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authorWerner Koch <wk@gnupg.org>2002-08-23 10:43:46 +0200
committerWerner Koch <wk@gnupg.org>2002-08-23 10:43:46 +0200
commitd55b7e163578aa344a13676c050e9dcfc213322b (patch)
tree828b8fd96dc6012983fe7a898ffb4096fcc6ea3c /doc
parentInclude intl/ in the CVS again; otherwise we are not able to (diff)
downloadgnupg2-d55b7e163578aa344a13676c050e9dcfc213322b.tar.xz
gnupg2-d55b7e163578aa344a13676c050e9dcfc213322b.zip
* faq.raw: Updated. New Maintainer is David D. Scribner.
Diffstat (limited to 'doc')
-rw-r--r--doc/ChangeLog4
-rw-r--r--doc/faq.raw873
2 files changed, 484 insertions, 393 deletions
diff --git a/doc/ChangeLog b/doc/ChangeLog
index 8f5f06c01..7502d2eef 100644
--- a/doc/ChangeLog
+++ b/doc/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2002-08-23 Werner Koch <wk@gnupg.org>
+
+ * faq.raw: Updated. New Maintainer is David D. Scribner.
+
2002-08-22 David Shaw <dshaw@jabberwocky.com>
* gpg.sgml: Clarify meaning of keyserver option include-revoked.
diff --git a/doc/faq.raw b/doc/faq.raw
index eac856bd3..ec4212326 100644
--- a/doc/faq.raw
+++ b/doc/faq.raw
@@ -6,78 +6,79 @@ The most recent version of the FAQ is available from
]
[$usenetheader=
]
-[$maintainer=Douglas Calvert, <faq 'at' gnupg.org> ]
+[$maintainer=David D. Scribner, <faq 'at' gnupg.org>]
[$hGPG=http://www.gnupg.org]
[H body bgcolor=#ffffff text=#000000 link=#1f00ff alink=#ff0000 vlink=#9900dd]
-[H H1]GNUPG FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS[H /H1]
+[H H1]GnuPG Frequently Asked Questions[H /H1]
-Version: 1.5.6[H p]
-Last-Modified: Sep 14, 2001[H p]
+[H p]
+Version: 1.5.7[H br]
+Last-Modified: Aug 21, 2002[H br]
Maintained-by: [$maintainer]
+[H /p]
-This is the GnuPG FAQ. The latest HTML version is available
-[H a href=[$hGPG]/faq.html] here[H/a].
+This is the GnuPG FAQ. The latest HTML version is available
+[H a href=[$hGPG]/faq.html]here[H/a].
-The index is generated automatically, so there may be errors here. Not
+The index is generated automatically, so there may be errors here. Not
all questions may be in the section they belong to. Suggestions about
how to improve the structure of this FAQ are welcome.
Please send additions and corrections to the maintainer. It would be
-most convenient if you could provide the answer to be included
-here. Your help is very much appreciated.
-
-Please, don't send message like "This should be a FAQ - what's the
-answer?". If it hasn't been asked before, it isn't a FAQ. In that case
-you could search in the mailing list archive.
+most convenient if you could provide the answer to be included here
+as well. Your help is very much appreciated.
+Please, don't send message like "This should be a FAQ - what's the answer?".
+If it hasn't been asked before, it isn't a FAQ. In that case you could
+search in the mailing list archive.
[H HR]
-
<C>
-
[H HR]
+
<S> GENERAL
<Q> What is GnuPG?
[H a href=[$hGPG]]GnuPG[H /a] stands for GNU Privacy Guard and
- is GNU's tool for secure communication and data storage.
- It can be used to encrypt data and to create digital signatures.
- It includes an advanced key management facility and is compliant
- with the proposed OpenPGP Internet standard as described in
- [H a href=http://www.gnupg.org/rfc2440.html]RFC 2440[H/a]. As
- such, it is aimed to be compatible with PGP from NAI Inc.
+ is GNU's tool for secure communication and data storage. It can be
+ used to encrypt data and to create digital signatures. It includes
+ an advanced key management facility and is compliant with the
+ proposed OpenPGP Internet standard as described in [H a href=http://www.gnupg.org/rfc2440.html]RFC 2440[H/a].
+ As such, it is aimed to be compatible with PGP from NAI, Inc.
<Q> Is GnuPG compatible with PGP?
In general, yes. GnuPG and newer PGP releases should be implementing
the OpenPGP standard. But there are some interoperability
- problems. See questions <Rcompat>ff. for details.
+ problems. See question <Rcompat> for details.
+
<S> SOURCES of INFORMATION
<Q> Where can I find more information?
- Here's a list of on-line resources: [H UL]
+ Here's a list of on-line resources:
- [H LI] [H a href=[$hGPG]/docs.html]<[$hGPG]/docs.html>[H/a] is the
- documentation page. Have a look at the HOWTOs and the GNU Privacy
- Handbook (GPH, available in English, Spanish and Russian). The
- latter provides a detailed user's guide to GnuPG. You'll also find a
- document about how to convert from PGP 2.x to GnuPG.
+ [H UL]
+ [H LI]The documentation page is located at [H a href=[$hGPG]/docs.html]<[$hGPG]/docs.html>[H/a].
+ Have a look at the HOWTOs and the GNU Privacy Handbook (GPH, available
+ in English, Spanish and Russian). The latter provides a detailed user's
+ guide to GnuPG. You'll also find a document about how to convert from
+ PGP 2.x to GnuPG.
- [H LI] On [H a href=http://lists.gnupg.org]<http://lists.gnupg.org>[H/a]
- you'll find an online archive of the GnuPG mailing lists. Most
- interesting should be gnupg-users for all user-related issues and
- gnupg-devel if you want to get in touch with the developers.
+ [H LI]On [H a href=http://lists.gnupg.org]<http://lists.gnupg.org>[H/a] you'll find an online archive of the
+ GnuPG mailing lists. Most interesting should be gnupg-users for all
+ user-related issues and gnupg-devel if you want to get in touch with
+ the developers.
- In addition, searchable archives can be found on MARC, e.g.:
- GnuPG-users: [H a href=http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=gnupg-users&r=1&w=2]<http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=gnupg-users&r=1&w=2>[H/a],
- GnuPG-devel: [H a href=http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=gnupg-devel&r=1&w=2]<http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=gnupg-devel&r=1&w=2>[H/a].
+ In addition, searchable archives can be found on MARC, e.g.: [H br]
+ GnuPG-users: [H a href=http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=gnupg-users&r=1&w=2]<http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=gnupg-users&r=1&w=2>[H/a],[H br]
+ GnuPG-devel: [H a href=http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=gnupg-devel&r=1&w=2]<http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=gnupg-devel&r=1&w=2>[H/a].[H br]
[H B]PLEASE:[H/B]
Before posting to a list, read this FAQ and the available
@@ -85,16 +86,25 @@ you could search in the mailing list archive.
question has already been discussed. This way you help people focus
on topics that have not yet been resolved.
- [H LI] The GnuPG source distribution contains a subdirectory
- [H PRE]./doc[H /PRE] where some additional documentation is located
- (mainly interesting for hackers, not the casual user).
