Provided by: gpgconf_2.2.40-1.1ubuntu1_amd64 bug

NAME

       gpgconf - Modify .gnupg home directories

SYNOPSIS

       gpgconf [options] --list-components
       gpgconf [options] --list-options component
       gpgconf [options] --change-options component

DESCRIPTION

       The  gpgconf  is  a  utility  to  automatically  and  reasonable  safely  query and modify
       configuration files in the ‘.gnupg’ home directory.  It is  designed  not  to  be  invoked
       manually  by the user, but automatically by graphical user interfaces (GUI). ([Please note
       that currently no locking is done, so concurrent access should be avoided.  There are some
       precautions to avoid corruption with concurrent usage, but results may be inconsistent and
       some changes may get lost.  The stateless  design  makes  it  difficult  to  provide  more
       guarantees.])

       gpgconf  provides  access  to  the  configuration  of  one or more components of the GnuPG
       system.  These components correspond more or less to the programs that exist in the  GnuPG
       framework,  like  GPG,  GPGSM,  DirMngr,  etc.   But  this  is  not  a  strict  one-to-one
       relationship.  Not all configuration  options  are  available  through  gpgconf.   gpgconf
       provides  a generic and abstract method to access the most important configuration options
       that can feasibly be controlled via such a mechanism.

       gpgconf can be used to gather and change the options available in each component, and  can
       also  provide  their default values.  gpgconf will give detailed type information that can
       be used to restrict the user's input without making an attempt to commit the changes.

       gpgconf provides the backend of a configuration editor.  The  configuration  editor  would
       usually  be  a  graphical  user interface program that displays the current options, their
       default values, and allows the user to make changes to the  options.   These  changes  can
       then be made active with gpgconf again.  Such a program that uses gpgconf in this way will
       be called GUI throughout this section.

COMMANDS

       One of the following commands must be given:

       --list-components
              List all components.  This is the default command used if none is specified.

       --check-programs
              List all available backend programs and test whether they are runnable.

       --list-options component
              List all options of the component component.

       --change-options component
              Change the options of the component component.

       --check-options component
              Check the options for the component component.

       --apply-profile file
              Apply the configuration settings listed in file to  the  configuration  files.   If
              file  has  no suffix and no slashes the command first tries to read a file with the
              suffix .prf from the data directory (gpgconf --list-dirs datadir) before  it  reads
              the  file  verbatim.   A  profile  is  divided  into  sections  using the bracketed
              component name.  Each section then  lists  the  option  which  shall  go  into  the
              respective configuration file.

       --apply-defaults
              Update all configuration files with values taken from the global configuration file
              (usually ‘/etc/gnupg/gpgconf.conf’).  Note: This is a legacy mechanism.  Please use
              global configuraion files instead.

       --list-dirs [names]
       -L     Lists  the directories used by gpgconf.  One directory is listed per line, and each
              line consists of a colon-separated list where the first field names  the  directory
              type  (for  example  sysconfdir)  and the second field contains the percent-escaped
              directory.  Although they are not directories, the socket file names used  by  gpg-
              agent  and  dirmngr  are  printed as well.  Note that the socket file names and the
              homedir lines are the default names and they may  be  overridden  by  command  line
              switches.   If  names are given only the directories or file names specified by the
              list names are printed without any escaping.

       --list-config [filename]
              List the global configuration file in a colon separated  format.   If  filename  is
              given, check that file instead.

       --check-config [filename]
              Run  a  syntax check on the global configuration file.  If filename is given, check
              that file instead.

       --query-swdb package_name [version_string]
              Returns the current version for package_name and if version_string is given also an
              indicator  on  whether  an  update is available.  The actual file with the software
              version is automatically  downloaded  and  checked  by  dirmngr.   dirmngr  uses  a
              thresholds to avoid download the file too often and it does this by default only if
              it can be done via Tor.  To force an update of that file this command can be used:

                gpg-connect-agent --dirmngr 'loadswdb --force' /bye

       --reload [component]
       -R     Reload all or the given component. This is basically the same as sending  a  SIGHUP
              to  the  component.  Components which don't support reloading are ignored.  Without
              component or by using "all" for component all  components  which  are  daemons  are
              reloaded.

