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GPG(1)                                  GNU Privacy Guard                                  GPG(1)



NAME
       gpg - OpenPGP encryption and signing tool

SYNOPSIS
       gpg [--homedir dir] [--options file] [options] command [args]


DESCRIPTION
       gpg  is the OpenPGP only version of the GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG). It is a tool to provide
       digital encryption and signing services using the OpenPGP standard. gpg features  complete
       key management and all bells and whistles you can expect from a decent OpenPGP implementa‐
       tion.

       This is the standalone version of gpg.  For desktop use you  should  consider  using  gpg2
       from the GnuPG-2 package
        ([On some platforms gpg2 is installed under the name gpg]).







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.


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
       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 viola‐
       tion of OpenPGP, but rather reduce the available algorithms to a "PGP-safe" list.


COMMANDS
       Commands are not distinguished from options except for the fact that only one  command  is
       allowed.

       gpg may be run with no commands, in which case it will perform a reasonable action depend‐
       ing on the type of file it is given as input (an encrypted message is decrypted, a  signa‐
       ture is verified, a file containing keys is listed).

       Please  remember  that  option as well as command parsing stops as soon as a non-option is
       encountered, you can explicitly stop parsing by using the special option --.






   Commands not specific to the function



       --version
              Print the program version and licensing information.  Note that you cannot abbrevi‐
              ate this command.


       --help

       -h     Print  a usage message summarizing the most useful command line options.  Note that
              you cannot abbreviate this command.


       --warranty
              Print warranty information.


       --dump-options
              Print a list of all available options and commands.  Note that you cannot  abbrevi‐
              ate this command.




   Commands to select the type of operation





       --sign

       -s     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).  The key to be used for  signing  is  chosen  by
              default or can be set with the --local-user and --default-key options.


       --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  signa‐
              ture.   Clear  text signatures may modify end-of-line whitespace for platform inde‐
              pendence and are not intended to be reversible.  The key to be used for signing  is
              chosen by default or can be set with the --local-user and --default-key options.



       --detach-sign

       -b     Make a detached signature.


       --encrypt

       -e     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).


       --symmetric

       -c     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 literal data packet).


       --decrypt

       -d     Decrypt  the  file given on the command line (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 oper‐
              ation, 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  the  first argument is a signed file and verify it without generating
              any output.  With no arguments, the signature packet is read from STDIN.  If only a
              one argument is given, it is expected to be a complete signature.

              With more than 1 argument, the first should be a detached signature and the remain‐
              ing files ake up the the signed data. To read the signed data 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.

              Note: If the option --batch is not used, gpg may assume that a single argument is a
              file  with  a  detached  signature  and it will try to find a matching data file by
              stripping certain suffixes.  Using this historical feature  to  verify  a  detached
              signature is strongly discouraged; always specify the data file too.

              Note:  When  verifying  a  cleartext signature, gpg verifies only what makes up the
              cleartext signed data and not any extra data outside of the cleartext signature  or
              header  lines  following directly the dash marker line.  The option --output may be
              used to write out the actual signed data; but there are other  pitfalls  with  this
              format as well.  It is suggested to avoid cleartext signatures in favor of detached
              signatures.



       --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

       -k

       --list-public-keys
              List all keys from the public keyrings, or just the keys given on the command line.

              -k is slightly different from --list-keys in that it allows only for  one  argument
              and  takes  the second argument as the keyring to search.  This is for command line
              compatibility with PGP 2 and has been removed in gpg2.

              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.


       --list-secret-keys

       -K     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 nonRevoca‐
              ble signature (see the --edit-key command "nrsign"), "P" for a signature that  con‐
              tains  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.  Note  that  for  performance
              reasons the revocation status of a signing key is not shown.

              The  status of the verification is indicated by a flag directly following the "sig"
              tag (and thus before the flags described above for --list-sigs).  A  "!"  indicates
              that  the  signature  has been successfully verified, a "-" denotes a bad signature
              and a "%" is used if an error occurred while checking the  signature  (e.g.  a  non
              supported algorithm).



       --fingerprint
              List  all  keys  (or the specified ones) along with their fingerprints. This is the
              same output as --list-keys but with the additional output of a line with  the  fin‐
              gerprint.  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.



       --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
              https://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.


       --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  dele‐
              tion of multiple keys.


       --delete-secret-key name
              Remove key from the secret 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.


       --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
              exported keys are written to STDOUT or to the file given with option --output.  Use
              together with --armor to mail those keys.


       --send-keys key IDs
              Similar to --export but sends the keys to a keyserver.  Fingerprints  may  be  used
              instead  of  key IDs. Option --keyserver must be used to give the name of this key‐
              server. Don't send your complete keyring to a keyserver --- select only those  keys
              which are new or changed by you.  If no key IDs are given, gpg does nothing.