+ [H LI]The GnuPG source distribution contains a subdirectory:
+
+ [H PRE]
+ ./doc
+ [H /PRE]
+
+ where some additional documentation is located (mainly interesting
+ for hackers, not the casual user).
[H /UL]
<Q> Where do I get GnuPG?
You can download the GNU Privacy Guard from its primary FTP server
- [H a href=ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/pub/gcrypt]ftp.gnupg.org[H /a] or from
- one of the mirrors: [H a href=[$hGPG]/mirrors.html]<[$hGPG]/mirror.html>[H /a]
+ [H a href=ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/pub/gcrypt]ftp.gnupg.org[H /a] or from one of the mirrors:
+
+ [H a href=[$hGPG]/mirrors.html]
+ <[$hGPG]/mirror.html>
+ [H /a]
+
The current version is 1.0.4, please upgrade to this version as it
fixes a security bug regarding the verification of multiple signatures.
@@ -104,32 +114,43 @@ you could search in the mailing list archive.
<Q> Which OSes does GnuPG run on?
It should run on most Unices as well as Windows 95 and Windows NT. A
- list of OSes reported to be OK is presented at
+ list of OSes reported to be OK is presented at:
+
[H a href=http://www.gnupg.org/backend.html#supsys]
- http://www.gnupg.org/gnupg.html#supsys [H /a].
+ <http://www.gnupg.org/gnupg.html#supsys>
+ [H /a]
<Q> Which random gatherer should I use?
- "Good" random numbers are crucial for the security of your
- encryption. Different operating systems provide a variety of more or
- less quality random data. Linux and *BSD provide kernel generated
- random data through /dev/random - this should be the preferred
- choice on these systems. Also Solaris users with the SUNWski package
- installed have a /dev/random. In these cases, use the configure
- option [H pre]--enable-static-rnd=linux[H/pre]. In addition, there's
- also the kernel random device by Andi Maier [H a href= http://www.cosy.sbg.ac.at/~andi]
- <http://www.cosy.sbg.ac.at/~andi>[H /a], but it's still beta. Use at
+ "Good" random numbers are crucial for the security of your encryption.
+ Different operating systems provide a variety of more or less quality
+ random data. Linux and *BSD provide kernel generated random data
+ through /dev/random - this should be the preferred choice on these
+ systems. Also Solaris users with the SUNWski package installed have
+ a /dev/random. In these cases, use the configure option:
+
+ [H pre]
+ --enable-static-rnd=linux
+ [H/pre]
+
+ In addition, there's also the kernel random device by Andi Maier
+ [H a href= http://www.cosy.sbg.ac.at/~andi]<http://www.cosy.sbg.ac.at/~andi>[H /a], but it's still beta. Use at your
own risk!
- On other systems, the Entropy Gathering Daemon (EGD) is a good
- choice. It is a perl-daemon that monitors system activity and hashes
- it into random data. See the download page [H a href=http://www.gnupg.org/download.html]<http://www.gnupg.org/download.html>[H /a]
- how to obtain egd. Use [H pre]--enable-static-rnd=egd[H/pre] here.
+ On other systems, the Entropy Gathering Daemon (EGD) is a good choice.
+ It is a perl-daemon that monitors system activity and hashes it into
+ random data. See the download page [H a href=http://www.gnupg.org/download.html]<http://www.gnupg.org/download.html>[H /a]
+ to obtain egd. Use:
+
+ [H pre]
+ --enable-static-rnd=egd
+ [H/pre]
+
+ here.
If the above options do not work, you can use the random number
- generator "unix". This is [H B]very[H /B] slow and should be
- avoided. The random quality isn't very good so don't use it on
- sensitive data.
+ generator "unix". This is [H B]very[H /B] slow and should be avoiced. The
+ random quality isn't very good so don't use it on sensitive data.
<Didea>
<Q> How do I include support for RSA and IDEA?
@@ -141,13 +162,18 @@ you could search in the mailing list archive.
expect official support before then.
However, there is an unofficial module to include it even
- in earlier version of GnuPG. It's available from [H a href=ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/pub/gcrypt/contrib/]
- <ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/pub/gcrypt/contrib/>[H /a]. Look for [H pre]idea.c[H /pre].
+ in earlier versions of GnuPG. It's available from
+ [H a href=ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/pub/gcrypt/contrib/]<ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/pub/gcrypt/contrib/>[H /a]. Look for:
+
+ [H pre]
+ idea.c
+ [H /pre]
Compilation directives are in the headers of these files. Then add
- the following line to your ~/.gnupg/options:
+ the following line to your ~/.gnupg/options:
+
[H pre]
- load-extension idea
+ load-extension idea
[H /pre]
@@ -155,19 +181,22 @@ you could search in the mailing list archive.
<Q> What is the recommended key size?
- 1024 bit for DSA signatures; even for plain ElGamal
- signatures this is sufficient as the size of the hash
- is probably the weakest link if the key size is larger
- than 1024 bits. Encryption keys may have greater sizes,
- but you should then check the fingerprint of this key:
- "gpg --fingerprint <user ID>".
+ 1024 bit for DSA signatures; even for plain ElGamal signatures
+ this is sufficient as the size of the hash is probably the weakest
+ link if the key size is larger than 1024 bits. Encryption keys may
+ have greater sizes, but you should then check the fingerprint of
+ this key:
+
+ [H pre]
+ gpg --fingerprint <user ID>
+ [H /pre]
As for the key algorithms, you should stick with the default (i.e.,
DSA signature and ElGamal encryption). A ElGamal signing key has the
following disadvantages: the signature is larger, it is hard to
create such a key useful for signatures which can withstand some
real world attacks, you don't get any extra security compared to
- DSA, there might be compatibility problems with certain PGP
+ DSA, and there might be compatibility problems with certain PGP
versions. It has only been introduced because at the time it was
not clear whether there was a patent on DSA.
@@ -177,15 +206,14 @@ you could search in the mailing list archive.
we (on Linux the /dev/random device) must collect some random data.
It is really not easy to fill the Linux internal entropy buffer; I
talked to Ted Ts'o and he commented that the best way to fill the
- buffer is to play with your keyboard. Good security has its price.
+ buffer is to play with your keyboard. Good security has its price.
What I do is to hit several times on the shift, control, alternate,
and caps lock keys, because these keys do not produce output to the
screen. This way you get your keys really fast (it's the same thing
PGP2 does).
Another problem might be another program which eats up your random
- bytes (a program (look at your daemons) that reads from
- /dev/[u]random).
+ bytes (a program (look at your daemons) that reads from /dev/random).
<Q> And it really takes long when I work on a remote system. Why?
@@ -200,7 +228,7 @@ you could search in the mailing list archive.
administrator.
When I check GnuPG on a remote system via ssh (I have no Alpha here
- ;-) I have the same problem. It takes a *very* long time to create
+ ;-) I have the same problem. It takes a *very* long time to create
the keys, so I use a special option, --quick-random, to generate
insecure keys which are only good for some tests.
@@ -208,18 +236,17 @@ you could search in the mailing list archive.
If you do a 'gpg --help', you will get two separate lists. The first
is a list of commands. The second is a list of options. Whenever you
- run GPG, you [H B]must[H /B] pick exactly one command (with one
- exception, see below). You [H B]may[H /B] pick one or more options.
