gpg(1) gpg(1)
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 avail�
able. For more verbose documentation get the GNU Privacy
Handbook (GPH) or one of the other documents at
http://www.gnupg.org/docs.html .
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 recognizes these commands:
-s, --sign
Make a signature. This command may be combined
with --encrypt.
--clearsign
Make a clear text signature.
-b, --detach-sign
Make a detached signature.
-e, --encrypt
Encrypt data. This option may be combined with
--sign.
-c, --symmetric
Encrypt with symmetric cipher only. This com�
mand asks for a passphrase.
--store Store only (make a simple RFC1991 packet).
--decrypt [file]
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 [[sigfile] [signed-files]]
Assume that sigfile is a signature and verify it
without generating any output. With no argu�
ments, 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 sig�
nature 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.
--verify-files [files]
This is a special version of the --verify com�
mand which does not work with detached signa�
tures. The command expects the files to be ver�
ified either on the command line or reads the
filenames from stdin; each name must be on sep�
arate line. The command is intended for quick
checking of many files.
--encrypt-files [files]
This is a special version of the --encrypt com�
mand. The command expects the files to be
encrypted either on the command line or reads
the filenames from stdin; each name must be on
separate line. The command is intended for a
quick encryption of multiple files.
--decrypt-files [files]
The same as --encrypt-files with the difference
that files will be decrypted. The syntax or the
filenames is the same.
--list-keys [names]
--list-public-keys [names]
List all keys from the public keyrings, or just
the ones given on the command line.
--list-secret-keys [names]
List all keys from the secret keyrings, or just
the ones given on the command line.
--list-sigs [names]
Same as --list-keys, but the signatures are
listed too.
--check-sigs [names]
Same as --list-sigs, but the signatures are ver�
ified.
--fingerprint [names]
List all keys with their fingerprints. This is
the same output as --list-keys but with the
additional output of a line with the finger�
print. 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 nor�
mally 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 informa�
tion 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 there�
fore never be revoked.
nrlsign Combines the functionality of nrsign
and lsign to make a signature that is
both non-revocable and non-exportable.
revsig Revoke a signature. For every signa�
ture 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 normally not be used
for encryption.
adduid Create an alternate user id.
addphoto Create a photographic user id.
deluid Delete a user id.
addkey Add a subkey to this key.
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 pri�
mary 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 pri�
mary 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 pref�
erences, 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 (com�
pression) if they are not already
included in the preference list.
setpref string
Set the list of user ID preferences to
string, this should be a string simi�
lar to the one printed by "pref".
Using an empty string will set the
default preference string, using
"none" will set the preferences to
nil. Use "gpg -v --version" to get a
list of available algorithms. This
command just initializes an internal
list and does not change anything
unless another command (such as
"updpref") which changes the self-sig�
natures is used.
updpref Change the preferences of all user IDs
(or just of the selected ones to the
current list of preferences. The
timestamp of all affected self-signa�
tures will be advanced by one second.
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.
toggle Toggle between public and secret key
listing.
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 cal�
culated trust value. Letters are used for the
values:
- No ownertrust assigned / not yet cal�
culated.
e Trust calculation has failed; probably
due to an expired key.
q Not enough information for calcula�
tion.
n Never trust this key.
m Marginally trusted.
f Fully trusted.
u Ultimately trusted.
--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.
--nrsign-key name
Signs a public key with your secret key but
marks it as non-revocable. This is a shortcut
version of the subcommand "nrsign" 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 fin�
gerprint.
--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
Generate a revocation certificate for the com�
plete key. To revoke a subkey or a signature,
use the --edit command.
--desig-revoke
Generate a designated revocation certificate for
a key. This allows a user (with the permission
of the keyholder) to revoke someone elses key.
--export [names]
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 [names]
Same as --export but sends the keys to a key�
server. Option --keyserver must be used to give
the name of this keyserver. Don't send your com�
plete keyring to a keyserver - select only those
keys which are new or changed by you.
--export-all [names]
Same as --export, but also exports keys which
are not compatible with OpenPGP.
