1GnuPG::Interface(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation GnuPG::Interface(3)
2
6 GnuPG::Interface - Perl interface to GnuPG
7
9 # A simple example
10 use IO::Handle;
11 use GnuPG::Interface;
12 # setting up the situation
14 my $gnupg = GnuPG::Interface->new();
15 $gnupg->options->hash_init( armor => 1,
16 homedir => '/home/foobar' );
17 # Note you can set the recipients even if you aren't encrypting!
19 $gnupg->options->push_recipients( 'ftobin@cpan.org' );
20 $gnupg->options->meta_interactive( 0 );
21 # how we create some handles to interact with GnuPG
23 my $input = IO::Handle->new();
24 my $output = IO::Handle->new();
25 my $handles = GnuPG::Handles->new( stdin => $input,
26 stdout => $output );
27 # Now we'll go about encrypting with the options already set
29 my @plaintext = ( 'foobar' );
30 my $pid = $gnupg->encrypt( handles => $handles );
31 # Now we write to the input of GnuPG
33 print $input @plaintext;
34 close $input;
35 # now we read the output
37 my @ciphertext = <$output>;
38 close $output;
39 waitpid $pid, 0;
41
43 GnuPG::Interface and its associated modules are designed to provide an
44 object-oriented method for interacting with GnuPG, being able to
45 perform functions such as but not limited to encrypting, signing,
46 decryption, verification, and key-listing parsing.
47 How Data Member Accessor Methods are Created
49 Each module in the GnuPG::Interface bundle relies on Moo to generate
50 the get/set methods used to set the object's data members. This is
51 very important to realize. This means that any data member which is a
52 list has special methods assigned to it for pushing, popping, and
53 clearing the list.
54 Understanding Bidirectional Communication
56 It is also imperative to realize that this package uses interprocess
57 communication methods similar to those used in IPC::Open3 and
58 "Bidirectional Communication with Another Process" in perlipc, and that
59 users of this package need to understand how to use this method because
60 this package does not abstract these methods for the user greatly.
61 This package is not designed to abstract this away entirely (partly for
62 security purposes), but rather to simply help create 'proper', clean
63 calls to GnuPG, and to implement key-listing parsing. Please see
64 "Bidirectional Communication with Another Process" in perlipc to learn
65 how to deal with these methods.
66 Using this package to do message processing generally invovlves
68 creating a GnuPG::Interface object, creating a GnuPG::Handles object,
69 setting some options in its options data member, and then calling a
70 method which invokes GnuPG, such as clearsign. One then interacts with
71 with the handles appropriately, as described in "Bidirectional
72 Communication with Another Process" in perlipc.
73
75 As of this version of GnuPG::Interface, there are two supported
76 versions of GnuPG: 1.4.x and 2.2.x. The GnuPG download page
77 <https://gnupg.org/download/index.html> has updated information on the
78 currently supported versions.
79 GnuPG released 2.0 and 2.1 versions in the past and some packaging
81 systems may still provide these if you install the default "gpg",
82 "gnupg", "gnupg2", etc. packages. This modules supports only version
83 2.2.x, so you may need to find additional package repositories or build
84 from source to get the updated version.
85
87 Initialization Methods
88 new( %initialization_args )
89 This methods creates a new object. The optional arguments are
90 initialization of data members.
91 hash_init( %args ).
93 Object Methods which use a GnuPG::Handles Object
95 list_public_keys( % )
96 list_sigs( % )
97 list_secret_keys( % )
98 encrypt( % )
99 encrypt_symmetrically( % )
100 sign( % )
101 clearsign( % )
102 detach_sign( % )
103 sign_and_encrypt( % )
104 decrypt( % )
105 verify( % )
106 import_keys( % )
107 export_keys( % )
108 recv_keys( % )
109 send_keys( % )
110 search_keys( % )
111 These methods each correspond directly to or are very similar to a
112 GnuPG command described in gpg. Each of these methods takes a
113 hash, which currently must contain a key of handles which has the
114 value of a GnuPG::Handles object. Another optional key is
115 command_args which should have the value of an array reference;
116 these arguments will be passed to GnuPG as command arguments.
117 These command arguments are used for such things as determining the
118 keys to list in the export_keys method. Please note that GnuPG
119 command arguments are not the same as GnuPG options. To understand
120 what are options and what are command arguments please read
121 "COMMANDS" in gpg and "OPTIONS" in gpg.
