1GPG(1)                       GNU Privacy Guard 2.3                      GPG(1)
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NAME

6       gpg - OpenPGP encryption and signing tool
7

SYNOPSIS

9       gpg [--homedir dir] [--options file] [options] command [args]
10
11
12
13

DESCRIPTION

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
20       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
27       If  you  are  looking for version 1 of GnuPG, you may find that version
28       installed under the name gpg1.
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35

RETURN VALUE

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
40       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
46

WARNINGS

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
56       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
60       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
72

INTEROPERABILITY

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
83       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
93       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
99

COMMANDS

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
105       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
110       If  you  run  into any problems, please add the option --verbose to the
111       invocation to see more diagnostics.
112
113
114
115
116
117
118   Commands not specific to the function
119
120
121
122       --version
123              Print the program version and licensing information.  Note  that
124              you cannot abbreviate this command.
125
126
127       --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
132
133       --warranty
134              Print warranty information.
135
136
137       --dump-options
138              Print  a  list of all available options and commands.  Note that
139              you cannot abbreviate this command.
140
141   Commands to select the type of operation
142
143
144
145
146
147       --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
156
157       --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
167
168
169       --detach-sign
170       -b     Make a detached signature.
171
172
173       --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
182
183       --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
196
197       --store
198              Store only (make a simple literal data packet).
199
200
201       --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
209
210       --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
216              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
223              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
230              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
238              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
243
244
245       --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
253
254       --verify-files
255              Identical to --multifile --verify.
256
257
258       --encrypt-files
259              Identical to --multifile --encrypt.
260
261
262       --decrypt-files
263              Identical to --multifile --decrypt.
264
265
266       --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
272              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
278
279       --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
289
290       --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
297              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
306              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
319
320
321       --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
330              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
337
338
339       --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
347
348       --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
357
358       --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
364
365
366       --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
373
374       --card-status
375              Show the content of the smart card.
376
377
378       --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
383
384       --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
393
394       --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
406
407
408       --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
414
415       --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
422
423       --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
429              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
433
434
435       --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
446              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
454              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
458
459       --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
467              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
472
473       --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
478              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
483
484       --receive-keys keyIDs
485       --recv-keys keyIDs
486              Import the keys with the given keyIDs from a keyserver.
487
488
489       --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
495
496       --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
506
507       --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
513
514       --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
524
525       --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
535              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
540
541
542       --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
548
549
550       --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
560
561
562       --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
567
568       --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
574
575       --gen-random 0|1|2|16|30 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.   The  special  level  16 uses a quality level of 1 and
580              outpust end endless stream of hex-encoded octets.   The  special
581              level 30 outputs random as 30 zBase-32 characters.
582
583
584       --gen-prime mode bits
585              Use the source, Luke :-). The output format is subject to change
586              with ant release.
587
588
589
590       --enarmor
591       --dearmor
592              Pack or unpack an arbitrary input into/from an OpenPGP ASCII ar‐
593              mor.   This  is  a GnuPG extension to OpenPGP and in general not
594              very useful.  The --dearmor command can also be used to  dearmor
595              PEM armors.
596
597
598       --unwrap
599              This  command  is  similar to --decrypt with the change that the
600              output is not the usual plaintext but the original message  with
601              the  decryption  layer  removed.   Thus  the  output  will be an
602              OpenPGP data structure which often means a signed  OpenPGP  mes‐
603              sage.   Note  that this command may or may not remove a compres‐
604              sion layer which is often found beneath the encryption layer.
605
606
607       --tofu-policy {auto|good|unknown|bad|ask} keys
608              Set the TOFU policy for all the  bindings  associated  with  the
609              specified  keys.   For more information about the meaning of the
610              policies, see: [trust-model-tofu].  The keys  may  be  specified
611              either by their fingerprint (preferred) or their keyid.
612
613
614
615   How to manage your keys
616
617
618       This section explains the main commands for key management.
619
620
621
622       --quick-generate-key user-id [algo [usage [expire]]]
623       --quick-gen-key
624              This  is  a  simple  command to generate a standard key with one
625              user id.  In contrast to --generate-key the key is generated di‐
626              rectly  without  the  need to answer a bunch of prompts.  Unless
627              the option --yes is given, the key creation will be canceled  if
628              the given user id already exists in the keyring.
629
630              If  invoked  directly on the console without any special options
631              an answer to a ``Continue?'' style confirmation  prompt  is  re‐
632              quired.   In  case  the  user id already exists in the keyring a
633              second prompt to force the creation of the key will show up.
634
635              If algo or usage are given, only the primary key is created  and
636              no  prompts  are shown.  To specify an expiration date but still
637              create a primary and  subkey  use  ``default''  or  ``future-de‐
638              fault''  for  algo and ``default'' for usage.  For a description
639              of these optional arguments  see  the  command  --quick-add-key.
640              The  usage  accepts also the value ``cert'' which can be used to
641              create a certification only primary key; the  default  is  to  a
642              create certification and signing key.
643
644              The  expire  argument  can be used to specify an expiration date
645              for the key.  Several formats are supported;  commonly  the  ISO
646              formats ``YYYY-MM-DD'' or ``YYYYMMDDThhmmss'' are used.  To make
647              the key expire in N seconds, N days, N weeks,  N  months,  or  N
648              years  use  ``seconds=N'', ``Nd'', ``Nw'', ``Nm'', or ``Ny'' re‐
649              spectively.  Not specifying a value, or using ``-'' results in a
650              key  expiring  in  a  reasonable  default  interval.  The values
651              ``never'', ``none'' can be used for no expiration date.
652
653              If this command is used with --batch, --pinentry-mode  has  been
654              set   to   loopback,   and   one   of   the  passphrase  options
655              (--passphrase, --passphrase-fd, or --passphrase-file)  is  used,
656              the  supplied  passphrase  is used for the new key and the agent
657              does not ask for it.  To create a  key  without  any  protection
658              --passphrase '' may be used.
659
660              To  create  an  OpenPGP  key from the keys available on the cur‐
661              rently inserted smartcard, the special string  ``card''  can  be
662              used for algo.  If the card features an encryption and a signing
663              key, gpg will figure them out and creates an  OpenPGP  key  con‐
664              sisting  of  the  usual  primary key and one subkey.  This works
665              only with certain smartcards.  Note that the interactive --full-
666              gen-key command allows to do the same but with greater flexibil‐
667              ity in the selection of the smartcard keys.
668
669              Note that it is possible to create a primary key  and  a  subkey
670              using  non-default  algorithms by using ``default'' and changing
671              the default parameters using the option --default-new-key-algo.
672
673
674       --quick-set-expire fpr expire [*|subfprs]
675              With two arguments given, directly set the  expiration  time  of
676              the  primary key identified by fpr to expire.  To remove the ex‐
677              piration time 0 can be used.  With three arguments and the third
678              given as an asterisk, the expiration time of all non-revoked and
679              not yet expired subkeys are set to expire.  With more  than  two
680              arguments and a list of fingerprints given for subfprs, all non-
681              revoked subkeys matching these fingerprints are set to expire.
682
683
684
685       --quick-add-key fpr [algo [usage [expire]]]
686              Directly add a subkey to the key identified by  the  fingerprint
687              fpr.   Without  the  optional  arguments an encryption subkey is
688              added.  If any of the arguments are given a more specific subkey
689              is added.
690
691              algo may be any of the supported algorithms or curve names given
692              in the format as used by key listings.  To use the default algo‐
693              rithm  the  string  ``default'' or ``-'' can be used.  Supported
694              algorithms   are   ``rsa'',   ``dsa'',   ``elg'',   ``ed25519'',
695              ``cv25519'',  and  other  ECC  curves.   For  example the string
696              ``rsa'' adds an RSA key with the default key  length;  a  string
697              ``rsa4096''  requests  that  the  key  length is 4096 bits.  The
698              string ``future-default'' is an alias for  the  algorithm  which
699              will  likely  be used as default algorithm in future versions of
700              gpg.  To list the supported ECC curves the command  gpg  --with-
701              colons --list-config curve can be used.
702
703              Depending  on the given algo the subkey may either be an encryp‐
704              tion subkey or a signing subkey.  If an algorithm is capable  of
705              signing  and  encryption  and  such a subkey is desired, a usage
706              string must be given.  This  string  is  either  ``default''  or
707              ``-''  to  keep  the default or a comma delimited list (or space
708              delimited list) of keywords:  ``sign''  for  a  signing  subkey,
709              ``auth''  for  an authentication subkey, and ``encr'' for an en‐
710              cryption subkey (``encrypt'' can be used as alias for ``encr'').
711              The valid combinations depend on the algorithm.
712
713              The  expire  argument  can be used to specify an expiration date
714              for the key.  Several formats are supported;  commonly  the  ISO
715              formats ``YYYY-MM-DD'' or ``YYYYMMDDThhmmss'' are used.  To make
716              the key expire in N seconds, N days, N weeks,  N  months,  or  N
717              years  use  ``seconds=N'', ``Nd'', ``Nw'', ``Nm'', or ``Ny'' re‐
718              spectively.  Not specifying a value, or using ``-'' results in a
719              key  expiring  in  a  reasonable  default  interval.  The values
720              ``never'', ``none'' can be used for no expiration date.
721
722
723       --generate-key
724       --gen-key
725              Generate a new key pair using the  current  default  parameters.
726              This  is  the standard command to create a new key.  In addition
727              to the key a revocation certificate is created and stored in the
728openpgp-revocs.d’ directory below the GnuPG home directory.
729
730
731       --full-generate-key
732       --full-gen-key
733              Generate  a  new key pair with dialogs for all options.  This is
734              an extended version of --generate-key.
735
736              There is also a feature which allows you to create keys in batch
737              mode.  See  the  manual section ``Unattended key generation'' on
738              how to use this.
739
740
741
742       --generate-revocation name
743       --gen-revoke name
744              Generate a revocation certificate for the complete key.  To only
745              revoke a subkey or a key signature, use the --edit command.
746
747              This  command  merely creates the revocation certificate so that
748              it can be used to revoke the key if that is ever needed.  To ac‐
749              tually  revoke a key the created revocation certificate needs to
750              be merged with the key to revoke.  This is done by importing the
751              revocation certificate using the --import command.  Then the re‐
752              voked key needs to be published, which is best done  by  sending
753              the  key  to  a  keyserver (command --send-key) and by exporting
754              (--export) it to a file which is then send to frequent  communi‐
755              cation partners.
756
757
758
759       --generate-designated-revocation name
760       --desig-revoke name
761              Generate a designated revocation certificate for a key. This al‐
762              lows a user (with the permission of  the  keyholder)  to  revoke
763              someone else's key.
764
765
766
767       --edit-key
768              Present  a  menu which enables you to do most of the key manage‐
769              ment related tasks.  It expects the specification of  a  key  on
770              the command line.
771
772
773
774              uid n  Toggle  selection of user ID or photographic user ID with
775                     index n.  Use * to select all and 0 to deselect all.
776
777
778              key n  Toggle selection of subkey with index n or key ID n.  Use
779                     * to select all and 0 to deselect all.
780
781
782              sign   Make  a  signature on key of user name. If the key is not
783                     yet signed by the default user (or the users  given  with
784                     -u),  the  program  displays  the  information of the key
785                     again, together with its fingerprint and asks whether  it
786                     should be signed. This question is repeated for all users
787                     specified with -u.
788
789
790              lsign  Same as "sign" but the signature  is  marked  as  non-ex‐
791                     portable and will therefore never be used by others. This
792                     may be used to make keys valid only in the local environ‐
793                     ment.
794
795
796              nrsign Same as "sign" but the signature is marked as non-revoca‐
797                     ble and can therefore never be revoked.
798
799
800              tsign  Make a trust signature. This is a signature that combines
801                     the  notions of certification (like a regular signature),
802                     and trust (like the "trust"  command).  It  is  generally
803                     only  useful in distinct communities or groups.  For more
804                     information please read the sections ``Trust  Signature''
805                     and ``Regular Expression'' in RFC-4880.
806
807              Note  that "l" (for local / non-exportable), "nr" (for non-revo‐
808              cable, and "t" (for trust) may be freely mixed and  prefixed  to
809              "sign" to create a signature of any type desired.
810
811       If  the  option  --only-sign-text-ids  is  specified, then any non-text
812       based user ids (e.g., photo IDs) will not be selected for signing.
813
814
815
816              delsig Delete a signature. Note that it is not possible  to  re‐
817                     tract  a  signature,  once it has been send to the public
818                     (i.e. to a keyserver).   In  that  case  you  better  use
819                     revsig.
820
821
822              revsig Revoke  a  signature.  For every signature which has been
823                     generated by one of the secret keys, GnuPG asks whether a
824                     revocation certificate should be generated.
825
826
827              check  Check  the signatures on all selected user IDs.  With the
828                     extra option selfsig only self-signatures are shown.
829
830
831              adduid Create an additional user ID.
832
833
834              addphoto
835                     Create a photographic user ID. This  will  prompt  for  a
836                     JPEG  file  that  will be embedded into the user ID. Note
837                     that a very large JPEG will make for a  very  large  key.
838                     Also  note  that some programs will display your JPEG un‐
839                     changed (GnuPG), and some programs will scale it  to  fit
840                     in a dialog box (PGP).
841
842
843              showphoto
844                     Display the selected photographic user ID.
845
846
847              deluid Delete  a  user ID or photographic user ID.  Note that it
848                     is not possible to retract a user id, once  it  has  been
849                     send  to  the public (i.e. to a keyserver).  In that case
850                     you better use revuid.
851
852
853              revuid Revoke a user ID or photographic user ID.
854
855
856              primary
857                     Flag the current user id as the primary one, removes  the
858                     primary user id flag from all other user ids and sets the
859                     timestamp of  all  affected  self-signatures  one  second
860                     ahead. Note that setting a photo user ID as primary makes
861                     it primary over other photo user IDs, and setting a regu‐
862                     lar  user ID as primary makes it primary over other regu‐
863                     lar user IDs.
864
865
866              keyserver
867                     Set a preferred keyserver for the specified  user  ID(s).
868                     This allows other users to know where you prefer they get
869                     your key from. See  --keyserver-options  honor-keyserver-
870                     url  for  more  on  how  this  works.  Setting a value of
871                     "none" removes an existing preferred keyserver.
872
873
874              notation
875                     Set a name=value notation for the specified  user  ID(s).
876                     See --cert-notation for more on how this works. Setting a
877                     value of "none" removes all notations, setting a notation
878                     prefixed with a minus sign (-) removes that notation, and
879                     setting a notation name  (without  the  =value)  prefixed
880                     with a minus sign removes all notations with that name.
881
882
883              pref   List  preferences  from  the selected user ID. This shows
884                     the actual preferences,  without  including  any  implied
885                     preferences.
886
887
888              showpref
889                     More  verbose  preferences  listing for the selected user
890                     ID. This shows the preferences in effect by including the
891                     implied preferences of 3DES (cipher), SHA-1 (digest), and
892                     Uncompressed (compression) if they are  not  already  in‐
893                     cluded in the preference list. In addition, the preferred
894                     keyserver and signature notations (if any) are shown.
895
896
897              setpref string
898                     Set the list of user ID preferences to string for all (or
899                     just  the selected) user IDs. Calling setpref with no ar‐
900                     guments sets the preference list to the  default  (either
901                     built-in or set via --default-preference-list), and call‐
902                     ing setpref with "none" as the  argument  sets  an  empty
903                     preference  list.  Use  gpg  --version  to  get a list of
904                     available algorithms. Note that while you can change  the
905                     preferences  on  an  attribute  user ID (aka "photo ID"),
906                     GnuPG does not select keys  via  attribute  user  IDs  so
907                     these preferences will not be used by GnuPG.
908
909                     When  setting preferences, you should list the algorithms
910                     in the order which you'd like to see them used by someone
911                     else when encrypting a message to your key.  If you don't
912                     include 3DES, it will be automatically added at the  end.
913                     Note that there are many factors that go into choosing an
914                     algorithm (for example, your key may not be the only  re‐
915                     cipient),  and  so  the  remote OpenPGP application being
916                     used to send to you may or may not follow your exact cho‐
917                     sen  order  for  a given message.  It will, however, only
918                     choose an algorithm that is  present  on  the  preference
919                     list of every recipient key.  See also the INTEROPERABIL‐
920                     ITY WITH OTHER OPENPGP PROGRAMS section below.
921
922
923              addkey Add a subkey to this key.
924
925
926              addcardkey
927                     Generate a subkey on a card and add it to this key.
928
929
930              keytocard
931                     Transfer the selected secret subkey (or the  primary  key
932                     if  no  subkey has been selected) to a smartcard. The se‐
933                     cret key in the keyring will be replaced by a stub if the
934                     key  could be stored successfully on the card and you use
935                     the save command later. Only certain  key  types  may  be
936                     transferred  to the card. A sub menu allows you to select
937                     on what card to store the key. Note that it is not possi‐
938                     ble to get that key back from the card - if the card gets
939                     broken your secret key will be lost  unless  you  have  a
940                     backup somewhere.
941
942
943              bkuptocard file
944                     Restore  the  given  file  to a card. This command may be
945                     used to restore a backup key (as  generated  during  card
946                     initialization)  to  a new card. In almost all cases this
947                     will be the encryption key. You should use  this  command
948                     only with the corresponding public key and make sure that
949                     the file given as argument is indeed the  backup  to  re‐
950                     store.  You should then select 2 to restore as encryption
951                     key.  You will first be asked to enter the passphrase  of
952                     the backup key and then for the Admin PIN of the card.
953
954
955              keytotpm
956                     Transfer  the  selected secret subkey (or the primary key
957                     if no subkey has been selected) to TPM form.  The  secret
958                     key  in the keyring will be replaced by the TPM represen‐
959                     tation of that key, which can only be read by the partic‐
960                     ular  TPM  that  created  it  (so the keyfile now becomes
961                     locked to the laptop containing the TPM).   Only  certain
962                     key types may be transferred to the TPM (all TPM 2.0 sys‐
963                     tems are mandated to have the rsa2048 and nistp256  algo‐
964                     rithms  but  newer TPMs may have more). Note that the key
965                     itself is not transferred into the TPM, merely  encrypted
966                     by  the  TPM  in-place, so if the keyfile is deleted, the
967                     key will be lost.  Once transferred  to  TPM  representa‐
968                     tion, the key file can never be converted back to non-TPM
969                     form and the key will die  when  the  TPM  does,  so  you
970                     should  first  have a backup on secure offline storage of
971                     the actual secret key file before conversion.  It is  es‐
972                     sential  to  use the physical system TPM that you have rw
973                     permission   on   the   TPM   resource   manager   device
974                     (/dev/tpmrm0).   Usually  this means you must be a member
975                     of the tss group.
976
977
978              delkey Remove a subkey (secondary key). Note that it is not pos‐
979                     sible  to  retract a subkey, once it has been send to the
980                     public (i.e. to a keyserver).  In that  case  you  better
981                     use  revkey.  Also note that this only deletes the public
982                     part of a key.
983
984
985              revkey Revoke a subkey.
986
987
988              expire Change the key or subkey expiration time. If a subkey  is
989                     selected,  the  expiration  time  of  this subkey will be
990                     changed. With no selection, the  key  expiration  of  the
991                     primary key is changed.
992
993
994              trust  Change  the  owner  trust value for the key. This updates
995                     the trust-db immediately and no save is required.
996
997
998              disable
999              enable Disable or enable an entire key. A disabled key  can  not
1000                     normally be used for encryption.
1001
1002
1003              addrevoker
1004                     Add  a  designated revoker to the key. This takes one op‐
1005                     tional argument: "sensitive". If a designated revoker  is
1006                     marked  as  sensitive, it will not be exported by default
1007                     (see export-options).
1008
1009
1010              passwd Change the passphrase of the secret key.
1011
1012
1013              toggle This is dummy command which exists only for backward com‐
1014                     patibility.
1015
1016
1017              clean  Compact  (by  removing all signatures except the selfsig)
1018                     any user ID that is no longer usable  (e.g.  revoked,  or
1019                     expired). Then, remove any signatures that are not usable
1020                     by the trust calculations.   Specifically,  this  removes
1021                     any  signature that does not validate, any signature that
1022                     is superseded by a later signature,  revoked  signatures,
1023                     and signatures issued by keys that are not present on the
1024                     keyring.
1025
1026
1027              minimize
1028                     Make the key as small as possible. This removes all  sig‐
1029                     natures  from  each  user  ID  except for the most recent
1030                     self-signature.
1031
1032
1033              change-usage
1034                     Change the usage flags (capabilities) of the primary  key
1035                     or  of  subkeys.   These usage flags (e.g. Certify, Sign,
1036                     Authenticate,  Encrypt)  are  set  during  key  creation.
1037                     Sometimes  it is useful to have the opportunity to change
1038                     them (for example to add Authenticate)  after  they  have
1039                     been  created.  Please take care when doing this; the al‐
1040                     lowed usage flags depend on the key algorithm.
1041
1042
1043              cross-certify
1044                     Add cross-certification  signatures  to  signing  subkeys
1045                     that  may  not  currently  have them. Cross-certification
1046                     signatures protect against a subtle attack against  sign‐
1047                     ing  subkeys. See --require-cross-certification.  All new
1048                     keys generated have this signature by  default,  so  this
1049                     command is only useful to bring older keys up to date.
1050
1051
1052              save   Save all changes to the keyring and quit.
1053
1054
1055              quit   Quit the program without updating the keyring.
1056
1057              The  listing  shows  you the key with its secondary keys and all
1058              user IDs.  The primary user ID is indicated by a  dot,  and  se‐
1059              lected keys or user IDs are indicated by an asterisk.  The trust
1060              value is displayed with the primary key: "trust" is the assigned
1061              owner  trust  and  "validity"  is the calculated validity of the
1062              key.  Validity values are also displayed for all user IDs.   For
1063              possible values of trust, see: [trust-values].
1064
1065
1066       --sign-key name
1067              Signs a public key with your secret key. This is a shortcut ver‐
1068              sion of the subcommand "sign" from --edit-key.
1069
1070
1071       --lsign-key name
1072              Signs a public key with your secret key but marks it as  non-ex‐
1073              portable.  This  is a shortcut version of the subcommand "lsign"
1074              from --edit-key.
1075
1076
1077       --quick-sign-key fpr [names]
1078       --quick-lsign-key fpr [names]
1079              Directly sign a key from the passphrase without any further user
1080              interaction.   The  fpr must be the verified primary fingerprint
1081              of a key in the local keyring. If no names are given, all useful
1082              user  ids  are  signed;  with given [names] only useful user ids
1083              matching one of these names are signed.  By  default,  or  if  a
1084              name  is prefixed with a '*', a case insensitive substring match
1085              is used.  If a name is prefixed with a '=' a case sensitive  ex‐
1086              act match is done.
1087
1088              The  command  --quick-lsign-key  marks the signatures as non-ex‐
1089              portable.  If such a non-exportable signature already exists the
1090              --quick-sign-key  turns  it into a exportable signature.  If you
1091              need to update an existing signature,  for  example  to  add  or
1092              change  notation  data, you need to use the option --force-sign-
1093              key.
1094
1095              This command uses reasonable defaults and thus does not  provide
1096              the  full  flexibility of the "sign" subcommand from --edit-key.
1097              Its intended use is to help unattended key signing by  utilizing
1098              a list of verified fingerprints.
1099
1100
1101       --quick-add-uid user-id new-user-id
1102              This command adds a new user id to an existing key.  In contrast
1103              to the interactive sub-command adduid  of  --edit-key  the  new-
1104              user-id  is  added verbatim with only leading and trailing white
1105              space removed, it is expected to be UTF-8 encoded, and no checks
1106              on its form are applied.
1107
1108
1109       --quick-revoke-uid user-id user-id-to-revoke
1110              This command revokes a user ID on an existing key.  It cannot be
1111              used to revoke the last user ID on key (some non-revoked user ID
1112              must  remain),  with  revocation  reason  ``User ID is no longer
1113              valid''.  If you want to specify a different revocation  reason,
1114              or  to  supply supplementary revocation text, you should use the
1115              interactive sub-command revuid of --edit-key.
1116
1117
1118       --quick-revoke-sig fpr signing-fpr [names]
1119              This command revokes the key signatures made by signing-fpr from
1120              the key specified by the fingerprint fpr.  With names given only
1121              the signatures on user ids of the key matching any of the  given
1122              names  are affected (see --quick-sign-key).  If a revocation al‐
1123              ready exists a notice is printed instead of creating a new revo‐
1124              cation; no error is returned in this case.  Note that key signa‐
1125              ture revocations may be superseded by a newer key signature  and
1126              in turn again revoked.
1127
1128
1129       --quick-set-primary-uid user-id primary-user-id
1130              This  command sets or updates the primary user ID flag on an ex‐
1131              isting key.  user-id specifies the key and  primary-user-id  the
1132              user ID which shall be flagged as the primary user ID.  The pri‐
1133              mary user ID flag is removed from all other  user  ids  and  the
1134              timestamp  of  all  affected  self-signatures  is set one second
1135              ahead.
1136
1137
1138
1139       --change-passphrase user-id
1140       --passwd user-id
1141              Change the passphrase of the secret key belonging  to  the  cer‐
1142              tificate  specified as user-id.  This is a shortcut for the sub-
1143              command passwd of the --edit-key menu.  When using together with
1144              the   option   --dry-run  this  will  not  actually  change  the
1145              passphrase but check that the current passphrase is correct.
1146
1147