       --export-secret-keys

       --export-secret-subkeys
              Same as --export, but exports the secret keys instead.  The exported keys are writ‐
              ten to STDOUT or to the file given with option --output.   This  command  is  often
              used  along  with  the  option  --armor to allow easy printing of the key for paper
              backup; however the external tool paperkey does a better job for  creating  backups
              on  paper.  Note that exporting a secret key can be a security risk if the exported
              keys are send over an insecure channel.

              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 implemen‐
              tations can not be expected to successfully import such a key.  Its intended use is
              to  generated  a  full key with an additional signing subkey on a dedicated machine
              and then using this command to export the key without the primary key to  the  main
              machine.

              See  the  option  --simple-sk-checksum if you want to import an exported secret key
              into ancient OpenPGP implementations.


       --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 --import-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. Call‐
              ing 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 process‐
              ing 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 trustdb.  Exam‐
              ple:
                  gpg --export-ownertrust > otrust.txt



       --import-ownertrust
              Update  the  trustdb  with  the  ownertrust values stored in files (or STDIN if not
              given); existing values will be overwritten.  In case of a severely damaged trustdb
              and  if  you  have  a  recent  backup  of  the  ownertrust values (e.g. in the file
              ‘otrust.txt’, you may re-create the trustdb using these commands:
                  cd ~/.gnupg
                  rm trustdb.gpg
                  gpg --import-ownertrust < otrust.txt



       --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 sec‐
              ond form (or a deprecated "*" as algo) digests for  all  available  algorithms  are
              printed.


       --gen-random 0|1|2 count
              Emit count random bytes of the given quality level 0, 1 or 2. If count is not given
              or zero, an endless sequence of random bytes will be emitted.  If used with --armor
              the  output will be base64 encoded.  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.



       --enarmor

       --dearmor
              Pack or unpack an arbitrary input into/from an OpenPGP  ASCII  armor.   This  is  a
              GnuPG extension to OpenPGP and in general not very useful.





   How to manage your keys


       This section explains the main commands for key management



       --gen-key
              Generate a new key pair using teh current default parameters.  This is the standard
              command to create a new key.

              There is also a feature which allows you to create keys in batch mode. See the  the
              manual section ``Unattended key generation'' on how to use this.


       --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.



       --edit-key
              Present  a  menu  which enables you to do most of the key management related tasks.
              It expects the specification of a key on the command line.



              uid n  Toggle selection of user ID or photographic user ID with index n.  Use *  to
                     select all and 0 to deselect all.


              key n  Toggle selection of subkey with index n.  Use * to select all and 0 to dese‐
                     lect all.


              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 there‐
                     fore 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.


              tsign  Make a trust signature. This is a signature that  combines  the  notions  of
                     certification  (like  a regular signature), and trust (like the "trust" com‐
                     mand). 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.



              delsig Delete a signature. Note that it is not possible  to  retract  a  signature,
                     once it has been send to the public (i.e. to a keyserver).  In that case you
                     better use revsig.


              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 gen‐
                     erated.


              check  Check the signatures on all selected user IDs.


              adduid Create an additional 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).


              showphoto
                     Display the selected photographic user ID.


              deluid Delete  a  user ID or photographic user ID.  Note that it is not possible to
                     retract a user id, once it has been send to  the  public  (i.e.  to  a  key‐
                     server).  In that case you better use revuid.


              revuid Revoke a user ID or photographic user ID.


              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.


              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.


              pref   List preferences from the selected user ID. This shows  the  actual  prefer‐
                     ences, 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.

                     When setting preferences, you should list the algorithms in the order  which
                     you'd  like  to  see  them used by someone else when encrypting a message to
                     your key.  If you don't include 3DES, it will be automatically added at  the
                     end.   Note  that  there are many factors that go into choosing an algorithm
                     (for example, your key may not be the only recipient),  and  so  the  remote
                     OpenPGP  application  being  used  to send to you may or may not follow your
                     exact chosen order for a given message.  It will, however,  only  choose  an
                     algorithm  that  is  present  on the preference list of every recipient key.
                     See also the INTEROPERABILITY WITH OTHER OPENPGP PROGRAMS section below.


              addkey Add a subkey to this key.


              addcardkey
                     Generate a subkey on a card and add it to this key.


              keytocard
                     Transfer the selected secret subkey (or the primary key  if  no  subkey  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 some‐
                     where.