- The command should, just by convention, come at the end of the
- argument list, after all the options. If the command takes a file
- (all the basic ones do), the filename comes at the very end. So the
- basic way to run gpg is:
-
- [H pre]
- gpg [--option something] [--option2] [--option3 something] --command file
- [H/pre]
+ run GPG, you [H B]must[H /B] pick exactly one command (with one exception,
+ see below). You [H B]may[H /B] pick one or more options. The command should,
+ just by convention, come at the end of the argument list, after all
+ the options. If the command takes a file (all the basic ones do),
+ the filename comes at the very end. So the basic way to run gpg is:
- Some options take arguments, for example the --output option (which
+ [H pre]
+ gpg [--option something] [--option2] [--option3 something] --command file
+ [H/pre]
+
+ Some options take arguments. For example, the --output option (which
can be abbreviated -o) is an option that takes a filename. The
option's argument must follow immediately after the option itself,
otherwise gpg doesn't know which option the argument is supposed to
@@ -227,128 +254,131 @@ you could search in the mailing list archive.
the command. The --recipient (-r) option takes a name or keyid to
encrypt the message to, which must come right after the -r argument.
The --encrypt (or -e) command comes after all the options followed
- by the file you wish to encrypt. So use
+ by the file you wish to encrypt. So use:
- [H pre]
- gpg -r alice -o secret.txt -e test.txt
- [H/pre]
+ [H pre]
+ gpg -r alice -o secret.txt -e test.txt
+ [H/pre]
- If you write the options out in full, it is easier to read
+ If you write the options out in full, it is easier to read:
[H pre]
- gpg --recipient alice --output secret.txt --encrypt test.txt
+ gpg --recipient alice --output secret.txt --encrypt test.txt
[H/pre]
If you're saving it in a file called ".txt" then you'd probably
expect to see ASCII-armored text in there, so you need to add the
- --armor (-a) option, which doesn't take any arguments.
+ --armor (-a) option, which doesn't take any arguments:
- [H pre]
- gpg --armor --recipient alice --output secret.txt --encrypt test.txt
- [H/pre]
+ [H pre]
+ gpg --armor --recipient alice --output secret.txt --encrypt test.txt
+ [H/pre]
If you imagine square brackets around the optional parts, it becomes
- a bit clearer:
+ a bit clearer:
- [H pre]
- gpg [--armor] [--recipient alice] [--output secret.txt] --encrypt test.txt
- [H/pre]
+ [H pre]
+ gpg [--armor] [--recipient alice] [--output secret.txt] --encrypt test.txt
+ [H/pre]
- The optional parts can be rearranged any way you want.
+ The optional parts can be rearranged any way you want:
- [H pre]
- gpg --output secret.txt --recipient alice --armor --encrypt test.txt
- [H/pre]
+ [H pre]
+ gpg --output secret.txt --recipient alice --armor --encrypt test.txt
+ [H/pre]
- If your filename begins with a hyphen (e.g. "-a.txt"), gnupg assumes
- this is an option and may complain. To avoid this you have either
+ If your filename begins with a hyphen (e.g. "-a.txt"), GnuPG assumes
+ this is an option and may complain. To avoid this you have either
to use "./-a.txt" or stop the option and command processing with two
- hyphens: "-- -a.txt".
-
- [H B]The exception:[H /B] signing and encrypting at the same time. Use
- [H pre] gpg [--options] --sign --encrypt foo.txt [H/pre]
+ hyphens: "-- -a.txt". [H B]The exception:[H /B] signing and encrypting at the
+ same time. Use:
+ [H pre]
+ gpg [--options] --sign --encrypt foo.txt
+ [H/pre]
-<Q> I can't delete a user id because it is already deleted on my public
-keyring?
+<Q> I can't delete a user ID because it is already deleted on my public
+ keyring?
Because you can only select from the public key ring, there is no
- direct way to do this. However it is not very complicated to do it
- anyway. Create a new user id with exactly the same name and you
- will see that there are now two identical user ids on the secret
- ring. Now select this user id and delete it. Both user ids will be
+ direct way to do this. However it is not very complicated to do
+ anyway. Create a new user ID with exactly the same name and you
+ will see that there are now two identical user IDs on the secret
+ ring. Now select this user ID and delete it. Both user IDs will be
removed from the secret ring.
<Q> I can't delete the secret key because my public key disappeared?
To select a key a search is always done on the public keyring,
therefore it is not possible to select an secret key without
- having the public key. Normally it shoud never happen that the
- public key got lost but the secret key is still available. The
- reality is different, so we GnuPG implements a special way to do
- deal with it: Simply use the long keyid which you can figure out
- by using the --with-colons options (it is the fifth field in the
- lines beginning with "sec").
+ having the public key. Normally it shoud never happen that the
+ public key got lost but the secret key is still available. The
+ reality is different, so GnuPG implements a special way to deal
+ with it: Simply use the long keyid which can be obtained by using
+ the --with-colons options (it is the fifth field in the lines
+ beginning with "sec").
<Q> What are trust, validity and ownertrust?
"ownertrust" is used instead of "trust" to make clear that this is
the value you have assigned to a key to express how much you trust
the owner of this key to correctly sign (and so introduce) other
- keys. "validity", or calculated trust, is a value which says how
+ keys. "validity", or calculated trust, is a value which says how
much GnuPG thinks a key is valid (that it really belongs to the one
who claims to be the owner of the key). For more see the chapter
"The Web of Trust" in the Manual.
<Q> How do I sign a patch file?
- Use "gpg --clearsign --not-dash-escaped ...". The problem with
+ Use "gpg --clearsign --not-dash-escaped ...". The problem with
--clearsign is that all lines starting with a dash are quoted with
- "- "; obviously diff produces many of lines starting with a dash and
- these are then quoted and that is not good for patch ;-). To use a
+ "- "; obviously diff produces many lines starting with a dash and
+ these are then quoted and that is not good for a patch ;-). To use a
patch file without removing the cleartext signature, the special
option --not-dash-escaped may be used to suppress generation of
- these escape sequences. You should not mail such a patch because
+ these escape sequences. You should not mail such a patch because
spaces and line endings are also subject to the signature and a
- mailer may not preserve these. If you want to mail a file you can
+ mailer may not preserve these. If you want to mail a file you can
simply sign it using your MUA.
<Q> Where is the "encrypt-to-self" option?
- Use "--encrypt-to your_keyid". You can use more than one of these
- options. To temporary override the use of this additional keys, you
- can use the option "--no-encrypt-to".
+ Use "--encrypt-to your_keyid". You can use more than one of these
+ options. To temporarily override the use of this additional key,
+ you can use the option "--no-encrypt-to".
<Q> How can I get rid of the Version and Comment headers in armored
-messages?
+ messages?
- Use "--no-version --comment ''". Note that the left over blank line
+ Use "--no-version --comment ''". Note that the left over blank line
is required by the protocol.
<Q> What does the "You are using the xxxx character set." mean?
- This note is printed when UTF8 mapping has to be done. Make sure
+ This note is printed when UTF8 mapping has to be done. Make sure
that the displayed charset is the one you have activated on your
- system "iso-8859-1" is the most used one, so this is the default.