       --launch [component]
              If  the  component  is  not already running, start it.  component must be a daemon.
              This is in general not required because the system starts these daemons as  needed.
              However,  external  software making direct use of gpg-agent or dirmngr may use this
              command to ensure that they are started.  Using "all" for  component  launches  all
              components which are daemons.

       --kill [component]
       -K     Kill  the  given component that runs as a daemon, including gpg-agent, dirmngr, and
              scdaemon.  A component which does not run as a daemon will be ignored.  Using "all"
              for  component kills all components running as daemons.  Note that as of now reload
              and kill have the same effect for scdaemon.

       --create-socketdir
              Create a directory for sockets below /run/user or /var/run/user.  This  is  command
              is only required if a non default home directory is used and the /run based sockets
              shall be used.  For the default home directory GnUPG creates  a  directory  on  the
              fly.

       --remove-socketdir
              Remove a directory created with command --create-socketdir.

OPTIONS

       The following options may be used:

       -o file
       --output file
              Write output to file.  Default is to write to stdout.

       -v
       --verbose
              Outputs additional information while running.  Specifically, this extends numerical
              field values by human-readable descriptions.

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

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

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

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

       -n
       --dry-run
              Do  not actually change anything.  This is currently only implemented for --change-
              options and can be used for testing purposes.

       -r
       --runtime
              Only used together with --change-options.  If one of the modified  options  can  be
              changed in a running daemon process, signal the running daemon to ask it to reparse
              its configuration file after changing.

              This means that the changes will take  effect  at  run-time,  as  far  as  this  is
              possible.   Otherwise,  they  will  take effect at the next start of the respective
              backend programs.

       --status-fd n
              Write special status strings to the file descriptor n.  This  program  returns  the
              status  messages SUCCESS or FAILURE which are helpful when the caller uses a double
              fork approach and can't easily get the return code of the process.

USAGE

       The command --list-components will  list  all  components  that  can  be  configured  with
       gpgconf.   Usually, one component will correspond to one GnuPG-related program and contain
       the options of that program's configuration file  that  can  be  modified  using  gpgconf.
       However,  this is not necessarily the case.  A component might also be a group of selected
       options from several programs, or contain entirely virtual options  that  have  a  special
       effect rather than changing exactly one option in one configuration file.

       A  component  is  a  set  of  configuration  options  that  semantically  belong together.
       Furthermore, several changes to a component can be made in an atomic  way  with  a  single
       operation.  The GUI could for example provide a menu with one entry for each component, or
       a window with one tabulator sheet per component.

       The command --list-components lists all available components, one per line.  The format of
       each line is:

       name:description:pgmname:

       name   This  field  contains a name tag of the component.  The name tag is used to specify
              the component in all communication with gpgconf.   The  name  tag  is  to  be  used
              verbatim.  It is thus not in any escaped format.

       description
              The  string  in  this field contains a human-readable description of the component.
              It can be displayed to the user of the  GUI  for  informational  purposes.   It  is
              percent-escaped and localized.

       pgmname
              The  string in this field contains the absolute name of the program's file.  It can
              be used to unambiguously invoke that program.  It is percent-escaped.

       Example:
         $ gpgconf --list-components
         gpg:GPG for OpenPGP:/usr/local/bin/gpg2:
         gpg-agent:GPG Agent:/usr/local/bin/gpg-agent:
         scdaemon:Smartcard Daemon:/usr/local/bin/scdaemon:
         gpgsm:GPG for S/MIME:/usr/local/bin/gpgsm:
         dirmngr:Directory Manager:/usr/local/bin/dirmngr:

   Checking programs

       The command --check-programs is similar to --list-components but works on backend programs
       and not on components.  It runs each program to test whether it is installed and runnable.
       This also includes a syntax check of all config file options of the program.