              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 com‐
                     mand 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 (secondart key). Note that it is not possible to retract a
                     subkey, once it has been send to the public (i.e. to a keyserver).  In  that
                     case you better use revkey.


              revkey Revoke a subkey.


              expire Change the key or subkey expiration time. If a subkey is selected, the expi‐
                     ration time of this subkey will be changed. With no selection, the key expi‐
                     ration of the primary key is changed.


              trust  Change  the owner trust value for the key. This updates the trust-db immedi‐
                     ately and no save is required.


              disable

              enable Disable or enable an entire key. A disabled key can not normally be used for
                     encryption.


              addrevoker
                     Add a designated revoker to the key. This takes one optional argument: "sen‐
                     sitive". If a designated revoker is marked as  sensitive,  it  will  not  be
                     exported by default (see export-options).


              passwd Change the passphrase of the secret key.


              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.  All new keys
                     generated have this signature by default, so this option is only  useful  to
                     bring older keys up to date.


              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.  The pri‐
              mary user id is indicated by a dot, and 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.



       --sign-key name
              Signs  a public key with your secret key. This is a shortcut version of the subcom‐
              mand "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-key.





OPTIONS
       gpg  features  a bunch of options to control the exact behaviour and to change the default
       configuration.


       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.

       Please  remember that option parsing stops as soon as a non-option is encountered, you can
       explicitly stop parsing by using the special option --.



   How to change the configuration


       These options are used to change the configuration and are usually  found  in  the  option
       file.



       --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.


       --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.


       -v, --verbose
              Give more information during processing. If used twice, the input data is listed in
              detail.


       --no-verbose
              Reset verbose level to 0.


       -q, --quiet
              Try to be as quiet as possible.


       --batch

       --no-batch
              Use batch mode.  Never ask, do not allow interactive commands.  --no-batch disables
              this option.  This option is commonly used for unattended operations.

              WARNING: Unattended operation bears a higher risk  of  being  exposed  to  security
              attacks.   In  particular  any  unattended  use  of GnuPG which involves the use of
              secret keys should take care not to provide an decryption oracle.  There  are  sev‐
              eral  standard  pre-cautions  against  being  used as an oracle.  For example never
              return detailed error messages or any diagnostics printed by your software  to  the
              remote site.  Consult with an expert in case of doubt.

              Note  that  even with a filename given on the command line, gpg might still need to
              read from STDIN (in particular if gpg figures that the input is a  detached  signa‐
              ture  and  no  data file has been specified).  Thus if you do not want to feed data
              via STDIN, you should connect STDIN to ‘/dev/null’.



       --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 even if
              --batch is used.


       --yes  Assume "yes" on most questions.


       --no   Assume "no" on most questions.



       --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-
              (after the two dashes) 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.   Does  not  work with --with-colons: see --attribute-fd for
                     the appropriate way to get photo data for scripts and other frontends.


              show-usage
                     Show usage information for keys and subkeys in  the  standard  key  listing.
                     This  is a list of letters indicating the allowed usage for a key (E=encryp‐
                     tion, S=signing, C=certification, A=authentication).  Defaults to no.


              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  list‐
                     ings. 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  signa‐
                     ture 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.


              show-primary-uid-only
                     Show only the primary user ID during signature verification.   That  is  all
                     the  AKA lines as well as photo Ids are not shown with the signature verifi‐
                     cation status.


              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 valida‐
                     tion. This option is only meaningful if pka-lookups is set.


       --enable-large-rsa

       --disable-large-rsa
              With --gen-key and --batch, enable the creation of larger RSA secret keys  than  is
              generally  recommended  (up  to 8192 bits).  These large keys are more expensive to
              use, and their signatures and certifications are also larger.


       --enable-dsa2

       --disable-dsa2
              Enable hash truncation for all DSA keys even for old DSA Keys up to 1024 bit.  This
              is  also  the  default  with  --openpgp.   Note  that  older versions of GnuPG also
              required this flag to allow the generation of DSA larger than 1024 bit.


       --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"), "%v" for the single-character calculated validity of the image being
              viewed (e.g. "f"), "%V" for the calculated validity as  a  string  (e.g.   "full"),
              "%U" for a base32 encoded hash of the user ID, 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.


       --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 dir
              Set the name of the home directory to dir. If this option is  not  used,  the  home
              directory  defaults to ‘~/.gnupg’.  It is only recognized when given on the command
              line.  It also overrides any home directory stated through the environment variable
              ‘GNUPGHOME’  or  (on  Windows  systems)  by  means of the Registry entry HKCU\Soft‐
              ware\GNU\GnuPG:HomeDir.

              On Windows systems it is possible to install GnuPG as a portable  application.   In
              this case only this command line option is considered, all other ways to set a home
              directory are ignored.