--export-secret-keys [names]
--export-secret-subkeys [names]
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 [files]
--fast-import [files]
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
--merge-only option which does not insert new
keys but does only the merging of new signa�
tures, 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.
--search-keys [names]
Search the keyserver for the given names. Mul�
tiple 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.
--update-trustdb
Do trust DB maintenance. This command goes over
all keys and builds the Web-of-Trust. This is an
interactive command because it may has to ask
for the "ownertrust" values of keys. The user
has to give an estimation in how far she trusts
the owner of the displayed key to correctly cer�
tify (sign) other keys. It does only ask for
that value if it has not yet been assigned to a
key. Using the edit menu, that value can be
changed at any time later.
--check-trustdb
Do trust DB maintenance without user interac�
tion. Form time to time the trust database must
be updated so that expired keys and resulting
changes in the Web-of-Trust can be tracked.
GnuPG tries to figure when this is required and
then does it implicitly; this command can be
used to force such a check. The processing is
identically 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 check is
only done when it is due. To force a run even
in batch mode add the option --yes.
--export-ownertrust [file]
Store the ownertrust values into file (or stdin
if not given). This is useful for backup pur�
poses as these values are the only ones which
can't be re-created from a corrupted trust DB.
--import-ownertrust [files]
Update the trustdb with the ownertrust values
stored in files (or stdin if not given); exist�
ing 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 [files]
--print-mds [files]
Print message digest of algorithm ALGO for all
given files or stdin. With the second form (or
a deprecated "*" as algo) digests for all avail�
able algorithms are printed.
--gen-random 0|1|2 [count]
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 [qbits]
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.
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 char�
acter are ignored. Commands may be put in this file too,
but that does not make sense.
gpg recognizes these options:
-a, --armor
Create ASCII armored output.
-o, --output file
Write output to file.
-u, --local-user name
Use name as the user ID to sign. This option is
silently ignored for the list commands, so that
it can be used in an options file.
--default-key name
Use name as default user ID for signatures. If
this is not used the default user ID is the
first user ID found in the secret keyring.
-r, --recipient name
Encrypt for user id name. If this option is not
specified, GnuPG asks for the user-id unless
--default-recipient is given
--default-recipient name
Use name as default recipient if option --recip�
ient 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-recipi�
ent-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 recipi�
ents given either by use of --recipient or by
the asked user id. No trust checking is per�
formed for these user ids and even disabled keys
can be used.
--no-encrypt-to
Disable the use of all --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 n
Set compression level to n. A value of 0 for n
disables compression. Default is to use the
default compression level of zlib (normally 6).
-t, --textmode
Use canonical text mode. If -t (but not
--textmode) is used together with armoring and
signing, this enables clearsigned messages.
This kludge is needed for PGP compatibility;
normally you would use --sign or --clearsign to
selected 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 Use batch mode. Never ask, do not allow inter�
active commands.
--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.
--no-batch
Disable batch mode. This may be of use if
--batch is enabled from an options file.
--yes Assume "yes" on most questions.
--no Assume "no" on most questions.
--default-cert-check-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 per�
son 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 ver�
ified 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.
--trusted-key long key ID
Assume that the specified key (which must be
given as a full 8 byte key ID) is as trustwor�
thy 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 recipi�
ent's or signator's key.
--always-trust
Skip key validation and assume that used keys
are always fully trusted. You won't use this
unless you have installed some external valida�
tion 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.
--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:[//]keyserver�
name[:port]' The scheme is the type of key�
server: "hkp" for the Horowitz (or compatible)
keyservers, "ldap" for the NAI LDAP keyserver,
or "mailto" for the Horowitz email keyserver.
Note that your particular installation of GnuPG
may have other keyserver types available as
well.
Most keyservers synchronize with each other, so
there is generally no need to send keys to more
than one server. Using the command "host -l
pgp.net | grep wwwkeys" gives you a list of HKP
keyservers. When using one of the wwwkeys
servers, due to load balancing using round-robin
DNS you may notice that you get a different key
server each time.
