(gpg.info.gz) Top
Info Catalog
(dir) Top
gpg
***
Name
****
gpg -- encryption and signing tool
Synopsis
********
gpg
--homedir name
--options file
options
command
args
DESCRIPTION
***********
`gpg' is the main program for the GnuPG system.
This man page only lists the commands and options available. For more
verbose documentation get the GNU Privacy Handbook (GPH) or one of the
other documents at http://www.gnupg.org/documentation/ .
Please remember that option parsing stops as soon as a non option is
encountered, you can explicitly stop option parsing by using the
special option "-".
COMMANDS
********
`gpg' may be run with no commands, in which case it will perform a
reasonable action depending on the type of file it is given as input
(an encrypted message is decrypted, a signature is verified, a file
containing keys is listed).
`gpg' recognizes these commands:
-s, -sign
Make a signature. This command may be combined with -encrypt (for a
signed and encrypted message), -symmetric (for a signed and
symmetrically encrypted message), or -encrypt and -symmetric
together (for a signed message that may be decrypted via a secret
key or a passphrase).
-clearsign
Make a clear text signature. The content in a clear text signature
is readable without any special software. OpenPGP software is only
needed to verify the signature. Clear text signatures may modify
end-of-line whitespace for platform independence and are not
intended to be reversible.
-b, -detach-sign
Make a detached signature.
-e, -encrypt
Encrypt data. This option may be combined with -sign (for a signed
and encrypted message), -symmetric (for a message that may be
decrypted via a secret key or a passphrase), or -sign and
-symmetric together (for a signed message that may be decrypted
via a secret key or a passphrase).
-c, -symmetric
Encrypt with a symmetric cipher using a passphrase. The default
symmetric cipher used is CAST5, but may be chosen with the
-cipher-algo option. This option may be combined with -sign (for a
signed and symmetrically encrypted message), -encrypt (for a
message that may be decrypted via a secret key or a passphrase),
or -sign and -encrypt together (for a signed message that may be
decrypted via a secret key or a passphrase).
-store
Store only (make a simple RFC1991 packet).
-d, -decrypt
Decrypt `file' (or stdin if no file is specified) and write it to
stdout (or the file specified with -output). If the decrypted file
is signed, the signature is also verified. This command differs
from the default operation, as it never writes to the filename
which is included in the file and it rejects files which don't
begin with an encrypted message.
-verify
Assume that `sigfile' is a signature and verify it without
generating any output. With no arguments, the signature packet is
read from stdin. If only a sigfile is given, it may be a complete
signature or a detached signature, in which case the signed stuff
is expected in a file without the ".sig" or ".asc" extension.
With more than 1 argument, the first should be a detached signature
and the remaining files are the signed stuff. To read the signed
stuff from stdin, use `-' as the second filename. For security
reasons a detached signature cannot read the signed material from
stdin without denoting it in the above way.
-multifile
This modifies certain other commands to accept multiple files for
processing on the command line or read from stdin with each
filename on a separate line. This allows for many files to be
processed at once. -multifile may currently be used along with
-verify, -encrypt, and -decrypt. Note that `-multifile -verify'
may not be used with detached signatures.
-verify-files
Identical to `-multifile -verify'.
-encrypt-files
Identical to `-multifile -encrypt'.
-decrypt-files
Identical to `-multifile -decrypt'.
-list-keys
-list-public-keys
List all keys from the public keyrings, or just the ones given on
the command line.
Avoid using the output of this command in scripts or other
programs as it is likely to change as GnuPG changes. See
-with-colons for a machine-parseable key listing command that is
appropriate for use in scripts and other programs.
-K, -list-secret-keys
List all keys from the secret keyrings, or just the ones given on
the command line. A '#' after the letters 'sec' means that the
secret key is not usable (for example, if it was created via
-export-secret-subkeys).
-list-sigs
Same as -list-keys, but the signatures are listed too.
For each signature listed, there are several flags in between the
"sig" tag and keyid. These flags give additional information about
each signature. From left to right, they are the numbers 1-3 for
certificate check level (see -ask-cert-level), "L" for a local or
non-exportable signature (see -lsign-key), "R" for a nonRevocable
signature (see the -edit-key command "nrsign"), "P" for a signature
that contains a policy URL (see -cert-policy-url), "N" for a
signature that contains a notation (see -cert-notation), "X" for an
eXpired signature (see -ask-cert-expire), and the numbers 1-9 or
"T" for 10 and above to indicate trust signature levels (see the
-edit-key command "tsign").
-check-sigs
Same as -list-sigs, but the signatures are verified.
-fingerprint
List all keys with their fingerprints. This is the same output as
-list-keys but with the additional output of a line with the
fingerprint. May also be combined with -list-sigs or -check-sigs.
If this command is given twice, the fingerprints of all secondary
keys are listed too.
-list-packets
List only the sequence of packets. This is mainly useful for
debugging.
-gen-key
Generate a new key pair. This command is normally only used
interactively.
There is an experimental feature which allows you to create keys
in batch mode. See the file `doc/DETAILS' in the source
distribution on how to use this.
-edit-key `name'
Present a menu which enables you to do all key related tasks:
sign
Make a signature on key of user `name' If the key is not yet
signed by the default user (or the users given with -u), the
program displays the information of the key again, together
with its fingerprint and asks whether it should be signed.
This question is repeated for all users specified with -u.
lsign
Same as "sign" but the signature is marked as non-exportable
and will therefore never be used by others. This may be used
to make keys valid only in the local environment.
nrsign
Same as "sign" but the signature is marked as non-revocable
and can therefore never be revoked.
tsign
Make a trust signature. This is a signature that combines the
notions of certification (like a regular signature), and
trust (like the "trust" command). It is generally only useful
in distinct communities or groups.
Note that "l" (for local / non-exportable), "nr" (for
non-revocable, and "t" (for trust) may be freely mixed and
prefixed to "sign" to create a signature of any type desired.
revsig
Revoke a signature. For every signature which has been
generated by one of the secret keys, GnuPG asks whether a
revocation certificate should be generated.
trust
Change the owner trust value. This updates the trust-db
immediately and no save is required.
disable
enable
Disable or enable an entire key. A disabled key can not
normally be used for encryption.
adduid
Create an alternate user id.
addphoto
Create a photographic user id. This will prompt for a JPEG
file that will be embedded into the user ID. Note that a very
large JPEG will make for a very large key. Also note that
some programs will display your JPEG unchanged (GnuPG), and
some programs will scale it to fit in a dialog box (PGP).
deluid
Delete a user id.
delsig
Delete a signature.
revuid
Revoke a user id.
addkey
Add a subkey to this key.
addcardkey
Generate a key on a card and add it to this key.
keytocard
Transfer the selected secret key (or the primary key if no
key has been selected) to a smartcard. The secret key in the
keyring will be replaced by a stub if the key could be stored
successfully on the card and you use the save command later.
Only certain key types may be transferred to the card. A sub
menu allows you to select on what card to store the key. Note
that it is not possible to get that key back from the card -
if the card gets broken your secret key will be lost unless
you have a backup somewhere.
bkuptocard `file'
Restore the given file to a card. This command may be used to
restore a backup key (as generated during card
initialization) to a new card. In almost all cases this will
be the encryption key. You should use this command only with
the corresponding public key and make sure that the file
given as argument is indeed the backup to restore. You should
then select 2 to restore as encryption key. You will first
be asked to enter the passphrase of the backup key and then
for the Admin PIN of the card.
delkey
Remove a subkey.
addrevoker
Add a designated revoker. This takes one optional argument:
"sensitive". If a designated revoker is marked as sensitive,
it will not be exported by default (see export-options).
revkey
Revoke a subkey.
expire
Change the key expiration time. If a subkey is selected, the
expiration time of this subkey will be changed. With no
selection, the key expiration of the primary key is changed.
passwd
Change the passphrase of the secret key.
primary
Flag the current user id as the primary one, removes the
primary user id flag from all other user ids and sets the
timestamp of all affected self-signatures one second ahead.
Note that setting a photo user ID as primary makes it primary
over other photo user IDs, and setting a regular user ID as
primary makes it primary over other regular user IDs.
uid `n'
Toggle selection of user id with index `n'. Use 0 to
deselect all.
key `n'
Toggle selection of subkey with index `n'. Use 0 to deselect
all.
check
Check all selected user ids.
showphoto
Display the selected photographic user id.
pref
List preferences from the selected user ID. This shows the
actual preferences, without including any implied preferences.
showpref
More verbose preferences listing for the selected user ID.