              To install GnuPG as a portable application under Windows, create an empty file name
              ‘gpgconf.ctl’  in  the  same  directory as the tool ‘gpgconf.exe’.  The root of the
              installation is than that  directory;  or,  if  ‘gpgconf.exe’  has  been  installed
              directly  below  a  directory  named ‘bin’, its parent directory.  You also need to
              make sure that the following directories exist and are  writable:  ‘ROOT/home’  for
              the GnuPG home and ‘ROOT/var/cache/gnupg’ for internal cache files.



       --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.


       --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 informa‐
              tional 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 spec‐
              ified 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.


       -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 com‐
              pressed at a high --bzip2-compress-level.



       --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 out‐
              put filename to avoid this problem. This option is off by default and has no effect
              on non-Windows platforms.


       --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" verifi‐
              cation, 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 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  pass‐
              port)  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  data‐
                     base.


              classic
                     This is the standard Web of Trust as introduced by PGP 2.


              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  valid.  You
                     generally  won't  use  this  unless  you  are using some external validation
                     scheme. This option also suppresses the "[uncertain]" tag printed with  sig‐
                     nature  checks  when  there  is no evidence that the user ID is bound to the
                     key.  Note that this trust model still does not allow the  use  of  expired,
                     revoked, or disabled keys.


              auto   Select  the  trust  model  depending on whatever the internal trust database
                     says. This is the default model if such a database already exists.


       --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 AT example.com" form), and
              there are no user AT example.com keys on the local keyring.   This  option  takes  any
              number of the following mechanisms, in the order they are to be tried:



              cert   Locate a key using DNS CERT, as specified in rfc4398.


              pka    Locate a key using DNS PKA.


              ldap   Using  DNS Service Discovery, check the domain in question for any LDAP key‐
                     servers to use.  If this fails, attempt to locate the key using the PGP Uni‐
                     versal 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.


              local  Locate  the  key  using the local keyrings.  This mechanism allows to select
                     the order a local key lookup is done.  Thus using '--auto-key-locate  local'
                     is identical to --no-auto-key-locate.


              nodefault
                     This  flag  disables  the  standard local key lookup, done before any of the
                     mechanisms defined by the --auto-key-locate are tried.  The position of this
                     mechanism  in the list does not matter.  It is not required if local is also
                     used.


              clear  Clear all defined mechanisms.  This is useful to override  mechanisms  given
                     in a config file.



       --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.
              Note that this option is ignored if the option --with-colons is used.


       --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://keys.gnupg.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  prefixed 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  meaning‐
                     less.  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  key‐
                     servers.


              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  pre‐
                     ferred  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 read‐
                     ing 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=value
                     Set the proxy to use for  HTTP  and  HKP  keyservers.   This  overrides  the
                     "http_proxy" environment variable, if any.



              max-cert-size
                     When  retrieving  a  key  via  DNS  CERT,  only accept keys up to this size.
                     Defaults to 16384 bytes.


              debug  Turn on debug output in the keyserver helper program.  Note that the details
                     of debug output depends on which keyserver helper program is being used, and
                     in turn, on any libraries that the keyserver helper program uses  internally
                     (libcurl, openldap, etc).


              check-cert
                     Enable  certificate  checking  if  the  keyserver  presents one (for hkps or
                     ldaps).  Defaults to on.


              ca-cert-file
                     Provide a certificate store to override the system default.  Only  necessary
                     if  check-cert  is enabled, and the keyserver is using a certificate that is
                     not present in a system default certificate list.

                     Note that depending on the SSL library that the keyserver  helper  is  built
                     with, this may actually be a directory or a file.



       --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).


       --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 coun‐
              termeasure  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).


       --no-sig-cache
              Do  not cache the verification status of key signatures.  Caching gives a much bet‐
              ter 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 con‐
              suming process. --no-auto-check-trustdb disables this option.


       --use-agent

       --no-use-agent
              Try  to use the GnuPG-Agent.  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.  Given that this option is not anymore used by
              gpg2, it should be avoided if possible.



       --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  environ‐
              ments,  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 opera‐
              tions.


       --limit-card-insert-tries n
              With n greater than 0 the number of prompts asking to insert a smartcard gets  lim‐
              ited  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 infini‐
              tum 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-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 authori‐
              tative, 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 permis‐
              sions 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).



       --require-cross-certification

       --no-require-cross-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  sub‐
              tle  attack  against subkeys that can sign.  Defaults to --require-cross-certifica‐
              tion for gpg.


       --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 incompati‐
              ble  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.





   Key related options




       --recipient name

       -r     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.


       --hidden-recipient name

       -R     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.


