gpgconf - Modify .gnupg home directories
gpgconf [
options]
--list-components
gpgconf [
options]
--list-options component
gpgconf [
options]
--change-options component
The
gpgconf is a utility to automatically and reasonable safely query and
modify configuration files in the ‘
.gnupg’ home
directory. It is designed not to be invoked manually by the user, but
automatically by graphical user interfaces (GUI). ([Please note that currently
no locking is done, so concurrent access should be avoided. There are some
precautions to avoid corruption with concurrent usage, but results may be
inconsistent and some changes may get lost. The stateless design makes it
difficult to provide more guarantees.])
gpgconf provides access to the configuration of one or more components of
the GnuPG system. These components correspond more or less to the programs
that exist in the GnuPG framework, like GPG, GPGSM, DirMngr, etc. But this is
not a strict one-to-one relationship. Not all configuration options are
available through
gpgconf.
gpgconf provides a generic and
abstract method to access the most important configuration options that can
feasibly be controlled via such a mechanism.
gpgconf can be used to gather and change the options available in each
component, and can also provide their default values.
gpgconf will give
detailed type information that can be used to restrict the user's input
without making an attempt to commit the changes.
gpgconf provides the backend of a configuration editor. The configuration
editor would usually be a graphical user interface program that displays the
current options, their default values, and allows the user to make changes to
the options. These changes can then be made active with
gpgconf again.
Such a program that uses
gpgconf in this way will be called GUI
throughout this section.
One of the following commands must be given:
- --list-components
- List all components. This is the default command used if
none is specified.
- --check-programs
- List all available backend programs and test whether they
are runnable.
- --list-options component
- List all options of the component component.
- --change-options component
- Change the options of the component component.
- --check-options component
- Check the options for the component component.
- --apply-profile file
- Apply the configuration settings listed in file to
the configuration files. If file has no suffix and no slashes the
command first tries to read a file with the suffix .prf from the
data directory ( gpgconf --list-dirs datadir) before it reads the
file verbatim. A profile is divided into sections using the bracketed
component name. Each section then lists the option which shall go into the
respective configuration file.
- --apply-defaults
- Update all configuration files with values taken from the
global configuration file (usually ‘
/etc/gnupg/gpgconf.conf’). Note: This is a legacy mechanism.
Please use global configuraion files instead.
- --list-dirs [names]
-
-L Lists the directories used by gpgconf. One
directory is listed per line, and each line consists of a colon-separated
list where the first field names the directory type (for example
sysconfdir) and the second field contains the percent-escaped
directory. Although they are not directories, the socket file names used
by gpg-agent and dirmngr are printed as well. Note that the
socket file names and the homedir lines are the default names and
they may be overridden by command line switches. If names are given
only the directories or file names specified by the list names are printed
without any escaping.
- --list-config [filename]
- List the global configuration file in a colon separated
format. If filename is given, check that file instead.
- --check-config [filename]
- Run a syntax check on the global configuration file. If
filename is given, check that file instead.
- --query-swdb package_name
[version_string]
- Returns the current version for package_name and if
version_string is given also an indicator on whether an update is
available. The actual file with the software version is automatically
downloaded and checked by dirmngr. dirmngr uses a thresholds
to avoid download the file too often and it does this by default only if
it can be done via Tor. To force an update of that file this command can
be used:
gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'loadswdb --force' /bye
- --reload [component]
-
-R Reload all or the given component. This is
basically the same as sending a SIGHUP to the component. Components which
don't support reloading are ignored. Without component or by using
"all" for component all components which are daemons are
reloaded.
- --launch [component]
- If the component is not already running, start it.
component must be a daemon. This is in general not required because
the system starts these daemons as needed. However, external software
making direct use of gpg-agent or dirmngr may use this
command to ensure that they are started. Using "all" for
component launches all components which are daemons.
- --kill [component]
-
-K Kill the given component that runs as a daemon,
including gpg-agent, dirmngr, and scdaemon. A
component which does not run as a daemon will be ignored. Using
"all" for component kills all components running as
daemons. Note that as of now reload and kill have the same effect for
scdaemon.
- --create-socketdir
- Create a directory for sockets below /run/user or
/var/run/user. This is command is only required if a non default home
directory is used and the /run based sockets shall be used. For the
default home directory GnUPG creates a directory on the fly.
- --remove-socketdir
- Remove a directory created with command
--create-socketdir.
The following options may be used:
- -o file
-
--output file Write output to file.
Default is to write to stdout.
- -v
-
--verbose Outputs additional information while
running. Specifically, this extends numerical field values by
human-readable descriptions.
- -q
-
--quiet Try to be as quiet as possible.