This shows the preferences in effect by including the implied
preferences of 3DES (cipher), SHA-1 (digest), and
Uncompressed (compression) if they are not already included
in the preference list. In addition, the preferred keyserver
and signature notations (if any) are shown.
setpref `string'
Set the list of user ID preferences to `string' for all (or
just the selected) user IDs. Calling setpref with no
arguments sets the preference list to the default (either
built-in or set via -default-preference-list), and calling
setpref with "none" as the argument sets an empty preference
list. Use "gpg -version" to get a list of available
algorithms. Note that while you can change the preferences on
an attribute user ID (aka "photo ID"), GnuPG does not select
keys via attribute user IDs so these preferences will not be
used by GnuPG.
keyserver
Set a preferred keyserver for the specified user ID(s). This
allows other users to know where you prefer they get your key
from. See -keyserver-options honor-keyserver-url for more on
how this works. Setting a value of "none" removes an
existing preferred keyserver.
notation
Set a name=value notation for the specified user ID(s). See
-cert-notation for more on how this works. Setting a value of
"none" removes all notations, setting a notation prefixed
with a minus sign (-) removes that notation, and setting a
notation name (without the =value) prefixed with a minus sign
removes all notations with that name.
toggle
Toggle between public and secret key listing.
clean
Compact (by removing all signatures except the selfsig) any
user ID that is no longer usable (e.g. revoked, or expired).
Then, remove any signatures that are not usable by the trust
calculations. Specifically, this removes any signature that
does not validate, any signature that is superseded by a
later signature, revoked signatures, and signatures issued by
keys that are not present on the keyring.
minimize
Make the key as small as possible. This removes all
signatures from each user ID except for the most recent
self-signature.
cross-certify
Add cross-certification signatures to signing subkeys that
may not currently have them. Cross-certification signatures
protect against a subtle attack against signing subkeys. See
-require-cross-certification.
save
Save all changes to the key rings and quit.
quit
Quit the program without updating the key rings.
The listing shows you the key with its secondary keys and all user
ids. Selected keys or user ids are indicated by an asterisk. The
trust value is displayed with the primary key: the first is the
assigned owner trust and the second is the calculated trust value.
Letters are used for the values:
-
No ownertrust assigned / not yet calculated.
e
Trust calculation has failed; probably due to an expired key.
q
Not enough information for calculation.
n
Never trust this key.
m
Marginally trusted.
f
Fully trusted.
u
Ultimately trusted.
-card-edit
Present a menu to work with a smartcard. The subcommand "help"
provides an overview on available commands. For a detailed
description, please see the Card HOWTO at
http://www.gnupg.org/documentation/howtos.html#GnuPG-cardHOWTO .
-card-status
Show the content of the smart card.
-change-pin
Present a menu to allow changing the PIN of a smartcard. This
functionality is also available as the subcommand "passwd" with the
-card-edit command.
-sign-key `name'
Signs a public key with your secret key. This is a shortcut
version of the subcommand "sign" from -edit.
-lsign-key `name'
Signs a public key with your secret key but marks it as
non-exportable. This is a shortcut version of the subcommand
"lsign" from -edit.
-delete-key `name'
Remove key from the public keyring. In batch mode either -yes is
required or the key must be specified by fingerprint. This is a
safeguard against accidental deletion of multiple keys.
-delete-secret-key `name'
Remove key from the secret and public keyring. In batch mode the
key must be specified by fingerprint.
-delete-secret-and-public-key `name'
Same as -delete-key, but if a secret key exists, it will be removed
first. In batch mode the key must be specified by fingerprint.
-gen-revoke `name'
Generate a revocation certificate for the complete key. To revoke
a subkey or a signature, use the -edit command.
-desig-revoke `name'
Generate a designated revocation certificate for a key. This
allows a user (with the permission of the keyholder) to revoke
someone else's key.
-export
Either export all keys from all keyrings (default keyrings and
those registered via option -keyring), or if at least one name is
given, those of the given name. The new keyring is written to
stdout or to the file given with option "output". Use together
with -armor to mail those keys.
-send-keys
Same as -export but sends the keys to a keyserver. Option
-keyserver must be used to give the name of this keyserver. Don't
send your complete keyring to a keyserver - select only those keys
which are new or changed by you.
-export-secret-keys
-export-secret-subkeys
Same as -export, but exports the secret keys instead. This is
normally not very useful and a security risk. The second form of
the command has the special property to render the secret part of
the primary key useless; this is a GNU extension to OpenPGP and
other implementations can not be expected to successfully import
such a key. See the option -simple-sk-checksum if you want to
import such an exported key with an older OpenPGP implementation.
-import
-fast-import
Import/merge keys. This adds the given keys to the keyring. The
fast version is currently just a synonym.
There are a few other options which control how this command works.
Most notable here is the -keyserver-options merge-only option which
does not insert new keys but does only the merging of new
signatures, user-IDs and subkeys.
-recv-keys `key IDs'
Import the keys with the given key IDs from a keyserver. Option
-keyserver must be used to give the name of this keyserver.
-refresh-keys
Request updates from a keyserver for keys that already exist on the
local keyring. This is useful for updating a key with the latest
signatures, user IDs, etc. Calling this with no arguments will
refresh the entire keyring. Option -keyserver must be used to give
the name of the keyserver for all keys that do not have preferred
keyservers set (see -keyserver-options honor-keyserver-url).
-search-keys `names'
Search the keyserver for the given names. Multiple names given here
will be joined together to create the search string for the
keyserver. Option -keyserver must be used to give the name of
this keyserver. Keyservers that support different search methods
allow using the syntax specified in "How to specify a user ID"
below. Note that different keyserver types support different
search methods. Currently only LDAP supports them all.
-fetch-keys `URIs'
Retrieve keys located at the specified URIs. Note that different
installations of GnuPG may support different protocols (HTTP, FTP,
LDAP, etc.)
-update-trustdb
Do trust database maintenance. This command iterates over all keys
and builds the Web of Trust. This is an interactive command
because it may have to ask for the "ownertrust" values for keys.
The user has to give an estimation of how far she trusts the owner
of the displayed key to correctly certify (sign) other keys. GnuPG
only asks for the ownertrust value if it has not yet been assigned
to a key. Using the -edit-key menu, the assigned value can be
changed at any time.
-check-trustdb
Do trust database maintenance without user interaction. From time
to time the trust database must be updated so that expired keys or
signatures and the resulting changes in the Web of Trust can be
tracked. Normally, GnuPG will calculate when this is required and
do it automatically unless -no-auto-check-trustdb is set. This
command can be used to force a trust database check at any time.
The processing is identical to that of -update-trustdb but it
skips keys with a not yet defined "ownertrust".
For use with cron jobs, this command can be used together with
-batch in which case the trust database check is done only if a
check is needed. To force a run even in batch mode add the option
-yes.
-export-ownertrust
Send the ownertrust values to stdout. This is useful for backup
purposes as these values are the only ones which can't be
re-created from a corrupted trust DB.
-import-ownertrust
Update the trustdb with the ownertrust values stored in `files'
(or stdin if not given); existing values will be overwritten.
-rebuild-keydb-caches
When updating from version 1.0.6 to 1.0.7 this command should be
used to create signature caches in the keyring. It might be handy
in other situations too.
-print-md `algo'
-print-mds
Print message digest of algorithm ALGO for all given files or
stdin. With the second form (or a deprecated "*" as algo) digests
for all available algorithms are printed.
-gen-random `0|1|2'
Emit COUNT random bytes of the given quality level. If count is
not given or zero, an endless sequence of random bytes will be
emitted. PLEASE, don't use this command unless you know what you
are doing; it may remove precious entropy from the system!
-gen-prime `mode' `bits'
Use the source, Luke :-). The output format is still subject to
change.
-version
Print version information along with a list of supported
algorithms.
-warranty
Print warranty information.
-h, -help
Print usage information. This is a really long list even though it
doesn't list all options. For every option, consult this manual.
OPTIONS
*******
Long options can be put in an options file (default
"~/.gnupg/gpg.conf"). Short option names will not work - for example,
"armor" is a valid option for the options file, while "a" is not. Do
not write the 2 dashes, but simply the name of the option and any
required arguments. Lines with a hash ('#') as the first
non-white-space character are ignored. Commands may be put in this file
too, but that is not generally useful as the command will execute
automatically with every execution of gpg.
`gpg' recognizes these options:
-a, -armor
Create ASCII armored output.
-o, -output `file'
Write output to `file'.
-max-output `n'
This option sets a limit on the number of bytes that will be
generated when processing a file. Since OpenPGP supports various
levels of compression, it is possible that the plaintext of a
given message may be significantly larger than the original
OpenPGP message. While GnuPG works properly with such messages,
there is often a desire to set a maximum file size that will be
generated before processing is forced to stop by the OS limits.
Defaults to 0, which means "no limit".
-mangle-dos-filenames
-no-mangle-dos-filenames
Older version of Windows cannot handle filenames with more than one
dot. -mangle-dos-filenames causes GnuPG to replace (rather than add
to) the extension of an output filename to avoid this problem. This
option is off by default and has no effect on non-Windows
platforms.