       --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 dis‐
              abled keys can be used.


       --no-encrypt-to
              Disable the use of all --encrypt-to and --hidden-encrypt-to keys.


       --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 sin‐
              gle 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  argu‐
              ments.


       --ungroup name
              Remove a given entry from the --group list.


       --no-groups
              Remove all entries from the --group list.


       --local-user name

       -u     Use name as the key to sign with. Note that this option overrides --default-key.


       --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 or --hidden-recipient) and
              might come handy in case where an encrypted message contains a bogus key ID.


       --skip-hidden-recipients

       --no-skip-hidden-recipients
              During decryption skip all anonymous recipients.  This option  helps  in  the  case
              that people use the hidden recipients feature to hide there own encrypt-to key from
              others.  If oneself has many secret keys this may lead to a major annoyance because
              all  keys  are tried in turn to decrypt soemthing which was not really intended for
              it.  The drawback of this option is that it is currently not possible to decrypt  a
              message which includes real anonymous recipients.





   Input and Output




       --armor

       -a     Create ASCII armored output.  The default is to create the binary OpenPGP format.


       --no-armor
              Assume the input data is not in ASCII armored format.


       --output file

       -o file
              Write output to file.


       --max-output n
              This  option  sets  a limit on the number of bytes that will be generated when pro‐
              cessing a file. Since OpenPGP supports various levels of compression, it is  possi‐
              ble  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".


       --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 use‐
                     ful 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 run‐
                     ning 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 use‐
                     ful 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 run‐
                     ning the --edit-key command "minimize" before export except that  the  local
                     copy of the key is not modified. Defaults to no.


       --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.


       --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.


       --with-fingerprint
              Same as the command --fingerprint but changes only the format of the output and may
              be used together with another command.




   OpenPGP protocol specific options.




       -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 commu‐
              nicating  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.


       --force-v3-sigs

       --no-force-v3-sigs
              OpenPGP states that an implementation should generate v4 signatures  but  PGP  ver‐
              sions  5 through 7 only recognize v4 signatures on key material. This option forces
              v3 signatures for signatures on data.  Note that this option implies  --no-ask-sig-
              expire,  and  unsets  --sig-policy-url, --sig-notation, and --sig-keyserver-url, as
              these features cannot be used with v3 signatures.  --no-force-v3-sigs disables this
              option.  Defaults to no.


       --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.


       --personal-cipher-preferences string
              Set the list of personal cipher preferences to string.  Use gpg --version to get  a
              list  of  available  algorithms,  and  use  none to set no preference at all.  This
              allows the user to safely override the algorithm chosen by the recipient key  pref‐
              erences,  as  GPG  will  only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipients.
              The most highly ranked cipher in this list is also used for the --symmetric encryp‐
              tion command.


       --personal-digest-preferences string
              Set  the list of personal digest preferences to string.  Use gpg --version to get a
              list of available algorithms, and use none to  set  no  preference  at  all.   This
              allows  the user to safely override the algorithm chosen by the recipient key pref‐
              erences, as GPG will only select an algorithm that is  usable  by  all  recipients.
              The  most  highly  ranked  digest  algorithm in this list is also used when signing
              without encryption (e.g. --clearsign or --sign).


       --personal-compress-preferences string
              Set the list of personal compression preferences to string.  Use gpg  --version  to
              get a list of available algorithms, and use none to set no preference at all.  This
              allows the user to safely override the algorithm chosen by the recipient key  pref‐
              erences,  as  GPG  will  only select an algorithm that is usable by all recipients.
              The most highly ranked compression algorithm in this list is also used  when  there
              are no recipient keys to consider (e.g. --symmetric).


       --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 algo‐
              rithm 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 number of times (see --s2k-count).   Unless  --rfc1991
              is used, this mode is also used for conventional encryption.


       --s2k-count n
              Specify  how  many times the passphrase mangling is repeated.  This value may range
              between 1024 and 65011712 inclusive.  The default is inquired from gpg-agent.  Note
              that not all values in the 1024-65011712 range are legal and if an illegal value is
              selected, GnuPG will round up to the nearest legal  value.   This  option  is  only
              meaningful if --s2k-mode is 3.





   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 --s2k-*, --cipher-algo, --digest-algo and
              --compress-algo to OpenPGP compliant values. All PGP workarounds are disabled.


       --rfc4880
              Reset  all packet, cipher and digest options to strict RFC-4880 behavior. Note that
              this is currently the same thing as --openpgp.


       --rfc2440
              Reset all packet, cipher and digest options to strict RFC-2440 behavior.