- --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\Software\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 named ‘ gpgconf.ctl’ in the same directory as
the tool ‘ gpgconf.exe’. The root of the installation
is then 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.
- -n
-
--dry-run Do not actually change anything. This is
currently only implemented for --change-options and can be used for
testing purposes.
- -r
-
--runtime Only used together with
--change-options. If one of the modified options can be changed in
a running daemon process, signal the running daemon to ask it to reparse
its configuration file after changing.
This means that the changes will take effect at run-time, as far as this is
possible. Otherwise, they will take effect at the next start of the
respective backend programs.
- --status-fd n
- Write special status strings to the file descriptor
n. This program returns the status messages SUCCESS or FAILURE
which are helpful when the caller uses a double fork approach and can't
easily get the return code of the process.
The command
--list-components will list all components that can be
configured with
gpgconf. Usually, one component will correspond to one
GnuPG-related program and contain the options of that program's configuration
file that can be modified using
gpgconf. However, this is not
necessarily the case. A component might also be a group of selected options
from several programs, or contain entirely virtual options that have a special
effect rather than changing exactly one option in one configuration file.
A component is a set of configuration options that semantically belong together.
Furthermore, several changes to a component can be made in an atomic way with
a single operation. The GUI could for example provide a menu with one entry
for each component, or a window with one tabulator sheet per component.
The command
--list-components lists all available components, one per
line. The format of each line is:
name:
description:
pgmname:
- name
- This field contains a name tag of the component. The name
tag is used to specify the component in all communication with
gpgconf. The name tag is to be used verbatim. It is thus not
in any escaped format.
- description
- The string in this field contains a human-readable
description of the component. It can be displayed to the user of the GUI
for informational purposes. It is percent-escaped and
localized.
- pgmname
- The string in this field contains the absolute name
of the program's file. It can be used to unambiguously invoke that
program. It is percent-escaped.
Example:
$ gpgconf --list-components
gpg:GPG for OpenPGP:/usr/local/bin/gpg2:
gpg-agent:GPG Agent:/usr/local/bin/gpg-agent:
scdaemon:Smartcard Daemon:/usr/local/bin/scdaemon:
gpgsm:GPG for S/MIME:/usr/local/bin/gpgsm:
dirmngr:Directory Manager:/usr/local/bin/dirmngr:
The command
--check-programs is similar to
--list-components but
works on backend programs and not on components. It runs each program to test
whether it is installed and runnable. This also includes a syntax check of all
config file options of the program.
The command
--check-programs lists all available programs, one per line.
The format of each line is:
name:
description:
pgmname:
avail:
okay:
cfgfile:
line:
error:
- name
- This field contains a name tag of the program which is
identical to the name of the component. The name tag is to be used
verbatim. It is thus not in any escaped format. This field may be
empty to indicate a continuation of error descriptions for the last name.
The description and pgmname fields are then also empty.
- description
- The string in this field contains a human-readable
description of the component. It can be displayed to the user of the GUI
for informational purposes. It is percent-escaped and
localized.
- pgmname
- The string in this field contains the absolute name
of the program's file. It can be used to unambiguously invoke that
program. It is percent-escaped.
- avail
- The boolean value in this field indicates whether
the program is installed and runnable.
- okay
- The boolean value in this field indicates whether
the program's config file is syntactically okay.
- cfgfile
- If an error occurred in the configuration file (as
indicated by a false value in the field okay), this field has the
name of the failing configuration file. It is percent-escaped.
- line
- If an error occurred in the configuration file, this field
has the line number of the failing statement in the configuration file. It
is an unsigned number.
- error
- If an error occurred in the configuration file, this field
has the error text of the failing statement in the configuration file. It
is percent-escaped and localized.
In the following example the
dirmngr is not runnable and the
configuration file of
scdaemon is not okay.
$ gpgconf --check-programs
gpg:GPG for OpenPGP:/usr/local/bin/gpg2:1:1:
gpg-agent:GPG Agent:/usr/local/bin/gpg-agent:1:1:
scdaemon:Smartcard Daemon:/usr/local/bin/scdaemon:1:0:
gpgsm:GPG for S/MIME:/usr/local/bin/gpgsm:1:1:
dirmngr:Directory Manager:/usr/local/bin/dirmngr:0:0:
The command configuration file in the same manner as
--check-programs,
but only for the component
component.
Every component contains one or more options. Options may be gathered into
option groups to allow the GUI to give visual hints to the user about which
options are related.
The command
lists all options (and the groups they belong to) in the
component
component, one per line.
component must be the string
in the field
name in the output of the
--list-components
command.
Take care if system-wide options are used: gpgconf may not be able to properly
show the options and the listed options may have no actual effect in case the
system-wide options enforced their own settings.