-u, -local-user `name'
Use `name' as the key to sign with. Note that this option
overrides -default-key.
-default-key `name'
Use `name' as the default key to sign with. If this option is not
used, the default key is the first key found in the secret keyring.
Note that -u or -local-user overrides this option.
-r, -recipient `name'
Encrypt for user id `name'. If this option or -hidden-recipient is
not specified, GnuPG asks for the user-id unless
-default-recipient is given.
-R, -hidden-recipient `name'
Encrypt for user ID `name', but hide the key ID of this user's
key. This option helps to hide the receiver of the message and is a
limited countermeasure against traffic analysis. If this option or
-recipient is not specified, GnuPG asks for the user ID unless
-default-recipient is given.
-default-recipient `name'
Use `name' as default recipient if option -recipient is not used
and don't ask if this is a valid one. `name' must be non-empty.
-default-recipient-self
Use the default key as default recipient if option -recipient is
not used and don't ask if this is a valid one. The default key is
the first one from the secret keyring or the one set with
-default-key.
-no-default-recipient
Reset -default-recipient and -default-recipient-self.
-encrypt-to `name'
Same as -recipient but this one is intended for use in the options
file and may be used with your own user-id as an
"encrypt-to-self". These keys are only used when there are other
recipients given either by use of -recipient or by the asked user
id. No trust checking is performed for these user ids and even
disabled keys can be used.
-hidden-encrypt-to `name'
Same as -hidden-recipient but this one is intended for use in the
options file and may be used with your own user-id as a hidden
"encrypt-to-self". These keys are only used when there are other
recipients given either by use of -recipient or by the asked user
id. No trust checking is performed for these user ids and even
disabled keys can be used.
-no-encrypt-to
Disable the use of all -encrypt-to and -hidden-encrypt-to keys.
-v, -verbose
Give more information during processing. If used twice, the input
data is listed in detail.
-q, -quiet
Try to be as quiet as possible.
-z `n'
-compress-level `n'
-bzip2-compress-level `n'
Set compression level to `n' for the ZIP and ZLIB compression
algorithms. The default is to use the default compression level of
zlib (normally 6). -bzip2-compress-level sets the compression level
for the BZIP2 compression algorithm (defaulting to 6 as well). This
is a different option from -compress-level since BZIP2 uses a
significant amount of memory for each additional compression level.
-z sets both. A value of 0 for `n' disables compression.
-bzip2-decompress-lowmem
Use a different decompression method for BZIP2 compressed files.
This alternate method uses a bit more than half the memory, but
also runs at half the speed. This is useful under extreme low
memory circumstances when the file was originally compressed at a
high -bzip2-compress-level.
-t, -textmode
-no-textmode
Treat input files as text and store them in the OpenPGP canonical
text form with standard "CRLF" line endings. This also sets the
necessary flags to inform the recipient that the encrypted or
signed data is text and may need its line endings converted back
to whatever the local system uses. This option is useful when
communicating between two platforms that have different line
ending conventions (UNIX-like to Mac, Mac to Windows, etc).
-no-textmode disables this option, and is the default.
If -t (but not -textmode) is used together with armoring and
signing, this enables clearsigned messages. This kludge is needed
for command-line compatibility with command-line versions of PGP;
normally you would use -sign or -clearsign to select the type of
the signature.
-n, -dry-run
Don't make any changes (this is not completely implemented).
-i, -interactive
Prompt before overwriting any files.
-batch
-no-batch
Use batch mode. Never ask, do not allow interactive commands.
-no-batch disables this option.
-no-tty
Make sure that the TTY (terminal) is never used for any output.
This option is needed in some cases because GnuPG sometimes prints
warnings to the TTY if -batch is used.
-yes
Assume "yes" on most questions.
-no
Assume "no" on most questions.
-ask-cert-level
-no-ask-cert-level
When making a key signature, prompt for a certification level. If
this option is not specified, the certification level used is set
via -default-cert-level. See -default-cert-level for information
on the specific levels and how they are used. -no-ask-cert-level
disables this option. This option defaults to no.
-default-cert-level `n'
The default to use for the check level when signing a key.
0 means you make no particular claim as to how carefully you
verified the key.
1 means you believe the key is owned by the person who claims to
own it but you could not, or did not verify the key at all. This is
useful for a "persona" verification, where you sign the key of a
pseudonymous user.
2 means you did casual verification of the key. For example, this
could mean that you verified that the key fingerprint and checked
the user ID on the key against a photo ID.
3 means you did extensive verification of the key. For example,
this could mean that you verified the key fingerprint with the
owner of the key in person, and that you checked, by means of a
hard to forge document with a photo ID (such as a passport) that
the name of the key owner matches the name in the user ID on the
key, and finally that you verified (by exchange of email) that the
email address on the key belongs to the key owner.
Note that the examples given above for levels 2 and 3 are just
that: examples. In the end, it is up to you to decide just what
"casual" and "extensive" mean to you.
This option defaults to 0 (no particular claim).
-min-cert-level
When building the trust database, treat any signatures with a
certification level below this as invalid. Defaults to 2, which
disregards level 1 signatures. Note that level 0 "no particular
claim" signatures are always accepted.
-trusted-key `long key ID'
Assume that the specified key (which must be given as a full 8
byte key ID) is as trustworthy as one of your own secret keys.
This option is useful if you don't want to keep your secret keys
(or one of them) online but still want to be able to check the
validity of a given recipient's or signator's key.
-trust-model `pgp|classic|direct|always|auto'
Set what trust model GnuPG should follow. The models are:
pgp
This is the Web of Trust combined with trust signatures as
used in PGP 5.x and later. This is the default trust model
when creating a new trust database.
classic
This is the standard Web of Trust as used in PGP 2.x and
earlier.
direct
Key validity is set directly by the user and not calculated
via the Web of Trust.
always
Skip key validation and assume that used keys are always fully
trusted. You generally won't use this unless you are using
some external validation scheme. This option also suppresses
the "[uncertain]" tag printed with signature checks when
there is no evidence that the user ID is bound to the key.
auto
Select the trust model depending on whatever the internal
trust database says. This is the default model if such a
database already exists.
-always-trust
Identical to `-trust-model always'. This option is deprecated.
-auto-key-locate `parameters'
-no-auto-key-locate
GnuPG can automatically locate and retrieve keys as needed using
this option. This happens when encrypting to an email address (in
the "user@example.com" form), and there are no user@example.com
keys on the local keyring. This option takes any number of the
following arguments, in the order they are to be tried:
cert
locate a key using DNS CERT, as specified in 2538bis
(currently in draft): http://www.josefsson.org/rfc2538bis/
pka
locate a key using DNS PKA.
ldap
locate a key using the PGP Universal method of checking
"ldap://keys.(thedomain)".
keyserver
locate a key using whatever keyserver is defined using the
-keyserver option.
(keyserver URL)
In addition, a keyserver URL as used in the -keyserver option
may be used here to query that particular keyserver.
-keyid-format `short|0xshort|long|0xlong'
Select how to display key IDs. "short" is the traditional
8-character key ID. "long" is the more accurate (but less
convenient) 16-character key ID. Add an "0x" to either to include
an "0x" at the beginning of the key ID, as in 0x99242560.
-keyserver `name'
Use `name' as your keyserver. This is the server that -recv-keys,
-send-keys, and -search-keys will communicate with to receive keys
from, send keys to, and search for keys on. The format of the
`name' is a URI: `scheme:[//]keyservername[:port]' The scheme is
the type of keyserver: "hkp" for the HTTP (or compatible)
keyservers, "ldap" for the LDAP keyservers, or "mailto" for the
Graff email keyserver. Note that your particular installation of
GnuPG may have other keyserver types available as well. Keyserver
schemes are case-insensitive. After the keyserver name, optional
keyserver configuration options may be provided. These are the
same as the global -keyserver-options from below, but apply only
to this particular keyserver.
Most keyservers synchronize with each other, so there is generally
no need to send keys to more than one server. The keyserver
"hkp://subkeys.pgp.net" uses round robin DNS to give a different
keyserver each time you use it.
-keyserver-options `name=value1 '
This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
the keyserver. Options can be prepended with a `no-' to give the
opposite meaning. Valid import-options or export-options may be
used here as well to apply to importing (-recv-key) or exporting
(-send-key) a key from a keyserver. While not all options are
available for all keyserver types, some common options are:
include-revoked
When searching for a key with -search-keys, include keys that
are marked on the keyserver as revoked. Note that not all
keyservers differentiate between revoked and unrevoked keys,
and for such keyservers this option is meaningless. Note also
that most keyservers do not have cryptographic verification
of key revocations, and so turning this option off may result
in skipping keys that are incorrectly marked as revoked.
include-disabled
When searching for a key with -search-keys, include keys that
are marked on the keyserver as disabled. Note that this
option is not used with HKP keyservers.
auto-key-retrieve
This option enables the automatic retrieving of keys from a
keyserver when verifying signatures made by keys that are not
on the local keyring.
