web of trust with TOFU's con‐
1718 flict detection algorithm, but without its assignment of
1719 positive trust values, which some security-conscious
1720 users don't like.
1721 direct Key validity is set directly by the user and not calcu‐
1724 lated via the Web of Trust. This model is solely based
1725 on the key and does not distinguish user IDs. Note that
1726 when changing to another trust model the trust values as‐
1727 signed to a key are transformed into ownertrust values,
1728 which also indicate how you trust the owner of the key to
1729 sign other keys.
1730 always Skip key validation and assume that used keys are always
1733 fully valid. You generally won't use this unless you are
1734 using some external validation scheme. This option also
1735 suppresses the "[uncertain]" tag printed with signature
1736 checks when there is no evidence that the user ID is
1737 bound to the key. Note that this trust model still does
1738 not allow the use of expired, revoked, or disabled keys.
1739 auto Select the trust model depending on whatever the internal
1742 trust database says. This is the default model if such a
1743 database already exists. Note that a tofu trust model is
1744 not considered here and must be enabled explicitly.
1745 --auto-key-locate mechanisms
1749 --no-auto-key-locate
1750 GnuPG can automatically locate and retrieve keys as needed using
1751 this option. This happens when encrypting to an email address
1752 (in the "user@example.com" form), and there are no "user@exam‐
1753 ple.com" keys on the local keyring. This option takes any num‐
1754 ber of the mechanisms listed below, in the order they are to be
1755 tried. Instead of listing the mechanisms as comma delimited ar‐
1756 guments, the option may also be given several times to add more
1757 mechanism. The option --no-auto-key-locate or the mechanism
1758 "clear" resets the list. The default is "local,wkd".
1759 cert Locate a key using DNS CERT, as specified in RFC-4398.
1763 dane Locate a key using DANE, as specified in draft-ietf-dane-
1766 openpgpkey-05.txt.
1767 wkd Locate a key using the Web Key Directory protocol.
1770 ldap Using DNS Service Discovery, check the domain in question
1773 for any LDAP keyservers to use. If this fails, attempt
1774 to locate the key using the PGP Universal method of
1775 checking ‘ldap://keys.(thedomain)’.
1776 ntds Locate the key using the Active Directory (Windows only).
1779 This method also allows to search by fingerprint using
1780 the command --locate-external-key.
1781 keyserver
1784 Locate a key using a keyserver. This method also allows
1785 to search by fingerprint using the command --locate-ex‐
1786 ternal-key if any of the configured keyservers is an LDAP
1787 server.
1788 keyserver-URL
1791 In addition, a keyserver URL as used in the dirmngr con‐
1792 figuration may be used here to query that particular key‐
1793 server. This method also allows to search by fingerprint
1794 using the command --locate-external-key if the URL speci‐
1795 fies an LDAP server.
1796 local Locate the key using the local keyrings. This mechanism
1799 allows the user to select the order a local key lookup is
1800 done. Thus using ‘--auto-key-locate local’ is identical
1801 to --no-auto-key-locate.
1802 nodefault
1805 This flag disables the standard local key lookup, done
1806 before any of the mechanisms defined by the --auto-key-
1807 locate are tried. The position of this mechanism in the
1808 list does not matter. It is not required if local is
1809 also used.
1810 clear Clear all defined mechanisms. This is useful to override
1813 mechanisms given in a config file. Note that a nodefault
1814 in mechanisms will also be cleared unless it is given af‐
1815 ter the clear.
1816 --auto-key-import
1821 --no-auto-key-import
1822 This is an offline mechanism to get a missing key for signature
1823 verification and for later encryption to this key. If this op‐
1824 tion is enabled and a signature includes an embedded key, that
1825 key is used to verify the signature and on verification success
1826 the key is imported. The default is --no-auto-key-import.
1827 On the sender (signing) site the option --include-key-block
1829 needs to be used to put the public part of the signing key as
1830 “Key Block subpacket” into the signature.
1831 --auto-key-retrieve
1834 --no-auto-key-retrieve
1835 These options enable or disable the automatic retrieving of keys
1836 from a keyserver when verifying signatures made by keys that are
1837 not on the local keyring. The default is --no-auto-key-re‐
1838 trieve.
1839 The order of methods tried to lookup the key is:
1841 1. If the option --auto-key-import is set and the signatures in‐
1843 cludes an embedded key, that key is used to verify the signature
1844 and on verification success that key is imported.
1845 2. If a preferred keyserver is specified in the signature and
1847 the option honor-keyserver-url is active (which is not the de‐
1848 fault), that keyserver is tried. Note that the creator of the
1849 signature uses the option --sig-keyserver-url to specify the
1850 preferred keyserver for data signatures.
1851 3. If the signature has the Signer's UID set (e.g. using
1853 --sender while creating the signature) a Web Key Directory (WKD)
1854 lookup is done. This is the default configuration but can be
1855 disabled by removing WKD from the auto-key-locate list or by us‐
1856 ing the option --disable-signer-uid.
1857 4. If any keyserver is configured and the Issuer Fingerprint is
1859 part of the signature (since GnuPG 2.1.16), the configured key‐
1860 servers are tried.
1861 Note that this option makes a "web bug" like behavior possible.
1863 Keyserver or Web Key Directory operators can see which keys you
1864 request, so by sending you a message signed by a brand new key
1865 (which you naturally will not have on your local keyring), the
1866 operator can tell both your IP address and the time when you
1867 verified the signature.
1868 --keyid-format {none|short|0xshort|long|0xlong}
1871 Select how to display key IDs. "none" does not show the key ID
1872 at all but shows the fingerprint in a separate line. "short" is
1873 the traditional 8-character key ID. "long" is the more accurate
1874 (but less convenient) 16-character key ID. Add an "0x" to ei‐
1875 ther to include an "0x" at the beginning of the key ID, as in
1876 0x99242560. Note that this option is ignored if the option
1877 --with-colons is used.
1878 --keyserver name
1881 This option is deprecated - please use the --keyserver in ‘dirm‐
1882 ngr.conf’ instead.
1883 Use name as your keyserver. This is the server that --receive-
1885 keys, --send-keys, and --search-keys will communicate with to
1886 receive keys from, send keys to, and search for keys on. The
1887 format of the name is a URI: `scheme:[//]keyservername[:port]'
1888 The scheme is the type of keyserver: "hkp"/"hkps" for the HTTP
1889 (or compatible) keyservers or "ldap"/"ldaps" for the LDAP key‐
1890 servers. Note that your particular installation of GnuPG may
1891 have other keyserver types available as well. Keyserver schemes
1892 are case-insensitive.
1893 Most keyservers synchronize with each other, so there is gener‐
1895 ally no need to send keys to more than one server. The keyserver
1896 hkp://keys.gnupg.net uses round robin DNS to give a different
1897 keyserver each time you use it.
1898 --keyserver-options {name=value}
1901 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
1902 the keyserver. Options can be prefixed with a `no-' to give the
1903 opposite meaning. Valid import-options or export-options may be
1904 used here as well to apply to importing (--recv-key) or export‐
1905 ing (--send-key) a key from a keyserver. While not all options
1906 are available for all keyserver types, some common options are:
1907 include-revoked
1911 When searching for a key with --search-keys, include keys
1912 that are marked on the keyserver as revoked. Note that
1913 not all keyservers differentiate between revoked and un‐
1914 revoked keys, and for such keyservers this option is
1915 meaningless. Note also that most keyservers do not have
1916 cryptographic verification of key revocations, and so
1917 turning this option off may result in skipping keys that
1918 are incorrectly marked as revoked.
1919 include-disabled
1922 When searching for a key with --search-keys, include keys
1923 that are marked on the keyserver as disabled. Note that
1924 this option is not used with HKP keyservers.
1925 auto-key-retrieve
1928 This is an obsolete alias for the option auto-key-re‐
1929 trieve. Please do not use it; it will be removed in fu‐
1930 ture versions..
1931 honor-keyserver-url
1934 When using --refresh-keys, if the key in question has a
1935 preferred keyserver URL, then use that preferred key‐
1936 server to refresh the key from. In addition, if auto-key-
1937 retrieve is set, and the signature being verified has a
1938 preferred keyserver URL, then use that preferred key‐
1939 server to fetch the key from. Note that this option in‐
1940 troduces a "web bug": The creator of the key can see when
1941 the keys is refreshed. Thus this option is not enabled
1942 by default.
1943 include-subkeys
1946 When receiving a key, include subkeys as potential tar‐
1947 gets. Note that this option is not used with HKP key‐
1948 servers, as they do not support retrieving keys by subkey
1949 id.
1950 timeout
1953 http-proxy=value
1954 verbose
1955 debug
1956 check-cert
1957 ca-cert-file
1959 These options have no more function since GnuPG 2.1. Use
1960 the dirmngr configuration options instead.
1961 The default list of options is: "self-sigs-only, import-clean, repair-
1964 keys, repair-pks-subkey-bug, export-attributes". However, if the actual
1965 used source is an LDAP server "no-self-sigs-only" is assumed unless
1966 "self-sigs-only" has been explictly configured.
1967 --completes-needed n
1971 Number of completely trusted users to introduce a new key signer
1972 (defaults to 1).
1973 --marginals-needed n
1976 Number of marginally trusted users to introduce a new key signer
1977 (defaults to 3)
1978 --tofu-default-policy {auto|good|unknown|bad|ask}
1981 The default TOFU policy (defaults to auto). For more informa‐
1982 tion about the meaning of this option, see: [trust-model-tofu].
1983 --max-cert-depth n
1986 Maximum depth of a certification chain (default is 5).
1987 --no-sig-cache
1990 Do not cache the verification status of key signatures. Caching
1991 gives a much better performance in key listings. However, if you
1992 suspect that your public keyring is not safe against write modi‐
1993 fications, you can use this option to disable the caching. It
1994 probably does not make sense to disable it because all kind of
1995 damage can be done if someone else has write access to your pub‐
1996 lic keyring.
1997 --auto-check-trustdb
2000 --no-auto-check-trustdb
2001 If GnuPG feels that its information about the Web of Trust has
2002 to be updated, it automatically runs the --check-trustdb command
2003 internally. This may be a time consuming process. --no-auto-
2004 check-trustdb disables this option.