--keyserver-options parameters
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, include keys
that are marked on the keyserver as
revoked. Note that this option is
always set when using the NAI HKP key�
server, as this keyserver does not
differentiate between revoked and
unrevoked keys. When using the LDAP
keyserver, this applies to both
searching (--search-keys) and receiv�
ing (--recv-keys).
include-disabled
When receiving or searching for a key,
include keys that are marked on the
keyserver as disabled. Note that this
option is not used with HKP key�
servers, as they do not support dis�
abling keys.
include-subkeys
When receiving a key, include subkeys
in the search. 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 commu�
nicate. 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.
honor-http-proxy
For keyserver schemes that use HTTP
(such as HKP), try to access the key�
server over the proxy set with the
environment variable "http_proxy".
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.
--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:
allow-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-hkp-subkey-bug
During import, attempt to repair the
HKP keyserver mangling multiple sub�
keys bug. Note that this cannot com�
pletely repair the damaged key as some
crucial data is removed by the key�
server, but it does at least give you
back one subkey. Defaults to no for
regular --import and to yes for key�
server --recv-keys.
--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:
include-non-rfc
Include non-RFC compliant keys in the
export. Defaults to yes.
include-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.
include-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.
include-sensitive-revkeys
Include designated revoker information
that was marked as "sensitive".
Defaults to no.
--show-photos
Causes --list-keys, --list-sigs, --list-public-
keys, --list-secret-keys, and verifying a signa�
ture to also display the photo ID attached to
the key, if any. See also --photo-viewer.
--no-show-photos
Resets the --show-photos flag.
--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"
--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 envi�
ronment variable.
--show-keyring
Causes --list-keys, --list-public-keys, and
--list-secret-keys to display the name of the
keyring a given key resides on. This is only
useful when you're listing a specific key or set
of keys. It has no effect when listing all keys.
--keyring file
Add file to the 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 home-directory ("~/.gnupg" if --homedir is
not used). The filename may be prefixed with a
scheme:
"gnupg-ring:" is the default one.
It might make sense to use it together with
--no-default-keyring.
--secret-keyring file
Same as --keyring but for the secret keyrings.
--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 envi�
ronment variable "GNUPGHOME".
--charset name
Set the name of the native character set. This
is used to convert some strings to proper UTF-8
encoding. If this option is not used, the
default character set is determined from the
current locale. A verbosity level of 3 shows
the used one. 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 encod�
ing.
--utf8-strings
--no-utf8-strings
Assume that the arguments are already given as
UTF8 strings. The default (--no-utf8-strings)
is to assume that arguments are encoded in the
character set as specified by --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 home�
dir (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 con�
tain 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.
--status-fd n
Write special status strings to the file
descriptor n. See the file DETAILS in the docu�
mentation for a listing of them.
--logger-fd n
Write log output to file descriptor n and not to
stderr.
--attribute-fd n
Write attribute subpackets to the file descrip�
tor n. This is most useful for use with --sta�
tus-fd, since the status messages are needed to
separate out the various subpackets from the
stream delivered to the file descriptor.
--sk-comments
Include secret key comment packets when export�
ing secret keys. This is a GnuPG extension to
the OpenPGP standard, and is off by default.
Please note that this has nothing to do with the
comments in clear text signatures or armor head�
ers.
--no-sk-comments
Resets the --sk-comments option.
--no-comment
See --sk-comments. This option is deprecated
and may be removed soon.
--comment string
Use string as comment string in clear text sig�
natures. The default is not do write a comment
string.
--default-comment
Force to write the standard comment string in
clear text signatures. Use this to overwrite a
--comment from a config file. This option is
now obsolete because there is no default comment
string anymore.
--no-version
Omit the version string in clear text signa�
tures.
--emit-version
Force to write the version string in clear text
signatures. Use this to overwrite a previous
--no-version from a config file.
-N, --notation-data name=value
Put the name value pair into the signature as
notation data. name must consist only of
alphanumeric characters, digits or the under�
score; the first character must not be a digit.
value may be any printable string; it will be
encoded in UTF8, so you should check that your
--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).