Note that this option makes a "web bug" like behavior
possible. Keyserver operators can see which keys you
request, so by sending you a message signed by a brand new
key (which you naturally will not have on your local
keyring), the operator can tell both your IP address and the
time when you verified the signature.
honor-keyserver-url
When using -refresh-keys, if the key in question has a
preferred keyserver URL, then use that preferred keyserver to
refresh the key from. In addition, if auto-key-retrieve is
set, and the signature being verified has a preferred
keyserver URL, then use that preferred keyserver to fetch the
key from. Defaults to yes.
honor-pka-record
If auto-key-retrieve is set, and the signature being verified
has a PKA record, then use the PKA information to fetch the
key. Defaults to yes.
include-subkeys
When receiving a key, include subkeys as potential targets.
Note that this option is not used with HKP keyservers, as
they do not support retrieving keys by subkey id.
use-temp-files
On most Unix-like platforms, GnuPG communicates with the
keyserver helper program via pipes, which is the most
efficient method. This option forces GnuPG to use temporary
files to communicate. On some platforms (such as Win32 and
RISC OS), this option is always enabled.
keep-temp-files
If using `use-temp-files', do not delete the temp files after
using them. This option is useful to learn the keyserver
communication protocol by reading the temporary files.
verbose
Tell the keyserver helper program to be more verbose. This
option can be repeated multiple times to increase the
verbosity level.
timeout
Tell the keyserver helper program how long (in seconds) to
try and perform a keyserver action before giving up. Note
that performing multiple actions at the same time uses this
timeout value per action. For example, when retrieving
multiple keys via -recv-keys, the timeout applies separately
to each key retrieval, and not to the -recv-keys command as a
whole. Defaults to 30 seconds.
http-proxy
For HTTP-like keyserver schemes that (such as HKP and HTTP
itself), try to access the keyserver over a proxy. If a
`value' is specified, use this as the HTTP proxy. If no
`value' is specified, the value of the environment variable
"http_proxy", if any, will be used.
max-cert-size
When retrieving a key via DNS CERT, only accept keys up to
this size. Defaults to 16384 bytes.
-import-options `parameters'
This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
importing keys. Options can be prepended with a `no-' to give the
opposite meaning. The options are:
import-local-sigs
Allow importing key signatures marked as "local". This is not
generally useful unless a shared keyring scheme is being used.
Defaults to no.
repair-pks-subkey-bug
During import, attempt to repair the damage caused by the PKS
keyserver bug (pre version 0.9.6) that mangles keys with
multiple subkeys. Note that this cannot completely repair the
damaged key as some crucial data is removed by the keyserver,
but it does at least give you back one subkey. Defaults to no
for regular -import and to yes for keyserver -recv-keys.
merge-only
During import, allow key updates to existing keys, but do not
allow any new keys to be imported. Defaults to no.
import-clean
After import, compact (remove all signatures except the
self-signature) any user IDs from the new key that are not
usable. Then, remove any signatures from the new key that
are not usable. This includes signatures that were issued by
keys that are not present on the keyring. This option is the
same as running the -edit-key command "clean" after import.
Defaults to no.
import-minimal
Import the smallest key possible. This removes all signatures
except the most recent self-signature on each user ID. This
option is the same as running the -edit-key command
"minimize" after import. Defaults to no.
-export-options `parameters'
This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options for
exporting keys. Options can be prepended with a `no-' to give the
opposite meaning. The options are:
export-local-sigs
Allow exporting key signatures marked as "local". This is not
generally useful unless a shared keyring scheme is being used.
Defaults to no.
export-attributes
Include attribute user IDs (photo IDs) while exporting. This
is useful to export keys if they are going to be used by an
OpenPGP program that does not accept attribute user IDs.
Defaults to yes.
export-sensitive-revkeys
Include designated revoker information that was marked as
"sensitive". Defaults to no.
export-reset-subkey-passwd
When using the "-export-secret-subkeys" command, this option
resets the passphrases for all exported subkeys to empty.
This is useful when the exported subkey is to be used on an
unattended machine where a passphrase doesn't necessarily
make sense. Defaults to no.
export-clean
Compact (remove all signatures from) user IDs on the key being
exported if the user IDs are not usable. Also, do not export
any signatures that are not usable. This includes signatures
that were issued by keys that are not present on the keyring.
This option is the same as running the -edit-key command
"clean" before export except that the local copy of the key
is not modified. Defaults to no.
export-minimal
Export the smallest key possible. This removes all signatures
except the most recent self-signature on each user ID. This
option is the same as running the -edit-key command
"minimize" before export except that the local copy of the
key is not modified. Defaults to no.
-list-options `parameters'
This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options used
when listing keys and signatures (that is, -list-keys, -list-sigs,
-list-public-keys, -list-secret-keys, and the -edit-key functions).
Options can be prepended with a `no-' to give the opposite meaning.
The options are:
show-photos
Causes -list-keys, -list-sigs, -list-public-keys, and
-list-secret-keys to display any photo IDs attached to the
key. Defaults to no. See also -photo-viewer.
show-policy-urls
Show policy URLs in the -list-sigs or -check-sigs listings.
Defaults to no.
show-notations
show-std-notations
show-user-notations
Show all, IETF standard, or user-defined signature notations
in the -list-sigs or -check-sigs listings. Defaults to no.
show-keyserver-urls
Show any preferred keyserver URL in the -list-sigs or
-check-sigs listings. Defaults to no.
show-uid-validity
Display the calculated validity of user IDs during key
listings. Defaults to no.
show-unusable-uids
Show revoked and expired user IDs in key listings. Defaults
to no.
show-unusable-subkeys
Show revoked and expired subkeys in key listings. Defaults to
no.
show-keyring
Display the keyring name at the head of key listings to show
which keyring a given key resides on. Defaults to no.
show-sig-expire
Show signature expiration dates (if any) during -list-sigs or
-check-sigs listings. Defaults to no.
show-sig-subpackets
Include signature subpackets in the key listing. This option
can take an optional argument list of the subpackets to list.
If no argument is passed, list all subpackets. Defaults to
no. This option is only meaningful when using -with-colons
along with -list-sigs or -check-sigs.
-verify-options `parameters'
This is a space or comma delimited string that gives options used
when verifying signatures. Options can be prepended with a `no-'
to give the opposite meaning. The options are:
show-photos
Display any photo IDs present on the key that issued the
signature. Defaults to no. See also -photo-viewer.
show-policy-urls
Show policy URLs in the signature being verified. Defaults to
no.
show-notations
show-std-notations
show-user-notations
Show all, IETF standard, or user-defined signature notations
in the signature being verified. Defaults to IETF standard.
show-keyserver-urls
Show any preferred keyserver URL in the signature being
verified. Defaults to no.
show-uid-validity
Display the calculated validity of the user IDs on the key
that issued the signature. Defaults to no.
show-unusable-uids
Show revoked and expired user IDs during signature
verification. Defaults to no.
pka-lookups
Enable PKA lookups to verify sender addresses. Note that PKA
is based on DNS, and so enabling this option may disclose
information on when and what signatures are verified or to
whom data is encrypted. This is similar to the "web bug"
described for the auto-key-retrieve feature.
pka-trust-increase
Raise the trust in a signature to full if the signature
passes PKA validation. This option is only meaningful if
pka-lookups is set.
-enable-dsa2
-disable-dsa2
Enables new-style DSA keys which (unlike the old style) may be
larger than 1024 bit and use hashes other than SHA-1 and
RIPEMD/160. Note that very few programs currently support these
keys and signatures from them.
-show-photos
-no-show-photos
Causes -list-keys, -list-sigs, -list-public-keys,
-list-secret-keys, and verifying a signature to also display the
photo ID attached to the key, if any. See also -photo-viewer. These
options are deprecated. Use `-list-options [no-]show-photos' and/or
`-verify-options [no-]show-photos' instead.
-photo-viewer `string'
This is the command line that should be run to view a photo ID.
"%i" will be expanded to a filename containing the photo. "%I"
does the same, except the file will not be deleted once the viewer
exits. Other flags are "%k" for the key ID, "%K" for the long key
ID, "%f" for the key fingerprint, "%t" for the extension of the
image type (e.g. "jpg"), "%T" for the MIME type of the image (e.g.
"image/jpeg"), and "%%" for an actual percent sign. If neither %i
or %I are present, then the photo will be supplied to the viewer
on standard input.
The default viewer is "xloadimage -fork -quiet -title 'KeyID 0x%k'
stdin". Note that if your image viewer program is not secure, then
executing it from GnuPG does not make it secure.