OPTIONS

1149       gpg features a bunch of options to control the exact behaviour  and  to
1150       change the default configuration.
1151
1152
1153       Long    options    can   be   put   in   an   options   file   (default
1154       "~/.gnupg/gpg.conf"). Short option names will not work -  for  example,
1155       "armor"  is  a  valid option for the options file, while "a" is not. Do
1156       not write the 2 dashes, but simply the name of the option and  any  re‐
1157       quired  arguments. Lines with a hash ('#') as the first non-white-space
1158       character are ignored. Commands may be put in this file too,  but  that
1159       is  not generally useful as the command will execute automatically with
1160       every execution of gpg.
1161
1162       Please remember that option parsing stops as soon as  a  non-option  is
1163       encountered,  you  can explicitly stop parsing by using the special op‐
1164       tion --.
1165
1166
1167
1168   How to change the configuration
1169
1170
1171       These options are used to change the configuration and most of them are
1172       usually found in the option file.
1173
1174
1175
1176       --default-key name
1177              Use  name as the default key to sign with. If this option is not
1178              used, the default key is the  first  key  found  in  the  secret
1179              keyring.   Note  that  -u or --local-user overrides this option.
1180              This option may be given multiple times.  In this case, the last
1181              key for which a secret key is available is used.  If there is no
1182              secret key available for any of the specified values, GnuPG will
1183              not  emit an error message but continue as if this option wasn't
1184              given.
1185
1186
1187       --default-recipient name
1188              Use name as default recipient if option --recipient is not  used
1189              and don't ask if this is a valid one. name must be non-empty.
1190
1191
1192       --default-recipient-self
1193              Use  the  default key as default recipient if option --recipient
1194              is not used and don't ask if this is a valid  one.  The  default
1195              key is the first one from the secret keyring or the one set with
1196              --default-key.
1197
1198
1199       --no-default-recipient
1200              Reset --default-recipient and --default-recipient-self.   Should
1201              not be used in an option file.
1202
1203
1204       -v, --verbose
1205              Give  more information during processing. If used twice, the in‐
1206              put data is listed in detail.
1207
1208
1209       --no-verbose
1210              Reset verbose level to 0.  Should not be used in an option file.
1211
1212
1213       -q, --quiet
1214              Try to be as quiet as possible.  Should not be used in an option
1215              file.
1216
1217
1218       --batch
1219       --no-batch
1220              Use  batch  mode.  Never ask, do not allow interactive commands.
1221              --no-batch disables this option.  Note that even with a filename
1222              given  on  the  command  line, gpg might still need to read from
1223              STDIN (in particular if gpg figures that the input is a detached
1224              signature  and no data file has been specified).  Thus if you do
1225              not want to feed data via STDIN, you  should  connect  STDIN  to
1226/dev/null’.
1227
1228              It  is  highly recommended to use this option along with the op‐
1229              tions --status-fd and --with-colons for any  unattended  use  of
1230              gpg.  Should not be used in an option file.
1231
1232
1233       --no-tty
1234              Make  sure that the TTY (terminal) is never used for any output.
1235              This option is needed in  some  cases  because  GnuPG  sometimes
1236              prints warnings to the TTY even if --batch is used.
1237
1238
1239       --yes  Assume "yes" on most questions.  Should not be used in an option
1240              file.
1241
1242
1243       --no   Assume "no" on most questions.  Should not be used in an  option
1244              file.
1245
1246
1247
1248       --list-options parameters
1249              This  is  a  space  or comma delimited string that gives options
1250              used when listing keys and  signatures  (that  is,  --list-keys,
1251              --check-signatures,  --list-public-keys, --list-secret-keys, and
1252              the --edit-key functions).  Options can be prepended with a  no-
1253              (after  the  two  dashes) to give the opposite meaning.  The op‐
1254              tions are:
1255
1256
1257
1258              show-photos
1259                     Causes  --list-keys,  --check-signatures,  --list-public-
1260                     keys, and --list-secret-keys to display any photo IDs at‐
1261                     tached to the key.  Defaults to  no.  See  also  --photo-
1262                     viewer.   Does  not work with --with-colons: see --attri‐
1263                     bute-fd for the appropriate way to  get  photo  data  for
1264                     scripts and other frontends.
1265
1266
1267              show-usage
1268                     Show  usage information for keys and subkeys in the stan‐
1269                     dard key listing.  This is a list of  letters  indicating
1270                     the  allowed  usage  for  a key (E=encryption, S=signing,
1271                     C=certification, A=authentication).  Defaults to yes.
1272
1273
1274              show-policy-urls
1275                     Show policy URLs  in  the   --check-signatures  listings.
1276                     Defaults to no.
1277
1278
1279              show-notations
1280              show-std-notations
1281              show-user-notations
1282                     Show  all, IETF standard, or user-defined signature nota‐
1283                     tions in the --check-signatures listings. Defaults to no.
1284
1285
1286              show-keyserver-urls
1287                     Show any preferred keyserver URL  in  the  --check-signa‐
1288                     tures listings. Defaults to no.
1289
1290
1291              show-uid-validity
1292                     Display  the  calculated  validity of user IDs during key
1293                     listings.  Defaults to yes.
1294
1295
1296              show-unusable-uids
1297                     Show revoked and expired user IDs in  key  listings.  De‐
1298                     faults to no.
1299
1300
1301              show-unusable-subkeys
1302                     Show  revoked  and  expired  subkeys in key listings. De‐
1303                     faults to no.
1304
1305
1306              show-keyring
1307                     Display the keyring name at the head of key  listings  to
1308                     show  which  keyring  a given key resides on. Defaults to
1309                     no.
1310
1311
1312              show-sig-expire
1313                     Show signature expiration dates (if any) during  --check-
1314                     signatures listings. Defaults to no.
1315
1316
1317              show-sig-subpackets
1318                     Include signature subpackets in the key listing. This op‐
1319                     tion can take an optional argument list of the subpackets
1320                     to  list.  If no argument is passed, list all subpackets.
1321                     Defaults to no. This option is only meaningful when using
1322                     --with-colons along with --check-signatures.
1323
1324
1325              show-only-fpr-mbox
1326                     For  each  user-id  which  has a valid mail address print
1327                     only the fingerprint followed by the mail address.
1328
1329
1330              sort-sigs
1331                     With --list-sigs and --check-sigs sort the signatures  by
1332                     keyID  and  creation  time  to make it easier to view the
1333                     history of these signatures.  The self-signature is  also
1334                     listed before other signatures. Defaults to yes.
1335
1336
1337
1338       --verify-options parameters
1339              This  is  a  space  or comma delimited string that gives options
1340              used when verifying signatures. Options can be prepended with  a
1341              `no-' to give the opposite meaning. The options are:
1342
1343
1344
1345              show-photos
1346                     Display  any photo IDs present on the key that issued the
1347                     signature.  Defaults to no. See also --photo-viewer.
1348
1349
1350              show-policy-urls
1351                     Show policy URLs in the  signature  being  verified.  De‐
1352                     faults to yes.
1353
1354
1355              show-notations
1356              show-std-notations
1357              show-user-notations
1358                     Show  all, IETF standard, or user-defined signature nota‐
1359                     tions in the signature being verified. Defaults  to  IETF
1360                     standard.
1361
1362
1363              show-keyserver-urls
1364                     Show  any  preferred keyserver URL in the signature being
1365                     verified.  Defaults to yes.
1366
1367
1368              show-uid-validity
1369                     Display the calculated validity of the user  IDs  on  the
1370                     key that issued the signature. Defaults to yes.
1371
1372
1373              show-unusable-uids
1374                     Show  revoked and expired user IDs during signature veri‐
1375                     fication.  Defaults to no.
1376
1377
1378              show-primary-uid-only
1379                     Show only the primary user ID during signature  verifica‐
1380                     tion.  That is all the AKA lines as well as photo Ids are
1381                     not shown with the signature verification status.
1382
1383
1384
1385       --enable-large-rsa
1386       --disable-large-rsa
1387              With --generate-key and --batch, enable the creation of RSA  se‐
1388              cret  keys as large as 8192 bit.  Note: 8192 bit is more than is
1389              generally recommended.  These large keys don't significantly im‐
1390              prove  security,  but  they are more expensive to use, and their
1391              signatures and certifications are larger.  This option  is  only
1392              available if the binary was build with large-secmem support.
1393
1394
1395       --enable-dsa2
1396       --disable-dsa2
1397              Enable hash truncation for all DSA keys even for old DSA Keys up
1398              to 1024 bit.  This is also the  default  with  --openpgp.   Note
1399              that  older  versions  of GnuPG also required this flag to allow
1400              the generation of DSA larger than 1024 bit.
1401
1402
1403       --photo-viewer string
1404              This is the command line that should be run to view a photo  ID.
1405              "%i"  will  be expanded to a filename containing the photo. "%I"
1406              does the same, except the file will  not  be  deleted  once  the
1407              viewer exits.  Other flags are "%k" for the key ID, "%K" for the
1408              long key ID, "%f" for the key fingerprint, "%t" for  the  exten‐
1409              sion  of  the image type (e.g. "jpg"), "%T" for the MIME type of
1410              the image (e.g. "image/jpeg"),  "%v"  for  the  single-character
1411              calculated  validity  of the image being viewed (e.g. "f"), "%V"
1412              for the calculated validity as a string (e.g.  "full"), "%U" for
1413              a  base32  encoded  hash  of the user ID, and "%%" for an actual
1414              percent sign. If neither %i or %I are present,  then  the  photo
1415              will be supplied to the viewer on standard input.
1416
1417              On  Unix  the  default  viewer is xloadimage -fork -quiet -title
1418              'KeyID 0x%k' STDIN with a  fallback  to  display  -title  'KeyID
1419              0x%k'  %i  and finally to xdg-open %i.  On Windows !ShellExecute
1420              400 %i is used; here the command is a meta command to  use  that
1421              API  call  followed by a wait time in milliseconds which is used
1422              to give the viewer time to read the temporary image file  before
1423              gpg deletes it again.  Note that if your image viewer program is
1424              not secure, then executing it from gpg does not make it secure.
1425
1426
1427       --exec-path string
1428              Sets a list of directories to search for photo  viewers  If  not
1429              provided photo viewers use the PATH environment variable.
1430
1431
1432       --keyring file
1433              Add  file to the current list of keyrings. If file begins with a
1434              tilde and a slash, these are replaced by the $HOME directory. If
1435              the  filename  does  not contain a slash, it is assumed to be in
1436              the  GnuPG  home  directory  ("~/.gnupg"  unless  --homedir   or
1437              $GNUPGHOME is used).
1438
1439              Note that this adds a keyring to the current list. If the intent
1440              is to use the specified keyring alone, use --keyring along  with
1441              --no-default-keyring.
1442
1443              If  the  option  --no-keyring  has been used no keyrings will be
1444              used at all.
1445
1446              Note that if the option use-keyboxd is enabled in ‘common.conf’,
1447              no  keyrings  are used at all and keys are all maintained by the
1448              keyboxd process in its own database.
1449
1450
1451       --primary-keyring file
1452              This is a varian of --keyring and designates file as the primary
1453              public  keyring.  This means that newly imported keys (via --im‐
1454              port or keyserver --recv-from) will go to this keyring.
1455
1456
1457
1458       --secret-keyring file
1459              This is an obsolete option and ignored.   All  secret  keys  are
1460              stored in the ‘private-keys-v1.d’ directory below the GnuPG home
1461              directory.
1462
1463
1464       --trustdb-name file
1465              Use file instead of the default trustdb. If file begins  with  a
1466              tilde and a slash, these are replaced by the $HOME directory. If
1467              the filename does not contain a slash, it is assumed  to  be  in
1468              the  GnuPG home directory (‘~/.gnupg’ if --homedir or $GNUPGHOME
1469              is not used).
1470
1471
1472       --homedir dir
1473              Set the name of the home directory to dir. If this option is not
1474              used,  the  home  directory  defaults to ‘~/.gnupg’.  It is only
1475              recognized when given on the command line.   It  also  overrides
1476              any  home  directory  stated  through  the  environment variable
1477GNUPGHOME’ or (on Windows systems) by means of the Registry en‐
1478              try HKCU\Software\GNU\GnuPG:HomeDir.
1479
1480              On Windows systems it is possible to install GnuPG as a portable
1481              application.  In this case only this command line option is con‐
1482              sidered, all other ways to set a home directory are ignored.
1483
1484              To install GnuPG as a portable application under Windows, create
1485              an empty file named ‘gpgconf.ctl’ in the same directory  as  the
1486              tool  ‘gpgconf.exe’.   The root of the installation is then that
1487              directory; or, if ‘gpgconf.exe’ has been installed directly  be‐
1488              low  a  directory  named  ‘bin’, its parent directory.  You also
1489              need to make sure that the following directories exist  and  are
1490              writable:     ‘ROOT/home’     for    the    GnuPG    home    and
1491ROOT/var/cache/gnupg’ for internal cache files.
1492
1493
1494
1495       --display-charset name
1496              Set the name of the native character set. This is used  to  con‐
1497              vert  some  informational  strings  like  user IDs to the proper
1498              UTF-8 encoding.  Note that this has nothing to do with the char‐
1499              acter  set of data to be encrypted or signed; GnuPG does not re‐
1500              code user-supplied data. If this option is not used, the default
1501              character set is determined from the current locale. A verbosity
1502              level of 3 shows the chosen set.  This option should not be used
1503              on Windows.  Valid values for name are:
1504
1505
1506
1507              iso-8859-1
1508                     This is the Latin 1 set.
1509
1510
1511              iso-8859-2
1512                     The Latin 2 set.
1513
1514
1515              iso-8859-15
1516                     This is currently an alias for the Latin 1 set.
1517
1518
1519              koi8-r The usual Russian set (RFC-1489).
1520
1521
1522              utf-8  Bypass  all  translations and assume that the OS uses na‐
1523                     tive UTF-8 encoding.
1524
1525
1526       --utf8-strings
1527       --no-utf8-strings
1528              Assume that command line arguments are given as  UTF-8  strings.
1529              The  default (--no-utf8-strings) is to assume that arguments are
1530              encoded in the character set as specified by  --display-charset.
1531              These  options  affect all following arguments. Both options may
1532              be used multiple times.  This option should not be  used  in  an
1533              option file.
1534
1535              This  option  has no effect on Windows.  There the internal used
1536              UTF-8 encoding is translated for console input and output.   The
1537              command line arguments are expected as Unicode and translated to
1538              UTF-8.  Thus when calling this program from another,  make  sure
1539              to use the Unicode version of CreateProcess.
1540
1541
1542
1543       --options file
1544              Read  options from file and do not try to read them from the de‐
1545              fault options file in the homedir (see --homedir).  This  option
1546              is ignored if used in an options file.
1547
1548
1549       --no-options
1550              Shortcut for --options /dev/null. This option is detected before
1551              an attempt to open an option file.  Using this option will  also
1552              prevent the creation of a ‘~/.gnupg’ homedir.
1553
1554
1555       -z n
1556       --compress-level n
1557       --bzip2-compress-level n
1558              Set  compression level to n for the ZIP and ZLIB compression al‐
1559              gorithms. The default is to use the default compression level of
1560              zlib  (normally  6). --bzip2-compress-level sets the compression
1561              level for the BZIP2 compression algorithm (defaulting  to  6  as
1562              well).  This  is  a different option from --compress-level since
1563              BZIP2 uses a significant amount of memory  for  each  additional
1564              compression  level.   -z  sets both. A value of 0 for n disables
1565              compression.
1566
1567
1568       --bzip2-decompress-lowmem
1569              Use a different decompression method for BZIP2 compressed files.
1570              This  alternate method uses a bit more than half the memory, but
1571              also runs at half the speed. This is useful  under  extreme  low
1572              memory  circumstances when the file was originally compressed at
1573              a high --bzip2-compress-level.
1574
1575
1576
1577       --mangle-dos-filenames
1578       --no-mangle-dos-filenames
1579              Older version of Windows cannot handle filenames with more  than
1580              one  dot. --mangle-dos-filenames causes GnuPG to replace (rather
1581              than add to) the extension of an output filename to  avoid  this
1582              problem. This option is off by default and has no effect on non-
1583              Windows platforms.
1584
1585
1586       --ask-cert-level
1587       --no-ask-cert-level
1588              When making a key signature, prompt for a  certification  level.
1589              If this option is not specified, the certification level used is
1590              set via --default-cert-level. See --default-cert-level  for  in‐
1591              formation  on  the  specific levels and how they are used. --no-
1592              ask-cert-level disables this option. This option defaults to no.
1593
1594
1595       --default-cert-level n
1596              The default to use for the check level when signing a key.
1597
1598              0 means you make no particular claim as  to  how  carefully  you
1599              verified the key.
1600
1601              1 means you believe the key is owned by the person who claims to
1602              own it but you could not, or did not verify the key at all. This