2005 --use-agent
2008 --no-use-agent
2009 This is dummy option. gpg always requires the agent.
2010 --gpg-agent-info
2013 This is dummy option. It has no effect when used with gpg.
2014 --agent-program file
2018 Specify an agent program to be used for secret key operations.
2019 The default value is determined by running gpgconf with the op‐
2020 tion --list-dirs. Note that the pipe symbol (|) is used for a
2021 regression test suite hack and may thus not be used in the file
2022 name.
2023 --dirmngr-program file
2026 Specify a dirmngr program to be used for keyserver access. The
2027 default value is ‘/usr/bin/dirmngr’.
2028 --disable-dirmngr
2031 Entirely disable the use of the Dirmngr.
2032 --no-autostart
2035 Do not start the gpg-agent or the dirmngr if it has not yet been
2036 started and its service is required. This option is mostly use‐
2037 ful on machines where the connection to gpg-agent has been redi‐
2038 rected to another machines. If dirmngr is required on the re‐
2039 mote machine, it may be started manually using gpgconf --launch
2040 dirmngr.
2041 --lock-once
2044 Lock the databases the first time a lock is requested and do not
2045 release the lock until the process terminates.
2046 --lock-multiple
2049 Release the locks every time a lock is no longer needed. Use
2050 this to override a previous --lock-once from a config file.
2051 --lock-never
2054 Disable locking entirely. This option should be used only in
2055 very special environments, where it can be assured that only one
2056 process is accessing those files. A bootable floppy with a
2057 stand-alone encryption system will probably use this. Improper
2058 usage of this option may lead to data and key corruption.
2059 --exit-on-status-write-error
2062 This option will cause write errors on the status FD to immedi‐
2063 ately terminate the process. That should in fact be the default
2064 but it never worked this way and thus we need an option to en‐
2065 able this, so that the change won't break applications which
2066 close their end of a status fd connected pipe too early. Using
2067 this option along with --enable-progress-filter may be used to
2068 cleanly cancel long running gpg operations.
2069 --limit-card-insert-tries n
2072 With n greater than 0 the number of prompts asking to insert a
2073 smartcard gets limited to N-1. Thus with a value of 1 gpg won't
2074 at all ask to insert a card if none has been inserted at
2075 startup. This option is useful in the configuration file in case
2076 an application does not know about the smartcard support and
2077 waits ad infinitum for an inserted card.
2078 --no-random-seed-file
2081 GnuPG uses a file to store its internal random pool over invoca‐
2082 tions. This makes random generation faster; however sometimes
2083 write operations are not desired. This option can be used to
2084 achieve that with the cost of slower random generation.
2085 --no-greeting
2088 Suppress the initial copyright message.
2089 --no-secmem-warning
2092 Suppress the warning about "using insecure memory".
2093 --no-permission-warning
2096 Suppress the warning about unsafe file and home directory
2097 (--homedir) permissions. Note that the permission checks that
2098 GnuPG performs are not intended to be authoritative, but rather
2099 they simply warn about certain common permission problems. Do
2100 not assume that the lack of a warning means that your system is
2101 secure.
2102 Note that the warning for unsafe --homedir permissions cannot be
2104 suppressed in the gpg.conf file, as this would allow an attacker
2105 to place an unsafe gpg.conf file in place, and use this file to
2106 suppress warnings about itself. The --homedir permissions warn‐
2107 ing may only be suppressed on the command line.
2108 --require-secmem
2111 --no-require-secmem
2112 Refuse to run if GnuPG cannot get secure memory. Defaults to no
2113 (i.e. run, but give a warning).
2114 --require-cross-certification
2118 --no-require-cross-certification
2119 When verifying a signature made from a subkey, ensure that the
2120 cross certification "back signature" on the subkey is present
2121 and valid. This protects against a subtle attack against sub‐
2122 keys that can sign. Defaults to --require-cross-certification
2123 for gpg.
2124 --expert
2127 --no-expert
2128 Allow the user to do certain nonsensical or "silly" things like
2129 signing an expired or revoked key, or certain potentially incom‐
2130 patible things like generating unusual key types. This also dis‐
2131 ables certain warning messages about potentially incompatible
2132 actions. As the name implies, this option is for experts only.
2133 If you don't fully understand the implications of what it allows
2134 you to do, leave this off. --no-expert disables this option.
2135 Key related options
2138 --recipient name
2143 -r Encrypt for user id name. If this option or --hidden-recipient
2144 is not specified, GnuPG asks for the user-id unless --default-
2145 recipient is given.
2146 --hidden-recipient name
2149 -R Encrypt for user ID name, but hide the key ID of this user's
2150 key. This option helps to hide the receiver of the message and
2151 is a limited countermeasure against traffic analysis. If this
2152 option or --recipient is not specified, GnuPG asks for the user
2153 ID unless --default-recipient is given.
2154 --recipient-file file
2157 -f This option is similar to --recipient except that it encrypts to
2158 a key stored in the given file. file must be the name of a file
2159 containing exactly one key. gpg assumes that the key in this
2160 file is fully valid.
2161 --hidden-recipient-file file
2164 -F This option is similar to --hidden-recipient except that it en‐
2165 crypts to a key stored in the given file. file must be the name
2166 of a file containing exactly one key. gpg assumes that the key
2167 in this file is fully valid.
2168 --encrypt-to name
2171 Same as --recipient but this one is intended for use in the op‐
2172 tions file and may be used with your own user-id as an "encrypt-
2173 to-self". These keys are only used when there are other recipi‐
2174 ents given either by use of --recipient or by the asked user id.
2175 No trust checking is performed for these user ids and even dis‐
2176 abled keys can be used.
2177 --hidden-encrypt-to name
2180 Same as --hidden-recipient but this one is intended for use in
2181 the options file and may be used with your own user-id as a hid‐
2182 den "encrypt-to-self". These keys are only used when there are
2183 other recipients given either by use of --recipient or by the
2184 asked user id. No trust checking is performed for these user
2185 ids and even disabled keys can be used.
2186 --no-encrypt-to
2189 Disable the use of all --encrypt-to and --hidden-encrypt-to
2190 keys.
2191 --group {name=value}
2194 Sets up a named group, which is similar to aliases in email pro‐
2195 grams. Any time the group name is a recipient (-r or --recipi‐
2196 ent), it will be expanded to the values specified. Multiple
2197 groups with the same name are automatically merged into a single
2198 group.
2199 The values are key IDs or fingerprints, but any key description
2201 is accepted. Note that a value with spaces in it will be treated
2202 as two different values. Note also there is only one level of
2203 expansion --- you cannot make an group that points to another
2204 group. When used from the command line, it may be necessary to
2205 quote the argument to this option to prevent the shell from
2206 treating it as multiple arguments.
2207 --ungroup name
2210 Remove a given entry from the --group list.
2211 --no-groups
2214 Remove all entries from the --group list.
2215 --local-user name
2218 -u Use name as the key to sign with. Note that this option over‐
2219 rides --default-key.
2220 --sender mbox
2223 This option has two purposes. mbox must either be a complete
2224 user ID containing a proper mail address or just a plain mail
2225 address. The option can be given multiple times.
2226 When creating a signature this option tells gpg the signing
2228 key's user id used to make the signature and embeds that user ID
2229 into the created signature (using OpenPGP's ``Signer's User ID''
2230 subpacket). If the option is given multiple times a suitable
2231 user ID is picked. However, if the signing key was specified
2232 directly by using a mail address (i.e. not by using a finger‐
2233 print or key ID) this option is used and the mail address is em‐
2234 bedded in the created signature.
2235 When verifying a signature mbox is used to restrict the informa‐
2237 tion printed by the TOFU code to matching user IDs. If the op‐
2238 tion is used and the signature contains a ``Signer's User ID''
2239 subpacket that information is is also used to restrict the
2240 printed information. Note that GnuPG considers only the mail
2241 address part of a User ID.
2242 If this option or the said subpacket is available the TRUST
2244 lines as printed by option status-fd correspond to the corre‐
2245 sponding User ID; if no User ID is known the TRUST lines are
2246 computed directly on the key and do not give any information
2247 about the User ID. In the latter case it his highly recommended
2248 to scripts and other frontends to evaluate the VALIDSIG line,
2249 retrieve the key and print all User IDs along with their valid‐
2250 ity (trust) information.
2251 --try-secret-key name
2255 For hidden recipients GPG needs to know the keys to use for
2256 trial decryption. The key set with --default-key is always
2257 tried first, but this is often not sufficient. This option al‐
2258 lows setting more keys to be used for trial decryption. Al‐
2259 though any valid user-id specification may be used for name it
2260 makes sense to use at least the long keyid to avoid ambiguities.
2261 Note that gpg-agent might pop up a pinentry for a lot keys to do
2262 the trial decryption. If you want to stop all further trial de‐
2263 cryption you may use close-window button instead of the cancel
2264 button.
2265 --try-all-secrets
2268 Don't look at the key ID as stored in the message but try all
2269 secret keys in turn to find the right decryption key. This op‐
2270 tion forces the behaviour as used by anonymous recipients (cre‐
2271 ated by using --throw-keyids or --hidden-recipient) and might
2272 come handy in case where an encrypted message contains a bogus
2273 key ID.
2274 --skip-hidden-recipients
2277 --no-skip-hidden-recipients
2278 During decryption skip all anonymous recipients. This option
2279 helps in the case that people use the hidden recipients feature
2280 to hide their own encrypt-to key from others. If one has many
2281 secret keys this may lead to a major annoyance because all keys
2282 are tried in turn to decrypt something which was not really in‐
2283 tended for it. The drawback of this option is that it is cur‐
2284 rently not possible to decrypt a message which includes real
2285 anonymous recipients.
2286 Input and Output
2290 --armor
2295 -a Create ASCII armored output. The default is to create the bi‐
2296 nary OpenPGP format.
2297 --no-armor
2300 Assume the input data is not in ASCII armored format.
2301 --output file
2304 -o file
2305 Write output to file. To write to stdout use - as the filename.
2306 --max-output n
2309 This option sets a limit on the number of bytes that will be
2310 generated when processing a file. Since OpenPGP supports various
2311 levels of compression, it is possible that the plaintext of a
2312 given message may be significantly larger than the original
2313 OpenPGP message. While GnuPG works properly with such messages,
2314 there is often a desire to set a maximum file size that will be
2315 generated before processing is forced to stop by the OS limits.