- You can change the charset with the option "--charset". It is
- important that you active character set matches the one displayed -
- if not, restrict yourself to plain 7 bit ASCII and no mapping has to
- be done.
+ system. Since "iso-8859-1" is the charset most used, this is the
+ default. You can change the charset with the option "--charset".
+ It is important that your active character set matches the one
+ displayed - if not, restrict yourself to plain 7 bit ASCII and no
+ mapping has to be done.
<Q> How can a get list of key IDs used to encrypt a message?
- [H pre] gpg --batch --decrypt --list-only --status-fd 1 2>/dev/null | \
- awk '/^\[GNUPG:\] ENC_TO / { print $3 }' [H /pre]
+ [H pre]
+ gpg --batch --decrypt --list-only --status-fd 1 2>/dev/null | \
+ awk '/^\[GNUPG:\] ENC_TO / { print $3 }'
+ [H /pre]
<Q> I can't decrypt my symmetrical only (-c) encrypted message with
a new version of GnuPG.
There used to be a bug in GnuPG < 1.0.1 which happens only if 3DES
or Twofish has been used for symmetric only encryption (this has
- never been the default). The bug has been fixed but to enable you
+ never been the default). The bug has been fixed but to enable you
to decrypt old messages, you should run gpg with the option
"--emulate-3des-s2k-bug", decrypt the message and encrypt it again
- without this option. The option will be removed in 1.1, so better
+ without this option. The option will be removed in 1.1, so better
re-encrypt your message now.
<Q> How can I use GnuPG in an automated environment?
@@ -358,119 +388,138 @@ messages?
keyring itself. The suggested way to create the keys for the
automated environment is:
- On a secure machine:
- [H OL] [H LI] If you want to do automatic signing, create a signing
- subkey for your key (edit menu, choose "addkey" and the DSA). [H
- LI] Make sure that you use a passphrase (Needed by the current
- implementation) [H LI] gpg --export-secret-subkeys --no-comment foo
- >secring.auto [H LI] Copy secring.auto and the public keyring to a
- test directory. [H LI] Cd to this directory. [H LI] gpg --homedir
- . --edit foo and use "passwd" to remove the pass-phrase from the
- subkeys. You may also want to remove all unused subkeys. [H LI]
- copy secring.auto to a floppy and carry it to the target box [H /OL]
- On the target machine: [H OL] [H LI] Install secring.auto as secret
- keyring. [H LI] Now you can start your new service. It is a good
- idea to install some intrusion detection system so that you
- hopefully get a notice of an successful intrusion, so that you in
- turn can revoke all the subkeys installed on that machine and
- install new subkeys. [H /OL]
+ On a secure machine:
+ [H OL]
+ [H LI] If you want to do automatic signing, create a signing
+ subkey for your key (edit menu, choose "addkey" and the DSA).
+ [H LI] Make sure that you use a passphrase (needed by the current
+ implementation).
+ [H LI] gpg --export-secret-subkeys --no-comment foo >secring.auto
+ [H LI] Copy secring.auto and the public keyring to a test directory.
+ [H LI] Change to this directory.
+ [H LI] gpg --homedir . --edit foo and use "passwd" to remove the
+ passphrase from the subkeys. You may also want to remove all
+ unused subkeys.
+ [H LI] Copy secring.auto to a floppy and carry it to the target box.
+ [H /OL]
+
+ On the target machine:
+ [H OL]
+ [H LI] Install secring.auto as secret keyring.
+ [H LI] Now you can start your new service. It is a good idea to
+ install some intrusion detection system so that you hopefully
+ get a notice of an successful intrusion, so that you in turn
+ can revoke all the subkeys installed on that machine and
+ install new subkeys.
+ [H /OL]
<Q> Which email-client can I use with GnuPG?
- Using GnuPG to encrypt email is one of the most popular
- uses. Several mail clients or mail user-agents (MUA) support GnuPG
- at varying degrees. Simplifying a bit, there are two ways a mail can
- be encrypted with GnuPG: the "old style" ASCII armor, i.e. plain
- text encryption, and RFC2015 style (previously PGP/MIME, now
- OpenPGP). The latter has full MIME support. Some MUAs support only
- one of them, so whichever you actually use depends on your needs as
- well as the capabilities of your addressee.
+ Using GnuPG to encrypt email is one of the most popular uses.
+ Several mail clients or mail user-agents (MUA) support GnuPG at
+ varying degrees. Simplifying a bit, there are two ways mail can be
+ encrypted with GnuPG: the "old style" ASCII armor, i.e. plain text
+ encryption, and RFC2015 style (previously PGP/MIME, now OpenPGP).
+ The latter has full MIME support. Some MUAs support only one of
+ them, so whichever you actually use depends on your needs as well
+ as the capabilities of your addressee.
The following list is probably not exhaustive:
OpenPGP: Mutt (Unix), Emacs/Mew, Becky2 (Windows, with plugin),
TkRat (Unix). There is effort for a Mozilla plugin and
Emacs/GNUS has support in the current CVS.
-
+
ASCII: Emacs/{VM,GNUS}/MailCrypt, Mutt(Unix), Pine(Unix), and
probably many more.
Good overviews of OpenPGP-support can be found at
- [H a href=http://cryptorights.org/pgp-users/pgp-mail-clients.html]http://cryptorights.org/pgp-users/pgp-mail-clients.html[H /a].
+ [H a href=http://cryptorights.org/pgp-users/pgp-mail-clients.html]http://cryptorights.org/pgp-users/pgp-mail-clients.html[H /a]
and [H a href=http://www.geocities.com/openpgp/courrier_en.html]http://www.geocities.com/openpgp/courrier_en.html[H /a].
-
<Q> Can't we have a gpg library?
This has been frequently requested. However, the current viewpoint
of the GnuPG maintainers is that this would lead to several security
issues and will therefore not be implemented in the foreseeable
- future. However, for some areas of areas of application gpgme could
- do the trick. You'll find it at
- [H a href=ftp://ftp.guug.de/pub/gcrypt/alpha/gpgme]ftp://ftp.guug.de/pub/gcrypt/alpha/gpgme[H /a]
-
+ future. However, for some areas of application gpgme could do the
+ trick. You'll find it at [H a href=ftp://ftp.guug.de/pub/gcrypt/alpha/gpgme]ftp://ftp.guug.de/pub/gcrypt/alpha/gpgme[H /a].
<Q> I have successfully generated a revocation certificate, but I don't
understand how to send it to the key servers.
Most keyservers don't accept a 'bare' revocation certificate. You
have to import the certificate into gpg first:
+
[H pre]
- gpg --import my-revocation.asc
+ gpg --import my-revocation.asc
[H /pre]
+
then send the revoked key to the keyservers:
+
[H pre]
- gpg --keyserver certserver.pgp.com --send-keys mykeyid
+ gpg --keyserver certserver.pgp.com --send-keys mykeyid
[H /pre]
- (or use a keyserver web interface for this).
+ (or use a keyserver web interface for this).
<Q> How do I put my keyring in a different directory?