       --rfc1991
              Try to be more RFC-1991 (PGP 2.x) compliant.  This option  is  deprecated  will  be
              removed in GnuPG 2.1.


       --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 base‐
              line.

              This option implies --rfc1991 --disable-mdc --no-force-v4-certs
               --escape-from-lines  --force-v3-sigs
               --cipher-algo  IDEA  --digest-algo  MD5  --compress-algo  ZIP.   It  also disables
              --textmode when encrypting.

              This option is deprecated will be removed in GnuPG 2.1.  The  reason  for  dropping
              PGP-2  support is that the PGP 2 format is not anymore considered safe (for example
              due to the use of the broken MD5 algorithm).  Note that  the  decryption  of  PGP-2
              created messages will continue to work.


       --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 under‐
              stand signatures made by signing subkeys.

              This option implies --disable-mdc --escape-from-lines --force-v3-sigs.


       --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.





   Doing things one usually doesn't want to do.




       -n

       --dry-run
              Don't make any changes (this is not completely implemented).


       --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.


       -i

       --interactive
              Prompt before overwriting any files.


       --debug-level level
              Select  the debug level for investigating problems. level may be a numeric value or
              by a keyword:


              none   No debugging at all.  A value of less than 1 may be used instead of the key‐
                     word.

              basic  Some  basic  debug messages.  A value between 1 and 2 may be used instead of
                     the keyword.

              advanced
                     More verbose debug messages.  A value between 3 and 5 may be used instead of
                     the keyword.

              expert Even more detailed messages.  A value between 6 and 8 may be used instead of
                     the keyword.

              guru   All of the debug messages you can get. A value greater than 8  may  be  used
                     instead  of the keyword.  The creation of hash tracing files is only enabled
                     if the keyword is used.

       How these messages are mapped to the actual debugging  flags  is  not  specified  and  may
       change  with  newer  releases of this program. They are however carefully selected to best
       aid in debugging.


       --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.


       --faked-system-time epoch
              This option is only useful for testing; it sets the system time back  or  forth  to
              epoch  which  is  the number of seconds elapsed since the year 1970.  Alternatively
              epoch may be given as a full ISO time string (e.g. "20070924T154812").


       --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 perfor‐
              mance 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.


       --log-file file

       --logger-file file
              Same  as  --logger-fd,  except  the logger data is written to file file.  Note that
              --log-file is only implemented for GnuPG-2.


       --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. --com‐
              ment 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 signa‐
              ture.


       --emit-version

       --no-emit-version
              Force inclusion of the version string in ASCII armored output.  If given once  only
              the  name of the program and the major number is emitted (default), given twice the
              minor is also emitted, given triple the micro is added, and given quad an operating
              system  identification  is  also  emitted.   --no-emit-version disables the version
              line.


       --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 AT domain.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 (rfc4880:5.2.3.16). --sig-notation sets a notation
              for data signatures. --cert-notation sets a notation for key signatures (certifica‐
              tions). --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  sig‐
              nature, "%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  signa‐
              ture, "%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  (cer‐
              tification), and %c is only meaningful when using the OpenPGP smartcard.


       --sig-policy-url string

       --cert-policy-url string

       --set-policy-url string
              Use  string  as  a  Policy URL for signatures (rfc4880:5.2.3.20).  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.


       --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 a "secure viewer"
              with a claimed 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.


       --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  compres‐
              sion  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 exam‐
              ine 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 decompress‐
              ing. 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-com‐
              press-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  pro‐
              gram  with  the  command  --version yields a list of supported algorithms. Be aware
              that if you choose an algorithm that GnuPG supports but other  OpenPGP  implementa‐
              tions  do not, then some users will not be able to use the key signatures you make,
              or quite possibly your entire key.


       --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.


       --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.
              ([Using a little social engineering anyone who is able to decrypt the  message  can
              check whether one of the other recipients is the one he suspects.])  On the receiv‐
              ing 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-repeat n
              Specify how many times gpg will request a new passphrase be repeated.  This is use‐
              ful for helping memorize a passphrase.  Defaults to 1 repetition.


       --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 sup‐
              plied. 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


       --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 there is some clock problem. See also --ignore-time-con‐
              flict 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.


       --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  alter‐
              nate  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-key-data
              Print  key  listings  delimited by colons (like --with-colons) and print the public
              key data.


       --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 informa‐
              tion 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.  If you are miss‐
              ing some information, don't use this option.


       --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.


       --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.


       --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".


       --allow-secret-key-import
              This is an obsolete option and is not used anywhere.


       --allow-multiple-messages

       --no-allow-multiple-messages
              Allow processing of multiple OpenPGP messages contained in a single file or stream.
              Some programs that call GPG are not prepared to deal with multiple  messages  being
              processed together, so this option defaults to no.  Note that versions of GPG prior
              to 1.4.7 always allowed multiple messages.