1603              is  useful  for a "persona" verification, where you sign the key
1604              of a pseudonymous user.
1605
1606              2 means you did casual verification of  the  key.  For  example,
1607              this  could  mean  that  you  verified  the  key fingerprint and
1608              checked the user ID on the key against a photo ID.
1609
1610              3 means you did extensive verification of the key. For  example,
1611              this  could  mean that you verified the key fingerprint with the
1612              owner of the key in person, and that you checked, by means of  a
1613              hard to forge document with a photo ID (such as a passport) that
1614              the name of the key owner matches the name in the user ID on the
1615              key,  and  finally that you verified (by exchange of email) that
1616              the email address on the key belongs to the key owner.
1617
1618              Note that the examples given above for levels 2 and 3  are  just
1619              that:  examples. In the end, it is up to you to decide just what
1620              "casual" and "extensive" mean to you.
1621
1622              This option defaults to 0 (no particular claim).
1623
1624
1625       --min-cert-level
1626              When building the trust database, treat any  signatures  with  a
1627              certification  level below this as invalid. Defaults to 2, which
1628              disregards level 1 signatures. Note that level 0 "no  particular
1629              claim" signatures are always accepted.
1630
1631
1632       --trusted-key long key ID or fingerprint
1633              Assume  that the specified key (which should be given as finger‐
1634              print) is as trustworthy as one of your own  secret  keys.  This
1635              option  is useful if you don't want to keep your secret keys (or
1636              one of them) online but still want to be able to check  the  va‐
1637              lidity  of  a given recipient's or signator's key.  If the given
1638              key is not locally available but an LDAP keyserver is configured
1639              the missing key is imported from that server.
1640
1641
1642       --trust-model {pgp|classic|tofu|tofu+pgp|direct|always|auto}
1643              Set what trust model GnuPG should follow. The models are:
1644
1645
1646
1647              pgp    This  is  the Web of Trust combined with trust signatures
1648                     as used in PGP 5.x and later. This is the  default  trust
1649                     model when creating a new trust database.
1650
1651
1652              classic
1653                     This is the standard Web of Trust as introduced by PGP 2.
1654
1655
1656              tofu
1657
1658                     TOFU stands for Trust On First Use.  In this trust model,
1659                     the first time a key is seen, it is memorized.  If  later
1660                     another key with a user id with the same email address is
1661                     seen, both keys are marked as suspect.  In that case, the
1662                     next time either is used, a warning is displayed describ‐
1663                     ing the conflict, why it might have occurred (either  the
1664                     user generated a new key and failed to cross sign the old
1665                     and new keys, the key is forgery, or a  man-in-the-middle
1666                     attack  is  being attempted), and the user is prompted to
1667                     manually confirm the validity of the key in question.
1668
1669                     Because a potential attacker is able to control the email
1670                     address and thereby circumvent the conflict detection al‐
1671                     gorithm by using an email address that is similar in  ap‐
1672                     pearance  to  a trusted email address, whenever a message
1673                     is verified, statistics  about  the  number  of  messages
1674                     signed  with  the key are shown.  In this way, a user can
1675                     easily identify attacks using fake keys for regular  cor‐
1676                     respondents.
1677
1678                     When compared with the Web of Trust, TOFU offers signifi‐
1679                     cantly weaker security guarantees.  In  particular,  TOFU
1680                     only  helps ensure consistency (that is, that the binding
1681                     between a key and email address doesn't change).  A major
1682                     advantage  of TOFU is that it requires little maintenance
1683                     to use correctly.  To use the web of trust properly,  you
1684                     need  to actively sign keys and mark users as trusted in‐
1685                     troducers.  This is a time-consuming process and  anecdo‐
1686                     tal  evidence suggests that even security-conscious users
1687                     rarely take the time to do this  thoroughly  and  instead
1688                     rely on an ad-hoc TOFU process.
1689
1690                     In  the TOFU model, policies are associated with bindings
1691                     between keys and email  addresses  (which  are  extracted
1692                     from  user ids and normalized).  There are five policies,
1693                     which can be set manually using the --tofu-policy option.
1694                     The  default  policy can be set using the --tofu-default-
1695                     policy option.
1696
1697                     The TOFU policies are: auto, good, unknown, bad and  ask.
1698                     The  auto policy is used by default (unless overridden by
1699                     --tofu-default-policy) and marks a binding as  marginally
1700                     trusted.  The good, unknown and bad policies mark a bind‐
1701                     ing as fully trusted, as having unknown trust or as  hav‐
1702                     ing  trust  never,  respectively.   The unknown policy is
1703                     useful for just using TOFU to detect  conflicts,  but  to
1704                     never assign positive trust to a binding.  The final pol‐
1705                     icy, ask prompts  the  user  to  indicate  the  binding's
1706                     trust.  If batch mode is enabled (or input is inappropri‐
1707                     ate in the context), then the user is  not  prompted  and
1708                     the undefined trust level is returned.
1709
1710
1711              tofu+pgp
1712                     This  trust  model  combines  TOFU with the Web of Trust.
1713                     This is done by computing the trust level for each  model
1714                     and  then  taking the maximum trust level where the trust
1715                     levels are ordered as follows: unknown < undefined < mar‐
1716                     ginal < fully < ultimate < expired < never.
1717
1718                     By  setting --tofu-default-policy=unknown, this model can
1719                     be used to implement the web of trust  with  TOFU's  con‐
1720                     flict  detection algorithm, but without its assignment of
1721                     positive  trust  values,  which  some  security-conscious
1722                     users don't like.
1723
1724
1725              direct Key  validity  is set directly by the user and not calcu‐
1726                     lated via the Web of Trust.  This model is  solely  based
1727                     on  the key and does not distinguish user IDs.  Note that
1728                     when changing to another trust model the trust values as‐
1729                     signed  to  a key are transformed into ownertrust values,
1730                     which also indicate how you trust the owner of the key to
1731                     sign other keys.
1732
1733
1734              always Skip  key validation and assume that used keys are always
1735                     fully valid. You generally won't use this unless you  are
1736                     using  some  external validation scheme. This option also
1737                     suppresses the "[uncertain]" tag printed  with  signature
1738                     checks  when  there  is  no  evidence that the user ID is
1739                     bound to the key.  Note that this trust model still  does
1740                     not allow the use of expired, revoked, or disabled keys.
1741
1742
1743              auto   Select the trust model depending on whatever the internal
1744                     trust database says. This is the default model if such  a
1745                     database already exists.  Note that a tofu trust model is
1746                     not considered here and must be enabled explicitly.
1747
1748
1749
1750       --auto-key-locate mechanisms
1751       --no-auto-key-locate
1752              GnuPG can automatically locate and retrieve keys as needed using
1753              this  option.   This happens when encrypting to an email address
1754              (in the "user@example.com" form), and there are  no  "user@exam‐
1755              ple.com"  keys on the local keyring.  This option takes any num‐
1756              ber of the mechanisms listed below, in the order they are to  be
1757              tried.  Instead of listing the mechanisms as comma delimited ar‐
1758              guments, the option may also be given several times to add  more
1759              mechanism.   The  option  --no-auto-key-locate  or the mechanism
1760              "clear" resets the list.  The default is "local,wkd".
1761
1762
1763
1764              cert   Locate a key using DNS CERT, as specified in RFC-4398.
1765
1766
1767              dane   Locate a key using DANE, as specified in draft-ietf-dane-
1768                     openpgpkey-05.txt.
1769
1770
1771              wkd    Locate a key using the Web Key Directory protocol.
1772
1773
1774              ldap   Using DNS Service Discovery, check the domain in question
1775                     for any LDAP keyservers to use.  If this  fails,  attempt
1776                     to  locate  the  key  using  the  PGP Universal method of
1777                     checking ‘ldap://keys.(thedomain)’.
1778
1779
1780              ntds   Locate the key using the Active Directory (Windows only).
1781                     This  method  also  allows to search by fingerprint using
1782                     the command --locate-external-key.  Note that this mecha‐
1783                     nism is actually a shortcut for the mechanism ‘keyserver’
1784                     but using "ldap:///" as the keyserver.
1785
1786
1787              keyserver
1788                     Locate a key using a keyserver.  This method also  allows
1789                     to  search  by fingerprint using the command --locate-ex‐
1790                     ternal-key if any of the configured keyservers is an LDAP
1791                     server.
1792
1793
1794              keyserver-URL
1795                     In  addition, a keyserver URL as used in the dirmngr con‐
1796                     figuration may be used here to query that particular key‐
1797                     server.  This method also allows to search by fingerprint
1798                     using the command --locate-external-key if the URL speci‐
1799                     fies an LDAP server.
1800
1801
1802              local  Locate  the key using the local keyrings.  This mechanism
1803                     allows the user to select the order a local key lookup is
1804                     done.   Thus using ‘--auto-key-locate local’ is identical
1805                     to --no-auto-key-locate.
1806
1807
1808              nodefault
1809                     This flag disables the standard local  key  lookup,  done
1810                     before  any  of the mechanisms defined by the --auto-key-
1811                     locate are tried.  The position of this mechanism in  the
1812                     list  does  not  matter.   It is not required if local is
1813                     also used.
1814
1815
1816              clear  Clear all defined mechanisms.  This is useful to override
1817                     mechanisms given in a config file.  Note that a nodefault
1818                     in mechanisms will also be cleared unless it is given af‐
1819                     ter the clear.
1820
1821
1822
1823
1824       --auto-key-import
1825       --no-auto-key-import
1826              This  is an offline mechanism to get a missing key for signature
1827              verification and for later encryption to this key.  If this  op‐
1828              tion  is  enabled and a signature includes an embedded key, that
1829              key is used to verify the signature and on verification  success
1830              the key is imported. The default is --no-auto-key-import.
1831
1832              On  the  sender  (signing)  site  the option --include-key-block
1833              needs to be used to put the public part of the  signing  key  as
1834              “Key Block subpacket” into the signature.
1835
1836
1837       --auto-key-retrieve
1838       --no-auto-key-retrieve
1839              These options enable or disable the automatic retrieving of keys
1840              from a keyserver when verifying signatures made by keys that are
1841              not  on  the  local  keyring.   The default is --no-auto-key-re‐
1842              trieve.
1843
1844              The order of methods tried to lookup the key is:
1845
1846              1. If the option --auto-key-import is set and the signatures in‐
1847              cludes an embedded key, that key is used to verify the signature
1848              and on verification success that key is imported.
1849
1850              2. If a preferred keyserver is specified in  the  signature  and
1851              the  option  honor-keyserver-url is active (which is not the de‐
1852              fault), that keyserver is tried.  Note that the creator  of  the
1853              signature  uses  the  option  --sig-keyserver-url to specify the
1854              preferred keyserver for data signatures.
1855
1856              3. If the  signature  has  the  Signer's  UID  set  (e.g.  using
1857              --sender while creating the signature) a Web Key Directory (WKD)
1858              lookup is done.  This is the default configuration  but  can  be
1859              disabled by removing WKD from the auto-key-locate list or by us‐
1860              ing the option --disable-signer-uid.
1861
1862              4. If any keyserver is configured and the Issuer Fingerprint  is
1863              part  of the signature (since GnuPG 2.1.16), the configured key‐
1864              servers are tried.
1865
1866              Note that this option makes a "web bug" like behavior  possible.
1867              Keyserver  or Web Key Directory operators can see which keys you
1868              request, so by sending you a message signed by a brand  new  key
1869              (which  you  naturally will not have on your local keyring), the
1870              operator can tell both your IP address and  the  time  when  you
1871              verified the signature.
1872
1873
1874       --keyid-format {none|short|0xshort|long|0xlong}
1875              Select  how to display key IDs.  "none" does not show the key ID
1876              at all but shows the fingerprint in a separate line.  "short" is
1877              the traditional 8-character key ID.  "long" is the more accurate
1878              (but less convenient) 16-character key ID.  Add an "0x"  to  ei‐
1879              ther  to  include  an "0x" at the beginning of the key ID, as in
1880              0x99242560.  Note that this option  is  ignored  if  the  option
1881              --with-colons is used.
1882
1883
1884       --keyserver name
1885              This option is deprecated - please use the --keyserver in ‘dirm‐
1886              ngr.conf’ instead.
1887
1888              Use name as your keyserver. This is the server  that  --receive-
1889              keys,  --send-keys,  and  --search-keys will communicate with to
1890              receive keys from, send keys to, and search  for  keys  on.  The
1891              format  of  the name is a URI: `scheme:[//]keyservername[:port]'
1892              The scheme is the type of keyserver: "hkp"/"hkps" for  the  HTTP
1893              (or  compatible)  keyservers or "ldap"/"ldaps" for the LDAP key‐
1894              servers.  Note that your particular installation  of  GnuPG  may
1895              have  other keyserver types available as well. Keyserver schemes
1896              are case-insensitive.
1897
1898              Most keyservers synchronize with each other, so there is  gener‐
1899              ally no need to send keys to more than one server. The keyserver
1900              hkp://keys.gnupg.net uses round robin DNS to  give  a  different
1901              keyserver each time you use it.
1902
1903
1904       --keyserver-options {name=value}
1905              This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
1906              the keyserver. Options can be prefixed with a `no-' to give  the
1907              opposite  meaning. Valid import-options or export-options may be
1908              used here as well to apply to importing (--recv-key) or  export‐
1909              ing  (--send-key)  a key from a keyserver. While not all options
1910              are available for all keyserver types, some common options are:
1911
1912
1913
1914              include-revoked
1915                     When searching for a key with --search-keys, include keys
1916                     that  are  marked  on the keyserver as revoked. Note that
1917                     not all keyservers differentiate between revoked and  un‐
1918                     revoked  keys,  and  for  such  keyservers this option is
1919                     meaningless. Note also that most keyservers do  not  have
1920                     cryptographic  verification  of  key  revocations, and so
1921                     turning this option off may result in skipping keys  that
1922                     are incorrectly marked as revoked.
1923
1924
1925              include-disabled
1926                     When searching for a key with --search-keys, include keys
1927                     that are marked on the keyserver as disabled.  Note  that
1928                     this option is not used with HKP keyservers.
1929
1930
1931              auto-key-retrieve
1932                     This  is  an  obsolete  alias for the option auto-key-re‐
1933                     trieve.  Please do not use it; it will be removed in  fu‐
1934                     ture versions..
1935
1936
1937              honor-keyserver-url
1938                     When  using  --refresh-keys, if the key in question has a
1939                     preferred keyserver URL, then  use  that  preferred  key‐
1940                     server to refresh the key from. In addition, if auto-key-
1941                     retrieve is set, and the signature being verified  has  a
1942                     preferred  keyserver  URL,  then  use that preferred key‐
1943                     server to fetch the key from. Note that this  option  in‐
1944                     troduces a "web bug": The creator of the key can see when
1945                     the keys is refreshed.  Thus this option is  not  enabled
1946                     by default.
1947
1948
1949              include-subkeys
1950                     When  receiving  a key, include subkeys as potential tar‐
1951                     gets. Note that this option is not  used  with  HKP  key‐
1952                     servers, as they do not support retrieving keys by subkey
1953                     id.
1954
1955
1956              timeout
1957              http-proxy=value
1958              verbose
1959              debug
1960              check-cert
1961
1962              ca-cert-file
1963                     These options have no more function since GnuPG 2.1.  Use
1964                     the dirmngr configuration options instead.
1965
1966
1967       The  default list of options is: "self-sigs-only, import-clean, repair-
1968       keys, repair-pks-subkey-bug, export-attributes". However, if the actual
1969       used  source  is  an  LDAP server "no-self-sigs-only" is assumed unless
1970       "self-sigs-only" has been explictly configured.
1971
1972
1973
1974       --completes-needed n
1975              Number of completely trusted users to introduce a new key signer
1976              (defaults to 1).
1977
1978
1979       --marginals-needed n
1980              Number of marginally trusted users to introduce a new key signer
1981              (defaults to 3)
1982
1983
1984       --tofu-default-policy {auto|good|unknown|bad|ask}
1985              The default TOFU policy (defaults to auto).  For  more  informa‐
1986              tion about the meaning of this option, see: [trust-model-tofu].
1987
1988
1989       --max-cert-depth n
1990              Maximum depth of a certification chain (default is 5).