2316 Defaults to 0, which means "no limit".
2317 --chunk-size n
2320 The AEAD encryption mode encrypts the data in chunks so that a
2321 receiving side can check for transmission errors or tampering at
2322 the end of each chunk and does not need to delay this until all
2323 data has been received. The used chunk size is 2^n byte. The
2324 lowest allowed value for n is 6 (64 byte) and the largest is the
2325 default of 22 which creates chunks not larger than 4 MiB.
2326 --input-size-hint n
2329 This option can be used to tell GPG the size of the input data
2330 in bytes. n must be a positive base-10 number. This option is
2331 only useful if the input is not taken from a file. GPG may use
2332 this hint to optimize its buffer allocation strategy. It is
2333 also used by the --status-fd line ``PROGRESS'' to provide a
2334 value for ``total'' if that is not available by other means.
2335 --key-origin string[,url]
2338 gpg can track the origin of a key. Certain origins are implic‐
2339 itly known (e.g. keyserver, web key directory) and set. For a
2340 standard import the origin of the keys imported can be set with
2341 this option. To list the possible values use "help" for string.
2342 Some origins can store an optional url argument. That URL can
2343 appended to string after a comma.
2344 --import-options parameters
2347 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
2348 importing keys. Options can be prepended with a `no-' to give
2349 the opposite meaning. The options are:
2350 import-local-sigs
2354 Allow importing key signatures marked as "local". This is
2355 not generally useful unless a shared keyring scheme is
2356 being used. Defaults to no.
2357 keep-ownertrust
2360 Normally possible still existing ownertrust values of a
2361 key are cleared if a key is imported. This is in general
2362 desirable so that a formerly deleted key does not auto‐
2363 matically gain an ownertrust values merely due to import.
2364 On the other hand it is sometimes necessary to re-import
2365 a trusted set of keys again but keeping already assigned
2366 ownertrust values. This can be achieved by using this
2367 option.
2368 repair-pks-subkey-bug
2371 During import, attempt to repair the damage caused by the
2372 PKS keyserver bug (pre version 0.9.6) that mangles keys
2373 with multiple subkeys. Note that this cannot completely
2374 repair the damaged key as some crucial data is removed by
2375 the keyserver, but it does at least give you back one
2376 subkey. Defaults to no for regular --import and to yes
2377 for keyserver --receive-keys.
2378 import-show
2381 show-only
2382 Show a listing of the key as imported right before it is
2383 stored. This can be combined with the option --dry-run
2384 to only look at keys; the option show-only is a shortcut
2385 for this combination. The command --show-keys is another
2386 shortcut for this. Note that suffixes like '#' for "sec"
2387 and "sbb" lines may or may not be printed.
2388 import-export
2391 Run the entire import code but instead of storing the key
2392 to the local keyring write it to the output. The export
2393 option export-dane affect the output. This option can
2394 for example be used to remove all invalid parts from a
2395 key without the need to store it.
2396 merge-only
2399 During import, allow key updates to existing keys, but do
2400 not allow any new keys to be imported. Defaults to no.
2401 import-clean
2404 After import, compact (remove all signatures except the
2405 self-signature) any user IDs from the new key that are
2406 not usable. Then, remove any signatures from the new key
2407 that are not usable. This includes signatures that were
2408 issued by keys that are not present on the keyring. This
2409 option is the same as running the --edit-key command
2410 "clean" after import. Defaults to no.
2411 self-sigs-only
2414 Accept only self-signatures while importing a key. All
2415 other key signatures are skipped at an early import
2416 stage. This option can be used with keyserver-options to
2417 mitigate attempts to flood a key with bogus signatures
2418 from a keyserver. The drawback is that all other valid
2419 key signatures, as required by the Web of Trust are also
2420 not imported. Note that when using this option along
2421 with import-clean it suppresses the final clean step af‐
2422 ter merging the imported key into the existing key.
2423 repair-keys
2426 After import, fix various problems with the keys. For
2427 example, this reorders signatures, and strips duplicate
2428 signatures. Defaults to yes.
2429 bulk-import
2432 When used the keyboxd (option use-keyboxd in ‘com‐
2433 mon.conf’) does the import within a single transaction.
2434 import-minimal
2437 Import the smallest key possible. This removes all signa‐
2438 tures except the most recent self-signature on each user
2439 ID. This option is the same as running the --edit-key
2440 command "minimize" after import. Defaults to no.
2441 restore
2444 import-restore
2445 Import in key restore mode. This imports all data which
2446 is usually skipped during import; including all GnuPG
2447 specific data. All other contradicting options are over‐
2448 ridden.
2449 --import-filter {name=expr}
2452 --export-filter {name=expr}
2453 These options define an import/export filter which are applied
2454 to the imported/exported keyblock right before it will be
2455 stored/written. name defines the type of filter to use, expr
2456 the expression to evaluate. The option can be used several
2457 times which then appends more expression to the same name.
2458 The available filter types are:
2461 keep-uid
2465 This filter will keep a user id packet and its dependent
2466 packets in the keyblock if the expression evaluates to
2467 true.
2468 drop-subkey
2471 This filter drops the selected subkeys. Currently only
2472 implemented for --export-filter.
2473 drop-sig
2476 This filter drops the selected key signatures on user
2477 ids. Self-signatures are not considered. Currently only
2478 implemented for --import-filter.
2479 For the syntax of the expression see the chapter "FILTER EXPRESSIONS".
2482 The property names for the expressions depend on the actual filter type
2483 and are indicated in the following table.
2484 The available properties are:
2486 uid A string with the user id. (keep-uid)
2490 mbox The addr-spec part of a user id with mailbox or the empty
2493 string. (keep-uid)
2494 key_algo
2497 A number with the public key algorithm of a key or subkey
2498 packet. (drop-subkey)
2499 key_created
2502 key_created_d
2503 The first is the timestamp a public key or subkey packet
2504 was created. The second is the same but given as an ISO
2505 string, e.g. "2016-08-17". (drop-subkey)
2506 fpr The hexified fingerprint of the current subkey or primary
2509 key. (drop-subkey)
2510 primary
2513 Boolean indicating whether the user id is the primary
2514 one. (keep-uid)
2515 expired
2518 Boolean indicating whether a user id (keep-uid), a key
2519 (drop-subkey), or a signature (drop-sig) expired.
2520 revoked
2523 Boolean indicating whether a user id (keep-uid) or a key
2524 (drop-subkey) has been revoked.
2525 disabled
2528 Boolean indicating whether a primary key is disabled.
2529 (not used)
2530 secret Boolean indicating whether a key or subkey is a secret
2533 one. (drop-subkey)
2534 usage A string indicating the usage flags for the subkey, from
2537 the sequence ``ecsa?''. For example, a subkey capable of
2538 just signing and authentication would be an exact match
2539 for ``sa''. (drop-subkey)
2540 sig_created
2543 sig_created_d
2544 The first is the timestamp a signature packet was cre‐
2545 ated. The second is the same but given as an ISO date
2546 string, e.g. "2016-08-17". (drop-sig)
2547 sig_algo
2550 A number with the public key algorithm of a signature
2551 packet. (drop-sig)
2552 sig_digest_algo
2555 A number with the digest algorithm of a signature packet.
2556 (drop-sig)
2557 --export-options parameters
2561 This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
2562 exporting keys. Options can be prepended with a `no-' to give
2563 the opposite meaning. The options are:
2564 export-local-sigs
2568 Allow exporting key signatures marked as "local". This is
2569 not generally useful unless a shared keyring scheme is
2570 being used. Defaults to no.
2571 export-attributes
2574 Include attribute user IDs (photo IDs) while exporting.
2575 Not including attribute user IDs is useful to export keys
2576 that are going to be used by an OpenPGP program that does
2577 not accept attribute user IDs. Defaults to yes.
2578 export-sensitive-revkeys
2581 Include designated revoker information that was marked as
2582 "sensitive". Defaults to no.
2583 backup
2587 export-backup
2588 Export for use as a backup. The exported data includes
2589 all data which is needed to restore the key or keys later
2590 with GnuPG. The format is basically the OpenPGP format
2591 but enhanced with GnuPG specific data. All other contra‐
2592 dicting options are overridden.
2593 export-clean
2596 Compact (remove all signatures from) user IDs on the key
2597 being exported if the user IDs are not usable. Also, do
2598 not export any signatures that are not usable. This in‐
2599 cludes signatures that were issued by keys that are not
2600 present on the keyring. This option is the same as run‐
2601 ning the --edit-key command "clean" before export except
2602 that the local copy of the key is not modified. Defaults
2603 to no.
2604 export-minimal
2607 Export the smallest key possible. This removes all signa‐
2608 tures except the most recent self-signature on each user
2609 ID. This option is the same as running the --edit-key
2610 command "minimize" before export except that the local
2611 copy of the key is not modified. Defaults to no.
2612 export-dane
2615 Instead of outputting the key material output OpenPGP
2616 DANE records suitable to put into DNS zone files. An
2617 ORIGIN line is printed before each record to allow di‐
2618 verting the records to the corresponding zone file.
2619 --with-colons
2623 Print key listings delimited by colons. Note that the output
2624 will be encoded in UTF-8 regardless of any --display-charset
2625 setting. This format is useful when GnuPG is called from scripts
2626 and other programs as it is easily machine parsed. The details
2627 of this format are documented in the file ‘doc/DETAILS’, which
2628 is included in the GnuPG source distribution.
2629 --fixed-list-mode
2632 Do not merge primary user ID and primary key in --with-colon
2633 listing mode and print all timestamps as seconds since
2634 1970-01-01. Since GnuPG 2.0.10, this mode is always used and
2635 thus this option is obsolete; it does not harm to use it though.
2636 --legacy-list-mode
2639 Revert to the pre-2.1 public key list mode. This only affects
2640 the human readable output and not the machine interface (i.e.
2641 --with-colons). Note that the legacy format does not convey
2642 suitable information for elliptic curves.
2643 --with-fingerprint
2646 Same as the command --fingerprint but changes only the format of
2647 the output and may be used together with another command.
2648 --with-subkey-fingerprint
2651 If a fingerprint is printed for the primary key, this option
2652 forces printing of the fingerprint for all subkeys. This could
2653 also be achieved by using the --with-fingerprint twice but by
2654 using this option along with keyid-format "none" a compact fin‐
2655 gerprint is printed.