       The command --check-programs lists all available programs, one per line.   The  format  of
       each line is:

       name:description:pgmname:avail:okay:cfgfile:line:error:

       name   This field contains a name tag of the program which is identical to the name of the
              component.  The name tag is to be used verbatim.  It is thus  not  in  any  escaped
              format.   This  field may be empty to indicate a continuation of error descriptions
              for the last name.  The description and pgmname fields are then also empty.

       description
              The string in this field contains a human-readable description  of  the  component.
              It  can  be  displayed  to  the  user of the GUI for informational purposes.  It is
              percent-escaped and localized.

       pgmname
              The string in this field contains the absolute name of the program's file.  It  can
              be used to unambiguously invoke that program.  It is percent-escaped.

       avail  The  boolean  value  in  this  field indicates whether the program is installed and
              runnable.

       okay   The boolean value in this field indicates whether  the  program's  config  file  is
              syntactically okay.

       cfgfile
              If  an  error  occurred in the configuration file (as indicated by a false value in
              the field okay), this field has the name of the failing configuration file.  It  is
              percent-escaped.

       line   If  an  error occurred in the configuration file, this field has the line number of
              the failing statement in the configuration file.  It is an unsigned number.

       error  If an error occurred in the configuration file, this field has the  error  text  of
              the  failing  statement  in  the  configuration  file.   It  is percent-escaped and
              localized.

       In the following example the dirmngr  is  not  runnable  and  the  configuration  file  of
       scdaemon is not okay.

         $ gpgconf --check-programs
         gpg:GPG for OpenPGP:/usr/local/bin/gpg2:1:1:
         gpg-agent:GPG Agent:/usr/local/bin/gpg-agent:1:1:
         scdaemon:Smartcard Daemon:/usr/local/bin/scdaemon:1:0:
         gpgsm:GPG for S/MIME:/usr/local/bin/gpgsm:1:1:
         dirmngr:Directory Manager:/usr/local/bin/dirmngr:0:0:

       The  command  configuration  file in the same manner as --check-programs, but only for the
       component component.

   Listing options

       Every component contains one or more options.  Options may be gathered into option  groups
       to allow the GUI to give visual hints to the user about which options are related.

       The command  lists all options (and the groups they belong to) in the component component,
       one per line.  component must be the string in the field name in the output of the --list-
       components command.

       Take  care  if  system-wide options are used: gpgconf may not be able to properly show the
       options and the listed options may have no actual effect in case the  system-wide  options
       enforced their own settings.

       There  is one line for each option and each group.  First come all options that are not in
       any group.  Then comes a line describing a group.  Then come all options that belong  into
       each  group.   Then  comes  the next group and so on.  There does not need to be any group
       (and in this case the output will stop after the last non-grouped option).

       The format of each line is:

       name:flags:level:description:type:alt-type:argname:default:argdef:value

       name   This field contains a name tag for the group or option.  The name tag  is  used  to
              specify  the group or option in all communication with gpgconf.  The name tag is to
              be used verbatim.  It is thus not in any escaped format.

       flags  The flags field contains an unsigned number.  Its value is the OR-wise  combination
              of the following flag values:

              group (1)
                     If this flag is set, this is a line describing a group and not an option.

       The  following flag values are only defined for options (that is, if the group flag is not
       used).

              optional arg (2)
                     If this flag is set, the argument is optional.  This is never set for type 0
                     (none) options.

              list (4)
                     If this flag is set, the option can be given multiple times.

              runtime (8)
                     If this flag is set, the option can be changed at runtime.

              default (16)
                     If this flag is set, a default value is available.

              default desc (32)
                     If this flag is set, a (runtime) default is available.  This and the default
                     flag are mutually exclusive.

              no arg desc (64)
                     If this flag is set, and the optional arg flag is set, then the option has a
                     special meaning if no argument is given.

              no change (128)
                     If  this  flag  is  set,  gpgconf ignores requests to change the value.  GUI
                     frontends should grey out this option.  Note, that  manual  changes  of  the
                     configuration files are still possible.

       level  This  field  is defined for options and for groups.  It contains an unsigned number
              that specifies the expert  level  under  which  this  group  or  option  should  be
              displayed.   The  following  expert  levels  are  defined  for  options  (they have
              analogous meaning for groups):

              basic (0)
                     This option should always be offered to the user.

              advanced (1)
                     This option may be offered to advanced users.

              expert (2)
                     This option should only be offered to expert users.

              invisible (3)
                     This option should normally never be displayed, not even to expert users.

              internal (4)
                     This option is for internal use only.  Ignore it.