              Warning: Do not use this option unless you need it as a temporary workaround!



       --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.


       --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.


       --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.


       --gpgconf-list
              This command is similar to --list-config but in general only internally used by the
              gpgconf tool.


       --gpgconf-test
              This  is  more  or less dummy action.  However it parses the configuration file and
              returns with failure if the configuration file  would  prevent  gpg  from  startup.
              Thus it may be used to run a syntax check on the configuration file.




   Deprecated options




       --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 depre‐
              cated.


       --show-photos

       --no-show-photos
              Causes --list-keys, --list-sigs, --list-public-keys, --list-secret-keys, and  veri‐
              fying  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.


       --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.


       --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.


       --always-trust
              Identical to --trust-model always. This option is deprecated.


       --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.


       --show-policy-url

       --no-show-policy-url
              Show policy URLs in the --list-sigs or --check-sigs listings as well as when  veri‐
              fying  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.






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 -u 0x12345678 -sb file
              make a detached signature with the key 0x12345678


       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.




HOW TO SPECIFY A USER ID
       There  are  different ways to specify a user ID to GnuPG.  Some of them are only valid for
       gpg others are only good for gpgsm.  Here is the entire list of ways to specify a key:



       By key Id.
              This format is deduced from the length of the string and its content or 0x  prefix.
              The  key  Id  of an X.509 certificate are the low 64 bits of its SHA-1 fingerprint.
              The use of key Ids is just a shortcut, for all automated processing the fingerprint
              should be used.

              When using gpg an exclamation mark (!) may be appended to force using the specified
              primary or secondary key and not to try and calculate which  primary  or  secondary
              key to use.

              The last four lines of the example give the key ID in their long form as internally
              used by the OpenPGP protocol. You can see the long key ID using the option  --with-
              colons.

         234567C4
         0F34E556E
         01347A56A
         0xAB123456

         234AABBCC34567C4
         0F323456784E56EAB
         01AB3FED1347A5612
         0x234AABBCC34567C4




       By fingerprint.
              This format is deduced from the length of the string and its content or the 0x pre‐
              fix.  Note, that only the 20 byte version fingerprint is available with gpgsm (i.e.
              the SHA-1 hash of the certificate).

              When using gpg an exclamation mark (!) may be appended to force using the specified
              primary or secondary key and not to try and calculate which  primary  or  secondary
              key to use.

              The  best  way  to  specify  a key Id is by using the fingerprint.  This avoids any
              ambiguities in case that there are duplicated key IDs.

         1234343434343434C434343434343434
         123434343434343C3434343434343734349A3434
         0E12343434343434343434EAB3484343434343434
         0xE12343434343434343434EAB3484343434343434


       gpgsm also accepts colons between each pair of hexadecimal digits because this is the  de-
       facto standard on how to present X.509 fingerprints.  gpg also allows the use of the space
       separated SHA-1 fingerprint as printed by the key listing commands.


       By exact match on OpenPGP user ID.
              This is denoted by a leading equal sign. It does not make sense for X.509  certifi‐
              cates.

         =Heinrich Heine <heinrichh AT uni-duesseldorf.de>


       By exact match on an email address.
              This  is  indicated  by  enclosing the email address in the usual way with left and
              right angles.

         <heinrichh AT uni-duesseldorf.de>



       By word match.
              All words must match exactly (not case sensitive) but can appear in  any  order  in
              the  user  ID  or a subjects name.  Words are any sequences of letters, digits, the
              underscore and all characters with bit 7 set.

         +Heinrich Heine duesseldorf


       By exact match on the subject's DN.
              This is indicated by a leading slash, directly followed by the RFC-2253 encoded  DN
              of  the subject.  Note that you can't use the string printed by "gpgsm --list-keys"
              because that one as been reordered and modified for better readability; use --with-
              colons to print the raw (but standard escaped) RFC-2253 string

         /CN=Heinrich Heine,O=Poets,L=Paris,C=FR


       By exact match on the issuer's DN.
              This  is  indicated  by  a leading hash mark, directly followed by a slash and then
              directly followed by the rfc2253 encoded DN of the issuer.  This should return  the
              Root cert of the issuer.  See note above.

         #/CN=Root Cert,O=Poets,L=Paris,C=FR



       By exact match on serial number and issuer's DN.
              This is indicated by a hash mark, followed by the hexadecimal representation of the
              serial number, then followed by a slash and the RFC-2253 encoded DN of the  issuer.
              See note above.