1991
1992
1993       --no-sig-cache
1994              Do not cache the verification status of key signatures.  Caching
1995              gives a much better performance in key listings. However, if you
1996              suspect that your public keyring is not safe against write modi‐
1997              fications, you can use this option to disable  the  caching.  It
1998              probably  does  not make sense to disable it because all kind of
1999              damage can be done if someone else has write access to your pub‐
2000              lic keyring.
2001
2002
2003       --auto-check-trustdb
2004       --no-auto-check-trustdb
2005              If  GnuPG  feels that its information about the Web of Trust has
2006              to be updated, it automatically runs the --check-trustdb command
2007              internally.   This  may  be a time consuming process. --no-auto-
2008              check-trustdb disables this option.
2009
2010
2011       --use-agent
2012       --no-use-agent
2013              This is dummy option. gpg always requires the agent.
2014
2015
2016       --gpg-agent-info
2017              This is dummy option. It has no effect when used with gpg.
2018
2019
2020
2021       --agent-program file
2022              Specify an agent program to be used for secret  key  operations.
2023              The  default value is determined by running gpgconf with the op‐
2024              tion --list-dirs.  Note that the pipe symbol (|) is used  for  a
2025              regression  test suite hack and may thus not be used in the file
2026              name.
2027
2028
2029       --dirmngr-program file
2030              Specify a dirmngr program to be used for keyserver access.   The
2031              default value is ‘/usr/bin/dirmngr’.
2032
2033
2034       --disable-dirmngr
2035              Entirely disable the use of the Dirmngr.
2036
2037
2038       --no-autostart
2039              Do not start the gpg-agent or the dirmngr if it has not yet been
2040              started and its service is required.  This option is mostly use‐
2041              ful on machines where the connection to gpg-agent has been redi‐
2042              rected to another machines.  If dirmngr is required on  the  re‐
2043              mote  machine, it may be started manually using gpgconf --launch
2044              dirmngr.
2045
2046
2047       --lock-once
2048              Lock the databases the first time a lock is requested and do not
2049              release the lock until the process terminates.
2050
2051
2052       --lock-multiple
2053              Release  the  locks  every  time a lock is no longer needed. Use
2054              this to override a previous --lock-once from a config file.
2055
2056
2057       --lock-never
2058              Disable locking entirely. This option should  be  used  only  in
2059              very special environments, where it can be assured that only one
2060              process is accessing those  files.  A  bootable  floppy  with  a
2061              stand-alone  encryption  system will probably use this. Improper
2062              usage of this option may lead to data and key corruption.
2063
2064
2065       --exit-on-status-write-error
2066              This option will cause write errors on the status FD to  immedi‐
2067              ately  terminate the process. That should in fact be the default
2068              but it never worked this way and thus we need an option  to  en‐
2069              able  this,  so  that  the change won't break applications which
2070              close their end of a status fd connected pipe too  early.  Using
2071              this  option  along with --enable-progress-filter may be used to
2072              cleanly cancel long running gpg operations.
2073
2074
2075       --limit-card-insert-tries n
2076              With n greater than 0 the number of prompts asking to  insert  a
2077              smartcard  gets limited to N-1. Thus with a value of 1 gpg won't
2078              at all ask to insert  a  card  if  none  has  been  inserted  at
2079              startup. This option is useful in the configuration file in case
2080              an application does not know about  the  smartcard  support  and
2081              waits ad infinitum for an inserted card.
2082
2083
2084       --no-random-seed-file
2085              GnuPG uses a file to store its internal random pool over invoca‐
2086              tions.  This makes random generation faster;  however  sometimes
2087              write  operations  are  not  desired. This option can be used to
2088              achieve that with the cost of slower random generation.
2089
2090
2091       --no-greeting
2092              Suppress the initial copyright message.
2093
2094
2095       --no-secmem-warning
2096              Suppress the warning about "using insecure memory".
2097
2098
2099       --no-permission-warning
2100              Suppress the  warning  about  unsafe  file  and  home  directory
2101              (--homedir)  permissions.  Note  that the permission checks that
2102              GnuPG performs are not intended to be authoritative, but  rather
2103              they  simply  warn  about certain common permission problems. Do
2104              not assume that the lack of a warning means that your system  is
2105              secure.
2106
2107              Note that the warning for unsafe --homedir permissions cannot be
2108              suppressed in the gpg.conf file, as this would allow an attacker
2109              to  place an unsafe gpg.conf file in place, and use this file to
2110              suppress warnings about itself. The --homedir permissions  warn‐
2111              ing may only be suppressed on the command line.
2112
2113
2114       --require-secmem
2115       --no-require-secmem
2116              Refuse  to run if GnuPG cannot get secure memory. Defaults to no
2117              (i.e. run, but give a warning).
2118
2119
2120
2121       --require-cross-certification
2122       --no-require-cross-certification
2123              When verifying a signature made from a subkey, ensure  that  the
2124              cross  certification  "back  signature" on the subkey is present
2125              and valid.  This protects against a subtle attack  against  sub‐
2126              keys  that  can sign.  Defaults to --require-cross-certification
2127              for gpg.
2128
2129
2130       --expert
2131       --no-expert
2132              Allow the user to do certain nonsensical or "silly" things  like
2133              signing an expired or revoked key, or certain potentially incom‐
2134              patible things like generating unusual key types. This also dis‐
2135              ables  certain  warning  messages about potentially incompatible
2136              actions. As the name implies, this option is for  experts  only.
2137              If you don't fully understand the implications of what it allows
2138              you to do, leave this off. --no-expert disables this option.
2139
2140
2141   Key related options
2142
2143
2144
2145
2146       --recipient name
2147       -r     Encrypt for user id name. If this option  or  --hidden-recipient
2148              is  not  specified, GnuPG asks for the user-id unless --default-
2149              recipient is given.
2150
2151
2152       --hidden-recipient name
2153       -R     Encrypt for user ID name, but hide the key  ID  of  this  user's
2154              key.  This  option helps to hide the receiver of the message and
2155              is a limited countermeasure against traffic  analysis.  If  this
2156              option  or --recipient is not specified, GnuPG asks for the user
2157              ID unless --default-recipient is given.
2158
2159
2160       --recipient-file file
2161       -f     This option is similar to --recipient except that it encrypts to
2162              a key stored in the given file.  file must be the name of a file
2163              containing exactly one key.  gpg assumes that the  key  in  this
2164              file is fully valid.
2165
2166
2167       --hidden-recipient-file file
2168       -F     This  option is similar to --hidden-recipient except that it en‐
2169              crypts to a key stored in the given file.  file must be the name
2170              of  a file containing exactly one key.  gpg assumes that the key
2171              in this file is fully valid.
2172
2173
2174       --encrypt-to name
2175              Same as --recipient but this one is intended for use in the  op‐
2176              tions file and may be used with your own user-id as an "encrypt-
2177              to-self". These keys are only used when there are other  recipi‐
2178              ents given either by use of --recipient or by the asked user id.
2179              No trust checking is performed for these user ids and even  dis‐
2180              abled keys can be used.
2181
2182
2183       --hidden-encrypt-to name
2184              Same  as  --hidden-recipient but this one is intended for use in
2185              the options file and may be used with your own user-id as a hid‐
2186              den  "encrypt-to-self".  These keys are only used when there are
2187              other recipients given either by use of --recipient  or  by  the
2188              asked  user  id.   No trust checking is performed for these user
2189              ids and even disabled keys can be used.
2190
2191
2192       --no-encrypt-to
2193              Disable the use  of  all  --encrypt-to  and  --hidden-encrypt-to
2194              keys.
2195
2196
2197       --group {name=value}
2198              Sets up a named group, which is similar to aliases in email pro‐
2199              grams.  Any time the group name is a recipient (-r or  --recipi‐
2200              ent),  it  will  be  expanded  to the values specified. Multiple
2201              groups with the same name are automatically merged into a single
2202              group.
2203
2204              The  values are key IDs or fingerprints, but any key description
2205              is accepted. Note that a value with spaces in it will be treated
2206              as  two  different  values. Note also there is only one level of
2207              expansion --- you cannot make an group that  points  to  another
2208              group.  When  used from the command line, it may be necessary to
2209              quote the argument to this option  to  prevent  the  shell  from
2210              treating it as multiple arguments.
2211
2212
2213       --ungroup name
2214              Remove a given entry from the --group list.
2215
2216
2217       --no-groups
2218              Remove all entries from the --group list.
2219
2220
2221       --local-user name
2222       -u     Use  name  as  the key to sign with. Note that this option over‐
2223              rides --default-key.
2224
2225
2226       --sender mbox
2227              This option has two purposes.  mbox must either  be  a  complete
2228              user  ID  containing  a proper mail address or just a plain mail
2229              address.  The option can be given multiple times.
2230
2231              When creating a signature this  option  tells  gpg  the  signing
2232              key's user id used to make the signature and embeds that user ID
2233              into the created signature (using OpenPGP's ``Signer's User ID''
2234              subpacket).   If  the  option is given multiple times a suitable
2235              user ID is picked.  However, if the signing  key  was  specified
2236              directly  by  using  a mail address (i.e. not by using a finger‐
2237              print or key ID) this option is used and the mail address is em‐
2238              bedded in the created signature.
2239
2240              When verifying a signature mbox is used to restrict the informa‐
2241              tion printed by the TOFU code to matching user IDs.  If the  op‐
2242              tion  is  used and the signature contains a ``Signer's User ID''
2243              subpacket that information is  is  also  used  to  restrict  the
2244              printed  information.   Note  that GnuPG considers only the mail
2245              address part of a User ID.
2246
2247              If this option or the said  subpacket  is  available  the  TRUST
2248              lines  as  printed  by option status-fd correspond to the corre‐
2249              sponding User ID; if no User ID is known  the  TRUST  lines  are
2250              computed  directly  on  the  key and do not give any information
2251              about the User ID.  In the latter case it his highly recommended
2252              to  scripts  and  other frontends to evaluate the VALIDSIG line,
2253              retrieve the key and print all User IDs along with their  valid‐
2254              ity (trust) information.
2255
2256
2257
2258       --try-secret-key name
2259              For  hidden  recipients  GPG  needs  to know the keys to use for
2260              trial decryption.  The key  set  with  --default-key  is  always
2261              tried  first, but this is often not sufficient.  This option al‐
2262              lows setting more keys to be used  for  trial  decryption.   Al‐
2263              though  any  valid user-id specification may be used for name it
2264              makes sense to use at least the long keyid to avoid ambiguities.
2265              Note that gpg-agent might pop up a pinentry for a lot keys to do
2266              the trial decryption.  If you want to stop all further trial de‐
2267              cryption  you  may use close-window button instead of the cancel
2268              button.
2269
2270
2271       --try-all-secrets
2272              Don't look at the key ID as stored in the message  but  try  all
2273              secret  keys  in turn to find the right decryption key. This op‐
2274              tion forces the behaviour as used by anonymous recipients  (cre‐
2275              ated  by  using  --throw-keyids or --hidden-recipient) and might
2276              come handy in case where an encrypted message contains  a  bogus
2277              key ID.
2278
2279
2280       --skip-hidden-recipients
2281       --no-skip-hidden-recipients
2282              During  decryption  skip  all anonymous recipients.  This option
2283              helps in the case that people use the hidden recipients  feature
2284              to  hide  their own encrypt-to key from others.  If one has many
2285              secret keys this may lead to a major annoyance because all  keys
2286              are  tried in turn to decrypt something which was not really in‐
2287              tended for it.  The drawback of this option is that it  is  cur‐
2288              rently  not  possible  to  decrypt a message which includes real
2289              anonymous recipients.
2290
2291
2292
2293   Input and Output
2294
2295
2296
2297
2298       --armor
2299       -a     Create ASCII armored output.  The default is to create  the  bi‐
2300              nary OpenPGP format.
2301
2302
2303       --no-armor
2304              Assume the input data is not in ASCII armored format.
2305
2306
2307       --output file
2308       -o file
2309              Write output to file.  To write to stdout use - as the filename.
2310
2311
2312       --max-output n
2313              This  option  sets  a  limit on the number of bytes that will be
2314              generated when processing a file. Since OpenPGP supports various
2315              levels  of  compression,  it is possible that the plaintext of a
2316              given message may be  significantly  larger  than  the  original
2317              OpenPGP  message. While GnuPG works properly with such messages,
2318              there is often a desire to set a maximum file size that will  be
2319              generated  before processing is forced to stop by the OS limits.
2320              Defaults to 0, which means "no limit".
2321
2322
2323       --chunk-size n
2324              The AEAD encryption mode encrypts the data in chunks so  that  a
2325              receiving side can check for transmission errors or tampering at
2326              the end of each chunk and does not need to delay this until  all
2327              data  has  been received.  The used chunk size is 2^n byte.  The
2328              lowest allowed value for n is 6 (64 byte) and the largest is the
2329              default of 22 which creates chunks not larger than 4 MiB.
2330
2331
2332       --input-size-hint n
2333              This  option  can be used to tell GPG the size of the input data
2334              in bytes.  n must be a positive base-10 number.  This option  is
2335              only  useful if the input is not taken from a file.  GPG may use
2336              this hint to optimize its buffer  allocation  strategy.   It  is
2337              also  used  by  the  --status-fd  line ``PROGRESS'' to provide a
2338              value for ``total'' if that is not available by other means.
2339
2340
2341       --key-origin string[,url]
2342              gpg can track the origin of a key. Certain origins  are  implic‐
2343              itly  known  (e.g. keyserver, web key directory) and set.  For a
2344              standard import the origin of the keys imported can be set  with
2345              this option.  To list the possible values use "help" for string.
2346              Some origins can store an optional url argument.  That  URL  can
2347              appended to string after a comma.
2348
2349
2350       --import-options parameters
2351              This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
2352              importing keys. Options can be prepended with a  `no-'  to  give
2353              the opposite meaning. The options are:
2354
2355
2356
2357              import-local-sigs
2358                     Allow importing key signatures marked as "local". This is
2359                     not generally useful unless a shared  keyring  scheme  is
2360                     being used.  Defaults to no.
2361
2362
2363              keep-ownertrust
2364                     Normally  possible  still existing ownertrust values of a
2365                     key are cleared if a key is imported.  This is in general
2366                     desirable  so  that a formerly deleted key does not auto‐
2367                     matically gain an ownertrust values merely due to import.
2368                     On  the other hand it is sometimes necessary to re-import
2369                     a trusted set of keys again but keeping already  assigned
2370                     ownertrust  values.   This  can be achieved by using this
2371                     option.
2372
2373
2374              repair-pks-subkey-bug
2375                     During import, attempt to repair the damage caused by the
2376                     PKS  keyserver  bug (pre version 0.9.6) that mangles keys
2377                     with multiple subkeys. Note that this  cannot  completely
2378                     repair the damaged key as some crucial data is removed by
2379                     the keyserver, but it does at least  give  you  back  one
2380                     subkey.  Defaults  to  no for regular --import and to yes
2381                     for keyserver --receive-keys.
2382
2383
2384              import-show
2385              show-only
2386                     Show a listing of the key as imported right before it  is
2387                     stored.   This  can be combined with the option --dry-run
2388                     to only look at keys; the option show-only is a  shortcut
2389                     for this combination.  The command --show-keys is another
2390                     shortcut for this.  Note that suffixes like '#' for "sec"
2391                     and "sbb" lines may or may not be printed.
2392
2393
2394              import-export
2395                     Run the entire import code but instead of storing the key
2396                     to the local keyring write it to the output.  The  export
2397                     option  export-dane  affect  the output.  This option can
2398                     for example be used to remove all invalid  parts  from  a
2399                     key without the need to store it.
2400
2401
2402              merge-only
2403                     During import, allow key updates to existing keys, but do
2404                     not allow any new keys to be imported. Defaults to no.
2405
2406
2407              import-clean
2408                     After import, compact (remove all signatures  except  the
2409                     self-signature)  any  user  IDs from the new key that are
2410                     not usable.  Then, remove any signatures from the new key
2411                     that  are not usable.  This includes signatures that were
2412                     issued by keys that are not present on the keyring.  This
2413                     option  is  the  same  as  running the --edit-key command
2414                     "clean" after import. Defaults to no.
2415
2416
2417              self-sigs-only