122 Each of these calls returns the PID for the resulting GnuPG
124 process. One can use this PID in a "waitpid" call instead of a
125 "wait" call if more precise process reaping is needed.
126 These methods will attach the handles specified in the handles
128 object to the running GnuPG object, so that bidirectional
129 communication can be established. That is, the optionally-defined
130 stdin, stdout, stderr, status, logger, and passphrase handles will
131 be attached to GnuPG's input, output, standard error, the handle
132 created by setting status-fd, the handle created by setting logger-
133 fd, and the handle created by setting passphrase-fd respectively.
134 This tying of handles of similar to the process done in IPC::Open3.
135 If you want the GnuPG process to read or write directly to an
137 already-opened filehandle, you cannot do this via the normal
138 IPC::Open3 mechanisms. In order to accomplish this, set the
139 appropriate handles data member to the already-opened filehandle,
140 and then set the option direct to be true for that handle, as
141 described in "options" in GnuPG::Handles. For example, to have
142 GnuPG read from the file input.txt and write to output.txt, the
143 following snippet may do:
144 my $infile = IO::File->new( 'input.txt' );
146 my $outfile = IO::File->new( '>output.txt' );
147 my $handles = GnuPG::Handles->new( stdin => $infile,
148 stdout => $outfile,
149 );
150 $handles->options( 'stdin' )->{direct} = 1;
151 $handles->options( 'stdout' )->{direct} = 1;
152 If any handle in the handles object is not defined, GnuPG's input,
154 output, and standard error will be tied to the running program's
155 standard error, standard output, or standard error. If the status
156 or logger handle is not defined, this channel of communication is
157 never established with GnuPG, and so this information is not
158 generated and does not come into play.
159 If the passphrase data member handle of the handles object is not
161 defined, but the the passphrase data member handle of
162 GnuPG::Interface object is, GnuPG::Interface will handle passing
163 this information into GnuPG for the user as a convenience. Note
164 that this will result in GnuPG::Interface storing the passphrase in
165 memory, instead of having it simply 'pass-through' to GnuPG via a
166 handle.
167 If neither the passphrase data member of the GnuPG::Interface nor
169 the passphrase data member of the handles object is defined, then
170 GnuPG::Interface assumes that access and control over the secret
171 key will be handled by the running gpg-agent process. This
172 represents the simplest mode of operation with the GnuPG "stable"
173 suite (version 2.2 and later). It is also the preferred mode for
174 tools intended to be user-facing, since the user will be prompted
175 directly by gpg-agent for use of the secret key material. Note
176 that for programmatic use, this mode requires the gpg-agent and
177 pinentry to already be correctly configured.
178 Other Methods
180 get_public_keys( @search_strings )
181 get_secret_keys( @search_strings )
182 get_public_keys_with_sigs( @search_strings )
183 These methods create and return objects of the type
184 GnuPG::PublicKey or GnuPG::SecretKey respectively. This is done by
185 parsing the output of GnuPG with the option with-colons enabled.
186 The objects created do or do not have signature information stored
187 in them, depending if the method ends in _sigs; this separation of
188 functionality is there because of performance hits when listing
189 information with signatures.
190 test_default_key_passphrase()
192 This method will return a true or false value, depending on whether
193 GnuPG reports a good passphrase was entered while signing a short
194 message using the values of the passphrase data member, and the
195 default key specified in the options data member.
196 version()
198 Returns the version of GnuPG that GnuPG::Interface is running.
199
201 GnuPG::Interface attempts to cover a lot of the commands of GnuPG that
202 one would want to perform; however, there may be a lot more calls that
203 GnuPG is and will be capable of, so a generic command interface is
204 provided, "wrap_call".
205 wrap_call( %args )
207 Call GnuPG with a custom command. The %args hash must contain at
208 least the following keys:
209 commands
211 The value of this key in the hash must be a reference to a a
212 list of commands for GnuPG, such as "[ qw( --encrypt --sign )
213 ]".
214 handles
216 As with most other GnuPG::Interface methods, handles must be a
217 GnuPG::Handles object.
218 The following keys are optional.
220 command_args
222 As with other GnuPG::Interface methods, the value in hash for
223 this key must be a reference to a list of arguments to be
224 passed to the GnuPG command, such as which keys to list in a
225 key-listing.