--show-notation
Show key signature notations in the --list-sigs
or --check-sigs listings.
--no-show-notation
Do not show key signature notations in the
--list-sigs or --check-sigs listings.
--set-policy-url string
Use string as 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.
--show-policy-url
Show any policy URLs set in the --list-sigs or
--check-sigs listings.
--no-show-policy-url
Do not show any policy URLs set in the --list-
sigs or --check-sigs listings.
--set-filename string
Use string as the name of file which is stored
in messages.
--for-your-eyes-only
Set the `for your eyes only' flag in the mes�
sage. 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
Resets the --for-your-eyes-only flag.
--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.
--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 pro�
gram with the command --version yields a list of
supported algorithms. If this is not used the
cipher algorithm is selected from the prefer�
ences stored with the key.
--digest-algo name
Use name as the message digest algorithm. Run�
ning the program with the command --version
yields a list of supported algorithms.
--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 --cipher-algo is not given.
--s2k-digest-algo name
Use name as the digest algorithm used to mangle
the passphrases. The default algorithm is RIPE-
MD-160. This digest algorithm is also used for
conventional encryption if --digest-algo is not
given.
--s2k-mode n
Selects how passphrases are mangled. If n is 0 a
plain passphrase (which is not recommended) will
be used, a 1 (default) adds a salt to the
passphrase and a 3 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 will be part of an
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 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 accept�
able).
--compress-algo n
Use compression algorithm n. Default is 2 which
is RFC1950 compression. You may use 1 to use the
old zlib version (RFC1951) which is used by PGP.
0 disables compression. The default algorithm
may give better results because the window size
is not limited to 8K. If this is not used the
OpenPGP behavior is used, i.e. the compression
algorithm is selected from the preferences;
note, that this can't be done if you do not
encrypt the data.
--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 algo�
rithm. 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 sig�
natures. Caching gives a much better perfor�
mance 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. How�
ever, due to the fact that the signature cre�
ation needs manual interaction, this performance
penalty does not matter in most settings.
--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
Resets the --auto-check-trustdb option.
--throw-keyid
Do not put the keyid into encrypted packets.
This option hides the receiver of the message
and is a countermeasure against traffic analy�
sis. It may slow down the decryption process
because all available secret keys are tried.
--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 cleart�
ext signature option.
--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. All other PGP versions do it this
way too. This option is not enabled by default
because it would violate rfc2440.
--passphrase-fd n
Read the passphrase 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. 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.
--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.
--gpg-agent-info
Override the value of the environment variable
GPG_AGENT_INFO. This is only used when --use-
agent has been given
--rfc1991 Try to be more RFC1991 (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 --no-openpgp
--disable-mdc --no-force-v4-certs --no-comment
--escape-from-lines --force-v3-sigs --no-ask-
sig-expire --no-ask-cert-expire --cipher-algo
IDEA --digest-algo MD5 --compress-algo 1'
--no-pgp2 Resets the --pgp2 option.
--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 making signatures with sign�
ing subkeys as PGP 6 does not understand signa�
tures made by signing subkeys.
This option implies `--disable-mdc --no-comment
--escape-from-lines --force-v3-sigs --no-ask-
sig-expire --compress-algo 1'
--no-pgp6 Resets the --pgp6 option.
--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.
--no-pgp7 Resets the --pgp7 option.
--openpgp Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to
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 also disabled.
--force-v3-sigs
OpenPGP states that an implementation should
generate v4 signatures but PGP versions 5 and
higher only recognize v4 signatures on key mate�
rial. This option forces v3 signatures for sig�
natures on data. Note that this option over�
rides --ask-sig-expire, as v3 signatures cannot
have expiration dates.
--no-force-v3-sigs
Reset the --force-v3-sigs option.
--force-v4-certs
Always use v4 key signatures even on v3 keys.
This option also changes the default hash algo�
rithm for v3 RSA keys from MD5 to SHA-1.
--no-force-v4-certs
Reset the --force-v4-certs option.
