Provided by: gnupg1_1.4.23-2_amd64 bug

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
       implementation.

       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
       violation 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
       depending on the type of file it is given as input (an encrypted message is  decrypted,  a
       signature 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
              abbreviate 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
              abbreviate 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
              signature.   Clear  text  signatures may modify end-of-line whitespace for platform
              independence 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 AES128, 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
              operation, as it never writes to the filename which is included in the file and  it
              rejects files which don't begin with an encrypted message.

       --verify
              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
              remaining files make 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
              nonRevocable signature (see the --edit-key command "nrsign"), "P" for  a  signature
              that  contains  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
              fingerprint.  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
              deletion of multiple keys.

       --delete-secret-key name
              Remove  key  from  the  secret  keyring. In batch mode the key must be specified by
              fingerprint.

       --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
              keyserver. 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
              written 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
              implementations 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.
              Calling 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
              processing 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.
              Example:
                  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
              second 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 the 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
                     deselect 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
                     information of the key again, together with its fingerprint and asks whether
                     it  should be signed. This question is repeated for all users specified with
                     -u.

              lsign  Same as "sign" but the  signature  is  marked  as  non-exportable  and  will
                     therefore  never be used by others. This may be used to make keys valid only
                     in the local environment.

              nrsign Same as "sign"  but  the  signature  is  marked  as  non-revocable  and  can
                     therefore 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"
                     command). 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
                     generated.

              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
                     keyserver).  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
                     preferences, 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
                     somewhere.

              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
                     command  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
                     expiration  time  of this subkey will be changed. With no selection, the key
                     expiration of the primary key is changed.

              trust  Change the owner  trust  value  for  the  key.  This  updates  the  trust-db
                     immediately 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:
                     "sensitive".  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
              primary  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
              subcommand "sign" from --edit.

       --lsign-key name
              Signs  a  public key with your secret key but marks it as non-exportable. This is a
              shortcut version of the subcommand "lsign" from --edit-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
              several 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
              signature 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=encryption,  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
                     listings. 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
                     signature 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
                     verification 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
                     validation. 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\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 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 falling 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
              informational 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
              specified 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
              compressed 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
              output 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"
              verification, where you sign the key of a pseudonymous user.

              2 means you did casual verification of the key. For example, this could  mean  that
              you verified 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
              passport)  that  the  name  of the key owner matches the name in the user ID on the
              key, and finally that you verified (by exchange of email) that the email address on
              the key belongs to the key owner.

              Note  that  the examples given above for levels 2 and 3 are just that: examples. In
              the end, it is up to you to decide just what "casual" and "extensive" mean to you.

              This option defaults to 0 (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
                     database.

              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
                     signature  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@example.com" form), and
              there are no user@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
                     keyservers to use.  If this fails, attempt to locate the key using  the  PGP
                     Universal 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 the user 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
                     meaningless.  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
                     keyservers.

              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
                     preferred  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
                     reading the temporary files.

              verbose
                     Tell the keyserver helper program to be more verbose.  This  option  can  be
                     repeated multiple times to increase the verbosity level.

              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
              countermeasure against certain attacks.  Old applications don't understand this new
              format, so this option may be used to switch back to the old behaviour. Using  this
              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
              better 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
              This options is obsolete.  It has no function.

       --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
              consuming 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.   Note,
              that  the  tool  gpg-preset-passphrase, which comes with GnuPG-2, cannot be used to
              preset a passphrase for this version of GnuPG.

       --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
              environments,  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
              operations.

       --limit-card-insert-tries n
              With n greater than 0 the number of prompts  asking  to  insert  a  smartcard  gets
              limited  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
              infinitum 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
              authoritative,  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
              permissions 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
              subtle  attack  against  subkeys  that  can  sign.   Defaults  to  --require-cross-
              certification 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
              incompatible actions. As the name implies, this option is for experts only. If  you
              don't  fully  understand  the  implications of what it allows you to do, leave this
              off. --no-expert 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
              disabled 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
              single 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
              arguments.

       --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.

   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
              processing a file. Since OpenPGP supports various  levels  of  compression,  it  is
              possible 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
                     useful unless a shared keyring scheme is being used.  Defaults to no.

              keep-ownertrust
                     Normally possible still existing ownertrust values of a key are cleared if a
                     key is imported.  This is in general desirable so that  a  formerly  deleted
                     key  does  not automatically gain an ownertrust values merely due to import.
                     On the other hand it is sometimes necessary to re-import a  trusted  set  of
                     keys  again  but  keeping  already  assigned ownertrust values.  This can be
                     achieved by using this option.

              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
                     running 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
                     useful 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
                     running  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
              communicating 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
              versions 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
              preferences, 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
              encryption 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
              preferences, 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
              preferences, 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  AES128.  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
              algorithm 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
              baseline.

              This option implies --rfc1991 --disable-mdc --no-force-v4-certs
               --escape-from-lines  --force-v3-sigs --allow-weak-digest-algos
               --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
              understand 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
                     keyword.

              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.

       --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
              performance 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.
              --comment  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 signature.

       --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, 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 (default) 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@domain.example.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
              (certifications). --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
              signature, "%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
              signature, "%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 (certification), 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 enables overwriting 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
              compression  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 examine 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
              decompressing. 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-compress-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
              program  with the command --version yields a list of supported algorithms. Be aware
              that  if  you  choose  an  algorithm  that  GnuPG  supports   but   other   OpenPGP
              implementations  do not, then some users will not be able to use the key signatures
              you make, or quite possibly your entire key.

       --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
              receiving 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
              useful 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
              supplied. 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-
              conflict 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.

       --allow-weak-digest-algos
              Signatures  made  with  known-weak  digest algorithms are normally rejected with an
              ``invalid digest algorithm'' message.   This  option  allows  the  verification  of
              signatures  made  with  such  weak  algorithms.   MD5  is the only digest algorithm
              considered weak  by  default.   See  also  --weak-digest  to  reject  other  digest
              algorithms.

       --weak-digest name
              Treat  the  specified  digest algorithm as weak.  Signatures made over weak digests
              algorithms are normally rejected. This option can be  supplied  multiple  times  if
              multiple  algorithms should be considered weak.  See also --allow-weak-digest-algos
              to disable rejection of weak digests.  MD5 is always considered weak, and does  not
              need to be listed explicitly.

       --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
              alternate 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
              information given in the listings. By using this options  they  can  get  a  faster
              listing.  The exact behaviour of this option may change in future versions.  If you
              are missing 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
              deprecated.

       --show-photos
       --no-show-photos
              Causes  --list-keys,  --list-sigs,  --list-public-keys,   --list-secret-keys,   and
              verifying 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
              verifying  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
              prefix.  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
              certificates.

         =Heinrich Heine <heinrichh@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@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
       versions  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
              suggested 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
              language 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
       operating 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.