- GnuPG keeps several files in a special homedir directory. These
- include the options file, pubring.gpg, secring.gpg, the trustdb, and
- others. Gnupg will always create and use these files. On unices,
+ GnuPG keeps several files in a special homedir directory. These
+ include the options file, pubring.gpg, secring.gpg, trustdb.gpg,
+ and others. GnuPG will always create and use these files. On unices,
the homedir is usually ~/.gnupg; on Windows "C:\gnupg\".
- If you want to put your keyrings somewhere else, use
- [H pre]--homedir /my/path/[H /pre] to make gnupg create all its
- files in that directory. Your keyring will be
- "/my/path/pubring.gpg". This way you can store your secrets on a
- floppy disk. Don't use "--keyring" as its purpose is to specify
+ If you want to put your keyrings somewhere else, use:
+
+ [H pre]
+ --homedir /my/path/
+ [H /pre]
+
+ to make GnuPG create all its files in that directory. Your keyring
+ will be "/my/path/pubring.gpg". This way you can store your secrets
+ on a floppy disk. Don't use "--keyring" as its purpose is to specify
additional keyring files.
-<S> COMPATIBILITY ISSUES
+<S> COMPATIBILITY ISSUES
<Dcompat>
-
<Q> How can I encrypt a message with GnuPG so that PGP is able to decrypt it?
- It depends on the PGP version.[H UL]
-
- [H LI] PGP 2.x
+ It depends on the PGP version.
+ [H UL]
+ [H LI]PGP 2.x[H br]
You can't do that because PGP 2.x normally uses IDEA which is not
- supported by GnuPG as it is patented (see <Ridea>), but if you
- have a modified version of PGP you can try this:
+ supported by GnuPG as it is patented (see <Ridea>), but if you have a
+ modified version of PGP you can try this:
- [H pre] gpg --rfc1991 --cipher-algo 3des ... [H/pre]
+ [H pre]
+ gpg --rfc1991 --cipher-algo 3des ...
+ [H/pre]
Please don't pipe the data to encrypt to gpg but provide it using a
filename; otherwise, PGP 2 will not be able to handle it.
- As for conventional encryption, you can't do this for PGP 2.
+ As for conventional encryption, you can't do this for PGP 2.
-
- [H LI] PGP 5.x and higher
+ [H LI]PGP 5.x and higher[H br]
+ You need to provide two additional options:
- You need to provide two additional options:
- [H pre]--compress-algo 1 --cipher-algo cast5 [H/pre]
+ [H pre]
+ --compress-algo 1 --cipher-algo cast5
+ [H/pre]
+
+ You may also use "3des" instead of "cast5", and "blowfish" does not
+ work with all versions of PGP 5. You may also want to put:
+
+ [H pre]
+ compress-algo 1
+ [H/pre]
- You may also use "3des" instead of "cast5", "blowfish" does not
- work with all versions of pgp5. You may also want to put [H pre]
- compress-algo 1 [H/pre] into your ~/.gnupg/options file - this does
- not affect normal gnupg operation.
+ into your ~/.gnupg/options file - this does not affect normal GnuPG
+ operation.
This applies to conventional encryption as well.
[H /UL]
@@ -482,9 +531,7 @@ messages?
algorithm is still patented until 2007. Under certain conditions you
may use IDEA even today. In that case, you may refer to Question
<Ridea> about how to add IDEA support to GnuPG and read
- [H a href=http://www.gnupg.org/gph/en/pgp2x.html]http://www.gnupg.org/gph/en/pgp2x.html[H /a]
- to perform the migration.
-
+ [H a href=http://www.gnupg.org/gph/en/pgp2x.html]http://www.gnupg.org/gph/en/pgp2x.html[H /a] to perform the migration.
<Q> (removed)
@@ -492,40 +539,43 @@ messages?
<Q> Why is PGP 5.x not able to encrypt messages with some keys?
- PGP Inc refuses to accept ElGamal keys of type 20 even for
- encryption. They only support type 16 (which is identical at least
- for decryption). To be more inter-operable, GnuPG (starting with
+ PGP, Inc. refuses to accept ElGamal keys of type 20 even for
+ encryption. They only support type 16 (which is identical at least
+ for decryption). To be more inter-operable, GnuPG (starting with
version 0.3.3) now also uses type 16 for the ElGamal subkey which is
- created if the default key algorithm is chosen. You may add an type
- 16 ElGamal key to your public key which is easy as your key
+ created if the default key algorithm is chosen. You may add a type
+ 16 ElGamal key to your public key, which is easy as your key
signatures are still valid.
<Q> Why is PGP 5.x not able to verify my messages?
- PGP 5.x does not accept V4 signatures for data material but OpenPGP
- requests generation of V4 signatures for all kind of data, that's why
- GnuPG defaults to them. Use the option "--force-v3-sigs" to generate
- V3 signatures for data.
+ PGP 5.x does not accept v4 signatures for data material but OpenPGP
+ requests generation of v4 signatures for all kind of data, that's why
+ GnuPG defaults to them. Use the option "--force-v3-sigs" to generate
+ v3 signatures for data.
<Q> How do I transfer owner trust values from PGP to GnuPG?
- There is a script in the tools directory to help you: After you have
- imported the PGP keyring you can give this command:
+ There is a script in the tools directory to help you. After you have
+ imported the PGP keyring you can give this command:
- [H pre]
- $ lspgpot pgpkeyring | gpg --import-ownertrust
- [H /pre]
+ [H pre]
+ $ lspgpot pgpkeyring | gpg --import-ownertrust
+ [H /pre]
- where pgpkeyring is the original keyring and not the GnuPG one you
- might have created in the first step.
+ where pgpkeyring is the original keyring and not the GnuPG keyring
+ you might have created in the first step.
<Q> PGP does not like my secret key.
Older PGPs probably bail out on some private comment packets used by
- GnuPG. These packets are fully in compliance with OpenPGP; however
- PGP is not really OpenPGP aware. A workaround is to export the
- secret keys with this command:
- [H pre] $ gpg --export-secret-keys --no-comment -a your-key-id [H /pre]
+ GnuPG. These packets are fully in compliance with OpenPGP; however
+ PGP is not really OpenPGP aware. A workaround is to export the
+ secret keys with this command:
+
+ [H pre]
+ $ gpg --export-secret-keys --no-comment -a your-key-id
+ [H /pre]
Another possibility is this: by default, GnuPG encrypts your secret
key using the Blowfish symmetric algorithm. Older PGPs will only
@@ -535,7 +585,7 @@ messages?
[H pre]
$ gpg --s2k-cipher-algo=CAST5 --s2k-digest-algo=SHA1 \
- --compress-algo=1 --edit-key <username>
+ --compress-algo=1 --edit-key <username>
[H /pre]
Then use passwd to change the password (just change it to the same
@@ -544,44 +594,52 @@ messages?
Now you can export it and PGP should be able to handle it.
For PGP 6.x the following options work to export a key:
+
[H pre]
$ gpg --s2k-cipher-algo 3des --compress-algo 1 --rfc1991 \
- --export-secret-keys <Key-ID>
+ --export-secret-keys <key-ID>
[H /pre]
+
<S> PROBLEMS and ERROR MESSAGES
<Q> Why do I get "gpg: Warning: using insecure memory!"