2418                     Accept only self-signatures while importing a  key.   All
2419                     other  key  signatures  are  skipped  at  an early import
2420                     stage.  This option can be used with keyserver-options to
2421                     mitigate  attempts  to  flood a key with bogus signatures
2422                     from a keyserver.  The drawback is that all  other  valid
2423                     key  signatures, as required by the Web of Trust are also
2424                     not imported.  Note that when  using  this  option  along
2425                     with  import-clean it suppresses the final clean step af‐
2426                     ter merging the imported key into the existing key.
2427
2428
2429              repair-keys
2430                     After import, fix various problems with  the  keys.   For
2431                     example,  this  reorders signatures, and strips duplicate
2432                     signatures.  Defaults to yes.
2433
2434
2435              bulk-import
2436                     When  used  the  keyboxd  (option  use-keyboxd  in  ‘com‐
2437                     mon.conf’) does the import within a single transaction.
2438
2439
2440              import-minimal
2441                     Import the smallest key possible. This removes all signa‐
2442                     tures except the most recent self-signature on each  user
2443                     ID.  This  option  is  the same as running the --edit-key
2444                     command "minimize" after import.  Defaults to no.
2445
2446
2447              restore
2448              import-restore
2449                     Import in key restore mode.  This imports all data  which
2450                     is  usually  skipped  during  import; including all GnuPG
2451                     specific data.  All other contradicting options are over‐
2452                     ridden.
2453
2454
2455       --import-filter {name=expr}
2456       --export-filter {name=expr}
2457              These  options  define an import/export filter which are applied
2458              to the  imported/exported  keyblock  right  before  it  will  be
2459              stored/written.   name  defines  the type of filter to use, expr
2460              the expression to evaluate.  The  option  can  be  used  several
2461              times which then appends more expression to the same name.
2462
2463
2464              The available filter types are:
2465
2466
2467
2468              keep-uid
2469                     This  filter will keep a user id packet and its dependent
2470                     packets in the keyblock if the  expression  evaluates  to
2471                     true.
2472
2473
2474              drop-subkey
2475                     This  filter  drops the selected subkeys.  Currently only
2476                     implemented for --export-filter.
2477
2478
2479              drop-sig
2480                     This filter drops the selected  key  signatures  on  user
2481                     ids.  Self-signatures are not considered.  Currently only
2482                     implemented for --import-filter.
2483
2484
2485       For the syntax of the expression see the chapter "FILTER  EXPRESSIONS".
2486       The property names for the expressions depend on the actual filter type
2487       and are indicated in the following table.
2488
2489       The available properties are:
2490
2491
2492
2493              uid    A string with the user id.  (keep-uid)
2494
2495
2496              mbox   The addr-spec part of a user id with mailbox or the empty
2497                     string.  (keep-uid)
2498
2499
2500              key_algo
2501                     A number with the public key algorithm of a key or subkey
2502                     packet.  (drop-subkey)
2503
2504
2505              key_created
2506              key_created_d
2507                     The first is the timestamp a public key or subkey  packet
2508                     was  created.  The second is the same but given as an ISO
2509                     string, e.g. "2016-08-17". (drop-subkey)
2510
2511
2512              fpr    The hexified fingerprint of the current subkey or primary
2513                     key.  (drop-subkey)
2514
2515
2516              primary
2517                     Boolean  indicating  whether  the  user id is the primary
2518                     one.  (keep-uid)
2519
2520
2521              expired
2522                     Boolean indicating whether a user id  (keep-uid),  a  key
2523                     (drop-subkey), or a signature (drop-sig) expired.
2524
2525
2526              revoked
2527                     Boolean  indicating whether a user id (keep-uid) or a key
2528                     (drop-subkey) has been revoked.
2529
2530
2531              disabled
2532                     Boolean indicating whether a  primary  key  is  disabled.
2533                     (not used)
2534
2535
2536              secret Boolean  indicating  whether  a key or subkey is a secret
2537                     one.  (drop-subkey)
2538
2539
2540              usage  A string indicating the usage flags for the subkey,  from
2541                     the sequence ``ecsa?''.  For example, a subkey capable of
2542                     just signing and authentication would be an  exact  match
2543                     for ``sa''. (drop-subkey)
2544
2545
2546              sig_created
2547              sig_created_d
2548                     The  first  is  the timestamp a signature packet was cre‐
2549                     ated.  The second is the same but given as  an  ISO  date
2550                     string, e.g. "2016-08-17". (drop-sig)
2551
2552
2553              sig_algo
2554                     A  number  with  the  public key algorithm of a signature
2555                     packet. (drop-sig)
2556
2557
2558              sig_digest_algo
2559                     A number with the digest algorithm of a signature packet.
2560                     (drop-sig)
2561
2562
2563
2564       --export-options parameters
2565              This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
2566              exporting keys.  Options can be prepended with a `no-'  to  give
2567              the opposite meaning.  The options are:
2568
2569
2570
2571              export-local-sigs
2572                     Allow exporting key signatures marked as "local". This is
2573                     not generally useful unless a shared  keyring  scheme  is
2574                     being used.  Defaults to no.
2575
2576
2577              export-attributes
2578                     Include  attribute  user IDs (photo IDs) while exporting.
2579                     Not including attribute user IDs is useful to export keys
2580                     that are going to be used by an OpenPGP program that does
2581                     not accept attribute user IDs.  Defaults to yes.
2582
2583
2584              export-sensitive-revkeys
2585                     Include designated revoker information that was marked as
2586                     "sensitive". Defaults to no.
2587
2588
2589
2590              backup
2591              export-backup
2592                     Export  for  use as a backup.  The exported data includes
2593                     all data which is needed to restore the key or keys later
2594                     with  GnuPG.   The format is basically the OpenPGP format
2595                     but enhanced with GnuPG specific data.  All other contra‐
2596                     dicting options are overridden.
2597
2598
2599              export-clean
2600                     Compact  (remove all signatures from) user IDs on the key
2601                     being exported if the user IDs are not usable.  Also,  do
2602                     not  export  any signatures that are not usable. This in‐
2603                     cludes signatures that were issued by keys that  are  not
2604                     present  on  the keyring. This option is the same as run‐
2605                     ning the --edit-key command "clean" before export  except
2606                     that  the local copy of the key is not modified. Defaults
2607                     to no.
2608
2609
2610              export-minimal
2611                     Export the smallest key possible. This removes all signa‐
2612                     tures  except the most recent self-signature on each user
2613                     ID. This option is the same  as  running  the  --edit-key
2614                     command  "minimize"  before  export except that the local
2615                     copy of the key is not modified. Defaults to no.
2616
2617
2618              export-dane
2619                     Instead of outputting the  key  material  output  OpenPGP
2620                     DANE  records  suitable  to  put into DNS zone files.  An
2621                     ORIGIN line is printed before each record  to  allow  di‐
2622                     verting the records to the corresponding zone file.
2623
2624
2625
2626       --with-colons
2627              Print  key  listings  delimited  by colons. Note that the output
2628              will be encoded in UTF-8  regardless  of  any  --display-charset
2629              setting. This format is useful when GnuPG is called from scripts
2630              and other programs as it is easily machine parsed.  The  details
2631              of  this  format are documented in the file ‘doc/DETAILS’, which
2632              is included in the GnuPG source distribution.
2633
2634
2635       --fixed-list-mode
2636              Do not merge primary user ID and  primary  key  in  --with-colon
2637              listing   mode   and  print  all  timestamps  as  seconds  since
2638              1970-01-01.  Since GnuPG 2.0.10, this mode is  always  used  and
2639              thus this option is obsolete; it does not harm to use it though.
2640
2641
2642       --legacy-list-mode
2643              Revert  to  the pre-2.1 public key list mode.  This only affects
2644              the human readable output and not the  machine  interface  (i.e.
2645              --with-colons).   Note  that  the  legacy format does not convey
2646              suitable information for elliptic curves.
2647
2648
2649       --with-fingerprint
2650              Same as the command --fingerprint but changes only the format of
2651              the output and may be used together with another command.
2652
2653
2654       --with-subkey-fingerprint
2655              If  a  fingerprint  is  printed for the primary key, this option
2656              forces printing of the fingerprint for all subkeys.  This  could
2657              also  be  achieved  by using the --with-fingerprint twice but by
2658              using this option along with keyid-format "none" a compact  fin‐
2659              gerprint is printed.
2660
2661
2662       --with-icao-spelling
2663              Print  the  ICAO  spelling of the fingerprint in addition to the
2664              hex digits.
2665
2666
2667       --with-keygrip
2668              Include the keygrip in the key listings.  In --with-colons  mode
2669              this is implicitly enable for secret keys.
2670
2671
2672       --with-key-origin
2673              Include  the locally held information on the origin and last up‐
2674              date of a key in a key listing.  In --with-colons mode  this  is
2675              always  printed.   This data is currently experimental and shall
2676              not be considered part of the stable API.
2677
2678
2679       --with-wkd-hash
2680              Print a Web Key Directory identifier along with each user ID  in
2681              key listings.  This is an experimental feature and semantics may
2682              change.
2683
2684
2685       --with-secret
2686              Include info about the presence of a secret key  in  public  key
2687              listings done with --with-colons.
2688
2689
2690   OpenPGP protocol specific options
2691
2692
2693
2694
2695       -t, --textmode
2696       --no-textmode
2697              Treat  input files as text and store them in the OpenPGP canoni‐
2698              cal text form with standard "CRLF" line endings. This also  sets
2699              the  necessary  flags to inform the recipient that the encrypted
2700              or signed data is text and may need its line  endings  converted
2701              back  to  whatever  the local system uses. This option is useful
2702              when communicating between two  platforms  that  have  different
2703              line ending conventions (UNIX-like to Mac, Mac to Windows, etc).
2704              --no-textmode disables this option, and is the default.
2705
2706
2707       --force-v3-sigs
2708       --no-force-v3-sigs
2709
2710       --force-v4-certs
2711       --no-force-v4-certs
2712              These options are obsolete and have no effect since GnuPG 2.1.
2713
2714
2715       --force-aead
2716              Force the use of AEAD encryption over MDC encryption.  AEAD is a
2717              modern  and  faster  way to do authenticated encryption than the
2718              old MDC method.  See also options --aead-algo and --chunk-size.
2719
2720
2721       --force-mdc
2722       --disable-mdc
2723              These options are obsolete and have no effect since GnuPG 2.2.8.
2724              The MDC is always used unless the keys indicate that an AEAD al‐
2725              gorithm can be used in which case AEAD is used.   But  note:  If
2726              the  creation  of  a legacy non-MDC message is exceptionally re‐
2727              quired, the option --rfc2440 allows for this.
2728
2729
2730       --disable-signer-uid
2731              By default the user ID of the signing key  is  embedded  in  the
2732              data  signature.  As of now this is only done if the signing key
2733              has been specified with local-user using a mail address, or with
2734              sender.   This information can be helpful for verifier to locate
2735              the key; see option --auto-key-retrieve.
2736
2737
2738       --include-key-block
2739       --no-include-key-block
2740              This option is used to embed the actual signing key into a  data
2741              signature.   The  embedded key is stripped down to a single user
2742              id and includes only the signing subkey used to create the  sig‐
2743              nature  as  well as as valid encryption subkeys.  All other info
2744              is removed from the key to keep it and thus the signature small.
2745              This option is the OpenPGP counterpart to the gpgsm option --in‐
2746              clude-certs and allows the recipient of a signed message to  re‐
2747              ply encrypted to the sender without using any online directories
2748              to lookup the key.  The default is --no-include-key-block.   See
2749              also the option --auto-key-import.
2750
2751
2752       --personal-cipher-preferences string
2753              Set  the list of personal cipher preferences to string.  Use gpg
2754              --version to get a list of available algorithms, and use none to
2755              set  no preference at all.  This allows the user to safely over‐
2756              ride the algorithm chosen by the recipient key  preferences,  as
2757              GPG  will only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipi‐
2758              ents.  The most highly ranked cipher in this list is  also  used
2759              for the --symmetric encryption command.
2760
2761
2762       --personal-aead-preferences string
2763              Set  the  list  of personal AEAD preferences to string.  Use gpg
2764              --version to get a list of available algorithms, and use none to
2765              set  no preference at all.  This allows the user to safely over‐
2766              ride the algorithm chosen by the recipient key  preferences,  as
2767              GPG  will only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipi‐
2768              ents.  The most highly ranked cipher in this list is  also  used
2769              for the --symmetric encryption command.
2770
2771
2772       --personal-digest-preferences string
2773              Set  the list of personal digest preferences to string.  Use gpg
2774              --version to get a list of available algorithms, and use none to
2775              set  no preference at all.  This allows the user to safely over‐
2776              ride the algorithm chosen by the recipient key  preferences,  as
2777              GPG  will only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipi‐
2778              ents.  The most highly ranked digest algorithm in this  list  is
2779              also  used when signing without encryption (e.g. --clear-sign or
2780              --sign).
2781
2782
2783       --personal-compress-preferences string
2784              Set the list of personal compression preferences to string.  Use
2785              gpg  --version  to  get  a list of available algorithms, and use
2786              none to set no preference at  all.   This  allows  the  user  to
2787              safely  override the algorithm chosen by the recipient key pref‐
2788              erences, as GPG will only select an algorithm that is usable  by
2789              all recipients.  The most highly ranked compression algorithm in
2790              this list is also used when there are no recipient keys to  con‐
2791              sider (e.g. --symmetric).
2792
2793
2794       --s2k-cipher-algo name
2795              Use name as the cipher algorithm for symmetric encryption with a
2796              passphrase if  --personal-cipher-preferences  and  --cipher-algo
2797              are not given.  The default is AES-128.
2798
2799
2800       --s2k-digest-algo name
2801              Use  name as the digest algorithm used to mangle the passphrases
2802              for symmetric encryption.  The default is SHA-1.
2803
2804
2805       --s2k-mode n
2806              Selects how passphrases for symmetric encryption are mangled. If
2807              n  is 0 a plain passphrase (which is in general not recommended)
2808              will be used, a 1 adds a salt (which should not be used) to  the
2809              passphrase  and  a  3 (the default) iterates the whole process a
2810              number of times (see --s2k-count).
2811
2812
2813       --s2k-count n
2814              Specify how many times the passphrases  mangling  for  symmetric
2815              encryption  is  repeated.  This value may range between 1024 and
2816              65011712 inclusive.  The default  is  inquired  from  gpg-agent.
2817              Note  that  not  all values in the 1024-65011712 range are legal
2818              and if an illegal value is selected, GnuPG will round up to  the
2819              nearest  legal  value.  This option is only meaningful if --s2k-
2820              mode is set to the default of 3.
2821
2822
2823
2824   Compliance options
2825
2826
2827       These options control what GnuPG is compliant to. Only one of these op‐
2828       tions may be active at a time. Note that the default setting of this is
2829       nearly always the correct one.  See  the  INTEROPERABILITY  WITH  OTHER
2830       OPENPGP PROGRAMS section below before using one of these options.
2831
2832
2833
2834       --gnupg
2835              Use  standard GnuPG behavior. This is essentially OpenPGP behav‐
2836              ior (see --openpgp), but with extension from the proposed update
2837              to  OpenPGP and with some additional workarounds for common com‐
2838              patibility problems in different versions of PGP.  This  is  the
2839              default  option,  so  it  is not generally needed, but it may be
2840              useful to override a different compliance option in the gpg.conf
2841              file.
2842
2843
2844       --openpgp
2845              Reset  all  packet,  cipher and digest options to strict OpenPGP
2846              behavior.  This option  implies  --allow-old-cipher-algos.   Use
2847              this  option  to  reset all previous options like --s2k-*, --ci‐
2848              pher-algo, --digest-algo and --compress-algo to OpenPGP  compli‐
2849              ant values. All PGP workarounds are disabled.
2850
2851
2852       --rfc4880
2853              Reset  all  packet, cipher and digest options to strict RFC-4880
2854              behavior.  This option implies  --allow-old-cipher-algos.   Note
2855              that this is currently the same thing as --openpgp.
2856
2857
2858       --rfc4880bis
2859              Reset  all packet, cipher and digest options to strict according
2860              to the proposed updates of RFC-4880.
2861
2862
2863       --rfc2440
2864              Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to  strict  RFC-2440
2865              behavior.  Note that by using this option encryption packets are
2866              created in a legacy mode without MDC protection.  This  is  dan‐
2867              gerous  and  should thus only be used for experiments.  This op‐