--force-mdc
Force the use of encryption with appended manip�
ulation code. This is always used with the
newer ciphers (those with a blocksize greater
than 64 bit).
--allow-non-selfsigned-uid
Allow the import and use of keys with user IDs
which are not self-signed. This is not recom�
mended, as a non self-signed user ID is trivial
to forge.
--no-allow-non-selfsigned-uid
Reset the --allow-non-selfsigned-uid option.
--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 asso�
ciated 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.
--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.
--ignore-crc-error
The ASCII armor used by OpenPGP is protected by
a CRC checksum against transmission errors.
Sometimes it happens that 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 will let gpg 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 neces�
sary 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 mes�
sage 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 access�
ing 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.
--no-random-seed-file
GnuPG uses a file to store its internal random
pool over invocations. This makes random gener�
ation faster; however sometimes write operations
are not desired. This option can be used to
achieve that with the cost of slower random gen�
eration.
--no-verbose
Reset verbose level to 0.
--no-greeting
Suppress the initial copyright message but do
not enter batch mode.
--no-secmem-warning
Suppress the warning about "using insecure mem�
ory".
--no-permission-warning
Suppress the warning about unsafe file permis�
sions.
--no-mdc-warning
Suppress the warning about missing MDC integrity
protection.
--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.
--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 regard�
less of any --charset setting.
--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 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.
--emulate-md-encode-bug
GnuPG versions prior to 1.0.2 had a bug in the
way a signature was encoded. This options
enables a workaround by checking faulty signa�
tures again with the encoding used in old ver�
sions. This may only happen for ElGamal signa�
tures which are not widely used.
--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.
--ask-sig-expire
When making a data signature, prompt for an
expiration time. If this option is not speci�
fied, the expiration time is "never".
--no-ask-sig-expire
Resets the --ask-sig-expire option.
--ask-cert-expire
When making a key signature, prompt for an expi�
ration time. If this option is not specified,
the expiration time is "never".
--no-ask-cert-expire
Resets the --ask-cert-expire option.
--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 deprecated 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
Resets the --expert option.
--merge-only
Don't insert new keys into the keyrings while
doing an import.
--allow-secret-key-import
This is an obsolete option and is not used any�
where.
--try-all-secrets
Don't look at the key ID as stored in the mes�
sage but try all secret keys in turn to find the
right decryption key. This option forces the
behaviour as used by anonymous recipients (cre�
ated by using --throw-keyid) and might come
handy in case where an encrypted message con�
tains a bogus key ID.
--enable-special-filenames
This options enables a mode in which filenames
of the form -&n, where n is a non-negative deci�
mal 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 [value2 value3 ...]
Sets up a named group, which is similar to
aliases in email programs. Any time the group
name is a receipient (-r or --recipient), it
will be expanded to the values specified.
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 differ�
ent values. Note also there is only one level
of expansion - you cannot make an group that
points to another group.
--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.
--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.
--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.
--default-preference-list string
Set the list of default preferences to string,
this list should be a string similar to the one
printed by the command "pref" in the edit menu.
This affects both key generation and "updpref"
in the edit menu.
How to specify a user ID
There are different ways on how 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 ambigu�
ities 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.
+Heinrich Heine duesseldorf
All words must match exactly (not case sensi�
tive) but can appear in any order in the user
ID. Words are any sequences of letters, digits,
the underscore and all characters with bit 7
set.
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 exactly the
given primary or secondary key and not to try to figure
out which secondary or primary 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 [files]
Verify the signature of the file but do not out�
put the data. The second form is used for
detached signatures, where sigfile is the
detached signature (either ASCII armored of
binary) and [files] 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.
http_proxy
Only honored when the keyserver-option honor-
http-proxy is set.
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 dic�
tionary 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 be giving both
filenames on the command line or using - to specify stdin.
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 to disk. If you get no warning mes�
sage about insecure memory your operating system supports
locking without being root. The program drops root privi�
leges as soon as locked memory is allocated.
gpg(1)
Submit an article or tip