2656 --with-icao-spelling
2659 Print the ICAO spelling of the fingerprint in addition to the
2660 hex digits.
2661 --with-keygrip
2664 Include the keygrip in the key listings. In --with-colons mode
2665 this is implicitly enable for secret keys.
2666 --with-key-origin
2669 Include the locally held information on the origin and last up‐
2670 date of a key in a key listing. In --with-colons mode this is
2671 always printed. This data is currently experimental and shall
2672 not be considered part of the stable API.
2673 --with-wkd-hash
2676 Print a Web Key Directory identifier along with each user ID in
2677 key listings. This is an experimental feature and semantics may
2678 change.
2679 --with-secret
2682 Include info about the presence of a secret key in public key
2683 listings done with --with-colons.
2684 OpenPGP protocol specific options
2687 -t, --textmode
2692 --no-textmode
2693 Treat input files as text and store them in the OpenPGP canoni‐
2694 cal text form with standard "CRLF" line endings. This also sets
2695 the necessary flags to inform the recipient that the encrypted
2696 or signed data is text and may need its line endings converted
2697 back to whatever the local system uses. This option is useful
2698 when communicating between two platforms that have different
2699 line ending conventions (UNIX-like to Mac, Mac to Windows, etc).
2700 --no-textmode disables this option, and is the default.
2701 --force-v3-sigs
2704 --no-force-v3-sigs
2705 --force-v4-certs
2707 --no-force-v4-certs
2708 These options are obsolete and have no effect since GnuPG 2.1.
2709 --force-aead
2712 Force the use of AEAD encryption over MDC encryption. AEAD is a
2713 modern and faster way to do authenticated encryption than the
2714 old MDC method. See also options --aead-algo and --chunk-size.
2715 --force-mdc
2718 --disable-mdc
2719 These options are obsolete and have no effect since GnuPG 2.2.8.
2720 The MDC is always used unless the keys indicate that an AEAD al‐
2721 gorithm can be used in which case AEAD is used. But note: If
2722 the creation of a legacy non-MDC message is exceptionally re‐
2723 quired, the option --rfc2440 allows for this.
2724 --disable-signer-uid
2727 By default the user ID of the signing key is embedded in the
2728 data signature. As of now this is only done if the signing key
2729 has been specified with local-user using a mail address, or with
2730 sender. This information can be helpful for verifier to locate
2731 the key; see option --auto-key-retrieve.
2732 --include-key-block
2735 --no-include-key-block
2736 This option is used to embed the actual signing key into a data
2737 signature. The embedded key is stripped down to a single user
2738 id and includes only the signing subkey used to create the sig‐
2739 nature as well as as valid encryption subkeys. All other info
2740 is removed from the key to keep it and thus the signature small.
2741 This option is the OpenPGP counterpart to the gpgsm option --in‐
2742 clude-certs and allows the recipient of a signed message to re‐
2743 ply encrypted to the sender without using any online directories
2744 to lookup the key. The default is --no-include-key-block. See
2745 also the option --auto-key-import.
2746 --personal-cipher-preferences string
2749 Set the list of personal cipher preferences to string. Use gpg
2750 --version to get a list of available algorithms, and use none to
2751 set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely over‐
2752 ride the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as
2753 GPG will only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipi‐
2754 ents. The most highly ranked cipher in this list is also used
2755 for the --symmetric encryption command.
2756 --personal-aead-preferences string
2759 Set the list of personal AEAD preferences to string. Use gpg
2760 --version to get a list of available algorithms, and use none to
2761 set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely over‐
2762 ride the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as
2763 GPG will only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipi‐
2764 ents. The most highly ranked cipher in this list is also used
2765 for the --symmetric encryption command.
2766 --personal-digest-preferences string
2769 Set the list of personal digest preferences to string. Use gpg
2770 --version to get a list of available algorithms, and use none to
2771 set no preference at all. This allows the user to safely over‐
2772 ride the algorithm chosen by the recipient key preferences, as
2773 GPG will only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipi‐
2774 ents. The most highly ranked digest algorithm in this list is
2775 also used when signing without encryption (e.g. --clear-sign or
2776 --sign).
2777 --personal-compress-preferences string
2780 Set the list of personal compression preferences to string. Use
2781 gpg --version to get a list of available algorithms, and use
2782 none to set no preference at all. This allows the user to
2783 safely override the algorithm chosen by the recipient key pref‐
2784 erences, as GPG will only select an algorithm that is usable by
2785 all recipients. The most highly ranked compression algorithm in
2786 this list is also used when there are no recipient keys to con‐
2787 sider (e.g. --symmetric).
2788 --s2k-cipher-algo name
2791 Use name as the cipher algorithm for symmetric encryption with a
2792 passphrase if --personal-cipher-preferences and --cipher-algo
2793 are not given. The default is AES-128.
2794 --s2k-digest-algo name
2797 Use name as the digest algorithm used to mangle the passphrases
2798 for symmetric encryption. The default is SHA-1.
2799 --s2k-mode n
2802 Selects how passphrases for symmetric encryption are mangled. If
2803 n is 0 a plain passphrase (which is in general not recommended)
2804 will be used, a 1 adds a salt (which should not be used) to the
2805 passphrase and a 3 (the default) iterates the whole process a
2806 number of times (see --s2k-count).
2807 --s2k-count n
2810 Specify how many times the passphrases mangling for symmetric
2811 encryption is repeated. This value may range between 1024 and
2812 65011712 inclusive. The default is inquired from gpg-agent.
2813 Note that not all values in the 1024-65011712 range are legal
2814 and if an illegal value is selected, GnuPG will round up to the
2815 nearest legal value. This option is only meaningful if --s2k-
2816 mode is set to the default of 3.
2817 Compliance options
2821 These options control what GnuPG is compliant to. Only one of these op‐
2824 tions may be active at a time. Note that the default setting of this is
2825 nearly always the correct one. See the INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER
2826 OPENPGP PROGRAMS section below before using one of these options.
2827 --gnupg
2831 Use standard GnuPG behavior. This is essentially OpenPGP behav‐
2832 ior (see --openpgp), but with extension from the proposed update
2833 to OpenPGP and with some additional workarounds for common com‐
2834 patibility problems in different versions of PGP. This is the
2835 default option, so it is not generally needed, but it may be
2836 useful to override a different compliance option in the gpg.conf
2837 file.
2838 --openpgp
2841 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict OpenPGP
2842 behavior. This option implies --allow-old-cipher-algos. Use
2843 this option to reset all previous options like --s2k-*, --ci‐
2844 pher-algo, --digest-algo and --compress-algo to OpenPGP compli‐
2845 ant values. All PGP workarounds are disabled.
2846 --rfc4880
2849 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict RFC-4880
2850 behavior. This option implies --allow-old-cipher-algos. Note
2851 that this is currently the same thing as --openpgp.
2852 --rfc4880bis
2855 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict according
2856 to the proposed updates of RFC-4880.
2857 --rfc2440
2860 Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict RFC-2440
2861 behavior. Note that by using this option encryption packets are
2862 created in a legacy mode without MDC protection. This is dan‐
2863 gerous and should thus only be used for experiments. This op‐
2864 tion implies --allow-old-cipher-algos. See also option --ig‐
2865 nore-mdc-error.
2866 --pgp6 This option is obsolete; it is handled as an alias for --pgp7
2869 --pgp7 Set up all options to be as PGP 7 compliant as possible. This
2872 allowed the ciphers IDEA, 3DES, CAST5,AES128, AES192, AES256,
2873 and TWOFISH., the hashes MD5, SHA1 and RIPEMD160, and the com‐
2874 pression algorithms none and ZIP. This option implies --escape-
2875 from-lines and disables --throw-keyids,
2876 --pgp8 Set up all options to be as PGP 8 compliant as possible. PGP 8
2879 is a lot closer to the OpenPGP standard than previous versions
2880 of PGP, so all this does is disable --throw-keyids and set --es‐
2881 cape-from-lines. All algorithms are allowed except for the
2882 SHA224, SHA384, and SHA512 digests.
2883 --compliance string
2886 This option can be used instead of one of the options above.
2887 Valid values for string are the above option names (without the
2888 double dash) and possibly others as shown when using "help" for
2889 value.
2890 Doing things one usually doesn't want to do
2893 -n
2898 --dry-run
2899 Don't make any changes (this is not completely implemented).
2900 --list-only
2903 Changes the behaviour of some commands. This is like --dry-run
2904 but different in some cases. The semantic of this option may be
2905 extended in the future. Currently it only skips the actual de‐
2906 cryption pass and therefore enables a fast listing of the en‐
2907 cryption keys.
2908 -i
2911 --interactive
2912 Prompt before overwriting any files.
2913 --debug-level level
2916 Select the debug level for investigating problems. level may be
2917 a numeric value or by a keyword:
2918 none No debugging at all. A value of less than 1 may be used
2921 instead of the keyword.
2922 basic Some basic debug messages. A value between 1 and 2 may
2924 be used instead of the keyword.
2925 advanced
2927 More verbose debug messages. A value between 3 and 5 may
2928 be used instead of the keyword.
2929 expert Even more detailed messages. A value between 6 and 8 may
2931 be used instead of the keyword.
2932 guru All of the debug messages you can get. A value greater
2934 than 8 may be used instead of the keyword. The creation
2935 of hash tracing files is only enabled if the keyword is
2936 used.
2937 How these messages are mapped to the actual debugging flags is not
2939 specified and may change with newer releases of this program. They are
2940 however carefully selected to best aid in debugging.
2941 --debug flags
2944 Set debug flags. All flags are or-ed and flags may be given in
2945 C syntax (e.g. 0x0042) or as a comma separated list of flag
2946 names. To get a list of all supported flags the single word
2947 "help" can be used. This option is only useful for debugging and
2948 the behavior may change at any time without notice.
2949 --debug-all
2952 Set all useful debugging flags.
2953 --debug-iolbf
2956 Set stdout into line buffered mode. This option is only honored
2957 when given on the command line.
2958 --debug-set-iobuf-size n
2961 Change the buffer size of the IOBUFs to n kilobyte. Using 0
2962 prints the current size. Note well: This is a maintainer only
2963 option and may thus be changed or removed at any time without
2964 notice.
2965 --debug-allow-large-chunks
2968 To facilitate software tests and experiments this option allows
2969 to specify a limit of up to 4 EiB (--chunk-size 62).