2868              tion implies --allow-old-cipher-algos.  See  also  option  --ig‐
2869              nore-mdc-error.
2870
2871
2872       --pgp6 This option is obsolete; it is handled as an alias for --pgp7
2873
2874
2875       --pgp7 Set  up  all  options to be as PGP 7 compliant as possible. This
2876              allowed the ciphers IDEA, 3DES,  CAST5,AES128,  AES192,  AES256,
2877              and  TWOFISH.,  the hashes MD5, SHA1 and RIPEMD160, and the com‐
2878              pression algorithms none and ZIP.  This option implies --escape-
2879              from-lines and disables --throw-keyids,
2880
2881
2882       --pgp8 Set  up  all options to be as PGP 8 compliant as possible. PGP 8
2883              is a lot closer to the OpenPGP standard than  previous  versions
2884              of PGP, so all this does is disable --throw-keyids and set --es‐
2885              cape-from-lines.  All algorithms  are  allowed  except  for  the
2886              SHA224, SHA384, and SHA512 digests.
2887
2888
2889       --compliance string
2890              This  option  can  be  used instead of one of the options above.
2891              Valid values for string are the above option names (without  the
2892              double  dash) and possibly others as shown when using "help" for
2893              string.
2894
2895
2896       --min-rsa-length n
2897              This option adjusts the compliance mode "de-vs" for stricter key
2898              size  requirements.   For example, a value of 3000 turns rsa2048
2899              and dsa2048 keys into non-VS-NfD compliant keys.
2900
2901
2902       --require-compliance
2903              To check that data has been encrypted according to the rules  of
2904              the  current  compliance  mode, a gpg user needs to evaluate the
2905              status lines.  This is allows  frontends  to  handle  compliance
2906              check in a more flexible way.  However, for scripted use the re‐
2907              quired evaluation of the status-line requires quite some effort;
2908              this  option  can  be  used  instead  to  make sure that the gpg
2909              process exits with a failure if the  compliance  rules  are  not
2910              fulfilled.   Note  that this option has currently an effect only
2911              in "de-vs" mode.
2912
2913
2914   Doing things one usually doesn't want to do
2915
2916
2917
2918
2919       -n
2920       --dry-run
2921              Don't make any changes (this is not completely implemented).
2922
2923
2924       --list-only
2925              Changes the behaviour of some commands. This is  like  --dry-run
2926              but  different in some cases. The semantic of this option may be
2927              extended in the future. Currently it only skips the  actual  de‐
2928              cryption  pass  and  therefore enables a fast listing of the en‐
2929              cryption keys.
2930
2931
2932       -i
2933       --interactive
2934              Prompt before overwriting any files.
2935
2936
2937       --debug-level level
2938              Select the debug level for investigating problems. level may  be
2939              a numeric value or by a keyword:
2940
2941
2942              none   No  debugging at all.  A value of less than 1 may be used
2943                     instead of the keyword.
2944
2945              basic  Some basic debug messages.  A value between 1 and  2  may
2946                     be used instead of the keyword.
2947
2948              advanced
2949                     More verbose debug messages.  A value between 3 and 5 may
2950                     be used instead of the keyword.
2951
2952              expert Even more detailed messages.  A value between 6 and 8 may
2953                     be used instead of the keyword.
2954
2955              guru   All  of  the  debug messages you can get. A value greater
2956                     than 8 may be used instead of the keyword.  The  creation
2957                     of  hash  tracing files is only enabled if the keyword is
2958                     used.
2959
2960       How these messages are mapped to the  actual  debugging  flags  is  not
2961       specified  and may change with newer releases of this program. They are
2962       however carefully selected to best aid in debugging.
2963
2964
2965       --debug flags
2966              Set debug flags.  All flags are or-ed and flags may be given  in
2967              C  syntax  (e.g.  0x0042)  or  as a comma separated list of flag
2968              names.  To get a list of all supported  flags  the  single  word
2969              "help" can be used. This option is only useful for debugging and
2970              the behavior may change at any time without notice.
2971
2972
2973       --debug-all
2974              Set all useful debugging flags.
2975
2976
2977       --debug-iolbf
2978              Set stdout into line buffered mode.  This option is only honored
2979              when given on the command line.
2980
2981
2982       --debug-set-iobuf-size n
2983              Change  the  buffer  size  of the IOBUFs to n kilobyte.  Using 0
2984              prints the current size.  Note well: This is a  maintainer  only
2985              option  and  may  thus be changed or removed at any time without
2986              notice.
2987
2988
2989       --debug-allow-large-chunks
2990              To facilitate software tests and experiments this option  allows
2991              to specify a limit of up to 4 EiB (--chunk-size 62).
2992
2993
2994       --faked-system-time epoch
2995              This  option is only useful for testing; it sets the system time
2996              back or forth to epoch which is the number  of  seconds  elapsed
2997              since the year 1970.  Alternatively epoch may be given as a full
2998              ISO time string (e.g. "20070924T154812").
2999
3000              If you suffix epoch with an exclamation  mark  (!),  the  system
3001              time will appear to be frozen at the specified time.
3002
3003
3004       --full-timestrings
3005              Change  the format of printed creation and expiration times from
3006              just the date to the date and time.  This is in general not use‐
3007              ful  and  the  same  information  is anyway available in --with-
3008              colons mode.  These longer strings are  also  not  well  aligned
3009              with other printed data.
3010
3011
3012       --enable-progress-filter
3013              Enable  certain  PROGRESS  status  outputs.  This  option allows
3014              frontends to display a progress indicator while gpg is  process‐
3015              ing  larger files.  There is a slight performance overhead using
3016              it.
3017
3018
3019       --status-fd n
3020              Write special status strings to the file descriptor n.  See  the
3021              file DETAILS in the documentation for a listing of them.
3022
3023
3024       --status-file file
3025              Same  as  --status-fd, except the status data is written to file
3026              file.
3027
3028
3029       --logger-fd n
3030              Write log output to file descriptor n and not to STDERR.
3031
3032
3033       --log-file file
3034       --logger-file file
3035              Same as --logger-fd, except the logger data is written  to  file
3036              file.  Use ‘socket://’ to log to s socket.
3037
3038
3039       --attribute-fd n
3040              Write  attribute  subpackets  to  the file descriptor n. This is
3041              most useful for use with --status-fd, since the status  messages
3042              are  needed  to  separate  out  the  various subpackets from the
3043              stream delivered to the file descriptor.
3044
3045
3046       --attribute-file file
3047              Same as --attribute-fd, except the attribute data is written  to
3048              file file.
3049
3050
3051       --comment string
3052       --no-comments
3053              Use string as a comment string in cleartext signatures and ASCII
3054              armored messages or keys (see --armor). The default behavior  is
3055              not  to use a comment string. --comment may be repeated multiple
3056              times to get multiple comment strings. --no-comments removes all
3057              comments.  It is a good idea to keep the length of a single com‐
3058              ment below 60 characters to avoid problems  with  mail  programs
3059              wrapping  such  lines.   Note that comment lines, like all other
3060              header lines, are not protected by the signature.
3061
3062
3063       --emit-version
3064       --no-emit-version
3065              Force inclusion of the version string in ASCII  armored  output.
3066              If  given once only the name of the program and the major number
3067              is emitted, given twice the minor is also emitted, given  thrice
3068              the  micro  is  added,  and given four times an operating system
3069              identification is  also  emitted.   --no-emit-version  (default)
3070              disables the version line.
3071
3072
3073       --sig-notation {name=value}
3074       --cert-notation {name=value}
3075       -N, --set-notation {name=value}
3076              Put  the  name  value  pair into the signature as notation data.
3077              name must consist only of printable characters  or  spaces,  and
3078              must  contain  a  '@' character in the form keyname@domain.exam‐
3079              ple.com (substituting the appropriate keyname and  domain  name,
3080              of  course).   This is to help prevent pollution of the IETF re‐
3081              served notation namespace. The --expert flag overrides  the  '@'
3082              check.  value may be any printable string; it will be encoded in
3083              UTF-8, so you should check that your  --display-charset  is  set
3084              correctly.  If you prefix name with an exclamation mark (!), the
3085              notation data will be flagged  as  critical  (rfc4880:5.2.3.16).
3086              --sig-notation sets a notation for data signatures. --cert-nota‐
3087              tion sets a notation for key signatures (certifications). --set-
3088              notation sets both.
3089
3090              There are special codes that may be used in notation names. "%k"
3091              will be expanded into the key ID of the key being  signed,  "%K"
3092              into the long key ID of the key being signed, "%f" into the fin‐
3093              gerprint of the key being signed, "%s" into the key  ID  of  the
3094              key  making  the signature, "%S" into the long key ID of the key
3095              making the signature, "%g" into the fingerprint of the key  mak‐
3096              ing  the signature (which might be a subkey), "%p" into the fin‐
3097              gerprint of the primary key of the  key  making  the  signature,
3098              "%c"  into  the  signature count from the OpenPGP smartcard, and
3099              "%%" results in a single "%". %k, %K, and %f are only meaningful
3100              when  making  a  key  signature  (certification), and %c is only
3101              meaningful when using the OpenPGP smartcard.
3102
3103
3104       --known-notation name
3105              Adds name to a list of known critical signature notations.   The
3106              effect  of  this  is  that  gpg will not mark a signature with a
3107              critical signature notation of that name as bad.  Note that  gpg
3108              already  knows  by default about a few critical signatures nota‐
3109              tion names.
3110
3111
3112       --sig-policy-url string
3113       --cert-policy-url string
3114       --set-policy-url string
3115              Use string as a Policy URL  for  signatures  (rfc4880:5.2.3.20).
3116              If  you  prefix  it with an exclamation mark (!), the policy URL
3117              packet will be flagged as critical. --sig-policy-url sets a pol‐
3118              icy url for data signatures. --cert-policy-url sets a policy url
3119              for key signatures (certifications). --set-policy-url sets both.
3120
3121              The same %-expandos used for notation data are available here as
3122              well.
3123
3124
3125       --sig-keyserver-url string
3126              Use  string as a preferred keyserver URL for data signatures. If
3127              you prefix it with an exclamation mark (!),  the  keyserver  URL
3128              packet will be flagged as critical.
3129
3130              The same %-expandos used for notation data are available here as
3131              well.
3132
3133
3134       --set-filename string
3135              Use string as the filename  which  is  stored  inside  messages.
3136              This  overrides the default, which is to use the actual filename
3137              of the file being encrypted.  Using the empty string for  string
3138              effectively removes the filename from the output.
3139
3140
3141       --for-your-eyes-only
3142       --no-for-your-eyes-only
3143              Set  the  `for  your eyes only' flag in the message. This causes
3144              GnuPG to refuse to save the file unless the --output  option  is
3145              given,  and PGP to use a "secure viewer" with a claimed Tempest-
3146              resistant font to display the  message.  This  option  overrides
3147              --set-filename.  --no-for-your-eyes-only disables this option.
3148
3149
3150       --use-embedded-filename
3151       --no-use-embedded-filename
3152              Try  to  create a file with a name as embedded in the data. This
3153              can be a dangerous option as it enables overwriting files.   De‐
3154              faults  to no.  Note that the option --output overrides this op‐
3155              tion.
3156
3157
3158       --cipher-algo name
3159              Use name as cipher algorithm. Running the program with the  com‐
3160              mand --version yields a list of supported algorithms. If this is
3161              not used the cipher algorithm is selected from  the  preferences
3162              stored with the key. In general, you do not want to use this op‐
3163              tion as it allows you to violate the OpenPGP standard.  The  op‐
3164              tion --personal-cipher-preferences is the safe way to accomplish
3165              the same thing.
3166
3167
3168       --aead-algo name
3169              Specify that the AEAD algorithm name is to  be  used.   This  is
3170              useful  for  symmetric  encryption  where  no key preference are
3171              available to select the AEAD algorithm.  Running gpg with option
3172              --version  shows the available AEAD algorithms.  In general, you
3173              do not want to use this option as it allows you to  violate  the
3174              OpenPGP standard.  The option --personal-aead-preferences is the
3175              safe way to accomplish the same thing.
3176
3177
3178       --digest-algo name
3179              Use name as the message digest algorithm.  Running  the  program
3180              with  the  command  --version  yields  a list of supported algo‐
3181              rithms. In general, you do not want to use this option as it al‐
3182              lows  you  to  violate  the OpenPGP standard.  The option --per‐
3183              sonal-digest-preferences is the safe way to accomplish the  same
3184              thing.
3185
3186
3187       --compress-algo name
3188              Use compression algorithm name. "zlib" is RFC-1950 ZLIB compres‐
3189              sion. "zip" is RFC-1951 ZIP compression which is  used  by  PGP.
3190              "bzip2"  is  a  more modern compression scheme that can compress
3191              some things better than zip or zlib, but at  the  cost  of  more
3192              memory used during compression and decompression. "uncompressed"
3193              or "none" disables compression. If this option is not used,  the
3194              default  behavior is to examine the recipient key preferences to
3195              see which algorithms the recipient supports. If all else  fails,
3196              ZIP is used for maximum compatibility.
3197
3198              ZLIB  may  give better compression results than ZIP, as the com‐
3199              pression window size is not limited to 8k. BZIP2 may  give  even
3200              better  compression  results  than that, but will use a signifi‐
3201              cantly larger amount of memory while compressing and decompress‐
3202              ing.  This  may  be  significant in low memory situations. Note,
3203              however, that PGP (all versions) only supports ZIP  compression.
3204              Using  any algorithm other than ZIP or "none" will make the mes‐
3205              sage unreadable with PGP. In general, you do  not  want  to  use
3206              this  option  as  it allows you to violate the OpenPGP standard.
3207              The option --personal-compress-preferences is the  safe  way  to
3208              accomplish the same thing.
3209
3210
3211       --cert-digest-algo name
3212              Use  name  as  the  message digest algorithm used when signing a
3213              key. Running the program with the  command  --version  yields  a
3214              list  of  supported  algorithms.  Be aware that if you choose an
3215              algorithm that GnuPG supports but other OpenPGP  implementations
3216              do  not,  then some users will not be able to use the key signa‐
3217              tures you make, or quite possibly your entire  key.   Note  also
3218              that  a  public key algorithm must be compatible with the speci‐
3219              fied digest algorithm; thus selecting an arbitrary digest  algo‐
3220              rithm  may  result in error messages from lower crypto layers or
3221              lead to security flaws.
3222
3223
3224
3225       --disable-cipher-algo name
3226              Never allow the use of name as cipher algorithm.  The given name
3227              will  not be checked so that a later loaded algorithm will still
3228              get disabled.
3229
3230
3231       --disable-pubkey-algo name
3232              Never allow the use of name as public key algorithm.  The  given
3233              name  will  not be checked so that a later loaded algorithm will
3234              still get disabled.
3235
3236
3237       --throw-keyids
3238       --no-throw-keyids
3239              Do not put the recipient key IDs into encrypted  messages.  This
3240              helps  to  hide  the  receivers  of the message and is a limited
3241              countermeasure against traffic analysis. ([Using a little social
3242              engineering  anyone who is able to decrypt the message can check
3243              whether one of the other recipients is the  one  he  suspects.])
3244              On  the  receiving side, it may slow down the decryption process
3245              because all available secret keys must  be  tried.   --no-throw-
3246              keyids disables this option. This option is essentially the same
3247              as using --hidden-recipient for all recipients.
3248
3249
3250       --not-dash-escaped
3251              This option changes the behavior of cleartext signatures so that
3252              they  can  be  used for patch files. You should not send such an
3253              armored file via email because all spaces and line  endings  are
3254              hashed  too.  You  can  not use this option for data which has 5
3255              dashes at the beginning of a line, patch files don't have  this.
3256              A  special  armor  header  line tells GnuPG about this cleartext
3257              signature option.
3258
3259
3260       --escape-from-lines
3261       --no-escape-from-lines
3262              Because some mailers change  lines  starting  with  "From  "  to
3263              ">From  "  it is good to handle such lines in a special way when
3264              creating cleartext signatures to prevent the  mail  system  from
3265              breaking  the  signature. Note that all other PGP versions do it
3266              this way too.  Enabled by default.  --no-escape-from-lines  dis‐
3267              ables this option.
3268
3269
3270       --passphrase-repeat n
3271              Specify  how many times gpg will request a new passphrase be re‐
3272              peated.  This is useful for helping memorize a passphrase.   De‐
3273              faults  to  1  repetition;  can  be  set  to  0  to  disable any
3274              passphrase repetition.  Note that a n greater than 1 will pop up
3275              the pinentry window n+1 times even if a modern pinentry with two
3276              entry fields is used.
3277
3278
3279       --passphrase-fd n
3280              Read the passphrase from file descriptor n. Only the first  line
3281              will  be  read  from  file descriptor n. If you use 0 for n, the
3282              passphrase will be read from STDIN. This can  only  be  used  if