-exec-path `string'
Sets a list of directories to search for photo viewers and
keyserver helpers. If not provided, keyserver helpers use the
compiled-in default directory, and photo viewers use the $PATH
environment variable. Note, that on W32 system this value is
ignored when searching for keyserver helpers.
-show-keyring
Display the keyring name at the head of key listings to show which
keyring a given key resides on. This option is deprecated: use
`-list-options [no-]show-keyring' instead.
-keyring `file'
Add `file' to the current list of keyrings. If `file' begins with
a tilde and a slash, these are replaced by the $HOME directory. If
the filename does not contain a slash, it is assumed to be in the
GnuPG home directory ("~/.gnupg" if -homedir or $GNUPGHOME is not
used).
Note that this adds a keyring to the current list. If the intent is
to use the specified keyring alone, use -keyring along with
-no-default-keyring.
-secret-keyring `file'
Same as -keyring but for the secret keyrings.
-primary-keyring `file'
Designate `file' as the primary public keyring. This means that
newly imported keys (via -import or keyserver -recv-from) will go
to this keyring.
-trustdb-name `file'
Use `file' instead of the default trustdb. If `file' begins with a
tilde and a slash, these are replaced by the $HOME directory. If
the filename does not contain a slash, it is assumed to be in the
GnuPG home directory ("~/.gnupg" if -homedir or $GNUPGHOME is not
used).
-homedir `directory'
Set the name of the home directory to `directory' If this option
is not used it defaults to "~/.gnupg". It does not make sense to
use this in a options file. This also overrides the environment
variable $GNUPGHOME.
-pcsc-driver `file'
Use `file' to access the smartcard reader. The current default is
`libpcsclite.so.1' for GLIBC based systems,
`/System/Library/Frameworks/PCSC.framework/PCSC' for MAC OS X,
`winscard.dll' for Windows and `libpcsclite.so' for other systems.
-ctapi-driver `file'
Use `file' to access the smartcard reader. The current default is
`libtowitoko.so'. Note that the use of this interface is
deprecated; it may be removed in future releases.
-disable-ccid
Disable the integrated support for CCID compliant readers. This
allows to fall back to one of the other drivers even if the
internal CCID driver can handle the reader. Note, that CCID
support is only available if libusb was available at build time.
-reader-port `number_or_string'
This option may be used to specify the port of the card terminal. A
value of 0 refers to the first serial device; add 32768 to access
USB devices. The default is 32768 (first USB device). PC/SC or CCID
readers might need a string here; run the program in verbose mode
to get a list of available readers. The default is then the first
reader found.
-display-charset `name'
Set the name of the native character set. This is used to convert
some informational strings like user IDs to the proper UTF-8
encoding. Note that this has nothing to do with the character set
of data to be encrypted or signed; GnuPG does not recode user
supplied data. If this option is not used, the default character
set is determined from the current locale. A verbosity level of 3
shows the chosen set. Valid values for `name' are:
iso-8859-1
This is the Latin 1 set.
iso-8859-2
The Latin 2 set.
iso-8859-15
This is currently an alias for the Latin 1 set.
koi8-r
The usual Russian set (rfc1489).
utf-8
Bypass all translations and assume that the OS uses native
UTF-8 encoding.
-utf8-strings
-no-utf8-strings
Assume that command line arguments are given as UTF8 strings. The
default (-no-utf8-strings) is to assume that arguments are encoded
in the character set as specified by -display-charset. These
options affect all following arguments. Both options may be used
multiple times.
-options `file'
Read options from `file' and do not try to read them from the
default options file in the homedir (see -homedir). This option is
ignored if used in an options file.
-no-options
Shortcut for "-options /dev/null". This option is detected before
an attempt to open an option file. Using this option will also
prevent the creation of a "~./gnupg" homedir.
-load-extension `name'
Load an extension module. If `name' does not contain a slash it is
searched for in the directory configured when GnuPG was built
(generally "/usr/local/lib/gnupg"). Extensions are not generally
useful anymore, and the use of this option is deprecated.
-debug `flags'
Set debugging flags. All flags are or-ed and `flags' may be given
in C syntax (e.g. 0x0042).
-debug-all
Set all useful debugging flags.
-debug-ccid-driver
Enable debug output from the included CCID driver for smartcards.
Note that this option is only available on some system.
-enable-progress-filter
Enable certain PROGRESS status outputs. This option allows
frontends to display a progress indicator while gpg is processing
larger files. There is a slight performance overhead using it.
-status-fd `n'
Write special status strings to the file descriptor `n'. See the
file DETAILS in the documentation for a listing of them.
-status-file `file'
Same as -status-fd, except the status data is written to file
`file'.
-logger-fd `n'
Write log output to file descriptor `n' and not to stderr.
-logger-file `file'
Same as -logger-fd, except the logger data is written to file
`file'.
-attribute-fd `n'
Write attribute subpackets to the file descriptor `n'. This is
most useful for use with -status-fd, since the status messages are
needed to separate out the various subpackets from the stream
delivered to the file descriptor.
-attribute-file `file'
Same as -attribute-fd, except the attribute data is written to file
`file'.
-comment `string'
-no-comments
Use `string' as a comment string in clear text signatures and
ASCII armored messages or keys (see -armor). The default behavior
is not to use a comment string. -comment may be repeated multiple
times to get multiple comment strings. -no-comments removes all
comments. It is a good idea to keep the length of a single
comment below 60 characters to avoid problems with mail programs
wrapping such lines. Note that comment lines, like all other
header lines, are not protected by the signature.
-emit-version
-no-emit-version
Force inclusion of the version string in ASCII armored output.
-no-emit-version disables this option.
-sig-notation `name=value'
-cert-notation `name=value'
-N, -set-notation `name=value'
Put the name value pair into the signature as notation data.
`name' must consist only of printable characters or spaces, and
must contain a '@' character in the form keyname@domain.example.com
(substituting the appropriate keyname and domain name, of course).
This is to help prevent pollution of the IETF reserved notation
namespace. The -expert flag overrides the '@' check. `value' may
be any printable string; it will be encoded in UTF8, so you should
check that your -display-charset is set correctly. If you prefix
`name' with an exclamation mark (!), the notation data will be
flagged as critical (rfc2440:5.2.3.15). -sig-notation sets a
notation for data signatures. -cert-notation sets a notation for
key signatures (certifications). -set-notation sets both.
There are special codes that may be used in notation names. "%k"
will be expanded into the key ID of the key being signed, "%K"
into the long key ID of the key being signed, "%f" into the
fingerprint of the key being signed, "%s" into the key ID of the
key making the signature, "%S" into the long key ID of the key
making the signature, "%g" into the fingerprint of the key making
the signature (which might be a subkey), "%p" into the fingerprint
of the primary key of the key making the signature, "%c" into the
signature count from the OpenPGP smartcard, and "%%" results in a
single "%". %k, %K, and %f are only meaningful when making a key
signature (certification), and %c is only meaningful when using
the OpenPGP smartcard.
-show-notation
-no-show-notation
Show signature notations in the -list-sigs or -check-sigs listings
as well as when verifying a signature with a notation in it. These
options are deprecated. Use `-list-options [no-]show-notation'
and/or `-verify-options [no-]show-notation' instead.
-sig-policy-url `string'
-cert-policy-url `string'
-set-policy-url `string'
Use `string' as a Policy URL for signatures (rfc2440:5.2.3.19).
If you prefix it with an exclamation mark (!), the policy URL
packet will be flagged as critical. -sig-policy-url sets a policy
url for data signatures. -cert-policy-url sets a policy url for key
signatures (certifications). -set-policy-url sets both.
The same %-expandos used for notation data are available here as
well.
-show-policy-url
-no-show-policy-url
Show policy URLs in the -list-sigs or -check-sigs listings as well
as when verifying a signature with a policy URL in it. These
options are deprecated. Use `-list-options [no-]show-policy-url'
and/or `-verify-options [no-]show-policy-url' instead.
-sig-keyserver-url `string'
Use `string' as a preferred keyserver URL for data signatures. If
you prefix it with an exclamation mark, the keyserver URL packet
will be flagged as critical.
The same %-expandos used for notation data are available here as
well.
-set-filename `string'
Use `string' as the filename which is stored inside messages.
This overrides the default, which is to use the actual filename of
the file being encrypted.
-for-your-eyes-only
-no-for-your-eyes-only
Set the `for your eyes only' flag in the message. This causes GnuPG
to refuse to save the file unless the -output option is given, and
PGP to use the "secure viewer" with a Tempest-resistant font to
display the message. This option overrides -set-filename.
-no-for-your-eyes-only disables this option.
-use-embedded-filename
-no-use-embedded-filename
Try to create a file with a name as embedded in the data. This can
be a dangerous option as it allows to overwrite files. Defaults to
no.
-completes-needed `n'
Number of completely trusted users to introduce a new key signer
(defaults to 1).