2970 --faked-system-time epoch
2973 This option is only useful for testing; it sets the system time
2974 back or forth to epoch which is the number of seconds elapsed
2975 since the year 1970. Alternatively epoch may be given as a full
2976 ISO time string (e.g. "20070924T154812").
2977 If you suffix epoch with an exclamation mark (!), the system
2979 time will appear to be frozen at the specified time.
2980 --full-timestrings
2983 Change the format of printed creation and expiration times from
2984 just the date to the date and time. This is in general not use‐
2985 ful and the same information is anyway available in --with-
2986 colons mode. These longer strings are also not well aligned
2987 with other printed data.
2988 --enable-progress-filter
2991 Enable certain PROGRESS status outputs. This option allows
2992 frontends to display a progress indicator while gpg is process‐
2993 ing larger files. There is a slight performance overhead using
2994 it.
2995 --status-fd n
2998 Write special status strings to the file descriptor n. See the
2999 file DETAILS in the documentation for a listing of them.
3000 --status-file file
3003 Same as --status-fd, except the status data is written to file
3004 file.
3005 --logger-fd n
3008 Write log output to file descriptor n and not to STDERR.
3009 --log-file file
3012 --logger-file file
3013 Same as --logger-fd, except the logger data is written to file
3014 file. Use ‘socket://’ to log to s socket.
3015 --attribute-fd n
3018 Write attribute subpackets to the file descriptor n. This is
3019 most useful for use with --status-fd, since the status messages
3020 are needed to separate out the various subpackets from the
3021 stream delivered to the file descriptor.
3022 --attribute-file file
3025 Same as --attribute-fd, except the attribute data is written to
3026 file file.
3027 --comment string
3030 --no-comments
3031 Use string as a comment string in cleartext signatures and ASCII
3032 armored messages or keys (see --armor). The default behavior is
3033 not to use a comment string. --comment may be repeated multiple
3034 times to get multiple comment strings. --no-comments removes all
3035 comments. It is a good idea to keep the length of a single com‐
3036 ment below 60 characters to avoid problems with mail programs
3037 wrapping such lines. Note that comment lines, like all other
3038 header lines, are not protected by the signature.
3039 --emit-version
3042 --no-emit-version
3043 Force inclusion of the version string in ASCII armored output.
3044 If given once only the name of the program and the major number
3045 is emitted, given twice the minor is also emitted, given thrice
3046 the micro is added, and given four times an operating system
3047 identification is also emitted. --no-emit-version (default)
3048 disables the version line.
3049 --sig-notation {name=value}
3052 --cert-notation {name=value}
3053 -N, --set-notation {name=value}
3054 Put the name value pair into the signature as notation data.
3055 name must consist only of printable characters or spaces, and
3056 must contain a '@' character in the form keyname@domain.exam‐
3057 ple.com (substituting the appropriate keyname and domain name,
3058 of course). This is to help prevent pollution of the IETF re‐
3059 served notation namespace. The --expert flag overrides the '@'
3060 check. value may be any printable string; it will be encoded in
3061 UTF-8, so you should check that your --display-charset is set
3062 correctly. If you prefix name with an exclamation mark (!), the
3063 notation data will be flagged as critical (rfc4880:5.2.3.16).
3064 --sig-notation sets a notation for data signatures. --cert-nota‐
3065 tion sets a notation for key signatures (certifications). --set-
3066 notation sets both.
3067 There are special codes that may be used in notation names. "%k"
3069 will be expanded into the key ID of the key being signed, "%K"
3070 into the long key ID of the key being signed, "%f" into the fin‐
3071 gerprint of the key being signed, "%s" into the key ID of the
3072 key making the signature, "%S" into the long key ID of the key
3073 making the signature, "%g" into the fingerprint of the key mak‐
3074 ing the signature (which might be a subkey), "%p" into the fin‐
3075 gerprint of the primary key of the key making the signature,
3076 "%c" into the signature count from the OpenPGP smartcard, and
3077 "%%" results in a single "%". %k, %K, and %f are only meaningful
3078 when making a key signature (certification), and %c is only
3079 meaningful when using the OpenPGP smartcard.
3080 --known-notation name
3083 Adds name to a list of known critical signature notations. The
3084 effect of this is that gpg will not mark a signature with a
3085 critical signature notation of that name as bad. Note that gpg
3086 already knows by default about a few critical signatures nota‐
3087 tion names.
3088 --sig-policy-url string
3091 --cert-policy-url string
3092 --set-policy-url string
3093 Use string as a Policy URL for signatures (rfc4880:5.2.3.20).
3094 If you prefix it with an exclamation mark (!), the policy URL
3095 packet will be flagged as critical. --sig-policy-url sets a pol‐
3096 icy url for data signatures. --cert-policy-url sets a policy url
3097 for key signatures (certifications). --set-policy-url sets both.
3098 The same %-expandos used for notation data are available here as
3100 well.
3101 --sig-keyserver-url string
3104 Use string as a preferred keyserver URL for data signatures. If
3105 you prefix it with an exclamation mark (!), the keyserver URL
3106 packet will be flagged as critical.
3107 The same %-expandos used for notation data are available here as
3109 well.
3110 --set-filename string
3113 Use string as the filename which is stored inside messages.
3114 This overrides the default, which is to use the actual filename
3115 of the file being encrypted. Using the empty string for string
3116 effectively removes the filename from the output.
3117 --for-your-eyes-only
3120 --no-for-your-eyes-only
3121 Set the `for your eyes only' flag in the message. This causes
3122 GnuPG to refuse to save the file unless the --output option is
3123 given, and PGP to use a "secure viewer" with a claimed Tempest-
3124 resistant font to display the message. This option overrides
3125 --set-filename. --no-for-your-eyes-only disables this option.
3126 --use-embedded-filename
3129 --no-use-embedded-filename
3130 Try to create a file with a name as embedded in the data. This
3131 can be a dangerous option as it enables overwriting files. De‐
3132 faults to no. Note that the option --output overrides this op‐
3133 tion.
3134 --cipher-algo name
3137 Use name as cipher algorithm. Running the program with the com‐
3138 mand --version yields a list of supported algorithms. If this is
3139 not used the cipher algorithm is selected from the preferences
3140 stored with the key. In general, you do not want to use this op‐
3141 tion as it allows you to violate the OpenPGP standard. The op‐
3142 tion --personal-cipher-preferences is the safe way to accomplish
3143 the same thing.
3144 --aead-algo name
3147 Specify that the AEAD algorithm name is to be used. This is
3148 useful for symmetric encryption where no key preference are
3149 available to select the AEAD algorithm. Running gpg with option
3150 --version shows the available AEAD algorithms. In general, you
3151 do not want to use this option as it allows you to violate the
3152 OpenPGP standard. The option --personal-aead-preferences is the
3153 safe way to accomplish the same thing.
3154 --digest-algo name
3157 Use name as the message digest algorithm. Running the program
3158 with the command --version yields a list of supported algo‐
3159 rithms. In general, you do not want to use this option as it al‐
3160 lows you to violate the OpenPGP standard. The option --per‐
3161 sonal-digest-preferences is the safe way to accomplish the same
3162 thing.
3163 --compress-algo name
3166 Use compression algorithm name. "zlib" is RFC-1950 ZLIB compres‐
3167 sion. "zip" is RFC-1951 ZIP compression which is used by PGP.
3168 "bzip2" is a more modern compression scheme that can compress
3169 some things better than zip or zlib, but at the cost of more
3170 memory used during compression and decompression. "uncompressed"
3171 or "none" disables compression. If this option is not used, the
3172 default behavior is to examine the recipient key preferences to
3173 see which algorithms the recipient supports. If all else fails,
3174 ZIP is used for maximum compatibility.
3175 ZLIB may give better compression results than ZIP, as the com‐
3177 pression window size is not limited to 8k. BZIP2 may give even
3178 better compression results than that, but will use a signifi‐
3179 cantly larger amount of memory while compressing and decompress‐
3180 ing. This may be significant in low memory situations. Note,
3181 however, that PGP (all versions) only supports ZIP compression.
3182 Using any algorithm other than ZIP or "none" will make the mes‐
3183 sage unreadable with PGP. In general, you do not want to use
3184 this option as it allows you to violate the OpenPGP standard.
3185 The option --personal-compress-preferences is the safe way to
3186 accomplish the same thing.
3187 --cert-digest-algo name
3190 Use name as the message digest algorithm used when signing a
3191 key. Running the program with the command --version yields a
3192 list of supported algorithms. Be aware that if you choose an
3193 algorithm that GnuPG supports but other OpenPGP implementations
3194 do not, then some users will not be able to use the key signa‐
3195 tures you make, or quite possibly your entire key. Note also
3196 that a public key algorithm must be compatible with the speci‐
3197 fied digest algorithm; thus selecting an arbitrary digest algo‐
3198 rithm may result in error messages from lower crypto layers or
3199 lead to security flaws.
3200 --disable-cipher-algo name
3204 Never allow the use of name as cipher algorithm. The given name
3205 will not be checked so that a later loaded algorithm will still
3206 get disabled.
3207 --disable-pubkey-algo name
3210 Never allow the use of name as public key algorithm. The given
3211 name will not be checked so that a later loaded algorithm will
3212 still get disabled.
3213 --throw-keyids
3216 --no-throw-keyids
3217 Do not put the recipient key IDs into encrypted messages. This
3218 helps to hide the receivers of the message and is a limited
3219 countermeasure against traffic analysis. ([Using a little social
3220 engineering anyone who is able to decrypt the message can check
3221 whether one of the other recipients is the one he suspects.])
3222 On the receiving side, it may slow down the decryption process
3223 because all available secret keys must be tried. --no-throw-
3224 keyids disables this option. This option is essentially the same
3225 as using --hidden-recipient for all recipients.
3226 --not-dash-escaped
3229 This option changes the behavior of cleartext signatures so that
3230 they can be used for patch files. You should not send such an
3231 armored file via email because all spaces and line endings are
3232 hashed too. You can not use this option for data which has 5
3233 dashes at the beginning of a line, patch files don't have this.
3234 A special armor header line tells GnuPG about this cleartext
3235 signature option.
3236 --escape-from-lines
3239 --no-escape-from-lines
3240 Because some mailers change lines starting with "From " to
3241 ">From " it is good to handle such lines in a special way when
3242 creating cleartext signatures to prevent the mail system from
3243 breaking the signature. Note that all other PGP versions do it
3244 this way too. Enabled by default. --no-escape-from-lines dis‐
3245 ables this option.