226
228 call
229 This defines the call made to invoke GnuPG. Defaults to 'gpg';
230 this should be changed if 'gpg' is not in your path, or there is a
231 different name for the binary on your system.
232 passphrase
234 In order to lessen the burden of using handles by the user of this
235 package, setting this option to one's passphrase for a secret key
236 will allow the package to enter the passphrase via a handle to
237 GnuPG by itself instead of leaving this to the user. See also
238 "passphrase" in GnuPG::Handles.
239 options
241 This data member, of the type GnuPG::Options; the setting stored in
242 this data member are used to determine the options used when
243 calling GnuPG via any of the object methods described in this
244 package. See GnuPG::Options for more information.
245
247 The following setup can be done before any of the following examples:
248 use IO::Handle;
250 use GnuPG::Interface;
251 my @original_plaintext = ( "How do you doo?" );
253 my $passphrase = "Three Little Pigs";
254 my $gnupg = GnuPG::Interface->new();
256 $gnupg->options->hash_init( armor => 1,
258 recipients => [ 'ftobin@uiuc.edu',
259 '0xABCD1234ABCD1234ABCD1234ABCD1234ABCD1234' ],
260 meta_interactive => 0 ,
261 );
262 $gnupg->options->debug_level(4);
264 $gnupg->options->logger_file("/tmp/gnupg-$$-decrypt-".time().".log");
266 Encrypting
268 # We'll let the standard error of GnuPG pass through
269 # to our own standard error, by not creating
270 # a stderr-part of the $handles object.
271 my ( $input, $output ) = ( IO::Handle->new(),
272 IO::Handle->new() );
273 my $handles = GnuPG::Handles->new( stdin => $input,
275 stdout => $output );
276 # this sets up the communication
278 # Note that the recipients were specified earlier
279 # in the 'options' data member of the $gnupg object.
280 my $pid = $gnupg->encrypt( handles => $handles );
281 # this passes in the plaintext
283 print $input @original_plaintext;
284 # this closes the communication channel,
286 # indicating we are done
287 close $input;
288 my @ciphertext = <$output>; # reading the output
290 waitpid $pid, 0; # clean up the finished GnuPG process
292 Signing
294 # This time we'll catch the standard error for our perusing
295 my ( $input, $output, $error ) = ( IO::Handle->new(),
296 IO::Handle->new(),
297 IO::Handle->new(),
298 );
299 my $handles = GnuPG::Handles->new( stdin => $input,
301 stdout => $output,
302 stderr => $error,
303 );
304 # indicate our pasphrase through the
306 # convenience method
307 $gnupg->passphrase( $passphrase );
308 # this sets up the communication
310 my $pid = $gnupg->sign( handles => $handles );
311 # this passes in the plaintext
313 print $input @original_plaintext;
314 # this closes the communication channel,
316 # indicating we are done
317 close $input;
318 my @ciphertext = <$output>; # reading the output
320 my @error_output = <$error>; # reading the error
321 close $output;
323 close $error;
324 waitpid $pid, 0; # clean up the finished GnuPG process
326 Decryption
328 # This time we'll catch the standard error for our perusing
329 # as well as passing in the passphrase manually
330 # as well as the status information given by GnuPG
331 my ( $input, $output, $error, $passphrase_fh, $status_fh )
332 = ( IO::Handle->new(),
333 IO::Handle->new(),
334 IO::Handle->new(),
335 IO::Handle->new(),
336 IO::Handle->new(),
337 );
338 my $handles = GnuPG::Handles->new( stdin => $input,
340 stdout => $output,
341 stderr => $error,
342 passphrase => $passphrase_fh,
343 status => $status_fh,
344 );
345 # this time we'll also demonstrate decrypting
347 # a file written to disk
348 # Make sure you "use IO::File" if you use this module!
349 my $cipher_file = IO::File->new( 'encrypted.gpg' );
350 # this sets up the communication
352 my $pid = $gnupg->decrypt( handles => $handles );
353 # This passes in the passphrase
355 print $passphrase_fh $passphrase;
356 close $passphrase_fh;
357 # this passes in the plaintext
359 print $input $_ while <$cipher_file>;
360 # this closes the communication channel,
362 # indicating we are done
363 close $input;
364 close $cipher_file;
365 my @plaintext = <$output>; # reading the output
367 my @error_output = <$error>; # reading the error
368 my @status_info = <$status_fh>; # read the status info
369 # clean up...