-marginals-needed `n'
Number of marginally trusted users to introduce a new key signer
(defaults to 3)
-max-cert-depth `n'
Maximum depth of a certification chain (default is 5).
-cipher-algo `name'
Use `name' as cipher algorithm. Running the program with the
command -version yields a list of supported algorithms. If this is
not used the cipher algorithm is selected from the preferences
stored with the key. In general, you do not want to use this
option as it allows you to violate the OpenPGP standard.
-personal-cipher-preferences is the safe way to accomplish the same
thing.
-digest-algo `name'
Use `name' as the message digest algorithm. Running the program
with the command -version yields a list of supported algorithms. In
general, you do not want to use this option as it allows you to
violate the OpenPGP standard. -personal-digest-preferences is the
safe way to accomplish the same thing.
-compress-algo `name'
Use compression algorithm `name'. "zlib" is RFC-1950 ZLIB
compression. "zip" is RFC-1951 ZIP compression which is used by
PGP. "bzip2" is a more modern compression scheme that can
compress some things better than zip or zlib, but at the cost of
more memory used during compression and decompression.
"uncompressed" or "none" disables compression. If this option is
not used, the default behavior is to examine the recipient key
preferences to see which algorithms the recipient supports. If all
else fails, ZIP is used for maximum compatibility.
ZLIB may give better compression results than ZIP, as the
compression window size is not limited to 8k. BZIP2 may give even
better compression results than that, but will use a significantly
larger amount of memory while compressing and decompressing. This
may be significant in low memory situations. Note, however, that
PGP (all versions) only supports ZIP compression. Using any
algorithm other than ZIP or "none" will make the message
unreadable with PGP. In general, you do not want to use this
option as it allows you to violate the OpenPGP standard.
-personal-compress-preferences is the safe way to accomplish the
same thing.
-cert-digest-algo `name'
Use `name' as the message digest algorithm used when signing a
key. Running the program with the command -version yields a list of
supported algorithms. Be aware that if you choose an algorithm that
GnuPG supports but other OpenPGP implementations do not, then some
users will not be able to use the key signatures you make, or quite
possibly your entire key.
-s2k-cipher-algo `name'
Use `name' as the cipher algorithm used to protect secret keys.
The default cipher is CAST5. This cipher is also used for
conventional encryption if -personal-cipher-preferences and
-cipher-algo is not given.
-s2k-digest-algo `name'
Use `name' as the digest algorithm used to mangle the passphrases.
The default algorithm is SHA-1.
-s2k-mode `n'
Selects how passphrases are mangled. If `n' is 0 a plain
passphrase (which is not recommended) will be used, a 1 adds a
salt to the passphrase and a 3 (the default) iterates the whole
process a couple of times. Unless -rfc1991 is used, this mode is
also used for conventional encryption.
-simple-sk-checksum
Secret keys are integrity protected by using a SHA-1 checksum. This
method is part of the upcoming enhanced OpenPGP specification but
GnuPG already uses it as a countermeasure against certain attacks.
Old applications don't understand this new format, so this option
may be used to switch back to the old behaviour. Using this option
bears a security risk. Note that using this option only takes
effect when the secret key is encrypted - the simplest way to make
this happen is to change the passphrase on the key (even changing
it to the same value is acceptable).
-disable-cipher-algo `name'
Never allow the use of `name' as cipher algorithm. The given name
will not be checked so that a later loaded algorithm will still
get disabled.
-disable-pubkey-algo `name'
Never allow the use of `name' as public key algorithm. The given
name will not be checked so that a later loaded algorithm will
still get disabled.
-no-sig-cache
Do not cache the verification status of key signatures. Caching
gives a much better performance in key listings. However, if you
suspect that your public keyring is not save against write
modifications, you can use this option to disable the caching. It
probably does not make sense to disable it because all kind of
damage can be done if someone else has write access to your public
keyring.
-no-sig-create-check
GnuPG normally verifies each signature right after creation to
protect against bugs and hardware malfunctions which could leak
out bits from the secret key. This extra verification needs some
time (about 115% for DSA keys), and so this option can be used to
disable it. However, due to the fact that the signature creation
needs manual interaction, this performance penalty does not matter
in most settings.
-auto-check-trustdb
-no-auto-check-trustdb
If GnuPG feels that its information about the Web of Trust has to
be updated, it automatically runs the -check-trustdb command
internally. This may be a time consuming process.
-no-auto-check-trustdb disables this option.
-throw-keyids
-no-throw-keyids
Do not put the recipient key IDs into encrypted messages. This
helps to hide the receivers of the message and is a limited
countermeasure against traffic analysis. On the receiving side, it
may slow down the decryption process because all available secret
keys must be tried. -no-throw-keyids disables this option. This
option is essentially the same as using -hidden-recipient for all
recipients.
-not-dash-escaped
This option changes the behavior of cleartext signatures so that
they can be used for patch files. You should not send such an
armored file via email because all spaces and line endings are
hashed too. You can not use this option for data which has 5
dashes at the beginning of a line, patch files don't have this. A
special armor header line tells GnuPG about this cleartext
signature option.
-escape-from-lines
-no-escape-from-lines
Because some mailers change lines starting with "From " to ">From
" it is good to handle such lines in a special way when creating
cleartext signatures to prevent the mail system from breaking the
signature. Note that all other PGP versions do it this way too.
Enabled by default. -no-escape-from-lines disables this option.
-passphrase-fd `n'
Read the passphrase from file descriptor `n'. Only the first line
will be read from file descriptor `n'. If you use 0 for `n', the
passphrase will be read from stdin. This can only be used if only
one passphrase is supplied.
-passphrase-file `file'
Read the passphrase from file `file'. Only the first line will be
read from file `file'. This can only be used if only one
passphrase is supplied. Obviously, a passphrase stored in a file is
of questionable security if other users can read this file. Don't
use this option if you can avoid it.
-passphrase `string'
Use `string' as the passphrase. This can only be used if only one
passphrase is supplied. Obviously, this is of very questionable
security on a multi-user system. Don't use this option if you can
avoid it.
-command-fd `n'
This is a replacement for the deprecated shared-memory IPC mode.
If this option is enabled, user input on questions is not expected
from the TTY but from the given file descriptor. It should be used
together with -status-fd. See the file doc/DETAILS in the source
distribution for details on how to use it.
-command-file `file'
Same as -command-fd, except the commands are read out of file
`file'
-use-agent
-no-use-agent
Try to use the GnuPG-Agent. Please note that this agent is still
under development. With this option, GnuPG first tries to connect
to the agent before it asks for a passphrase. -no-use-agent
disables this option.
-gpg-agent-info
Override the value of the environment variable `GPG_AGENT_INFO'.
This is only used when -use-agent has been given
Compliance options
These options control what GnuPG is compliant to. Only one of these
options may be active at a time. Note that the default setting of
this is nearly always the correct one. See the INTEROPERABILITY
WITH OTHER OPENPGP PROGRAMS section below before using one of these
options.
-gnupg
Use standard GnuPG behavior. This is essentially OpenPGP
behavior (see -openpgp), but with some additional workarounds
for common compatibility problems in different versions of
PGP. This is the default option, so it is not generally
needed, but it may be useful to override a different
compliance option in the gpg.conf file.
-openpgp
Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict OpenPGP
behavior. Use this option to reset all previous options like
-rfc1991, -force-v3-sigs, -s2k-*, -cipher-algo, -digest-algo
and -compress-algo to OpenPGP compliant values. All PGP
workarounds are disabled.
-rfc2440
Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict RFC-2440
behavior. Note that this is currently the same thing as
-openpgp.
-rfc1991
Try to be more RFC-1991 (PGP 2.x) compliant.
-pgp2
Set up all options to be as PGP 2.x compliant as possible,
and warn if an action is taken (e.g. encrypting to a non-RSA
key) that will create a message that PGP 2.x will not be able
to handle. Note that `PGP 2.x' here means `MIT PGP 2.6.2'.
There are other versions of PGP 2.x available, but the MIT
release is a good common baseline.
This option implies `-rfc1991 -disable-mdc -no-force-v4-certs
-no-sk-comment -escape-from-lines -force-v3-sigs
-no-ask-sig-expire -no-ask-cert-expire -cipher-algo IDEA
-digest-algo MD5 -compress-algo 1'. It also disables -textmode
when encrypting.
-pgp6
Set up all options to be as PGP 6 compliant as possible. This
restricts you to the ciphers IDEA (if the IDEA plugin is
installed), 3DES, and CAST5, the hashes MD5, SHA1 and
RIPEMD160, and the compression algorithms none and ZIP. This
also disables -throw-keyids, and making signatures with
signing subkeys as PGP 6 does not understand signatures made
by signing subkeys.