- On many systems this program should be installed as
- setuid(root). This is necessary to lock memory pages. Locking
- memory pages prevents the operating system from writing them
- to disk and thereby keeping your secret keys really secret. If you
- get no warning message about insecure memory your operating system
- supports locking without being root. The program drops root
- privileges as soon as locked memory is allocated.
+ On many systems this program should be installed as setuid(root).
+ This is necessary to lock memory pages. Locking memory pages prevents
+ the operating system from writing them to disk and thereby keeping your
+ secret keys really secret. If you get no warning message about insecure
+ memory your operating system supports locking without being root. The
+ program drops root privileges as soon as locked memory is allocated.
+
+ On UnixWare 2.x and 7.x you should install GnuPG with the 'plock'
+ privilege to get the same effect:
- On UnixWare 2.x and 7.x you should install GnuPG with the
- 'plock' privilege to get the same effect:
[H pre]
- filepriv -f plock /path/to/gpg
+ filepriv -f plock /path/to/gpg
[H /pre]
If you can't or don't want to install GnuPG setuid(root), you can
- use the option "--no-secmem-warning" or put [H pre]
- no-secmem-warning [H /pre] in your ~/.gnupg/options file (this
- disables the warning).
+ use the option "--no-secmem-warning" or put:
+
+ [H pre]
+ no-secmem-warning
+ [H /pre]
+
+ in your ~/.gnupg/options file (this disables the warning).
On some systems (e.g., Windows) GnuPG does not lock memory pages
- and older GnuPG versions (<=1.0.4) issue the warning
+ and older GnuPG versions (<=1.0.4) issue the warning:
+
[H pre]
- gpg: Please note that you don't have secure memory
+ gpg: Please note that you don't have secure memory
[H /pre]
+
This warning can't be switched off by the above option because it
- was thought to be a too serious issue. However, it confused users
- too much so the warning was eventually removed.
+ was thought to be too serious an issue. However, it confused users
+ too much, so the warning was eventually removed.
-<Q> Large File Support doesn't work ..
+<Q> Large File Support doesn't work ...
LFS is correctly working in post-1.0.4 CVS. If configure doesn't
detect it correctly, try a different (i.e., better) compiler. egcs
@@ -590,18 +648,18 @@ messages?
were due to broken LFS support.
<Q> In the edit menu the trust values is not displayed correctly after
-signing uids - why?
+ signing uids - why?
- This happens because the some informations are stored immediately in
+ This happens because some information is stored immediately in
the trustdb, but the actual trust calculation can be done after the
- save command. This is a not easy to fix design bug which will be
+ save command. This is a "not easy to fix" design bug which will be
addressed in some future release.
<Q> What does "skipping pubkey 1: already loaded" mean?
As of GnuPG 1.0.3, the RSA algorithm is included. If you still have
- a "load-extension rsa" in your .options files, the above message
- occurs. Just remove the load command from the .options file.
+ a "load-extension rsa" in your options file, the above message
+ occurs. Just remove the load command from the options file.
<Q> GnuPG 1.0.4 doesn't create ~/.gnupg ...
@@ -615,33 +673,32 @@ signing uids - why?
Update to GnuPG 1.0.2 or newer.
+<Q> When I use --clearsign, the plain text has sometimes extra dashes
+ in it - why?
-<Q> When I use --clearsign, the plain text has sometimes extra dashes
-in it - why?
+ This is called dash-escaped text and is required by OpenPGP.
+ It always happens when a line starts with a dash ("-") and is
+ needed to make the lines that structure signature and text
+ (i.e., "-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----") to be the only lines
+ that start with two dashes.
- This is called dash-escaped text and required by OpenPGP.
- It always happens when a line starts with a dash ("-") and is needed
- to make the lines that structure signature and text
- (i.e., "-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----") to be the only lines that
- start with two dashes.
-
- If you use GnuPG to process those messages, the extra dashes are removed.
- Good mail clients remove those extra dashes when displaying such a
- message.
+ If you use GnuPG to process those messages, the extra dashes
+ are removed. Good mail clients remove those extra dashes when
+ displaying such a message.
<Q> What is the thing with "can't handle multiple signatures"?
- Due to different message formats GnuPG is not always able to split a
- file with multiple signatures unambiguously into its parts. This
+ Due to different message formats GnuPG is not always able to split
+ a file with multiple signatures unambiguously into its parts. This
error message informs you that there is something wrong with the input.
- The only way to have multiple signatures in a file is by using the
+ The only way to have multiple signatures in a file is by using the
OpenPGP format with one-pass-signature packets (which is GnuPG's
default) or the cleartext signed format.
<Q> If I submit a key to a keyserver, nothing happens ...
- You are most likely using GnuPG on Windows 1.0.2 or older. That's
+ You are most likely using GnuPG 1.0.2 or older on Windows. That's
feature isn't yet implemented, but it's a bug not to say it. Newer
versions issue a warning. Upgrade to 1.0.4 or newer.
@@ -654,41 +711,44 @@ in it - why?
As of 1.0.3, keys generated with gpg are created with preferences to
TWOFISH (and AES since 1.0.4) and that also means that they have the
- capability to use the new MDC encryption method. This will go into
- OpenPGP soon and is also suppoted by PGP 7. This new method avoids
+ capability to use the new MDC encryption method. This will go into
+ OpenPGP soon and is also suppoted by PGP 7. This new method avoids
a (not so new) attack on all email encryption systems.
-
+
This in turn means that pre-1.0.3 gpg's have problems with newer
- key. Because of security fixes, you should keep your gpg
+ keys. Because of security fixes, you should keep your GnuPG
installation in a recent state anyway. As a workaround, you can
- force gpg to use a previous default cipher algo by putting
- [H pre]cipher-algo cast5[H /pre] into your options file.
+ force gpg to use a previous default cipher algo by putting:
+
+ [H pre]
+ cipher-algo cast5
+ [H /pre]
+
+ into your options file.
<Q> With 1.0.4, I get "this cipher algorithm is deprecated ..."
If you just generated a new key and get this message while
encrypting, you've witnessed a bug in 1.0.4. It uses the new AES
- cipher Rijndael that is incorrectly being referred as
- "deprecated". Ignore this warning, more recent versions of gpg are
- corrected.
+ cipher Rijndael that is incorrectly being referred as "deprecated".
+ Ignore this warning, more recent versions of gpg are corrected.
<Q> Some dates are displayed as ????-??-??, why?
Due to constraints in most libc implementations, dates beyond
2038-01-19 can't be displayed correctly. 64 bit OSes are not
- affected by this problem. To avoid printing wrong dates, GnuPG
- instead prints some question marks. To see the correct value, you
+ affected by this problem. To avoid printing wrong dates, GnuPG
+ instead prints some question marks. To see the correct value, you
can use the options --with-colons and --fixed-list-mode.
<Q> I still have a problem. How do I report a bug?
