NAME¶
gpg-connect-agent - Communicate with a running agent
SYNOPSIS¶
gpg-connect-agent [
options]
[commands]
DESCRIPTION¶
The
gpg-connect-agent is a utility to communicate with a running
gpg-agent. It is useful to check out the commands gpg-agent provides
using the Assuan interface. It might also be useful for scripting simple
applications. Input is expected at stdin and out put gets printed to stdout.
It is very similar to running
gpg-agent in server mode; but here we
connect to a running instance.
The following options may be used:
- -v
- --verbose
- Output additional information while running.
- -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 W32 systems) by means of
the Registry entry HKCU\Software\GNU\GnuPG:HomeDir.
- --agent-program file
- Specify the agent program to be started if none is running.
- -S
- --raw-socket name
- Connect to socket name assuming this is an Assuan
style server. Do not run any special initializations or environment
checks. This may be used to directly connect to any Assuan style socket
server.
- -E
- --exec
- Take the rest of the command line as a program and it's
arguments and execute it as an assuan server. Here is how you would run
gpgsm:
gpg-connect-agent --exec gpgsm --server
Note that you may not use options on the command line in this case.
- --no-ext-connect
- When using -S or --exec,
gpg-connect-agent connects to the assuan server in extended mode to
allow descriptor passing. This option makes it use the old mode.
- --run file
- Run the commands from file at startup and then
continue with the regular input method. Note, that commands given on the
command line are executed after this file.
- -s
- --subst
- Run the command /subst at startup.
- --hex
- Print data lines in a hex format and the ASCII
representation of non-control characters.
- --decode
- Decode data lines. That is to remove percent escapes but
make sure that a new line always starts with a D and a space.
CONTROL COMMANDS¶
While reading Assuan commands, gpg-agent also allows a few special commands to
control its operation. These control commands all start with a slash (
/).
- /echo args
- Just print args.
- /let name value
- Set the variable name to value. Variables are
only substituted on the input if the /subst has been used.
Variables are referenced by prefixing the name with a dollar sign and
optionally include the name in curly braces. The rules for a valid name
are identically to those of the standard bourne shell. This is not yet
enforced but may be in the future. When used with curly braces no leading
or trailing white space is allowed.
If a variable is not found, it is searched in the environment and if found
copied to the table of variables.
Variable functions are available: The name of the function must be followed
by at least one space and the at least one argument. The following
functions are available:
- get
- Return a value described by the argument. Available
arguments are:
- cwd
- The current working directory.
- homedir
- The gnupg homedir.
- sysconfdir
- GnuPG's system configuration directory.
- bindir
- GnuPG's binary directory.
- libdir
- GnuPG's library directory.
- libexecdir
- GnuPG's library directory for executable files.
- datadir
- GnuPG's data directory.
- serverpid
- The PID of the current server. Command /serverpid
must have been given to return a useful value.
- unescape args
- Remove C-style escapes from args. Note that
\0 and \x00 terminate the returned string implicitly. The
string to be converted are the entire arguments right behind the
delimiting space of the function name.
- unpercent args
- unpercent+ args
- Remove percent style escaping from args. Note that
%00 terminates the string implicitly. The string to be converted
are the entire arguments right behind the delimiting space of the function
name. unpercent+ also maps plus signs to a spaces.
- percent args
- percent+ args
- Escape the args using percent style escaping. Tabs,
formfeeds, linefeeds, carriage returns and colons are escaped.
percent+ also maps spaces to plus signs.
- errcode arg
- errsource arg
- errstring arg
- Assume arg is an integer and evaluate it using
strtol. Return the gpg-error error code, error source or a
formatted string with the error code and error source.
- +
- -
- *
- /
- %
- Evaluate all arguments as long integers using strtol
and apply this operator. A division by zero yields an empty string.
- !
- |
- &
- Evaluate all arguments as long integers using strtol
and apply the logical oeprators NOT, OR or AND. The NOT operator works on
the last argument only.
- /definq name var
- Use content of the variable var for inquiries with
name. name may be an asterisk (*) to match any
inquiry.
- /definqfile name file
- Use content of file for inquiries with name.
name may be an asterisk (*) to match any inquiry.
- /definqprog name prog
- Run prog for inquiries matching name and pass
the entire line to it as command line arguments.
- /datafile name
- Write all data lines from the server to the file
name. The file is opened for writing and created if it does not
exists. An existing file is first truncated to 0. The data written to the
file fully decoded. Using a single dash for name writes to stdout.
The file is kept open until a new file is set using this command or this
command is used without an argument.
- /showdef
- Print all definitions
- /cleardef
- Delete all definitions
- /sendfd file mode
- Open file in mode (which needs to be a valid
fopen mode string) and send the file descriptor to the server. This
is usually followed by a command like INPUT FD to set the input
source for other commands.
- /recvfd
- Not yet implemented.
- /open var file [mode]
- Open file and assign the file descriptor to
var. Warning: This command is experimental and might change in
future versions.
- /close fd
- Close the file descriptor fd. Warning: This command
is experimental and might change in future versions.
- /showopen
- Show a list of open files.
- /serverpid
- Send the Assuan command GETINFO pid to the server
and store the returned PID for internal purposes.
- /sleep
- Sleep for a second.
- /hex
- /nohex
- Same as the command line option --hex.
- /decode
- /nodecode
- Same as the command line option --decode.
- /subst
- /nosubst
- Enable and disable variable substitution. It defaults to
disabled unless the command line option --subst has been used. If
/subst as been enabled once, leading whitespace is removed from input
lines which makes scripts easier to read.
- /while condition
- /end
- These commands provide a way for executing loops. All lines
between the while and the corresponding end are executed as
long as the evaluation of condition yields a non-zero value or is
the string true or yes. The evaluation is done by passing
condition to the strtol function. Example:
/subst
/let i 3
/while $i
/echo loop couter is $i
/let i ${- $i 1}
/end
- /if condition
- /end
- These commands provide a way for conditional execution. All
lines between the if and the corresponding end are executed
only if the evaluation of condition yields a non-zero value or is
the string true or yes. The evaluation is done by passing
condition to the strtol function.
- /run file
- Run commands from file.
- /bye
- Terminate the connection and the program
- /help
- Print a list of available control commands.
SEE ALSO¶
gpg-agent(1),
scdaemon(1)
The full documentation for this tool is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If GnuPG
and the info program are properly installed at your site, the command
should give you access to the complete manual including a menu structure and an
index.