3246 --passphrase-repeat n
3249 Specify how many times gpg will request a new passphrase be re‐
3250 peated. This is useful for helping memorize a passphrase. De‐
3251 faults to 1 repetition; can be set to 0 to disable any
3252 passphrase repetition. Note that a n greater than 1 will pop up
3253 the pinentry window n+1 times even if a modern pinentry with two
3254 entry fields is used.
3255 --passphrase-fd n
3258 Read the passphrase from file descriptor n. Only the first line
3259 will be read from file descriptor n. If you use 0 for n, the
3260 passphrase will be read from STDIN. This can only be used if
3261 only one passphrase is supplied.
3262 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
3264 option --batch has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
3265 --pinentry-mode also needs to be set to loopback.
3266 --passphrase-file file
3269 Read the passphrase from file file. Only the first line will be
3270 read from file file. This can only be used if only one
3271 passphrase is supplied. Obviously, a passphrase stored in a file
3272 is of questionable security if other users can read this file.
3273 Don't use this option if you can avoid it.
3274 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
3276 option --batch has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
3277 --pinentry-mode also needs to be set to loopback.
3278 --passphrase string
3281 Use string as the passphrase. This can only be used if only one
3282 passphrase is supplied. Obviously, this is of very questionable
3283 security on a multi-user system. Don't use this option if you
3284 can avoid it.
3285 Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
3287 option --batch has also been given. Since Version 2.1 the
3288 --pinentry-mode also needs to be set to loopback.
3289 --pinentry-mode mode
3292 Set the pinentry mode to mode. Allowed values for mode are:
3293 default
3295 Use the default of the agent, which is ask.
3296 ask Force the use of the Pinentry.
3298 cancel Emulate use of Pinentry's cancel button.
3300 error Return a Pinentry error (``No Pinentry'').
3302 loopback
3304 Redirect Pinentry queries to the caller. Note that in
3305 contrast to Pinentry the user is not prompted again if he
3306 enters a bad password.
3307 --no-symkey-cache
3310 Disable the passphrase cache used for symmetrical en- and de‐
3311 cryption. This cache is based on the message specific salt
3312 value (cf. --s2k-mode).
3313 --request-origin origin
3316 Tell gpg to assume that the operation ultimately originated at
3317 origin. Depending on the origin certain restrictions are ap‐
3318 plied and the Pinentry may include an extra note on the origin.
3319 Supported values for origin are: local which is the default, re‐
3320 mote to indicate a remote origin or browser for an operation re‐
3321 quested by a web browser.
3322 --command-fd n
3325 This is a replacement for the deprecated shared-memory IPC mode.
3326 If this option is enabled, user input on questions is not ex‐
3327 pected from the TTY but from the given file descriptor. It
3328 should be used together with --status-fd. See the file doc/DE‐
3329 TAILS in the source distribution for details on how to use it.
3330 --command-file file
3333 Same as --command-fd, except the commands are read out of file
3334 file
3335 --allow-non-selfsigned-uid
3338 --no-allow-non-selfsigned-uid
3339 Allow the import and use of keys with user IDs which are not
3340 self-signed. This is not recommended, as a non self-signed user
3341 ID is trivial to forge. --no-allow-non-selfsigned-uid disables.
3342 --allow-freeform-uid
3345 Disable all checks on the form of the user ID while generating a
3346 new one. This option should only be used in very special envi‐
3347 ronments as it does not ensure the de-facto standard format of
3348 user IDs.
3349 --ignore-time-conflict
3352 GnuPG normally checks that the timestamps associated with keys
3353 and signatures have plausible values. However, sometimes a sig‐
3354 nature seems to be older than the key due to clock problems.
3355 This option makes these checks just a warning. See also --ig‐
3356 nore-valid-from for timestamp issues on subkeys.
3357 --ignore-valid-from
3360 GnuPG normally does not select and use subkeys created in the
3361 future. This option allows the use of such keys and thus ex‐
3362 hibits the pre-1.0.7 behaviour. You should not use this option
3363 unless there is some clock problem. See also --ignore-time-con‐
3364 flict for timestamp issues with signatures.
3365 --ignore-crc-error
3368 The ASCII armor used by OpenPGP is protected by a CRC checksum
3369 against transmission errors. Occasionally the CRC gets mangled
3370 somewhere on the transmission channel but the actual content
3371 (which is protected by the OpenPGP protocol anyway) is still
3372 okay. This option allows GnuPG to ignore CRC errors.
3373 --ignore-mdc-error
3376 This option changes a MDC integrity protection failure into a
3377 warning. It is required to decrypt old messages which did not
3378 use an MDC. It may also be useful if a message is partially
3379 garbled, but it is necessary to get as much data as possible out
3380 of that garbled message. Be aware that a missing or failed MDC
3381 can be an indication of an attack. Use with great caution; see
3382 also option --rfc2440.
3383 --allow-old-cipher-algos
3386 Old cipher algorithms like 3DES, IDEA, or CAST5 encrypt data us‐
3387 ing blocks of 64 bits; modern algorithms use blocks of 128 bit
3388 instead. To avoid certain attack on these old algorithms it is
3389 suggested not to encrypt more than 150 MiByte using the same
3390 key. For this reason gpg does not allow the use of 64 bit block
3391 size algorithms for encryption unless this option is specified.
3392 --allow-weak-digest-algos
3395 Signatures made with known-weak digest algorithms are normally
3396 rejected with an ``invalid digest algorithm'' message. This op‐
3397 tion allows the verification of signatures made with such weak
3398 algorithms. MD5 is the only digest algorithm considered weak by
3399 default. See also --weak-digest to reject other digest algo‐
3400 rithms.
3401 --weak-digest name
3404 Treat the specified digest algorithm as weak. Signatures made
3405 over weak digests algorithms are normally rejected. This option
3406 can be supplied multiple times if multiple algorithms should be
3407 considered weak. See also --allow-weak-digest-algos to disable
3408 rejection of weak digests. MD5 is always considered weak, and
3409 does not need to be listed explicitly.
3410 --allow-weak-key-signatures
3413 To avoid a minor risk of collision attacks on third-party key
3414 signatures made using SHA-1, those key signatures are considered
3415 invalid. This options allows to override this restriction.
3416 --no-default-keyring
3419 Do not add the default keyring to the list of keyrings. Note
3420 that GnuPG needs for almost all operations a keyring. Thus if
3421 you use this option and do not provide alternate keyrings via
3422 --keyring, then GnuPG will still use the default keyring.
3423 Note that if the option use-keyboxd is enabled in ‘common.conf’,
3425 no keyrings are used at all and keys are all maintained by the
3426 keyboxd process in its own database.
3427 --no-keyring
3430 Do not use any keyring at all. This overrides the default and
3431 all options which specify keyrings.
3432 --skip-verify
3435 Skip the signature verification step. This may be used to make
3436 the decryption faster if the signature verification is not
3437 needed.
3438 --with-key-data
3441 Print key listings delimited by colons (like --with-colons) and
3442 print the public key data.
3443 --list-signatures
3446 --list-sigs
3447 Same as --list-keys, but the signatures are listed too. This
3448 command has the same effect as using --list-keys with --with-
3449 sig-list. Note that in contrast to --check-signatures the key
3450 signatures are not verified. This command can be used to create
3451 a list of signing keys missing in the local keyring; for exam‐
3452 ple:
3453 gpg --list-sigs --with-colons USERID | \
3455 awk -F: '$1=="sig" && $2=="?" {if($13){print $13}else{print $5}}'
3456 --fast-list-mode
3459 Changes the output of the list commands to work faster; this is
3460 achieved by leaving some parts empty. Some applications don't
3461 need the user ID and the trust information given in the list‐
3462 ings. By using this options they can get a faster listing. The
3463 exact behaviour of this option may change in future versions.
3464 If you are missing some information, don't use this option.
3465 --no-literal
3468 This is not for normal use. Use the source to see for what it
3469 might be useful.
3470 --set-filesize
3473 This is not for normal use. Use the source to see for what it
3474 might be useful.
3475 --show-session-key
3478 Display the session key used for one message. See --override-
3479 session-key for the counterpart of this option.
3480 We think that Key Escrow is a Bad Thing; however the user should
3482 have the freedom to decide whether to go to prison or to reveal
3483 the content of one specific message without compromising all
3484 messages ever encrypted for one secret key.
3485 You can also use this option if you receive an encrypted message
3487 which is abusive or offensive, to prove to the administrators of
3488 the messaging system that the ciphertext transmitted corresponds
3489 to an inappropriate plaintext so they can take action against
3490 the offending user.
3491 --override-session-key string
3494 --override-session-key-fd fd
3495 Don't use the public key but the session key string respective
3496 the session key taken from the first line read from file de‐
3497 scriptor fd. The format of this string is the same as the one
3498 printed by --show-session-key. This option is normally not used
3499 but comes handy in case someone forces you to reveal the content
3500 of an encrypted message; using this option you can do this with‐
3501 out handing out the secret key. Note that using --override-ses‐
3502 sion-key may reveal the session key to all local users via the
3503 global process table. Often it is useful to combine this option
3504 with --no-keyring.
3505 --ask-sig-expire
3508 --no-ask-sig-expire
3509 When making a data signature, prompt for an expiration time. If
3510 this option is not specified, the expiration time set via --de‐
3511 fault-sig-expire is used. --no-ask-sig-expire disables this op‐
3512 tion.
3513 --default-sig-expire
3516 The default expiration time to use for signature expiration.
3517 Valid values are "0" for no expiration, a number followed by the
3518 letter d (for days), w (for weeks), m (for months), or y (for
3519 years) (for example "2m" for two months, or "5y" for five
3520 years), or an absolute date in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to
3521 "0".
3522 --ask-cert-expire
3525 --no-ask-cert-expire
3526 When making a key signature, prompt for an expiration time. If
3527 this option is not specified, the expiration time set via --de‐
3528 fault-cert-expire is used. --no-ask-cert-expire disables this
3529 option.
3530 --default-cert-expire
3533 The default expiration time to use for key signature expiration.
3534 Valid values are "0" for no expiration, a number followed by the
3535 letter d (for days), w (for weeks), m (for months), or y (for
3536 years) (for example "2m" for two months, or "5y" for five
3537 years), or an absolute date in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to
3538 "0".
