[TOC]
Generating a Key
----------------
Simple. Issue this:
gpg --gen-key
Here's a transcript of what happens next. It's all nice and interactive
:)
gpg (GnuPG) 1.4.5; Copyright (C) 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions. See the file COPYING for details.
Please select what kind of key you want:
(1) DSA and Elgamal (default)
(2) DSA (sign only)
(5) RSA (sign only)
Your selection? 5
RSA keys may be between 1024 and 4096 bits long.
What keysize do you want? (2048)
Requested keysize is 2048 bits
Please specify how long the key should be valid.
0 = key does not expire
= key expires in n days
w = key expires in n weeks
m = key expires in n months
y = key expires in n years
Key is valid for? (0) 1y
Key expires at Tue 20 Dec 2011 10:52:20 AM CST
Is this correct? (y/N) y
You need a user ID to identify your key; the software constructs the user ID
from the Real Name, Comment and Email Address in this form:
"Heinrich Heine (Der Dichter) "
Real name: Nikhil Anand
Email address: anand.nikhil@gmail.com
Comment:
You selected this USER-ID:
"Nikhil Anand "
Change (N)ame, (C)omment, (E)mail or (O)kay/(Q)uit? O
You need a Passphrase to protect your secret key.
We need to generate a lot of random bytes. It is a good idea to perform
some other action (type on the keyboard, move the mouse, utilize the
disks) during the prime generation; this gives the random number
generator a better chance to gain enough entropy.
...+++++
.+++++
gpg: key C236FD2B marked as ultimately trusted
public and secret key created and signed.
gpg: checking the trustdb
gpg: 3 marginal(s) needed, 1 complete(s) needed, PGP trust model
gpg: depth: 0 valid: 1 signed: 0 trust: 0-, 0q, 0n, 0m, 0f, 1u
gpg: next trustdb check due at 2011-12-20
pub 2048R/C236FD2B 2010-12-20 [expires: 2011-12-20]
Key fingerprint = 8E05 7113 DF16 CB7A E7A5 0422 A8E4 0177 C236 FD2B
uid Nikhil Anand
Note that this key cannot be used for encryption. You may want to use
the command "--edit-key" to generate a subkey for this purpose.
Key Rings
---------
Keys are stored in files called "key rings".
* The `secring.gpg` file is the key ring that stores secret keys.
* The `pubring.gpg` file is the key ring that stores public keys.
They're most likely stored in the `.gnupg` folder in your home
directory.
Viewing Keys
------------
### Viewing Public Keys
Here's the naive approach:
[user@machine ~]# gpg --list-keys
/root/.gnupg/pubring.gpg
------------------------
pub 1024D/F24F1B08 2002-04-23 [expired: 2004-04-22]
uid Red Hat, Inc (Red Hat Network)
pub 2048R/C236FD2B 2010-12-20 [expires: 2011-12-20]
uid Nikhil Anand
There's nothing paranoid about checking public key fingerprints if the
issuer has provided them. For this, use the `--fingerprint` flag:
[user@machine ~]# gpg --fingerprint
/root/.gnupg/pubring.gpg
------------------------
pub 1024D/F24F1B08 2002-04-23 [expired: 2004-04-22]
Key fingerprint = D8CC 06C2 77EC 9C53 372F C199 B1EE 1799 F24F 1B08
uid Red Hat, Inc (Red Hat Network)
pub 2048R/C236FD2B 2010-12-20 [expires: 2011-12-20]
Key fingerprint = 8E05 7113 DF16 CB7A E7A5 0422 A8E4 0177 C236 FD2B
uid Nikhil Anand
### Viewing Private Keys
[user@machine ~]# gpg --list-secret-keys
/root/.gnupg/secring.gpg
------------------------
sec 2048R/C236FD2B 2010-12-20 [expires: 2011-12-20]
uid Nikhil Anand
Sharing Your Key(s)
-------------------
You share your public keys by exporting them to a human-readable ASCII
file. Let's use the public keyring from the previous section.
[user@machine ~]# gpg -a --export "Nikhil Anand" > Nikhil_Anand.gpg
This produces a file which looks like this:
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (GNU/Linux)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=VY6t
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Never, ever, ever share your private key!
Importing Keys
--------------
### Other Public Keys
Simple. Let's say I wanted to import my friend Scott's public key which
he's uploaded/emailed to me.
[user@machine ~]# gpg --import Scott.gpg
[user@machine ~]# gpg --fingerprint
/root/.gnupg/pubring.gpg
------------------------
pub 1024D/F24F1B08 2002-04-23 [expired: 2004-04-22]
Key fingerprint = D8CC 06C2 77EC 9C53 372F C199 B1EE 1799 F24F 1B08
uid Red Hat, Inc (Red Hat Network)
pub 2048R/C236FD2B 2010-12-20 [expires: 2011-12-20]
Key fingerprint = 8E05 7113 DF16 CB7A E7A5 0422 A8E4 0177 C236 FD2B
uid Nikhil Anand
pub 1024D/910620BF 2010-05-12
Key fingerprint = B3B6 A608 6012 F724 52C3 03F4 D085 AAC6 9106 20BF
uid Scott
sub 4096g/29673670 2010-05-12
Make sure you verify the fingerprint! In this case, Scott emailed me
what to expect.
### Other Private Keys
[user@machine ~]# gpg --allow-secret-key-import --import private.key
You may want to do this to import your private key on systems other than
your own. This allows you to use your public/private keypair across many
other systems. *However*, this is not ideal at all; you can see why NFS
mounting homedirs is a good idea :)
Encrypting and Decrypting Data
------------------------------
### Encryption
Let's say I (Nikhil Anand) wanted to send something to my friend Scott,
whose key I imported in the previous section.
[user@machine ~]# gpg --encrypt --local-user "Nikhil Anand" --recipient "Scott"
When you're more of a Yoda with GPG, you can significantly shorten the
longopts version above with something more terse:
[user@machine ~]# gpg -e -u "Nikhil Anand" -r "Scott"
### Decryption
Let's say Scott and I have exchanged our public keys. He's now sent me a
super-secret message (encrypted with my public key) I want to decrypt
(with my private key):
[user@machine ~]# gpg --decrypt