There is one line for each option and each group. First come all options that
are not in any group. Then comes a line describing a group. Then come all
options that belong into each group. Then comes the next group and so on.
There does not need to be any group (and in this case the output will stop
after the last non-grouped option).
The format of each line is:
name:
flags:
level:
description:
type:
alt-type:
argname:
default:
argdef:
value
- name
- This field contains a name tag for the group or option. The
name tag is used to specify the group or option in all communication with
gpgconf. The name tag is to be used verbatim. It is thus not
in any escaped format.
- flags
- The flags field contains an unsigned number. Its
value is the OR-wise combination of the following flag values:
- group (1)
- If this flag is set, this is a line describing a group and
not an option.
The following flag values are only defined for options (that is, if the
group flag is not used).
- optional arg (2)
- If this flag is set, the argument is optional. This is
never set for type 0 (none) options.
- list (4)
- If this flag is set, the option can be given multiple
times.
- runtime (8)
- If this flag is set, the option can be changed at runtime.
- default (16)
- If this flag is set, a default value is available.
- default desc (32)
- If this flag is set, a (runtime) default is available. This
and the default flag are mutually exclusive.
- no arg desc (64)
- If this flag is set, and the optional arg flag is
set, then the option has a special meaning if no argument is given.
- no change (128)
- If this flag is set, gpgconf ignores requests to
change the value. GUI frontends should grey out this option. Note, that
manual changes of the configuration files are still possible.
- level
- This field is defined for options and for groups. It
contains an unsigned number that specifies the expert level under
which this group or option should be displayed. The following expert
levels are defined for options (they have analogous meaning for groups):
- basic (0)
- This option should always be offered to the user.
- advanced (1)
- This option may be offered to advanced users.
- expert (2)
- This option should only be offered to expert users.
- invisible (3)
- This option should normally never be displayed, not even to
expert users.
- internal (4)
- This option is for internal use only. Ignore it.
The level of a group will always be the lowest level of all options it contains.
- description
- This field is defined for options and groups. The
string in this field contains a human-readable description of the
option or group. It can be displayed to the user of the GUI for
informational purposes. It is percent-escaped and localized.
- type
- This field is only defined for options. It contains an
unsigned number that specifies the type of the option's
argument, if any. The following types are defined:
Basic types:
- none (0)
- No argument allowed.
- string (1)
- An unformatted string.
- int32 (2)
- A signed number.
- uint32 (3)
- An unsigned number.
Complex types:
- pathname (32)
- A string that describes the pathname of a file. The
file does not necessarily need to exist.
- ldap server (33)
- A string that describes an LDAP server in the
format:
hostname:port:username:password:base_dn
- key fingerprint (34)
- A string with a 40 digit fingerprint specifying a
certificate.
- pub key (35)
- A string that describes a certificate by user ID,
key ID or fingerprint.
- sec key (36)
- A string that describes a certificate with a key by
user ID, key ID or fingerprint.
- alias list (37)
- A string that describes an alias list, like the one
used with gpg's group option. The list consists of a key, an equal sign
and space separated values.
More types will be added in the future. Please see the
alt-type field for
information on how to cope with unknown types.
- alt-type
- This field is identical to type, except that only
the types 0 to 31 are allowed. The GUI is expected to
present the user the option in the format specified by type. But if
the argument type type is not supported by the GUI, it can still
display the option in the more generic basic type alt-type. The GUI
must support all the defined basic types to be able to display all
options. More basic types may be added in future versions. If the GUI
encounters a basic type it doesn't support, it should report an error and
abort the operation.
- argname
- This field is only defined for options with an argument
type type that is not 0. In this case it may contain a
percent-escaped and localized string that gives a short name
for the argument. The field may also be empty, though, in which case a
short name is not known.
- default
- This field is defined only for options for which the
default or default desc flag is set. If the default
flag is set, its format is that of an option argument (see: [Format
conventions], for details). If the default value is empty, then no default
is known. Otherwise, the value specifies the default value for this
option. If the default desc flag is set, the field is either empty
or contains a description of the effect if the option is not given.
- argdef
- This field is defined only for options for which the
optional arg flag is set. If the no arg desc flag is
not set, its format is that of an option argument (see: [Format
conventions], for details). If the default value is empty, then no default
is known. Otherwise, the value specifies the default argument for this
option. If the no arg desc flag is set, the field is either empty
or contains a description of the effect of this option if no argument is
given.
- value
- This field is defined only for options. Its format is that
of an option argument. If it is empty, then the option is not
explicitly set in the current configuration, and the default applies (if
any). Otherwise, it contains the current value of the option. Note that
this field is also meaningful if the option itself does not take a real
argument (in this case, it contains the number of times the option
appears).