This option implies `-disable-mdc -no-sk-comment
-escape-from-lines -force-v3-sigs -no-ask-sig-expire'
-pgp7
Set up all options to be as PGP 7 compliant as possible. This
is identical to -pgp6 except that MDCs are not disabled, and
the list of allowable ciphers is expanded to add AES128,
AES192, AES256, and TWOFISH.
-pgp8
Set up all options to be as PGP 8 compliant as possible. PGP
8 is a lot closer to the OpenPGP standard than previous
versions of PGP, so all this does is disable -throw-keyids
and set -escape-from-lines. All algorithms are allowed
except for the SHA224, SHA384, and SHA512 digests.
-force-v3-sigs
-no-force-v3-sigs
OpenPGP states that an implementation should generate v4 signatures
but PGP versions 5 through 7 only recognize v4 signatures on key
material. This option forces v3 signatures for signatures on data.
Note that this option overrides -ask-sig-expire, as v3 signatures
cannot have expiration dates. -no-force-v3-sigs disables this
option.
-force-v4-certs
-no-force-v4-certs
Always use v4 key signatures even on v3 keys. This option also
changes the default hash algorithm for v3 RSA keys from MD5 to
SHA-1. -no-force-v4-certs disables this option.
-force-mdc
Force the use of encryption with a modification detection code.
This is always used with the newer ciphers (those with a blocksize
greater than 64 bits), or if all of the recipient keys indicate
MDC support in their feature flags.
-disable-mdc
Disable the use of the modification detection code. Note that by
using this option, the encrypted message becomes vulnerable to a
message modification attack.
-allow-non-selfsigned-uid
-no-allow-non-selfsigned-uid
Allow the import and use of keys with user IDs which are not
self-signed. This is not recommended, as a non self-signed user ID
is trivial to forge. -no-allow-non-selfsigned-uid disables.
-allow-freeform-uid
Disable all checks on the form of the user ID while generating a
new one. This option should only be used in very special
environments as it does not ensure the de-facto standard format of
user IDs.
-ignore-time-conflict
GnuPG normally checks that the timestamps associated with keys and
signatures have plausible values. However, sometimes a signature
seems to be older than the key due to clock problems. This option
makes these checks just a warning. See also -ignore-valid-from for
timestamp issues on subkeys.
-ignore-valid-from
GnuPG normally does not select and use subkeys created in the
future. This option allows the use of such keys and thus exhibits
the pre-1.0.7 behaviour. You should not use this option unless you
there is some clock problem. See also -ignore-time-conflict for
timestamp issues with signatures.
-ignore-crc-error
The ASCII armor used by OpenPGP is protected by a CRC checksum
against transmission errors. Occasionally the CRC gets mangled
somewhere on the transmission channel but the actual content
(which is protected by the OpenPGP protocol anyway) is still okay.
This option allows GnuPG to ignore CRC errors.
-ignore-mdc-error
This option changes a MDC integrity protection failure into a
warning. This can be useful if a message is partially corrupt,
but it is necessary to get as much data as possible out of the
corrupt message. However, be aware that a MDC protection failure
may also mean that the message was tampered with intentionally by
an attacker.
-lock-once
Lock the databases the first time a lock is requested and do not
release the lock until the process terminates.
-lock-multiple
Release the locks every time a lock is no longer needed. Use this
to override a previous -lock-once from a config file.
-lock-never
Disable locking entirely. This option should be used only in very
special environments, where it can be assured that only one process
is accessing those files. A bootable floppy with a stand-alone
encryption system will probably use this. Improper usage of this
option may lead to data and key corruption.
-exit-on-status-write-error
This option will cause write errors on the status FD to immediately
terminate the process. That should in fact be the default but it
never worked this way and thus we need an option to enable this, so
that the change won't break applications which close their end of a
status fd connected pipe too early. Using this option along with
-enable-progress-filter may be used to cleanly cancel long running
gpg operations.
-limit-card-insert-tries `n'
With `n' greater than 0 the number of prompts asking to insert a
smartcard gets limited to N-1. Thus with a value of 1 gpg won't at
all ask to insert a card if none has been inserted at startup. This
option is useful in the configuration file in case an application
does not know about the smartcard support and waits ad infinitum
for an inserted card.
-no-random-seed-file
GnuPG uses a file to store its internal random pool over
invocations. This makes random generation faster; however
sometimes write operations are not desired. This option can be
used to achieve that with the cost of slower random generation.
-no-verbose
Reset verbose level to 0.
-no-greeting
Suppress the initial copyright message.
-no-secmem-warning
Suppress the warning about "using insecure memory".
-no-permission-warning
Suppress the warning about unsafe file and home directory
(-homedir) permissions. Note that the permission checks that GnuPG
performs are not intended to be authoritative, but rather they
simply warn about certain common permission problems. Do not
assume that the lack of a warning means that your system is secure.
Note that the warning for unsafe -homedir permissions cannot be
suppressed in the gpg.conf file, as this would allow an attacker to
place an unsafe gpg.conf file in place, and use this file to
suppress warnings about itself. The -homedir permissions warning
may only be suppressed on the command line.
-no-mdc-warning
Suppress the warning about missing MDC integrity protection.
-require-secmem
-no-require-secmem
Refuse to run if GnuPG cannot get secure memory. Defaults to no
(i.e. run, but give a warning).
-no-armor
Assume the input data is not in ASCII armored format.
-no-default-keyring
Do not add the default keyrings to the list of keyrings. Note that
GnuPG will not operate without any keyrings, so if you use this
option and do not provide alternate keyrings via -keyring or
-secret-keyring, then GnuPG will still use the default public or
secret keyrings.
-skip-verify
Skip the signature verification step. This may be used to make the
decryption faster if the signature verification is not needed.
-with-colons
Print key listings delimited by colons. Note that the output will
be encoded in UTF-8 regardless of any -display-charset setting.
This format is useful when GnuPG is called from scripts and other
programs as it is easily machine parsed. The details of this
format are documented in the file doc/DETAILS, which is included
in the GnuPG source distribution.
-with-key-data
Print key listings delimited by colons (like -with-colons) and
print the public key data.
-with-fingerprint
Same as the command -fingerprint but changes only the format of
the output and may be used together with another command.
-fast-list-mode
Changes the output of the list commands to work faster; this is
achieved by leaving some parts empty. Some applications don't need
the user ID and the trust information given in the listings. By
using this options they can get a faster listing. The exact
behaviour of this option may change in future versions.
-fixed-list-mode
Do not merge primary user ID and primary key in -with-colon listing
mode and print all timestamps as seconds since 1970-01-01.
-list-only
Changes the behaviour of some commands. This is like -dry-run but
different in some cases. The semantic of this command may be
extended in the future. Currently it only skips the actual
decryption pass and therefore enables a fast listing of the
encryption keys.
-no-literal
This is not for normal use. Use the source to see for what it
might be useful.
-set-filesize
This is not for normal use. Use the source to see for what it
might be useful.
-show-session-key
Display the session key used for one message. See
-override-session-key for the counterpart of this option.
We think that Key Escrow is a Bad Thing; however the user should
have the freedom to decide whether to go to prison or to reveal
the content of one specific message without compromising all
messages ever encrypted for one secret key. DON'T USE IT UNLESS
YOU ARE REALLY FORCED TO DO SO.
-override-session-key `string'
Don't use the public key but the session key `string'. The format
of this string is the same as the one printed by
-show-session-key. This option is normally not used but comes
handy in case someone forces you to reveal the content of an
encrypted message; using this option you can do this without
handing out the secret key.
-require-cross-certification
-no-require-certification
When verifying a signature made from a subkey, ensure that the
cross certification "back signature" on the subkey is present and
valid. This protects against a subtle attack against subkeys that
can sign. Currently defaults to -no-require-cross-certification,
but will be changed to -require-cross-certification in the future.
-ask-sig-expire
-no-ask-sig-expire
When making a data signature, prompt for an expiration time. If
this option is not specified, the expiration time set via
-default-sig-expire is used. -no-ask-sig-expire disables this
option. Note that by default, -force-v3-sigs is set which also
disables this option. If you want signature expiration, you must
set -no-force-v3-sigs as well as turning -ask-sig-expire on.
-default-sig-expire
The default expiration time to use for signature expiration. Valid
values are "0" for no expiration, a number followed by the letter d
(for days), w (for weeks), m (for months), or y (for years) (for
example "2m" for two months, or "5y" for five years), or an
absolute date in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to "0".
-ask-cert-expire
-no-ask-cert-expire
When making a key signature, prompt for an expiration time. If this
option is not specified, the expiration time set via
-default-cert-expire is used. -no-ask-cert-expire disables this
option.
-default-cert-expire
The default expiration time to use for key signature expiration.
Valid values are "0" for no expiration, a number followed by the
letter d (for days), w (for weeks), m (for months), or y (for
years) (for example "2m" for two months, or "5y" for five years),
or an absolute date in the form YYYY-MM-DD. Defaults to "0".