         #4F03/CN=Root Cert,O=Poets,L=Paris,C=FR


       By keygrip
              This  is  indicated  by  an  ampersand  followed by the 40 hex digits of a keygrip.
              gpgsm prints the keygrip when using the command --dump-cert.  It does not yet  work
              for OpenPGP keys.

         &D75F22C3F86E355877348498CDC92BD21010A480



       By substring match.
              This  is  the default mode but applications may want to explicitly indicate this by
              putting the asterisk in front.  Match is not case sensitive.

         Heine
         *Heine



       Please note that we have reused the hash mark identifier which was used in old GnuPG  ver‐
       sions  to  indicate the so called local-id.  It is not anymore used and there should be no
       conflict when used with X.509 stuff.

       Using the RFC-2253 format of DNs has the drawback that it is not possible to map them back
       to the original encoding, however we don't have to do this because our key database stores
       this encoding as meta data.





FILES
       There are a few configuration files to control certain aspects of gpg's operation.  Unless
       noted, they are expected in the current home directory (see: [option --homedir]).



       gpg.conf
              This is the standard configuration file read by gpg on startup.  It may contain any
              valid long option; the leading two dashes may not be entered and the option may not
              be  abbreviated.   This default name may be changed on the command line (see: [gpg-
              option --options]).  You should backup this file.


       Note that on larger installations, it is useful to put predefined files into the directory
       ‘/etc/skel/.gnupg/’ so that newly created users start up with a working configuration.

       For internal purposes gpg creates and maintains a few other files; They all live in in the
       current home directory (see: [option --homedir]).  Only the gpg may modify these files.



       ~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg
              The public keyring.  You should backup this file.


       ~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg.lock
              The lock file for the public keyring.


       ~/.gnupg/pubring.kbx

       ~/.gnupg/pubring.kbx.lock
              A public keyring and its lock file used by GnuPG versions >= 2.  It is  ignored  by
              GnuPG 1.x


       ~/.gnupg/secring.gpg
              The secret keyring.  You should backup this file.


       ~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg
              The  trust  database.  There is no need to backup this file; it is better to backup
              the ownertrust values (see: [option --export-ownertrust]).


       ~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg.lock
              The lock file for the trust database.


       ~/.gnupg/random_seed
              A file used to preserve the state of the internal random pool.


       ~/.gnupg/secring.gpg.lock
              The lock file for the secret keyring.


       ~/.gnupg/openpgp-revocs.d/
              This is the directory where gpg stores pre-generated revocation certificates.   The
              file name corresponds to the OpenPGP fingerprint of the respective key.  It is sug‐
              gested to backup those certificates and if the primary private key is not stored on
              the  disk to move them to an external storage device.  Anyone who can access theses
              files is able to revoke the corresponding key.  You may want  to  print  them  out.
              You  should  backup  all  files in this directory and take care to keep this backup
              closed away.


       /usr[/local]/share/gnupg/options.skel
              The skeleton options file.


       /usr[/local]/lib/gnupg/
              Default location for extensions.


       Operation is further controlled by a few environment variables:



       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.  This is 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.


       PINENTRY_USER_DATA
              This value is passed via gpg-agent to pinentry.   It  is  useful  to  convey  extra
              information to a custom pinentry.


       COLUMNS

       LINES  Used to size some displays to the full size of the screen.



       LANGUAGE
              Apart  from  its use by GNU, it is used in the W32 version to override the language
              selection done through the Registry.  If used and set to a valid and available lan‐
              guage name (langid), the file with the translation is loaded from

              gpgdir/gnupg.nls/langid.mo.   Here  gpgdir  is  the  directory out of which the gpg
              binary has been loaded.  If it can't be loaded the Registry is tried  and  as  last
              resort the native Windows locale system is used.





BUGS
       On  older  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.

       Note  also  that some systems (especially laptops) have the ability to ``suspend to disk''
       (also known as ``safe sleep'' or ``hibernate'').  This writes all memory  to  disk  before
       going into a low power or even powered off mode.  Unless measures are taken in the operat‐
       ing system to protect the saved memory, passphrases or other  sensitive  material  may  be
       recoverable from it later.

       Before  you  report  a  bug  you should first search the mailing list archives for similar
       problems and second check whether such a bug has already been reported to our bug  tracker
       at http://bugs.gnupg.org .



SEE ALSO
       gpgv(1),

       The  full documentation for this tool is maintained as a Texinfo manual.  If GnuPG and the
       info program are properly installed at your site, the command

         info gnupg

       should give you access to the complete manual including a menu structure and an index.



GnuPG 1.4.18                                2018-06-08                                     GPG(1)


/man
rootr.net - man pages