3539 --default-new-key-algo string
3542 This option can be used to change the default algorithms for key
3543 generation. The string is similar to the arguments required for
3544 the command --quick-add-key but slightly different. For example
3545 the current default of "rsa2048/cert,sign+rsa2048/encr" (or
3546 "rsa3072") can be changed to the value of what we currently call
3547 future default, which is "ed25519/cert,sign+cv25519/encr". You
3548 need to consult the source code to learn the details. Note that
3549 the advanced key generation commands can always be used to spec‐
3550 ify a key algorithm directly.
3551 --no-auto-trust-new-key
3554 When creating a new key the ownertrust of the new key is set to
3555 ultimate. This option disables this and the user needs to manu‐
3556 ally assign an ownertrust value.
3557 --force-sign-key
3560 This option modifies the behaviour of the commands --quick-sign-
3561 key, --quick-lsign-key, and the "sign" sub-commands of --edit-
3562 key by forcing the creation of a key signature, even if one al‐
3563 ready exists.
3564 --allow-secret-key-import
3567 This is an obsolete option and is not used anywhere.
3568 --allow-multiple-messages
3571 --no-allow-multiple-messages
3573 These are obsolete options; they have no more effect since GnuPG
3574 2.2.8.
3575 --enable-special-filenames
3578 This option enables a mode in which filenames of the form ‘-&n’,
3579 where n is a non-negative decimal number, refer to the file de‐
3580 scriptor n and not to a file with that name.
3581 --no-expensive-trust-checks
3584 Experimental use only.
3585 --preserve-permissions
3588 Don't change the permissions of a secret keyring back to user
3589 read/write only. Use this option only if you really know what
3590 you are doing.
3591 --default-preference-list string
3594 Set the list of default preferences to string. This preference
3595 list is used for new keys and becomes the default for "setpref"
3596 in the --edit-key menu.
3597 --default-keyserver-url name
3600 Set the default keyserver URL to name. This keyserver will be
3601 used as the keyserver URL when writing a new self-signature on a
3602 key, which includes key generation and changing preferences.
3603 --list-config
3606 Display various internal configuration parameters of GnuPG. This
3607 option is intended for external programs that call GnuPG to per‐
3608 form tasks, and is thus not generally useful. See the file
3609 ‘doc/DETAILS’ in the source distribution for the details of
3610 which configuration items may be listed. --list-config is only
3611 usable with --with-colons set.
3612 --list-gcrypt-config
3615 Display various internal configuration parameters of Libgcrypt.
3616 --gpgconf-list
3619 This command is similar to --list-config but in general only in‐
3620 ternally used by the gpgconf tool.
3621 --gpgconf-test
3624 This is more or less dummy action. However it parses the con‐
3625 figuration file and returns with failure if the configuration
3626 file would prevent gpg from startup. Thus it may be used to run
3627 a syntax check on the configuration file.
3628 --chuid uid
3632 Change the current user to uid which may either be a number or a
3633 name. This can be used from the root account to run gpg for an‐
3634 other user. If uid is not the current UID a standard PATH is
3635 set and the envvar GNUPGHOME is unset. To override the latter
3636 the option --homedir can be used. This option has only an ef‐
3637 fect when used on the command line. This option has currently
3638 no effect at all on Windows.
3639 Deprecated options
3642 --show-photos
3647 --no-show-photos
3648 Causes --list-keys, --list-signatures, --list-public-keys,
3649 --list-secret-keys, and verifying a signature to also display
3650 the photo ID attached to the key, if any. See also --photo-
3651 viewer. These options are deprecated. Use --list-options
3652 [no-]show-photos and/or --verify-options [no-]show-photos in‐
3653 stead.
3654 --show-keyring
3657 Display the keyring name at the head of key listings to show
3658 which keyring a given key resides on. This option is deprecated:
3659 use --list-options [no-]show-keyring instead.
3660 --always-trust
3663 Identical to --trust-model always. This option is deprecated.
3664 --show-notation
3667 --no-show-notation
3668 Show signature notations in the --list-signatures or --check-
3669 signatures listings as well as when verifying a signature with a
3670 notation in it. These options are deprecated. Use --list-options
3671 [no-]show-notation and/or --verify-options [no-]show-notation
3672 instead.
3673 --show-policy-url
3676 --no-show-policy-url
3677 Show policy URLs in the --list-signatures or --check-signatures
3678 listings as well as when verifying a signature with a policy URL
3679 in it. These options are deprecated. Use --list-options
3680 [no-]show-policy-url and/or --verify-options [no-]show-policy-
3681 url instead.
3682
3686 gpg -se -r Bob file
3687 sign and encrypt for user Bob
3688 gpg --clear-sign file
3691 make a cleartext signature
3692 gpg -sb file
3695 make a detached signature
3696 gpg -u 0x12345678 -sb file
3699 make a detached signature with the key 0x12345678
3700 gpg --list-keys user_ID
3703 show keys
3704 gpg --fingerprint user_ID
3707 show fingerprint
3708 gpg --verify pgpfile
3711 gpg --verify sigfile [datafile]
3712 Verify the signature of the file but do not output the data un‐
3713 less requested. The second form is used for detached signa‐
3714 tures, where sigfile is the detached signature (either ASCII ar‐
3715 mored or binary) and datafile are the signed data; if this is
3716 not given, the name of the file holding the signed data is con‐
3717 structed by cutting off the extension (".asc" or ".sig") of sig‐
3718 file or by asking the user for the filename. If the option
3719 --output is also used the signed data is written to the file
3720 specified by that option; use - to write the signed data to std‐
3721 out.
3722
3724 There are different ways to specify a user ID to GnuPG. Some of them
3725 are only valid for gpg others are only good for gpgsm. Here is the en‐
3726 tire list of ways to specify a key:
3727 By key Id.
3731 This format is deduced from the length of the string and its
3732 content or 0x prefix. The key Id of an X.509 certificate are the
3733 low 64 bits of its SHA-1 fingerprint. The use of key Ids is
3734 just a shortcut, for all automated processing the fingerprint
3735 should be used.
3736 When using gpg an exclamation mark (!) may be appended to force
3738 using the specified primary or secondary key and not to try and
3739 calculate which primary or secondary key to use.
3740 The last four lines of the example give the key ID in their long
3742 form as internally used by the OpenPGP protocol. You can see the
3743 long key ID using the option --with-colons.
3744 234567C4
3746 0F34E556E
3747 01347A56A
3748 0xAB123456
3749 234AABBCC34567C4
3751 0F323456784E56EAB
3752 01AB3FED1347A5612
3753 0x234AABBCC34567C4
3754 By fingerprint.
3759 This format is deduced from the length of the string and its
3760 content or the 0x prefix. Note, that only the 20 byte version
3761 fingerprint is available with gpgsm (i.e. the SHA-1 hash of the
3762 certificate).
3763 When using gpg an exclamation mark (!) may be appended to force
3765 using the specified primary or secondary key and not to try and
3766 calculate which primary or secondary key to use.
3767 The best way to specify a key Id is by using the fingerprint.
3769 This avoids any ambiguities in case that there are duplicated
3770 key IDs.
3771 1234343434343434C434343434343434
3773 123434343434343C3434343434343734349A3434
3774 0E12343434343434343434EAB3484343434343434
3775 0xE12343434343434343434EAB3484343434343434
3776 gpgsm also accepts colons between each pair of hexadecimal digits be‐
3779 cause this is the de-facto standard on how to present X.509 finger‐
3780 prints. gpg also allows the use of the space separated SHA-1 finger‐
3781 print as printed by the key listing commands.
3782 By exact match on OpenPGP user ID.
3785 This is denoted by a leading equal sign. It does not make sense
3786 for X.509 certificates.
3787 =Heinrich Heine <heinrichh@uni-duesseldorf.de>
3789 By exact match on an email address.
3792 This is indicated by enclosing the email address in the usual
3793 way with left and right angles.
3794 <heinrichh@uni-duesseldorf.de>
3796 By partial match on an email address.
3800 This is indicated by prefixing the search string with an @.
3801 This uses a substring search but considers only the mail address
3802 (i.e. inside the angle brackets).
3803 @heinrichh
3805 By exact match on the subject's DN.
3808 This is indicated by a leading slash, directly followed by the
3809 RFC-2253 encoded DN of the subject. Note that you can't use the
3810 string printed by gpgsm --list-keys because that one has been
3811 reordered and modified for better readability; use --with-colons
3812 to print the raw (but standard escaped) RFC-2253 string.
3813 /CN=Heinrich Heine,O=Poets,L=Paris,C=FR
3815 By exact match on the issuer's DN.
3818 This is indicated by a leading hash mark, directly followed by a
3819 slash and then directly followed by the RFC-2253 encoded DN of
3820 the issuer. This should return the Root cert of the issuer.
3821 See note above.
3822 #/CN=Root Cert,O=Poets,L=Paris,C=FR
3824 By exact match on serial number and issuer's DN.
3828 This is indicated by a hash mark, followed by the hexadecimal
3829 representation of the serial number, then followed by a slash
3830 and the RFC-2253 encoded DN of the issuer. See note above.
3831 #4F03/CN=Root Cert,O=Poets,L=Paris,C=FR
3833 By keygrip.
3836 This is indicated by an ampersand followed by the 40 hex digits
3837 of a keygrip. gpgsm prints the keygrip when using the command
3838 --dump-cert.
3839 &D75F22C3F86E355877348498CDC92BD21010A480
3841 By substring match.
3845 This is the default mode but applications may want to explicitly
3846 indicate this by putting the asterisk in front. Match is not
3847 case sensitive.
3848 Heine
3850 *Heine
3851 . and + prefixes
3854 These prefixes are reserved for looking up mails anchored at the
3855 end and for a word search mode. They are not yet implemented
3856 and using them is undefined.
3857 Please note that we have reused the hash mark identifier which
3860 was used in old GnuPG versions to indicate the so called local-
3861 id. It is not anymore used and there should be no conflict when
3862 used with X.509 stuff.
3863 Using the RFC-2253 format of DNs has the drawback that it is not
3865 possible to map them back to the original encoding, however we
3866 don't have to do this because our key database stores this en‐
3867 coding as meta data.