3283              only one passphrase is supplied.
3284
3285              Note  that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
3286              option --batch has  also  been  given.  Since  Version  2.1  the
3287              --pinentry-mode also needs to be set to loopback.
3288
3289
3290       --passphrase-file file
3291              Read  the passphrase from file file. Only the first line will be
3292              read from  file  file.  This  can  only  be  used  if  only  one
3293              passphrase is supplied. Obviously, a passphrase stored in a file
3294              is of questionable security if other users can read  this  file.
3295              Don't use this option if you can avoid it.
3296
3297              Note  that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if the
3298              option --batch has  also  been  given.  Since  Version  2.1  the
3299              --pinentry-mode also needs to be set to loopback.
3300
3301
3302       --passphrase string
3303              Use  string as the passphrase. This can only be used if only one
3304              passphrase is supplied. Obviously, this is of very  questionable
3305              security  on  a  multi-user system. Don't use this option if you
3306              can avoid it.
3307
3308              Note that since Version 2.0 this passphrase is only used if  the
3309              option  --batch  has  also  been  given.  Since  Version 2.1 the
3310              --pinentry-mode also needs to be set to loopback.
3311
3312
3313       --pinentry-mode mode
3314              Set the pinentry mode to mode.  Allowed values for mode are:
3315
3316              default
3317                     Use the default of the agent, which is ask.
3318
3319              ask    Force the use of the Pinentry.
3320
3321              cancel Emulate use of Pinentry's cancel button.
3322
3323              error  Return a Pinentry error (``No Pinentry'').
3324
3325              loopback
3326                     Redirect Pinentry queries to the caller.   Note  that  in
3327                     contrast to Pinentry the user is not prompted again if he
3328                     enters a bad password.
3329
3330
3331       --no-symkey-cache
3332              Disable the passphrase cache used for symmetrical  en-  and  de‐
3333              cryption.   This  cache  is  based  on the message specific salt
3334              value (cf. --s2k-mode).
3335
3336
3337       --request-origin origin
3338              Tell gpg to assume that the operation ultimately  originated  at
3339              origin.   Depending  on  the origin certain restrictions are ap‐
3340              plied and the Pinentry may include an extra note on the  origin.
3341              Supported values for origin are: local which is the default, re‐
3342              mote to indicate a remote origin or browser for an operation re‐
3343              quested by a web browser.
3344
3345
3346       --command-fd n
3347              This is a replacement for the deprecated shared-memory IPC mode.
3348              If this option is enabled, user input on questions  is  not  ex‐
3349              pected  from  the  TTY  but  from  the given file descriptor. It
3350              should be used together with --status-fd. See the  file  doc/DE‐
3351              TAILS in the source distribution for details on how to use it.
3352
3353
3354       --command-file file
3355              Same  as  --command-fd, except the commands are read out of file
3356              file
3357
3358
3359       --allow-non-selfsigned-uid
3360       --no-allow-non-selfsigned-uid
3361              Allow the import and use of keys with user  IDs  which  are  not
3362              self-signed.  This is not recommended, as a non self-signed user
3363              ID is trivial to forge. --no-allow-non-selfsigned-uid disables.
3364
3365
3366       --allow-freeform-uid
3367              Disable all checks on the form of the user ID while generating a
3368              new  one.  This option should only be used in very special envi‐
3369              ronments as it does not ensure the de-facto standard  format  of
3370              user IDs.
3371
3372
3373       --ignore-time-conflict
3374              GnuPG  normally  checks that the timestamps associated with keys
3375              and signatures have plausible values. However, sometimes a  sig‐
3376              nature  seems  to  be  older than the key due to clock problems.
3377              This option makes these checks just a warning.  See  also  --ig‐
3378              nore-valid-from for timestamp issues on subkeys.
3379
3380
3381       --ignore-valid-from
3382              GnuPG  normally  does  not select and use subkeys created in the
3383              future.  This option allows the use of such keys  and  thus  ex‐
3384              hibits  the  pre-1.0.7 behaviour. You should not use this option
3385              unless there is some clock problem. See also  --ignore-time-con‐
3386              flict for timestamp issues with signatures.
3387
3388
3389       --ignore-crc-error
3390              The  ASCII  armor used by OpenPGP is protected by a CRC checksum
3391              against transmission errors. Occasionally the CRC  gets  mangled
3392              somewhere  on  the  transmission  channel but the actual content
3393              (which is protected by the OpenPGP  protocol  anyway)  is  still
3394              okay. This option allows GnuPG to ignore CRC errors.
3395
3396
3397       --ignore-mdc-error
3398              This  option  changes  a MDC integrity protection failure into a
3399              warning.  It is required to decrypt old messages which  did  not
3400              use  an  MDC.   It  may also be useful if a message is partially
3401              garbled, but it is necessary to get as much data as possible out
3402              of  that garbled message.  Be aware that a missing or failed MDC
3403              can be an indication of an attack.  Use with great caution;  see
3404              also option --rfc2440.
3405
3406
3407       --allow-old-cipher-algos
3408              Old cipher algorithms like 3DES, IDEA, or CAST5 encrypt data us‐
3409              ing blocks of 64 bits; modern algorithms use blocks of  128  bit
3410              instead.   To avoid certain attack on these old algorithms it is
3411              suggested not to encrypt more than 150  MiByte  using  the  same
3412              key.  For this reason gpg does not allow the use of 64 bit block
3413              size algorithms for encryption unless this option is specified.
3414
3415
3416       --allow-weak-digest-algos
3417              Signatures made with known-weak digest algorithms  are  normally
3418              rejected with an ``invalid digest algorithm'' message.  This op‐
3419              tion allows the verification of signatures made with  such  weak
3420              algorithms.  MD5 is the only digest algorithm considered weak by
3421              default.  See also --weak-digest to reject  other  digest  algo‐
3422              rithms.
3423
3424
3425       --weak-digest name
3426              Treat  the  specified digest algorithm as weak.  Signatures made
3427              over weak digests algorithms are normally rejected. This  option
3428              can  be supplied multiple times if multiple algorithms should be
3429              considered weak.  See also --allow-weak-digest-algos to  disable
3430              rejection  of  weak digests.  MD5 is always considered weak, and
3431              does not need to be listed explicitly.
3432
3433
3434       --allow-weak-key-signatures
3435              To avoid a minor risk of collision attacks  on  third-party  key
3436              signatures made using SHA-1, those key signatures are considered
3437              invalid.  This options allows to override this restriction.
3438
3439
3440       --override-compliance-check
3441              The signature verification only allows the use of keys  suitable
3442              in the current compliance mode.  If the compliance mode has been
3443              forced by a global option, there might be no way to  check  cer‐
3444              tain  signature.  This option allows to override this and prints
3445              an extra warning in such a case.   This  option  is  ignored  in
3446              --batch  mode  so that no accidental unattended verification may
3447              happen.
3448
3449
3450       --no-default-keyring
3451              Do not add the default keyring to the  list  of  keyrings.  Note
3452              that  GnuPG  needs  for almost all operations a keyring. Thus if
3453              you use this option and do not provide  alternate  keyrings  via
3454              --keyring, then GnuPG will still use the default keyring.
3455
3456              Note that if the option use-keyboxd is enabled in ‘common.conf’,
3457              no keyrings are used at all and keys are all maintained  by  the
3458              keyboxd process in its own database.
3459
3460
3461       --no-keyring
3462              Do  not  use any keyring at all.  This overrides the default and
3463              all options which specify keyrings.
3464
3465
3466       --skip-verify
3467              Skip the signature verification step. This may be used  to  make
3468              the  decryption  faster  if  the  signature  verification is not
3469              needed.
3470
3471
3472       --with-key-data
3473              Print key listings delimited by colons (like --with-colons)  and
3474              print the public key data.
3475
3476
3477       --list-signatures
3478       --list-sigs
3479              Same  as  --list-keys,  but the signatures are listed too.  This
3480              command has the same effect as using  --list-keys  with  --with-
3481              sig-list.   Note  that in contrast to --check-signatures the key
3482              signatures are not verified.  This command can be used to create
3483              a  list  of signing keys missing in the local keyring; for exam‐
3484              ple:
3485
3486               gpg --list-sigs --with-colons USERID | \
3487                 awk -F: '$1=="sig" && $2=="?" {if($13){print $13}else{print $5}}'
3488
3489
3490       --fast-list-mode
3491              Changes the output of the list commands to work faster; this  is
3492              achieved  by  leaving  some parts empty. Some applications don't
3493              need the user ID and the trust information given  in  the  list‐
3494              ings.  By  using this options they can get a faster listing. The
3495              exact behaviour of this option may change  in  future  versions.
3496              If you are missing some information, don't use this option.
3497
3498
3499       --no-literal
3500              This  is  not  for normal use. Use the source to see for what it
3501              might be useful.
3502
3503
3504       --set-filesize
3505              This is not for normal use. Use the source to see  for  what  it
3506              might be useful.
3507
3508
3509       --show-session-key
3510              Display  the  session  key used for one message. See --override-
3511              session-key for the counterpart of this option.
3512
3513              We think that Key Escrow is a Bad Thing; however the user should
3514              have  the freedom to decide whether to go to prison or to reveal
3515              the content of one specific  message  without  compromising  all
3516              messages ever encrypted for one secret key.
3517
3518              You can also use this option if you receive an encrypted message
3519              which is abusive or offensive, to prove to the administrators of
3520              the messaging system that the ciphertext transmitted corresponds
3521              to an inappropriate plaintext so they can  take  action  against
3522              the offending user.
3523
3524
3525       --override-session-key string
3526       --override-session-key-fd fd
3527              Don't  use  the public key but the session key string respective
3528              the session key taken from the first line  read  from  file  de‐
3529              scriptor  fd.   The format of this string is the same as the one
3530              printed by --show-session-key. This option is normally not  used
3531              but comes handy in case someone forces you to reveal the content
3532              of an encrypted message; using this option you can do this with‐
3533              out handing out the secret key.  Note that using --override-ses‐
3534              sion-key may reveal the session key to all local users  via  the
3535              global process table.  Often it is useful to combine this option
3536              with --no-keyring.
3537
3538
3539       --ask-sig-expire
3540       --no-ask-sig-expire
3541              When making a data signature, prompt for an expiration time.  If
3542              this  option is not specified, the expiration time set via --de‐
3543              fault-sig-expire is used. --no-ask-sig-expire disables this  op‐
3544              tion.
3545
3546
3547       --default-sig-expire
3548              The  default  expiration  time  to use for signature expiration.
3549              Valid values are "0" for no expiration, a number followed by the
3550              letter  d  (for  days), w (for weeks), m (for months), or y (for
3551              years) (for example "2m"  for  two  months,  or  "5y"  for  five
3552              years),  or an absolute date in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to
3553              "0".
3554
3555
3556       --ask-cert-expire
3557       --no-ask-cert-expire
3558              When making a key signature, prompt for an expiration  time.  If
3559              this  option is not specified, the expiration time set via --de‐
3560              fault-cert-expire is used.  --no-ask-cert-expire  disables  this
3561              option.
3562
3563
3564       --default-cert-expire
3565              The default expiration time to use for key signature expiration.
3566              Valid values are "0" for no expiration, a number followed by the
3567              letter  d  (for  days), w (for weeks), m (for months), or y (for
3568              years) (for example "2m"  for  two  months,  or  "5y"  for  five
3569              years),  or an absolute date in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to
3570              "0".
3571
3572
3573       --default-new-key-algo string
3574              This option can be used to change the default algorithms for key
3575              generation.  The string is similar to the arguments required for
3576              the command --quick-add-key but slightly different.  For example
3577              the  current  default  of  "rsa2048/cert,sign+rsa2048/encr"  (or
3578              "rsa3072") can be changed to the value of what we currently call
3579              future  default, which is "ed25519/cert,sign+cv25519/encr".  You
3580              need to consult the source code to learn the details.  Note that
3581              the advanced key generation commands can always be used to spec‐
3582              ify a key algorithm directly.
3583
3584
3585       --no-auto-trust-new-key
3586              When creating a new key the ownertrust of the new key is set  to
3587              ultimate.  This option disables this and the user needs to manu‐
3588              ally assign an ownertrust value.
3589
3590
3591       --force-sign-key
3592              This option modifies the behaviour of the commands --quick-sign-
3593              key,  --quick-lsign-key,  and the "sign" sub-commands of --edit-
3594              key by forcing the creation of a key signature, even if one  al‐
3595              ready exists.
3596
3597
3598       --forbid-gen-key
3599              This  option  is  intended  for use in the global config file to
3600              disallow the use of generate key commands.  Those commands  will
3601              then fail with the error code for Not Enabled.
3602
3603
3604       --allow-secret-key-import
3605              This is an obsolete option and is not used anywhere.
3606
3607
3608       --allow-multiple-messages
3609
3610       --no-allow-multiple-messages
3611              These are obsolete options; they have no more effect since GnuPG
3612              2.2.8.
3613
3614
3615       --enable-special-filenames
3616              This option enables a mode in which filenames of the form ‘-&n’,
3617              where  n is a non-negative decimal number, refer to the file de‐
3618              scriptor n and not to a file with that name.
3619
3620
3621       --no-expensive-trust-checks
3622              Experimental use only.
3623
3624
3625       --preserve-permissions
3626              Don't change the permissions of a secret keyring  back  to  user
3627              read/write  only.  Use  this option only if you really know what
3628              you are doing.
3629
3630
3631       --default-preference-list string
3632              Set the list of default preferences to string.  This  preference
3633              list  is used for new keys and becomes the default for "setpref"
3634              in the --edit-key menu.
3635
3636
3637       --default-keyserver-url name
3638              Set the default keyserver URL to name. This  keyserver  will  be
3639              used as the keyserver URL when writing a new self-signature on a
3640              key, which includes key generation and changing preferences.
3641
3642
3643       --list-config
3644              Display various internal configuration parameters of GnuPG. This
3645              option is intended for external programs that call GnuPG to per‐
3646              form tasks, and is thus  not  generally  useful.  See  the  file
3647doc/DETAILS’  in  the  source  distribution  for the details of
3648              which configuration items may be listed. --list-config  is  only
3649              usable with --with-colons set.
3650
3651
3652       --list-gcrypt-config
3653              Display various internal configuration parameters of Libgcrypt.
3654
3655
3656       --gpgconf-list
3657              This command is similar to --list-config but in general only in‐
3658              ternally used by the gpgconf tool.
3659
3660
3661       --gpgconf-test
3662              This is more or less dummy action.  However it parses  the  con‐
3663              figuration  file  and  returns with failure if the configuration
3664              file would prevent gpg from startup.  Thus it may be used to run
3665              a syntax check on the configuration file.
3666
3667
3668
3669       --chuid uid
3670              Change the current user to uid which may either be a number or a
3671              name.  This can be used from the root account to run gpg for an‐
3672              other  user.   If  uid is not the current UID a standard PATH is
3673              set and the envvar GNUPGHOME is unset.  To override  the  latter
3674              the  option  --homedir can be used.  This option has only an ef‐
3675              fect when used on the command line.  This option  has  currently
3676              no effect at all on Windows.
3677
3678
3679   Deprecated options
3680
3681
3682
3683
3684       --show-photos
3685       --no-show-photos
3686              Causes   --list-keys,   --list-signatures,   --list-public-keys,
3687              --list-secret-keys, and verifying a signature  to  also  display
3688              the  photo  ID  attached  to  the key, if any. See also --photo-
3689              viewer.  These  options  are  deprecated.   Use   --list-options
3690              [no-]show-photos  and/or  --verify-options  [no-]show-photos in‐
3691              stead.
3692
3693
3694       --show-keyring
3695              Display the keyring name at the head of  key  listings  to  show
3696              which keyring a given key resides on. This option is deprecated:
3697              use --list-options [no-]show-keyring instead.
3698
3699
3700       --always-trust
3701              Identical to --trust-model always. This option is deprecated.
3702
3703
3704       --show-notation
3705       --no-show-notation
3706              Show signature notations in the  --list-signatures  or  --check-
3707              signatures listings as well as when verifying a signature with a
3708              notation in it. These options are deprecated. Use --list-options
3709              [no-]show-notation  and/or  --verify-options  [no-]show-notation
3710              instead.
3711
3712
3713       --show-policy-url
3714       --no-show-policy-url
3715              Show policy URLs in the --list-signatures or  --check-signatures
3716              listings as well as when verifying a signature with a policy URL
3717              in  it.  These  options  are  deprecated.   Use   --list-options
3718              [no-]show-policy-url  and/or  --verify-options [no-]show-policy-
3719              url instead.
3720
3721
3722

