GPG

GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) is an open-source software project implementing the OpenPGP protocol. The primary entry point is the userland gpg(1) tool.

Installation

Essentially all Linux or BSD distributions will include gpg in the base system.

Configuration

The various component programs of GPG look for configuration files in ~/.gnupg or, if set, in $GNUPGHOME.

GPG Agent

gpg-agent(1) manages keys for the user. It is configured with $GNUPGHOME/gpg-agent.conf.

For example, the program that prompts a user for a password is configured with:

pinentry-program /var/bin/pinentry-tty

On a headless system, this is often set to /var/bin/pinentry-ncurses instead.

To force reload gpg-agent(1), try gpg-connect-agent reloadagent /bye.

Usage

Export Keys

To export a private or public key, try:

gpg --armor --export-options export-minimal --export KEYID >pgp.pubkey
gpg --armor --export-secret-key KEYID >pgp.key

Update or Remove Password

Running gpg --edit-key KEYID starts a GPG REPL. To manage the password, enter the passwd command. The user is then prompted for the old and new passwords.

To remove a password from a private key, use L. Try:

• enter current password
• leave new password blank
• read and agree to security warnings

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