       The level of a group will always be the lowest level of all options it contains.

       description
              This field is defined for options and groups.  The string in this field contains  a
              human-readable description of the option or group.  It can be displayed to the user
              of the GUI for informational purposes.  It is percent-escaped and localized.

       type   This field is only defined for  options.   It  contains  an  unsigned  number  that
              specifies  the  type  of  the  option's  argument, if any.  The following types are
              defined:

              Basic types:

              none (0)
                     No argument allowed.

              string (1)
                     An unformatted string.

              int32 (2)
                     A signed number.

              uint32 (3)
                     An unsigned number.

       Complex types:

              pathname (32)
                     A string that  describes  the  pathname  of  a  file.   The  file  does  not
                     necessarily need to exist.

              ldap server (33)
                     A string that describes an LDAP server in the format:

                     hostname:port:username:password:base_dn

              key fingerprint (34)
                     A string with a 40 digit fingerprint specifying a certificate.

              pub key (35)
                     A string that describes a certificate by user ID, key ID or fingerprint.

              sec key (36)
                     A  string  that  describes  a  certificate  with a key by user ID, key ID or
                     fingerprint.

              alias list (37)
                     A string that describes an alias list, like the one used  with  gpg's  group
                     option.   The  list  consists  of  a  key, an equal sign and space separated
                     values.

       More types will be added in the future.  Please see the alt-type field for information  on
       how to cope with unknown types.

       alt-type
              This  field  is  identical to type, except that only the types 0 to 31 are allowed.
              The GUI is expected to present the user the option in the format specified by type.
              But if the argument type type is not supported by the GUI, it can still display the
              option in the more generic basic type alt-type.   The  GUI  must  support  all  the
              defined  basic  types  to  be able to display all options.  More basic types may be
              added in future versions.  If the GUI encounters a basic type it  doesn't  support,
              it should report an error and abort the operation.

       argname
              This  field  is  only defined for options with an argument type type that is not 0.
              In this case it may contain a percent-escaped and localized  string  that  gives  a
              short  name for the argument.  The field may also be empty, though, in which case a
              short name is not known.

       default
              This field is defined only for options for which the default or default  desc  flag
              is set.  If the default flag is set, its format is that of an option argument (see:
              [Format conventions], for details).  If the default value is empty, then no default
              is  known.   Otherwise,  the value specifies the default value for this option.  If
              the default desc flag is set, the field is either empty or contains  a  description
              of the effect if the option is not given.

       argdef This  field is defined only for options for which the optional arg flag is set.  If
              the no arg desc flag is not set, its format is that of  an  option  argument  (see:
              [Format conventions], for details).  If the default value is empty, then no default
              is known.  Otherwise, the value specifies the default argument for this option.  If
              the no arg desc flag is set, the field is either empty or contains a description of
              the effect of this option if no argument is given.

       value  This field is defined only for options.  Its format is that of an option  argument.
              If it is empty, then the option is not explicitly set in the current configuration,
              and the default applies (if any).  Otherwise, it contains the current value of  the
              option.  Note that this field is also meaningful if the option itself does not take
              a real argument (in this case, it contains the number of times the option appears).

   Changing options

       The command to change the options of the component  component  to  the  specified  values.
       component  must  be  the  string  in the field name in the output of the --list-components
       command.  You have to provide the options that shall be changed in the following format on
       standard input:

       name:flags:new-value

       name   This  is  the  name  of the option to change.  name must be the string in the field
              name in the output of the --list-options command.

       flags  The flags field contains an unsigned number.  Its value is the OR-wise  combination
              of the following flag values:

              default (16)
                     If  this  flag  is  set, the option is deleted and the default value is used
                     instead (if applicable).

       new-value
              The new value for the option.  This field is only defined if the  default  flag  is
              not  set.   The format is that of an option argument.  If it is empty (or the field
              is omitted), the default argument is used (only allowed if the argument is optional
              for this option).  Otherwise, the option will be set to the specified value.

       The  output  of  the  command  is  the  same  as  that of --check-options for the modified
       configuration file.

