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 GnuPG, 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 allows to
display 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-defaults
- Update all configuration files with values taken from the
global configuration file (usually ‘
/etc/gnupg/gpgconf.conf’).
- --list-dirs
- 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.
- --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.
- --reload [component]
- 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.
OPTIONS¶
The following options may be used:
- -v
- --verbose
- Outputs additional information while running. Specifically,
this extends numerical field values by human-readable descriptions.
- -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.
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 programs 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 argument
--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 argument
--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 argument
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.
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 localised 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¶
Sometimes it is useful for applications to look at the global options file
‘
gpgconf.conf’. 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:flags: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.
FILES¶
- /etc/gnupg/gpgconf.conf
-
If this file exists, it is processed as a global configuration file.
A commented example can be found in the ‘ examples’
directory of
the distribution.
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
should give you access to the complete manual including a menu structure and an
index.