3868
3871 The options --import-filter and --export-filter use expressions with
3872 this syntax (square brackets indicate an optional part and curly braces
3873 a repetition, white space between the elements are allowed):
3874 [lc] {[{flag}] PROPNAME op VALUE [lc]}
3876 The name of a property (PROPNAME) may only consist of letters, digits
3878 and underscores. The description for the filter type describes which
3879 properties are defined. If an undefined property is used it evaluates
3880 to the empty string. Unless otherwise noted, the VALUE must always be
3881 given and may not be the empty string. No quoting is defined for the
3882 value, thus the value may not contain the strings && or ||, which are
3883 used as logical connection operators. The flag -- can be used to re‐
3884 move this restriction.
3885 Numerical values are computed as long int; standard C notation applies.
3887 lc is the logical connection operator; either && for a conjunction or
3888 || for a disjunction. A conjunction is assumed at the begin of an ex‐
3889 pression. Conjunctions have higher precedence than disjunctions. If
3890 VALUE starts with one of the characters used in any op a space after
3891 the op is required.
3892 The supported operators (op) are:
3895 =~ Substring must match.
3899 !~ Substring must not match.
3902 = The full string must match.
3905 <> The full string must not match.
3908 == The numerical value must match.
3911 != The numerical value must not match.
3914 <= The numerical value of the field must be LE than the value.
3917 < The numerical value of the field must be LT than the value.
3920 > The numerical value of the field must be GT than the value.
3923 >= The numerical value of the field must be GE than the value.
3926 -le The string value of the field must be less or equal than the
3929 value.
3930 -lt The string value of the field must be less than the value.
3933 -gt The string value of the field must be greater than the value.
3936 -ge The string value of the field must be greater or equal than the
3939 value.
3940 -n True if value is not empty (no value allowed).
3943 -z True if value is empty (no value allowed).
3946 -t Alias for "PROPNAME != 0" (no value allowed).
3949 -f Alias for "PROPNAME == 0" (no value allowed).
3952 Values for flag must be space separated. The supported flags are:
3955 -- VALUE spans to the end of the expression.
3958 -c The string match in this part is done case-sensitive.
3960 -t Leading and trailing spaces are not removed from VALUE. The op‐
3962 tional single space after op is here required.
3963 The filter options concatenate several specifications for a filter of
3965 the same type. For example the four options in this example:
3966 --import-filter keep-uid="uid =~ Alfa"
3968 --import-filter keep-uid="&& uid !~ Test"
3969 --import-filter keep-uid="|| uid =~ Alpha"
3970 --import-filter keep-uid="uid !~ Test"
3971 which is equivalent to
3974 --import-filter \
3976 keep-uid="uid =~ Alfa" && uid !~ Test" || uid =~ Alpha" && "uid !~ Test"
3977 imports only the user ids of a key containing the strings "Alfa" or
3979 "Alpha" but not the string "test".
3980
3983 Trust values are used to indicate ownertrust and validity of keys and
3984 user IDs. They are displayed with letters or strings:
3985 -
3989 unknown
3990 No ownertrust assigned / not yet calculated.
3991 e
3994 expired
3995 Trust calculation has failed; probably due to an expired key.
3997 q
4000 undefined, undef
4001 Not enough information for calculation.
4002 n
4005 never Never trust this key.
4006 m
4009 marginal
4010 Marginally trusted.
4011 f
4014 full Fully trusted.
4015 u
4018 ultimate
4019 Ultimately trusted.
4020 r
4023 revoked
4024 For validity only: the key or the user ID has been revoked.
4025 ?
4028 err The program encountered an unknown trust value.
4029
4032 There are a few configuration files to control certain aspects of gpg's
4033 operation. Unless noted, they are expected in the current home direc‐
4034 tory (see: [option --homedir]).
4035 gpg.conf
4039 This is the standard configuration file read by gpg on startup.
4040 It may contain any valid long option; the leading two dashes may
4041 not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated. This de‐
4042 fault name may be changed on the command line (see: [gpg-option
4043 --options]). You should backup this file.
4044 common.conf
4047 This is an optional configuration file read by gpg on startup.
4048 It may contain options pertaining to all components of GnuPG.
4049 Its current main use is for the "use-keyboxd" option.
4050 Note that on larger installations, it is useful to put predefined files
4053 into the directory ‘/etc/skel/.gnupg’ so that newly created users start
4054 up with a working configuration. For existing users a small helper
4055 script is provided to create these files (see: [addgnupghome]).
4056 For internal purposes gpg creates and maintains a few other files; They
4058 all live in the current home directory (see: [option --homedir]). Only
4059 the gpg program may modify these files.
4060 ~/.gnupg
4064 This is the default home directory which is used if neither the
4065 environment variable GNUPGHOME nor the option --homedir is
4066 given.
4067 ~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg
4070 The public keyring using a legacy format. You should backup
4071 this file.
4072 If this file is not available, gpg defaults to the new keybox
4074 format and creates a file ‘pubring.kbx’ unless that file already
4075 exists in which case that file will also be used for OpenPGP
4076 keys.
4077 Note that in the case that both files, ‘pubring.gpg’ and ‘pub‐
4079 ring.kbx’ exists but the latter has no OpenPGP keys, the legacy
4080 file ‘pubring.gpg’ will be used. Take care: GnuPG versions be‐
4081 fore 2.1 will always use the file ‘pubring.gpg’ because they do
4082 not know about the new keybox format. In the case that you have
4083 to use GnuPG 1.4 to decrypt archived data you should keep this
4084 file.
4085 ~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg.lock
4088 The lock file for the public keyring.
4089 ~/.gnupg/pubring.kbx
4092 The public keyring using the new keybox format. This file is
4093 shared with gpgsm. You should backup this file. See above for
4094 the relation between this file and it predecessor.
4095 To convert an existing ‘pubring.gpg’ file to the keybox format,
4097 you first backup the ownertrust values, then rename ‘pub‐
4098 ring.gpg’ to ‘publickeys.backup’, so it won’t be recognized by
4099 any GnuPG version, run import, and finally restore the own‐
4100 ertrust values:
4101 $ cd ~/.gnupg
4103 $ gpg --export-ownertrust >otrust.lst
4104 $ mv pubring.gpg publickeys.backup
4105 $ gpg --import-options restore --import publickeys.backups
4106 $ gpg --import-ownertrust otrust.lst
4107 ~/.gnupg/pubring.kbx.lock
4110 The lock file for ‘pubring.kbx’.
4111 ~/.gnupg/secring.gpg
4114 The legacy secret keyring as used by GnuPG versions before 2.1.
4115 It is not used by GnuPG 2.1 and later. You may want to keep it
4116 in case you have to use GnuPG 1.4 to decrypt archived data.
4117 ~/.gnupg/secring.gpg.lock
4120 The lock file for the legacy secret keyring.
4121 ~/.gnupg/.gpg-v21-migrated
4124 File indicating that a migration to GnuPG 2.1 has been done.
4125 ~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg
4128 The trust database. There is no need to backup this file; it is
4129 better to backup the ownertrust values (see: [option --export-
4130 ownertrust]).
4131 ~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg.lock
4134 The lock file for the trust database.
4135 ~/.gnupg/random_seed
4138 A file used to preserve the state of the internal random pool.
4139 ~/.gnupg/openpgp-revocs.d/
4142 This is the directory where gpg stores pre-generated revocation
4143 certificates. The file name corresponds to the OpenPGP finger‐
4144 print of the respective key. It is suggested to backup those
4145 certificates and if the primary private key is not stored on the
4146 disk to move them to an external storage device. Anyone who can
4147 access these files is able to revoke the corresponding key. You
4148 may want to print them out. You should backup all files in this
4149 directory and take care to keep this backup closed away.
4150 Operation is further controlled by a few environment variables:
4153 HOME Used to locate the default home directory.
4157 GNUPGHOME
4160 If set directory used instead of "~/.gnupg".
4161 GPG_AGENT_INFO
4164 This variable is obsolete; it was used by GnuPG versions before
4165 2.1.
4166 PINENTRY_USER_DATA
4169 This value is passed via gpg-agent to pinentry. It is useful to
4170 convey extra information to a custom pinentry.
4171 COLUMNS
4174 LINES Used to size some displays to the full size of the screen.
4175 LANGUAGE
4178 Apart from its use by GNU, it is used in the W32 version to
4179 override the language selection done through the Registry. If
4180 used and set to a valid and available language name (langid),
4181 the file with the translation is loaded from
4182 gpgdir/gnupg.nls/langid.mo. Here gpgdir is the directory out of
4183 which the gpg binary has been loaded. If it can't be loaded the
4184 Registry is tried and as last resort the native Windows locale
4185 system is used.
4186 GNUPG_BUILD_ROOT
4189 This variable is only used by the regression test suite as a
4190 helper under operating systems without proper support to figure
4191 out the name of a process' text file.
4192 When calling the gpg-agent component gpg sends a set of environment
4195 variables to gpg-agent. The names of these variables can be listed us‐
4196 ing the command:
4197 gpg-connect-agent 'getinfo std_env_names' /bye | awk '$1=="D" {print $2}'
4199
4205 On older systems this program should be installed as setuid(root). This
4206 is necessary to lock memory pages. Locking memory pages prevents the
4207 operating system from writing memory pages (which may contain
4208 passphrases or other sensitive material) to disk. If you get no warning
4209 message about insecure memory your operating system supports locking
4210 without being root. The program drops root privileges as soon as locked
4211 memory is allocated.
4212 Note also that some systems (especially laptops) have the ability to
4214 ``suspend to disk'' (also known as ``safe sleep'' or ``hibernate'').
4215 This writes all memory to disk before going into a low power or even
4216 powered off mode. Unless measures are taken in the operating system to
4217 protect the saved memory, passphrases or other sensitive material may
4218 be recoverable from it later.
4219 Before you report a bug you should first search the mailing list ar‐
4221 chives for similar problems and second check whether such a bug has al‐
4222 ready been reported to our bug tracker at https://bugs.gnupg.org.
4223
4227 gpgv(1), gpgsm(1), gpg-agent(1)
4228 The full documentation for this tool is maintained as a Texinfo manual.
4230 If GnuPG and the info program are properly installed at your site, the
4231 command
4232 info gnupg
4234 should give you access to the complete manual including a menu struc‐
4236 ture and an index.
4237GnuPG 2.3.3 2021-10-06 GPG(1)