The command to change the options of the component
component to the
specified values.
component must be the string in the field
name
in the output of the
--list-components command. You have to provide the
options that shall be changed in the following format on standard input:
name:
flags:
new-value
- name
- This is the name of the option to change. name must
be the string in the field name in the output of the
--list-options command.
- flags
- The flags field contains an unsigned number. Its
value is the OR-wise combination of the following flag values:
- default (16)
- If this flag is set, the option is deleted and the default
value is used instead (if applicable).
- new-value
- The new value for the option. This field is only defined if
the default flag is not set. The format is that of an option
argument. If it is empty (or the field is omitted), the default
argument is used (only allowed if the argument is optional for this
option). Otherwise, the option will be set to the specified value.
The output of the command is the same as that of
--check-options for the
modified configuration file.
Examples:
To set the force option, which is of basic type
none (0):
$ echo 'force:0:1' | gpgconf --change-options dirmngr
To delete the force option:
$ echo 'force:16:' | gpgconf --change-options dirmngr
The
--runtime option can influence when the changes take effect.
Some legacy applications look at the global configuration file for the gpgconf
tool itself; this is the file ‘
gpgconf.conf’. Modern
applications should not use it but use per component global configuration
files which are more flexible than the ‘
gpgconf.conf’.
Using both files is not suggested.
The colon separated listing format is record oriented and uses the first field
to identify the record type:
- k
- This describes a key record to start the definition of a
new ruleset for a user/group. The format of a key record is:
k:user:group:
- user
- This is the user field of the key. It is percent escaped.
See the definition of the gpgconf.conf format for details.
- group
- This is the group field of the key. It is percent
escaped.
- r
- This describes a rule record. All rule records up to the
next key record make up a rule set for that key. The format of a rule
record is:
r:::component:option:flag:value:
- component
- This is the component part of a rule. It is a plain string.
- option
- This is the option part of a rule. It is a plain string.
- flag
- This is the flags part of a rule. There may be only one
flag per rule but by using the same component and option, several flags
may be assigned to an option. It is a plain string.
- value
- This is the optional value for the option. It is a percent
escaped string with a single quotation mark to indicate a string. The
quotation mark is only required to distinguish between no value specified
and an empty string.
Unknown record types should be ignored. Note that there is intentionally no
feature to change the global option file through
gpgconf.
The GnuPG Project operates a server to query the current versions of software
packages related to GnuPG.
gpgconf can be used to access this online
database. To allow for offline operations, this feature works by having
dirmngr download a file from
https://versions.gnupg.org,
checking the signature of that file and storing the file in the GnuPG home
directory. If
gpgconf is used and
dirmngr is running, it may ask
dirmngr to refresh that file before itself uses the file.
The command
--query-swdb returns information for the given package in a
colon delimited format:
- name
- This is the name of the package as requested. Note that
"gnupg" is a special name which is replaced by the actual
package implementing this version of GnuPG. For this name it is also not
required to specify a version because gpgconf takes its own version
in this case.
- iversion
- The currently installed version or an empty string. The
value is taken from the command line argument but may be provided by gpg
if not given.
- status
- The status of the software package according to this
table:
- -
- No information available. This is either because no current
version has been specified or due to an error.
- ?
- The given name is not known in the online database.
- u
- An update of the software is available.
- c
- The installed version of the software is current.
- n
- The installed version is already newer than the released
version.
- urgency
- If the value (the empty string should be considered as
zero) is greater than zero an important update is available.
- error
- This returns an gpg-error error code to distinguish
between various failure modes.
- filedate
- This gives the date of the file with the version numbers in
standard ISO format ( yyyymmddThhmmss). The date has been extracted
by dirmngr from the signature of the file.
- verified
- This gives the date in ISO format the file was downloaded.
This value can be used to evaluate the freshness of the information.
- version
- This returns the version string for the requested software
from the file.
- reldate
- This returns the release date in ISO format.
- size
- This returns the size of the package as decimal number of
bytes.
- hash
- This returns a hexified SHA-2 hash of the package.
More fields may be added in future to the output.
- /etc/gnupg/gpgconf.conf
-
If this file exists, it is processed as a global configuration file.
This is a legacy mechanism which should not be used tigether with
the modern global per component configuration files. A commented
example can be found in the ‘ examples’ directory of
the
distribution.
- GNUPGHOME/swdb.lst
-
A file with current software versions. dirmngr creates
this file on demand from an online resource.
gpg(1),
gpgsm(1),
gpg-agent(1),
scdaemon(1),
dirmngr(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
should give you access to the complete manual including a menu structure and an
index.