Are you sure that it's not been mentioned somewhere on the mailing
- lists? Did you have a look at the bug list (You'll find a link to
+ lists? Did you have a look at the bug list (you'll find a link to
the list of reported bugs on the documentation page). If you're not
sure about it being a bug, you can send mail to the gnupg-devel
list. Otherwise, use the GUUG bug tracking system
- [H a href=http://bugs.guug.de/Reporting.html]
- http://bugs.guug.de/Reporting.html[H /a].
+ [H a href=http://bugs.guug.de/Reporting.html]http://bugs.guug.de/Reporting.html[H /a].
<Q> Why doesn't GnuPG support X509 certificates?
@@ -699,40 +759,51 @@ in it - why?
They are both public-key cryptosystems, but how the public keys are
actually handled is different.
-
<Q> Why do national characters in my user ID look funny?
- According to OpenPGP, GnuPG encodes user id strings (and other
- things) using UTF-8. In this encoding of Unicode, most national
- characters get encoded as two- or three-byte sequences. For
+ According to OpenPGP, GnuPG encodes user ID strings (and other
+ things) using UTF-8. In this encoding of Unicode, most national
+ characters get encoded as two- or three-byte sequences. For
example, &aring; (0xE5 in ISO-8859-1) becomes &Atilde;&yen; (0xC3,
0xA5). This might also be the reason why keyservers can't find
your key.
<Q> I get 'sed' errors when running ./configure on Mac OS X ...
- This will be fixed after GnuPG has been upgraded to
- autoconf-2.50. Until then, find the line setting CDPATH in the
- configure script and place a [H pre]unset CDPATH[H /pre] statement
- below it.
+ This will be fixed after GnuPG has been upgraded to autoconf-2.50.
+ Until then, find the line setting CDPATH in the configure script
+ and place a:
+
+ [H pre]
+ unset CDPATH
+ [H /pre]
+
+ statement below it.
<Q> Why does GnuPG 1.0.6 bail out on keyrings used with 1.0.7?
There is a small bug in 1.0.6 which didn't parse trust packets
- currectly. You may want to apply this patch if you can't upgrade:
- http://www.gnupg.org/developer/gpg-woody-fix.txt
+ correctly. You may want to apply this patch if you can't upgrade:
+ [H pre]
+ http://www.gnupg.org/developer/gpg-woody-fix.txt
+ [H /pre]
<S> ADVANCED TOPICS
<Q> How does this whole thing work?
- To generate a secret/public keypair, run [H pre] gpg --gen-key
- [H/pre] and choose the default values.
+ To generate a secret/public keypair, run:
+
+ [H pre]
+ gpg --gen-key
+ [H/pre]
+
+ and choose the default values.
Data that is encrypted with a public key can only be decrypted by
- the matching secret key. The secret key is protected by a password,
+ the matching secret key. The secret key is protected by a password,
the public key is not.
So to send your friend a message, you would encrypt your message
@@ -740,158 +811,173 @@ in it - why?
having the secret key and putting in the password to use his secret
key.
- GnuPG is also useful for signing things. Things that are encrypted
+ GnuPG is also useful for signing things. Things that are encrypted
with the secret key can be decrypted with the public key. To sign
something, a hash is taken of the data, and then the hash is in some
form encoded with the secret key. If someone has your public key, they
can verify that it is from you and that it hasn't changed by checking
the encoded form of the hash with the public key.
-
+
A keyring is just a large file that stores keys. You have a public
- keyring where you store yours and your friend's public keys. You have
- a secret keyring that you keep your secret key on, and be very careful
- with this secret keyring: Never ever give anyone else access to it and
- use a *good* passphrase to protect the data in it.
-
- You can 'conventionally' encrypt something by using the option 'gpg
- -c'. It is encrypted using a passphrase, and does not use public and
- secret keys. If the person you send the data to knows that
- passphrase, they can decrypt it. This is usually most useful for
- encrypting things to yourself, although you can encrypt things to your
- own public key in the same way. It should be used for communication
- with partners you know and where it is easy to exchange the
- passphrases (e.g. with your boy friend or your wife). The advantage
- is that you can change the passphrase from time to time and decrease
- the risk, that many old messages may be decrypted by people who
- accidently got your passphrase.
-
+ keyring where you store yours and your friend's public keys. You have
+ a secret keyring that you keep your secret key on, and should be very
+ careful with. Never ever give anyone else access to it and use a *good*
+ passphrase to protect the data in it.
+
+ You can 'conventionally' encrypt something by using the option 'gpg -c'.
+ It is encrypted using a passphrase, and does not use public and secret
+ keys. If the person you send the data to knows that passphrase, they
+ can decrypt it. This is usually most useful for encrypting things to
+ yourself, although you can encrypt things to your own public key in the
+ same way. It should be used for communication with partners you know
+ and where it is easy to exchange the passphrases (e.g. with your boy
+ friend or your wife). The advantage is that you can change the
+ passphrase from time to time and decrease the risk, that many old
+ messages may be decrypted by people who accidently got your passphrase.
+
You can add and copy keys to and from your keyring with the 'gpg
--import' and 'gpg --export' option. 'gpg --export-secret-keys' will
export secret keys. This is normally not useful, but you can generate
the key on one machine then move it to another machine.
-
- Keys can be signed under the 'gpg --edit-key' option. When you sign a
+
+ Keys can be signed under the 'gpg --edit-key' option. When you sign a
key, you are saying that you are certain that the key belongs to the
- person it says it comes from. You should be very sure that is really
- that person: You should verify the key fingerprint
+ person it says it comes from. You should be very sure that is really
+ that person: You should verify the key fingerprint with:
+
[H pre]
- gpg --fingerprint user-id
+ gpg --fingerprint user-id
[H/pre]
- over phone (if you really know the voice of the other person) or at a
- key signing party (which are often held at computer conferences) or at
+
+ over the phone (if you really know the voice of the other person), at a
+ key signing party (which are often held at computer conferences), or at
a meeting of your local GNU/Linux User Group.
-
- Hmm, what else. You may use the option "-o filename" to force output
+
+ Hmm, what else. You may use the option "-o filename" to force output
to this filename (use "-" to force output to stdout). "-r" just lets
you specify the recipient (which public key you encrypt with) on the
command line instead of typing it interactively.
-
+
Oh yeah, this is important. By default all data is encrypted in some
- weird binary format. If you want to have things appear in ASCII text
- that is readable, just add the '-a' option. But the preferred method
+ weird binary format. If you want to have things appear in ASCII text
+ that is readable, just add the '-a' option. But the preferred method
is to use a MIME aware mail reader (Mutt, Pine and many more).
-
+
There is a small security glitch in the OpenPGP (and therefore GnuPG)
system; to avoid this you should always sign and encrypt a message
instead of only encrypting it.
-
<Q> Why are some signatures with an ELG-E key valid?
- These are ElGamal Key generated by GnuPG in v3 (rfc1991) packets.
+ These are ElGamal keys generated by GnuPG in v3 (RFC 1991) packets.
The OpenPGP draft later changed the algorithm identifier for ElGamal
keys which are usable for signatures and encryption from 16 to 20.
GnuPG now uses 20 when it generates new ElGamal keys but still
- accept 16 (which is according to OpenPGP "encryption only") if this
- key is in a v3 packet. GnuPG is the only program which had used
+ accepts 16 (which is according to OpenPGP "encryption only") if this
+ key is in a v3 packet. GnuPG is the only program which had used
these v3 ElGamal keys - so this assumption is quite safe.