371 close $output;
372 close $error;
373 close $status_fh;
374 waitpid $pid, 0; # clean up the finished GnuPG process
376 Printing Keys
378 # This time we'll just let GnuPG print to our own output
379 # and read from our input, because no input is needed!
380 my $handles = GnuPG::Handles->new();
381 my @ids = ( 'ftobin', '0xABCD1234ABCD1234ABCD1234ABCD1234ABCD1234' );
383 # this time we need to specify something for
385 # command_args because --list-public-keys takes
386 # search ids as arguments
387 my $pid = $gnupg->list_public_keys( handles => $handles,
388 command_args => [ @ids ] );
389 waitpid $pid, 0;
391 Creating GnuPG::PublicKey Objects
393 my @ids = [ 'ftobin', '0xABCD1234ABCD1234ABCD1234ABCD1234ABCD1234' ];
394 my @keys = $gnupg->get_public_keys( @ids );
396 # no wait is required this time; it's handled internally
398 # since the entire call is encapsulated
399 Custom GnuPG call
401 # assuming $handles is a GnuPG::Handles object
402 my $pid = $gnupg->wrap_call
403 ( commands => [ qw( --list-packets ) ],
404 command_args => [ qw( test/key.1.asc ) ],
405 handles => $handles,
406 );
407 my @out = <$handles->stdout()>;
409 waitpid $pid, 0;
410
412 How do I get GnuPG::Interface to read/write directly from a filehandle?
413 You need to set GnuPG::Handles direct option to be true for the
414 filehandles in concern. See "options" in GnuPG::Handles and
415 "Object Methods which use a GnuPG::Handles Object" for more
416 information.
417 Why do you make it so difficult to get GnuPG to write/read from a
419 filehandle? In the shell, I can just call GnuPG with the --outfile
420 option!
421 There are lots of issues when trying to tell GnuPG to read/write
422 directly from a file, such as if the file isn't there, or there is
423 a file, and you want to write over it! What do you want to happen
424 then? Having the user of this module handle these questions
425 beforehand by opening up filehandles to GnuPG lets the user know
426 fully what is going to happen in these circumstances, and makes the
427 module less error-prone.
428 When having GnuPG process a large message, sometimes it just hanges
430 there.
431 Your problem may be due to buffering issues; when GnuPG
432 reads/writes to non-direct filehandles (those that are sent to
433 filehandles which you read to from into memory, not that those
434 access the disk), buffering issues can mess things up. I recommend
435 looking into "options" in GnuPG::Handles.
436
438 This package is the successor to PGP::GPG::MessageProcessor, which I
439 found to be too inextensible to carry on further. A total redesign was
440 needed, and this is the resulting work.
441 After any call to a GnuPG-command method of GnuPG::Interface in which
443 one passes in the handles, one should all wait to clean up GnuPG from
444 the process table.
445
447 Large Amounts of Data
448 Currently there are problems when transmitting large quantities of
449 information over handles; I'm guessing this is due to buffering issues.
450 This bug does not seem specific to this package; IPC::Open3 also
451 appears affected.
452 OpenPGP v3 Keys
454 I don't know yet how well this module handles parsing OpenPGP v3 keys.
455 RHEL 7 Test Failures
457 Testing with the updates for version 1.00 we saw intermittent test
458 failures on RHEL 7 with GnuPG version 2.2.20. In some cases the tests
459 would all pass for several runs, then one would fail. We're unable to
460 reliably reproduce this so we would be interested in feedback from
461 other users.
462
464 GnuPG::Options, GnuPG::Handles, GnuPG::PublicKey, GnuPG::SecretKey,
465 gpg, "Bidirectional Communication with Another Process" in perlipc
466
468 This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
469 under the same terms as Perl itself.
470
472 GnuPG::Interface is currently maintained by Best Practical Solutions
473 <BPS@cpan.org>.
474 Frank J. Tobin, ftobin@cpan.org was the original author of the package.
476perl v5.36.0 2023-01-20 GnuPG::Interface(3)