-expert
-no-expert
Allow the user to do certain nonsensical or "silly" things like
signing an expired or revoked key, or certain potentially
incompatible things like generating unusual key types. This also
disables certain warning messages about potentially incompatible
actions. As the name implies, this option is for experts only. If
you don't fully understand the implications of what it allows you
to do, leave this off. -no-expert disables this option.
-allow-secret-key-import
This is an obsolete option and is not used anywhere.
-try-all-secrets
Don't look at the key ID as stored in the message but try all
secret keys in turn to find the right decryption key. This option
forces the behaviour as used by anonymous recipients (created by
using -throw-keyids) and might come handy in case where an
encrypted message contains a bogus key ID.
-allow-multisig-verification
Allow verification of concatenated signed messages. This will run a
signature verification for each data+signature block. There are
some security issues with this option and thus it is off by
default. Note that versions of GPG prior to version 1.4.3
implicitly allowed this.
-enable-special-filenames
This options enables a mode in which filenames of the form `-&n',
where n is a non-negative decimal number, refer to the file
descriptor n and not to a file with that name.
-no-expensive-trust-checks
Experimental use only.
-group `name=value1 '
Sets up a named group, which is similar to aliases in email
programs. Any time the group name is a recipient (-r or
-recipient), it will be expanded to the values specified. Multiple
groups with the same name are automatically merged into a single
group.
The values are `key IDs' or fingerprints, but any key description
is accepted. Note that a value with spaces in it will be treated as
two different values. Note also there is only one level of
expansion - you cannot make an group that points to another group.
When used from the command line, it may be necessary to quote the
argument to this option to prevent the shell from treating it as
multiple arguments.
-ungroup `name'
Remove a given entry from the -group list.
-no-groups
Remove all entries from the -group list.
-preserve-permissions
Don't change the permissions of a secret keyring back to user
read/write only. Use this option only if you really know what you
are doing.
-personal-cipher-preferences `string'
Set the list of personal cipher preferences to `string', this list
should be a string similar to the one printed by the command
"pref" in the edit menu. This allows the user to factor in their
own preferred algorithms when algorithms are chosen via recipient
key preferences. The most highly ranked cipher in this list is
also used for the -symmetric encryption command.
-personal-digest-preferences `string'
Set the list of personal digest preferences to `string', this list
should be a string similar to the one printed by the command
"pref" in the edit menu. This allows the user to factor in their
own preferred algorithms when algorithms are chosen via recipient
key preferences. The most highly ranked digest algorithm in this
list is algo used when signing without encryption (e.g. -clearsign
or -sign). The default value is SHA-1.
-personal-compress-preferences `string'
Set the list of personal compression preferences to `string', this
list should be a string similar to the one printed by the command
"pref" in the edit menu. This allows the user to factor in their
own preferred algorithms when algorithms are chosen via recipient
key preferences. The most highly ranked algorithm in this list is
also used when there are no recipient keys to consider (e.g.
-symmetric).
-default-preference-list `string'
Set the list of default preferences to `string'. This preference
list is used for new keys and becomes the default for "setpref" in
the edit menu.
-default-keyserver-url `name'
Set the default keyserver URL to `name'. This keyserver will be
used as the keyserver URL when writing a new self-signature on a
key, which includes key generation and changing preferences.
-list-config
Display various internal configuration parameters of GnuPG. This
option is intended for external programs that call GnuPG to perform
tasks, and is thus not generally useful. See the file
`doc/DETAILS' in the source distribution for the details of which
configuration items may be listed. -list-config is only usable
with -with-colons set.
How to specify a user ID
************************
There are different ways to specify a user ID to GnuPG; here are some
examples:
234567C4
0F34E556E
01347A56A
0xAB123456
Here the key ID is given in the usual short form.
234AABBCC34567C4
0F323456784E56EAB
01AB3FED1347A5612
0x234AABBCC34567C4
Here the key ID is given in the long form as used by OpenPGP (you
can get the long key ID using the option -with-colons).
1234343434343434C434343434343434
123434343434343C3434343434343734349A3434
0E12343434343434343434EAB3484343434343434
0xE12343434343434343434EAB3484343434343434
The best way to specify a key ID is by using the fingerprint of
the key. This avoids any ambiguities in case that there are
duplicated key IDs (which are really rare for the long key IDs).
=Heinrich Heine <heinrichh@uni-duesseldorf.de>
Using an exact to match string. The equal sign indicates this.
<heinrichh@uni-duesseldorf.de>
Using the email address part which must match exactly. The left
angle bracket indicates this email address mode.
@heinrichh
Match within the <email.address> part of a user ID. The at sign
indicates this email address mode.
Heine
*Heine
By case insensitive substring matching. This is the default mode
but applications may want to explicitly indicate this by putting
the asterisk in front.
Note that you can append an exclamation mark (!) to key IDs or
fingerprints. This flag tells GnuPG to use the specified primary or
secondary key and not to try and calculate which primary or secondary
key to use.
RETURN VALUE
************
The program returns 0 if everything was fine, 1 if at least a signature
was bad, and other error codes for fatal errors.
EXAMPLES
********
gpg -se -r `Bob' `file'
sign and encrypt for user Bob
gpg -clearsign `file'
make a clear text signature
gpg -sb `file'
make a detached signature
gpg -list-keys `user_ID'
show keys
gpg -fingerprint `user_ID'
show fingerprint
gpg -verify `pgpfile'
gpg -verify `sigfile'
Verify the signature of the file but do not output the data. The
second form is used for detached signatures, where `sigfile' is
the detached signature (either ASCII armored or binary) and are
the signed data; if this is not given, the name of the file
holding the signed data is constructed by cutting off the
extension (".asc" or ".sig") of `sigfile' or by asking the user
for the filename.
ENVIRONMENT
***********
HOME
Used to locate the default home directory.
GNUPGHOME
If set directory used instead of "~/.gnupg".
GPG_AGENT_INFO
Used to locate the gpg-agent; only honored when -use-agent is set.
The value consists of 3 colon delimited fields: The first is the
path to the Unix Domain Socket, the second the PID of the
gpg-agent and the protocol version which should be set to 1. When
starting the gpg-agent as described in its documentation, this
variable is set to the correct value. The option -gpg-agent-info
can be used to override it.
COLUMNS
LINES
Used to size some displays to the full size of the screen.
FILES
*****
~/.gnupg/secring.gpg
The secret keyring
~/.gnupg/secring.gpg.lock
and the lock file
~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg
The public keyring
~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg.lock
and the lock file
~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg
The trust database
~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg.lock
and the lock file
~/.gnupg/random_seed
used to preserve the internal random pool
~/.gnupg/gpg.conf
Default configuration file
~/.gnupg/options
Old style configuration file; only used when gpg.conf is not found
/usr[/local]/share/gnupg/options.skel
Skeleton options file
/usr[/local]/lib/gnupg/
Default location for extensions
WARNINGS
********
Use a *good* password for your user account and a *good* passphrase to
protect your secret key. This passphrase is the weakest part of the
whole system. Programs to do dictionary attacks on your secret keyring
are very easy to write and so you should protect your "~/.gnupg/"
directory very well.
Keep in mind that, if this program is used over a network (telnet),
it is *very* easy to spy out your passphrase!
If you are going to verify detached signatures, make sure that the
program knows about it; either give both filenames on the command line
or use `-' to specify stdin.
INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER OPENPGP PROGRAMS
********************************************
GnuPG tries to be a very flexible implementation of the OpenPGP
standard. In particular, GnuPG implements many of the optional parts of
the standard, such as the SHA-512 hash, and the ZLIB and BZIP2
compression algorithms. It is important to be aware that not all
OpenPGP programs implement these optional algorithms and that by
forcing their use via the -cipher-algo, -digest-algo,
-cert-digest-algo, or -compress-algo options in GnuPG, it is possible
to create a perfectly valid OpenPGP message, but one that cannot be
read by the intended recipient.
There are dozens of variations of OpenPGP programs available, and
each supports a slightly different subset of these optional algorithms.
For example, until recently, no (unhacked) version of PGP supported the
BLOWFISH cipher algorithm. A message using BLOWFISH simply could not be
read by a PGP user. By default, GnuPG uses the standard OpenPGP
preferences system that will always do the right thing and create
messages that are usable by all recipients, regardless of which OpenPGP
program they use. Only override this safe default if you really know
what you are doing.
If you absolutely must override the safe default, or if the
preferences on a given key are invalid for some reason, you are far
better off using the -pgp6, -pgp7, or -pgp8 options. These options are
safe as they do not force any particular algorithms in violation of
OpenPGP, but rather reduce the available algorithms to a "PGP-safe"
list.
BUGS
****
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 memory pages (which may contain
passphrases or other sensitive material) to disk. 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.
Info Catalog
(dir) Top
automatically generated by
info2html