-
<Q> How does the whole trust thing work?
- It works more or less like PGP. The difference is that the trust is
+ It works more or less like PGP. The difference is that the trust is
computed at the time it is needed. This is one of the reasons for
- the trustdb which holds a list of valid key signatures. If you are
+ the trustdb which holds a list of valid key signatures. If you are
not running in batch mode you will be asked to assign a trust
parameter (ownertrust) to a key.
-
-
You can see the validity (calculated trust value) using this
command.
- [H pre] gpg --list-keys --with-colons [H/pre]
+
+ [H pre]
+ gpg --list-keys --with-colons
+ [H/pre]
If the first field is "pub" or "uid", the second field shows you the
- trust:
-
- [H pre]
- o = Unknown (this key is new to the system)
- e = The key has expired
- q = Undefined (no value assigned)
- n = Don't trust this key at all
- m = There is marginal trust in this key
- f = The key is full trusted
+ trust:
+
+ [H pre]
+ o = Unknown (this key is new to the system)
+ e = The key has expired
+ q = Undefined (no value assigned)
+ n = Don't trust this key at all
+ m = There is marginal trust in this key
+ f = The key is full trusted
u = The key is ultimately trusted; this is only used
- for keys for which the secret key is also available.
- r = The key has been revoked
- d = The key has been disabled
- [H/pre]
+ for keys for which the secret key is also available.
+ r = The key has been revoked
+ d = The key has been disabled
+ [H/pre]
The value in the "pub" record is the best one of all "uid" records.
-
You can get a list of the assigned trust values (how much you trust
- the owner to correctly sign another person's key)
-
- [H pre] gpg --list-ownertrust [H/pre] The first field is the
- fingerprint of the primary key, the second field is the assigned
- value:
-
- [H pre]
- - = No Ownertrust value yet assigned.
- n = Never trust this keyholder to correctly verify others signatures.
+ the owner to correctly sign another person's key) with:
+
+ [H pre]
+ gpg --list-ownertrust
+ [H/pre]
+
+ The first field is the fingerprint of the primary key, the second
+ field is the assigned value:
+
+ [H pre]
+ - = No Ownertrust value yet assigned.
+ n = Never trust this keyholder to correctly verify others signatures.
m = Have marginal trust in the keyholders capability to sign other
- keys.
- f = Assume that the key holder really knows how to sign keys.
- u = No need to trust ourself because we have the secret key.
- [H/pre]
+ keys.
+ f = Assume that the key holder really knows how to sign keys.
+ u = No need to trust ourself because we have the secret key.
+ [H/pre]
Keep these values confidential because they express your opinions
- about others. PGP stores this information with the keyring thus it
+ about others. PGP stores this information with the keyring thus it
is not a good idea to publish a PGP keyring instead of exporting the
- keyring. gnupg stores the trust in the trust-DB so it is okay to
- give a gpg keyring away (but we have a --export command too).
+ keyring. GnuPG stores the trust in the trustdb.gpg file so it is okay
+ to give a gpg keyring away (but we have a --export command too).
<Q> What kind of output is this: "key C26EE891.298, uid 09FB: ...."?
- This is the internal representation of a user id in the trustdb.
- "C26EE891" is the keyid, "298" is the local id (a record number in
+ This is the internal representation of a user ID in the trustdb.
+ "C26EE891" is the keyid, "298" is the local ID (a record number in
the trustdb) and "09FB" is the last two bytes of a ripe-md-160 hash
- of the user id for this key.
+ of the user ID for this key.
<Q> How do I interpret some of the informational outputs?
While checking the validity of a key, GnuPG sometimes prints some
information which is prefixed with information about the checked
- item. [H pre] "key 12345678.3456" [H/pre] This is about the key
- with key ID 12345678 and the internal number 3456, which is the
- record number of the so called directory record in the trustdb.
- [H pre] "uid 12345678.3456/ACDE" [H/pre] This is about the user ID for
- the same key. To identify the user ID the last two bytes of a
- ripe-md-160 over the user ID ring is printed. [H pre] "sig
- 12345678.3456/ACDE/9A8B7C6D" [H/pre] This is about the signature
- with key ID 9A8B7C6D for the above key and user ID, if it is a
- signature which is direct on a key, the user ID part is empty
- (..//..).
+ item.
+
+ [H pre]
+ "key 12345678.3456"
+ [H/pre]
+
+ This is about the key with key ID 12345678 and the internal number
+ 3456, which is the record number of the so called directory record
+ in the trustdb.
+
+ [H pre]
+ "uid 12345678.3456/ACDE"
+ [H/pre]
+
+ This is about the user ID for the same key. To identify the user ID
+ the last two bytes of a ripe-md-160 over the user ID ring is printed.
+
+ [H pre]
+ "sig 12345678.3456/ACDE/9A8B7C6D"
+ [H/pre]
+
+ This is about the signature with key ID 9A8B7C6D for the above key
+ and user ID, if it is a signature which is direct on a key, the user
+ ID part is empty (..//..).
<Q> Are the header lines of a cleartext signature part of the signed
-material?
+ material?
- No. For example you can add or remove "Comment:" lines. They have
- a purpose like the mail header lines. However a "Hash:" line is
+ No. For example you can add or remove "Comment:" lines. They have
+ a purpose like the mail header lines. However a "Hash:" line is
needed for OpenPGP signatures to tell the parser which hash
algorithm to use.
-
<Q> What is the list of preferred algorithms?
The list of preferred algorithms is a list of cipher, hash and
@@ -903,30 +989,31 @@ material?
<Q> How do I change the list of preferred algorithms?
- Use the edit menu and set the new list of preference using the
- command "setpref"; the format of this command resembles the output
- of the command "pref". The preference are not changes immediately
- but the set preference will be used when a new user ID is
- created. If you want to update the preferences for existing user
- IDs, select those user IDs (or select none to update all) and
- enter the command "updpref". Note that the timestamp of the
- self-signatures is increaded by one second when running this
- command.
+ In version 1.0.7 or later, you can use the edit menu and set the
+ new list of preference using the command "setpref"; the format of
+ this command resembles the output of the command "pref". The
+ preference is not changed immediately but the set preference will
+ be used when a new user ID is created. If you want to update the
+ preferences for existing user IDs, select those user IDs (or select
+ none to update all) and enter the command "updpref". Note that the
+ timestamp of the self-signature is increased by one second when
+ running this command.
<S> ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many thanks to Nils Ellmenreich for maintaining this FAQ file for
- a long time and to all posters to gnupg-users and gnupg-devel. They
- all provided most of the answers.
+ a long time, Werner Koch for the original FAQ file, and to all
+ posters to gnupg-users and gnupg-devel. They all provided most
+ of the answers.
- Also thanks to Casper Dik for providing me with a script to generate
+ Also thanks to Casper Dik for providing us with a script to generate
this FAQ (he uses it for the excellent Solaris2 FAQ).
[H HR]
-Copyright (C) 2000, 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. ,
-59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA
+Copyright (C) 2000-2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in
any medium, provided this notice is preserved.