       Examples:

       To set the force option, which is of basic type none (0):

         $ echo 'force:0:1' | gpgconf --change-options dirmngr

       To delete the force option:

         $ echo 'force:16:' | gpgconf --change-options dirmngr

       The --runtime option can influence when the changes take effect.

   Listing global options

       Some legacy applications look at the  global  configuration  file  for  the  gpgconf  tool
       itself;  this  is  the file ‘gpgconf.conf’.  Modern applications should not use it but use
       per component global configuration files which are more flexible than the  ‘gpgconf.conf’.
       Using both files is not suggested.

       The colon separated listing format is record oriented and uses the first field to identify
       the record type:

       k      This describes a key record to  start  the  definition  of  a  new  ruleset  for  a
              user/group.  The format of a key record is:

                k:user:group:

              user   This  is  the  user  field  of  the  key.   It  is percent escaped.  See the
                     definition of the gpgconf.conf format for details.

              group  This is the group field of the key.  It is percent escaped.

       r      This describes a rule record. All rule records up to the next key record make up  a
              rule set for that key.  The format of a rule record is:

                r:::component:option:flag:value:

              component
                     This is the component part of a rule.  It is a plain string.

              option This is the option part of a rule.  It is a plain string.

              flag   This  is  the flags part of a rule.  There may be only one flag per rule but
                     by using the same component and option, several flags may be assigned to  an
                     option.  It is a plain string.

              value  This  is  the optional value for the option.  It is a percent escaped string
                     with a single quotation mark to indicate a string.  The  quotation  mark  is
                     only required to distinguish between no value specified and an empty string.

       Unknown  record  types  should be ignored.  Note that there is intentionally no feature to
       change the global option file through gpgconf.

   Get and compare software versions.

       The GnuPG Project operates a server to query the current  versions  of  software  packages
       related  to  GnuPG.   gpgconf  can  be  used to access this online database.  To allow for
       offline  operations,  this  feature  works  by  having  dirmngr  download  a   file   from
       https://versions.gnupg.org,  checking  the  signature of that file and storing the file in
       the GnuPG home directory.  If gpgconf is used and dirmngr is running, it may  ask  dirmngr
       to refresh that file before itself uses the file.

       The  command  --query-swdb  returns information for the given package in a colon delimited
       format:

       name   This is the name of the package as requested.  Note that "gnupg" is a special  name
              which  is  replaced  by the actual package implementing this version of GnuPG.  For
              this name it is also not required to specify a version because  gpgconf  takes  its
              own version in this case.

       iversion
              The  currently  installed  version or an empty string.  The value is taken from the
              command line argument but may be provided by gpg if not given.

       status The status of the software package according to this table:

              -      No information available.  This is either because  no  current  version  has
                     been specified or due to an error.

              ?      The given name is not known in the online database.

              u      An update of the software is available.

              c      The installed version of the software is current.

              n      The installed version is already newer than the released version.

       urgency
              If  the  value (the empty string should be considered as zero) is greater than zero
              an important update is available.

       error  This returns an gpg-error error code to distinguish between various failure modes.

       filedate
              This gives the date of the file with the version numbers  in  standard  ISO  format
              (yyyymmddThhmmss).   The  date  has been extracted by dirmngr from the signature of
              the file.

       verified
              This gives the date in ISO format the file was downloaded.  This value can be  used
              to evaluate the freshness of the information.

       version
              This returns the version string for the requested software from the file.

       reldate
              This returns the release date in ISO format.

       size   This returns the size of the package as decimal number of bytes.

       hash   This returns a hexified SHA-2 hash of the package.

       More fields may be added in future to the output.

FILES

       /etc/gnupg/gpgconf.conf
                If this file exists, it is processed as a global configuration file.
                This is a legacy mechanism which should not be used tigether with
                the modern global per component configuration files.  A commented
                example can be found in the ‘examples’ directory of the
                distribution.

       GNUPGHOME/swdb.lst
                A file with current software versions.  dirmngr creates
                this file on demand from an online resource.

SEE ALSO

       gpg(1), gpgsm(1), gpg-agent(1), scdaemon(1), dirmngr(1)

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

         info gnupg

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