EXAMPLES

3724       gpg -se -r Bob file
3725              sign and encrypt for user Bob
3726
3727
3728       gpg --clear-sign file
3729              make a cleartext signature
3730
3731
3732       gpg -sb file
3733              make a detached signature
3734
3735
3736       gpg -u 0x12345678 -sb file
3737              make a detached signature with the key 0x12345678
3738
3739
3740       gpg --list-keys user_ID
3741              show keys
3742
3743
3744       gpg --fingerprint user_ID
3745              show fingerprint
3746
3747
3748       gpg --verify pgpfile
3749       gpg --verify sigfile [datafile]
3750              Verify the signature of the file but do not output the data  un‐
3751              less  requested.   The  second  form is used for detached signa‐
3752              tures, where sigfile is the detached signature (either ASCII ar‐
3753              mored  or  binary)  and datafile are the signed data; if this is
3754              not given, the name of the file holding the signed data is  con‐
3755              structed by cutting off the extension (".asc" or ".sig") of sig‐
3756              file or by asking the user for  the  filename.   If  the  option
3757              --output  is  also  used  the signed data is written to the file
3758              specified by that option; use - to write the signed data to std‐
3759              out.
3760

HOW TO SPECIFY A USER ID

3762       There  are  different ways to specify a user ID to GnuPG.  Some of them
3763       are only valid for gpg others are only good for gpgsm.  Here is the en‐
3764       tire list of ways to specify a key:
3765
3766
3767
3768       By key Id.
3769              This  format  is  deduced  from the length of the string and its
3770              content or 0x prefix. The key Id of an X.509 certificate are the
3771              low  64  bits  of  its SHA-1 fingerprint.  The use of key Ids is
3772              just a shortcut, for all automated  processing  the  fingerprint
3773              should be used.
3774
3775              When  using gpg an exclamation mark (!) may be appended to force
3776              using the specified primary or secondary key and not to try  and
3777              calculate which primary or secondary key to use.
3778
3779              The last four lines of the example give the key ID in their long
3780              form as internally used by the OpenPGP protocol. You can see the
3781              long key ID using the option --with-colons.
3782
3783         234567C4
3784         0F34E556E
3785         01347A56A
3786         0xAB123456
3787
3788         234AABBCC34567C4
3789         0F323456784E56EAB
3790         01AB3FED1347A5612
3791         0x234AABBCC34567C4
3792
3793
3794
3795
3796       By fingerprint.
3797              This  format  is  deduced  from the length of the string and its
3798              content or the 0x prefix.  Note, that only the 20  byte  version
3799              fingerprint  is available with gpgsm (i.e. the SHA-1 hash of the
3800              certificate).
3801
3802              When using gpg an exclamation mark (!) may be appended to  force
3803              using  the specified primary or secondary key and not to try and
3804              calculate which primary or secondary key to use.
3805
3806              The best way to specify a key Id is by  using  the  fingerprint.
3807              This  avoids  any  ambiguities in case that there are duplicated
3808              key IDs.
3809
3810         1234343434343434C434343434343434
3811         123434343434343C3434343434343734349A3434
3812         0E12343434343434343434EAB3484343434343434
3813         0xE12343434343434343434EAB3484343434343434
3814
3815
3816       gpgsm also accepts colons between each pair of hexadecimal  digits  be‐
3817       cause  this  is  the  de-facto standard on how to present X.509 finger‐
3818       prints.  gpg also allows the use of the space separated  SHA-1  finger‐
3819       print as printed by the key listing commands.
3820
3821
3822       By exact match on OpenPGP user ID.
3823              This  is denoted by a leading equal sign. It does not make sense
3824              for X.509 certificates.
3825
3826         =Heinrich Heine <heinrichh@uni-duesseldorf.de>
3827
3828
3829       By exact match on an email address.
3830              This is indicated by enclosing the email address  in  the  usual
3831              way with left and right angles.
3832
3833         <heinrichh@uni-duesseldorf.de>
3834
3835
3836
3837       By partial match on an email address.
3838              This  is  indicated  by  prefixing  the search string with an @.
3839              This uses a substring search but considers only the mail address
3840              (i.e. inside the angle brackets).
3841
3842         @heinrichh
3843
3844
3845       By exact match on the subject's DN.
3846              This  is  indicated by a leading slash, directly followed by the
3847              RFC-2253 encoded DN of the subject.  Note that you can't use the
3848              string  printed  by  gpgsm --list-keys because that one has been
3849              reordered and modified for better readability; use --with-colons
3850              to print the raw (but standard escaped) RFC-2253 string.
3851
3852         /CN=Heinrich Heine,O=Poets,L=Paris,C=FR
3853
3854
3855       By exact match on the issuer's DN.
3856              This is indicated by a leading hash mark, directly followed by a
3857              slash and then directly followed by the RFC-2253 encoded  DN  of
3858              the  issuer.   This  should  return the Root cert of the issuer.
3859              See note above.
3860
3861         #/CN=Root Cert,O=Poets,L=Paris,C=FR
3862
3863
3864
3865       By exact match on serial number and issuer's DN.
3866              This is indicated by a hash mark, followed  by  the  hexadecimal
3867              representation  of  the  serial number, then followed by a slash
3868              and the RFC-2253 encoded DN of the issuer. See note above.
3869
3870         #4F03/CN=Root Cert,O=Poets,L=Paris,C=FR
3871
3872
3873       By keygrip.
3874              This is indicated by an ampersand followed by the 40 hex  digits
3875              of  a  keygrip.  gpgsm prints the keygrip when using the command
3876              --dump-cert.
3877
3878         &D75F22C3F86E355877348498CDC92BD21010A480
3879
3880
3881
3882       By substring match.
3883              This is the default mode but applications may want to explicitly
3884              indicate  this  by  putting the asterisk in front.  Match is not
3885              case sensitive.
3886
3887         Heine
3888         *Heine
3889
3890
3891       . and + prefixes
3892              These prefixes are reserved for looking up mails anchored at the
3893              end  and  for  a word search mode.  They are not yet implemented
3894              and using them is undefined.
3895
3896
3897              Please note that we have reused the hash mark  identifier  which
3898              was  used in old GnuPG versions to indicate the so called local-
3899              id.  It is not anymore used and there should be no conflict when
3900              used with X.509 stuff.
3901
3902              Using the RFC-2253 format of DNs has the drawback that it is not
3903              possible to map them back to the original encoding,  however  we
3904              don't  have  to do this because our key database stores this en‐
3905              coding as meta data.
3906
3907

FILTER EXPRESSIONS

3909       The options --import-filter and --export-filter  use  expressions  with
3910       this syntax (square brackets indicate an optional part and curly braces
3911       a repetition, white space between the elements are allowed):
3912
3913                  [lc] {[{flag}] PROPNAME op VALUE [lc]}
3914
3915       The name of a property (PROPNAME) may only consist of  letters,  digits
3916       and  underscores.   The description for the filter type describes which
3917       properties are defined.  If an undefined property is used it  evaluates
3918       to  the empty string.  Unless otherwise noted, the VALUE must always be
3919       given and may not be the empty string.  No quoting is defined  for  the
3920       value,  thus  the value may not contain the strings && or ||, which are
3921       used as logical connection operators.  The flag -- can be used  to  re‐
3922       move this restriction.
3923
3924       Numerical values are computed as long int; standard C notation applies.
3925       lc is the logical connection operator; either && for a  conjunction  or
3926       ||  for a disjunction.  A conjunction is assumed at the begin of an ex‐
3927       pression.  Conjunctions have higher precedence than  disjunctions.   If
3928       VALUE  starts  with  one of the characters used in any op a space after
3929       the op is required.
3930
3931
3932       The supported operators (op) are:
3933
3934
3935
3936       =~     Substring must match.
3937
3938
3939       !~     Substring must not match.
3940
3941
3942       =      The full string must match.
3943
3944
3945       <>     The full string must not match.
3946
3947
3948       ==     The numerical value must match.
3949
3950
3951       !=     The numerical value must not match.
3952
3953
3954       <=     The numerical value of the field must be LE than the value.
3955
3956
3957       <      The numerical value of the field must be LT than the value.
3958
3959
3960       >      The numerical value of the field must be GT than the value.
3961
3962
3963       >=     The numerical value of the field must be GE than the value.
3964
3965
3966       -le    The string value of the field must be less  or  equal  than  the
3967              value.
3968
3969
3970       -lt    The string value of the field must be less than the value.
3971
3972
3973       -gt    The string value of the field must be greater than the value.
3974
3975
3976       -ge    The  string value of the field must be greater or equal than the
3977              value.
3978
3979
3980       -n     True if value is not empty (no value allowed).
3981
3982
3983       -z     True if value is empty (no value allowed).
3984
3985
3986       -t     Alias for "PROPNAME != 0" (no value allowed).
3987
3988
3989       -f     Alias for "PROPNAME == 0" (no value allowed).
3990
3991
3992       Values for flag must be space separated.  The supported flags are:
3993
3994
3995       --     VALUE spans to the end of the expression.
3996
3997       -c     The string match in this part is done case-sensitive.
3998
3999       -t     Leading and trailing spaces are not removed from VALUE.  The op‐
4000              tional single space after op is here required.
4001
4002       The  filter  options concatenate several specifications for a filter of
4003       the same type.  For example the four options in this example:
4004
4005                 --import-filter keep-uid="uid =~ Alfa"
4006                 --import-filter keep-uid="&& uid !~ Test"
4007                 --import-filter keep-uid="|| uid =~ Alpha"
4008                 --import-filter keep-uid="uid !~ Test"
4009
4010
4011       which is equivalent to
4012
4013                 --import-filter \
4014                  keep-uid="uid =~ Alfa" && uid !~ Test" || uid =~ Alpha" && "uid !~ Test"
4015
4016       imports only the user ids of a key containing  the  strings  "Alfa"  or
4017       "Alpha" but not the string "test".
4018
4019

TRUST VALUES

4021       Trust  values  are used to indicate ownertrust and validity of keys and
4022       user IDs.  They are displayed with letters or strings:
4023
4024
4025
4026       -
4027       unknown
4028              No ownertrust assigned / not yet calculated.
4029
4030
4031       e
4032       expired
4033
4034              Trust calculation has failed; probably due to an expired key.
4035
4036
4037       q
4038       undefined, undef
4039              Not enough information for calculation.
4040
4041
4042       n
4043       never  Never trust this key.
4044
4045
4046       m
4047       marginal
4048              Marginally trusted.
4049
4050
4051       f
4052       full   Fully trusted.
4053
4054
4055       u
4056       ultimate
4057              Ultimately trusted.
4058
4059
4060       r
4061       revoked
4062              For validity only: the key or the user ID has been revoked.
4063
4064
4065       ?
4066       err    The program encountered an unknown trust value.
4067
4068

FILES

4070       There are a few configuration files to control certain aspects of gpg's
4071       operation.  Unless  noted, they are expected in the current home direc‐
4072       tory (see: [option --homedir]).
4073
4074
4075
4076       gpg.conf
4077              This is the standard configuration file read by gpg on  startup.
4078              It may contain any valid long option; the leading two dashes may
4079              not be entered and the option may not be abbreviated.  This  de‐
4080              fault  name may be changed on the command line (see: [gpg-option
4081              --options]).  You should backup this file.
4082
4083
4084       common.conf
4085              This is an optional configuration file read by gpg  on  startup.
4086              It  may  contain  options pertaining to all components of GnuPG.
4087              Its current main use is for the "use-keyboxd" option.
4088
4089
4090       Note that on larger installations, it is useful to put predefined files
4091       into the directory ‘/etc/skel/.gnupg’ so that newly created users start
4092       up with a working configuration.  For existing  users  a  small  helper
4093       script is provided to create these files (see: [addgnupghome]).
4094
4095       For internal purposes gpg creates and maintains a few other files; They
4096       all live in the current home directory (see: [option --homedir]).  Only
4097       the gpg program may modify these files.
4098
4099
4100
4101       ~/.gnupg
4102              This  is the default home directory which is used if neither the
4103              environment variable  GNUPGHOME  nor  the  option  --homedir  is
4104              given.
4105
4106
4107       ~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg
4108              The  public  keyring  using  a legacy format.  You should backup
4109              this file.
4110
4111              If this file is not available, gpg defaults to  the  new  keybox
4112              format and creates a file ‘pubring.kbx’ unless that file already
4113              exists in which case that file will also  be  used  for  OpenPGP
4114              keys.
4115
4116              Note  that  in the case that both files, ‘pubring.gpg’ and ‘pub‐
4117              ring.kbx’ exists but the latter has no OpenPGP keys, the  legacy
4118              file  ‘pubring.gpg’ will be used.  Take care: GnuPG versions be‐
4119              fore 2.1 will always use the file ‘pubring.gpg’ because they  do
4120              not  know about the new keybox format. In the case that you have
4121              to use GnuPG 1.4 to decrypt archived data you should  keep  this
4122              file.
4123
4124
4125       ~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg.lock
4126              The lock file for the public keyring.
4127
4128
4129       ~/.gnupg/pubring.kbx
4130              The  public  keyring  using the new keybox format.  This file is
4131              shared with gpgsm.  You should backup this file.  See above  for
4132              the relation between this file and it predecessor.
4133
4134              To  convert an existing ‘pubring.gpg’ file to the keybox format,
4135              you first  backup  the  ownertrust  values,  then  rename  ‘pub‐
4136              ring.gpg’  to  ‘publickeys.backup’, so it won’t be recognized by
4137              any GnuPG version, run import,  and  finally  restore  the  own‐
4138              ertrust values:
4139
4140         $ cd ~/.gnupg
4141         $ gpg --export-ownertrust >otrust.lst
4142         $ mv pubring.gpg publickeys.backup
4143         $ gpg --import-options restore --import publickeys.backup
4144         $ gpg --import-ownertrust otrust.lst
4145
4146
4147       ~/.gnupg/pubring.kbx.lock
4148              The lock file for ‘pubring.kbx’.
4149
4150
4151       ~/.gnupg/secring.gpg
4152              The  legacy secret keyring as used by GnuPG versions before 2.1.
4153              It is not used by GnuPG 2.1 and later.  You may want to keep  it
4154              in case you have to use GnuPG 1.4 to decrypt archived data.
4155
4156
4157       ~/.gnupg/secring.gpg.lock
4158              The lock file for the legacy secret keyring.
4159
4160
4161       ~/.gnupg/.gpg-v21-migrated
4162              File indicating that a migration to GnuPG 2.1 has been done.
4163
4164
4165       ~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg
4166              The trust database.  There is no need to backup this file; it is
4167              better to backup the ownertrust values (see:  [option  --export-
4168              ownertrust]).
4169
4170
4171       ~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg.lock
4172              The lock file for the trust database.
4173
4174
4175       ~/.gnupg/random_seed
4176              A file used to preserve the state of the internal random pool.
4177
4178
4179       ~/.gnupg/openpgp-revocs.d/
4180              This  is the directory where gpg stores pre-generated revocation
4181              certificates.  The file name corresponds to the OpenPGP  finger‐
4182              print  of  the  respective key.  It is suggested to backup those
4183              certificates and if the primary private key is not stored on the
4184              disk to move them to an external storage device.  Anyone who can
4185              access these files is able to revoke the corresponding key.  You
4186              may want to print them out.  You should backup all files in this
4187              directory and take care to keep this backup closed away.
4188
4189
4190       Operation is further controlled by a few environment variables:
4191
4192
4193
4194       HOME   Used to locate the default home directory.
4195
4196
4197       GNUPGHOME
4198              If set directory used instead of "~/.gnupg".
4199
4200
4201       GPG_AGENT_INFO
4202              This variable is obsolete; it was used by GnuPG versions  before
4203              2.1.
4204
4205
4206       PINENTRY_USER_DATA
4207              This value is passed via gpg-agent to pinentry.  It is useful to
4208              convey extra information to a custom pinentry.
4209
4210
4211       COLUMNS
4212       LINES  Used to size some displays to the full size of the screen.
4213
4214
4215       LANGUAGE
4216              Apart from its use by GNU, it is used  in  the  W32  version  to
4217              override  the  language selection done through the Registry.  If
4218              used and set to a valid and available  language  name  (langid),
4219              the    file    with    the    translation    is    loaded   from
4220              gpgdir/gnupg.nls/langid.mo.  Here gpgdir is the directory out of
4221              which the gpg binary has been loaded.  If it can't be loaded the
4222              Registry is tried and as last resort the native  Windows  locale
4223              system is used.
4224
4225
4226       GNUPG_BUILD_ROOT
4227              This  variable  is  only  used by the regression test suite as a
4228              helper under operating systems without proper support to  figure
4229              out the name of a process' text file.
4230
4231
4232       GNUPG_EXEC_DEBUG_FLAGS
4233              This  variable  allows to enable diagnostics for process manage‐
4234              ment.  A numeric decimal value is expected.  Bit 0 enables  gen‐
4235              eral diagnostics, bit 1 enables certain warnings on Windows.
4236
4237
4238       When  calling  the  gpg-agent  component gpg sends a set of environment
4239       variables to gpg-agent.  The names of these variables can be listed us‐
4240       ing the command:
4241
4242           gpg-connect-agent 'getinfo std_env_names' /bye | awk '$1=="D" {print $2}'
4243
4244
4245
4246
4247

BUGS

4249       On older systems this program should be installed as setuid(root). This
4250       is necessary to lock memory pages. Locking memory  pages  prevents  the
4251       operating   system   from  writing  memory  pages  (which  may  contain
4252       passphrases or other sensitive material) to disk. If you get no warning
4253       message  about  insecure  memory your operating system supports locking
4254       without being root. The program drops root privileges as soon as locked
4255       memory is allocated.
4256
4257       Note  also  that  some systems (especially laptops) have the ability to
4258       ``suspend to disk'' (also known as ``safe  sleep''  or  ``hibernate'').
4259       This  writes  all  memory to disk before going into a low power or even
4260       powered off mode.  Unless measures are taken in the operating system to
4261       protect  the  saved memory, passphrases or other sensitive material may
4262       be recoverable from it later.
4263
4264       Before you report a bug you should first search the  mailing  list  ar‐
4265       chives for similar problems and second check whether such a bug has al‐
4266       ready been reported to our bug tracker at https://bugs.gnupg.org.
4267
4268
4269

SEE ALSO

4271       gpgv(1), gpgsm(1), gpg-agent(1)
4272
4273       The full documentation for this tool is maintained as a Texinfo manual.
4274       If  GnuPG and the info program are properly installed at your site, the
4275       command
4276
4277         info gnupg
4278
4279       should give you access to the complete manual including a  menu  struc‐
4280       ture and an index.
4281
4282
4283
4284GnuPG 2.3.8                       2022-10-07                            GPG(1)
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