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.
The command --list-components will list all components that
can be configured with gpgconf. Usually, one component will
correspond to one GnuPG-related program and contain the options of that
program's configuration file that can be modified using gpgconf.
However, this is not necessarily the case. A component might also be a group
of selected options from several programs, or contain entirely virtual
options that have a special effect rather than changing exactly one option
in one configuration file.
A component is a set of configuration options that semantically
belong together. Furthermore, several changes to a component can be made in
an atomic way with a single operation. The GUI could for example provide a
menu with one entry for each component, or a window with one tabulator sheet
per component.
The command --list-components lists all available
components, one per line. The format of each line is:
name:description:pgmname:
- name
- This field contains a name tag of the component. The name tag is used to
specify the component in all communication with gpgconf. The name
tag is to be used verbatim. It is thus not in any escaped format.
- description
- The string in this field contains a human-readable description of
the component. It can be displayed to the user of the GUI for
informational purposes. It is percent-escaped and localized.
- pgmname
- The string in this field contains the absolute name of the
program's file. It can be used to unambiguously invoke that program. It is
percent-escaped.
Example:
$ gpgconf --list-components
gpg:GPG for OpenPGP:/usr/local/bin/gpg2:
gpg-agent:GPG Agent:/usr/local/bin/gpg-agent:
scdaemon:Smartcard Daemon:/usr/local/bin/scdaemon:
gpgsm:GPG for S/MIME:/usr/local/bin/gpgsm:
dirmngr:Directory Manager:/usr/local/bin/dirmngr:
The command --check-programs is similar to
--list-components but works on backend programs and not on
components. It runs each program to test whether it is installed and
runnable. This also includes a syntax check of all config file options of
the program.
The command --check-programs lists all available programs,
one per line. The format of each line is:
name:description:pgmname:avail:okay:cfgfile:line:error:
- name
- This field contains a name tag of the program which is identical to the
name of the component. The name tag is to be used verbatim. It is
thus not in any escaped format. This field may be empty to indicate a
continuation of error descriptions for the last name. The description and
pgmname fields are then also empty.
- description
- The string in this field contains a human-readable description of
the component. It can be displayed to the user of the GUI for
informational purposes. It is percent-escaped and localized.
- pgmname
- The string in this field contains the absolute name of the
program's file. It can be used to unambiguously invoke that program. It is
percent-escaped.
- avail
- The boolean value in this field indicates whether the program is
installed and runnable.
- okay
- The boolean value in this field indicates whether the program's
config file is syntactically okay.
- cfgfile
- If an error occurred in the configuration file (as indicated by a false
value in the field okay), this field has the name of the failing
configuration file. It is percent-escaped.
- line
- If an error occurred in the configuration file, this field has the line
number of the failing statement in the configuration file. It is an
unsigned number.
- error
- If an error occurred in the configuration file, this field has the error
text of the failing statement in the configuration file. It is
percent-escaped and localized.
In the following example the dirmngr is not runnable and
the configuration file of scdaemon is not okay.
$ gpgconf --check-programs
gpg:GPG for OpenPGP:/usr/local/bin/gpg2:1:1:
gpg-agent:GPG Agent:/usr/local/bin/gpg-agent:1:1:
scdaemon:Smartcard Daemon:/usr/local/bin/scdaemon:1:0:
gpgsm:GPG for S/MIME:/usr/local/bin/gpgsm:1:1:
dirmngr:Directory Manager:/usr/local/bin/dirmngr:0:0:
The command configuration file in the same manner as
--check-programs, but only for the component component.
Every component contains one or more options. Options may be
gathered into option groups to allow the GUI to give visual hints to the
user about which options are related.
The command lists all options (and the groups they belong
to) in the component component, one per line. component must
be the string in the field name in the output of the
--list-components command.
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:
Complex types:
- pathname
(32)
- A string that describes the pathname of a file. The file does not
necessarily need to exist.
- ldap server
(33)
- A string that describes an LDAP server in the format:
hostname:port:username:password:base_dn
- key fingerprint
(34)
- A string with a 40 digit fingerprint specifying a certificate.
- pub key (35)
- A string that describes a certificate by user ID, key ID or
fingerprint.
- sec key (36)
- A string that describes a certificate with a key by user ID, key ID
or fingerprint.
- alias list
(37)
- A string that describes an alias list, like the one used with gpg's
group option. The list consists of a key, an equal sign and space
separated values.
More types will be added in the future. Please see the
alt-type field for information on how to cope with unknown types.
- alt-type
- This field is identical to type, except that only the types
0 to 31 are allowed. The GUI is expected to present the user
the option in the format specified by type. But if the argument
type type is not supported by the GUI, it can still display the
option in the more generic basic type alt-type. The GUI must
support all the defined basic types to be able to display all options.
More basic types may be added in future versions. If the GUI encounters a
basic type it doesn't support, it should report an error and abort the
operation.
- argname
- This field is only defined for options with an argument type type
that is not 0. In this case it may contain a percent-escaped
and localized string that gives a short name for the argument. The
field may also be empty, though, in which case a short name is not known.
- default
- This field is defined only for options for which the default or
default desc flag is set. If the default flag is set, its
format is that of an option argument (see: [Format conventions],
for details). If the default value is empty, then no default is known.
Otherwise, the value specifies the default value for this option. If the
default desc flag is set, the field is either empty or contains a
description of the effect if the option is not given.
- argdef
- This field is defined only for options for which the optional
arg flag is set. If the no arg desc flag is not set, its
format is that of an option argument (see: [Format conventions],
for details). If the default value is empty, then no default is known.
Otherwise, the value specifies the default argument for this option. If
the no arg desc flag is set, the field is either empty or contains
a description of the effect of this option if no argument is given.
- value
- This field is defined only for options. Its format is that of an option
argument. If it is empty, then the option is not explicitly set in the
current configuration, and the default applies (if any). Otherwise, it
contains the current value of the option. Note that this field is also
meaningful if the option itself does not take a real argument (in this
case, it contains the number of times the option appears).
The command to change the options of the component
component to the specified values. component must be the
string in the field name in the output of the
--list-components command. You have to provide the options that shall
be changed in the following format on standard input:
name:flags:new-value
- name
- This is the name of the option to change. name must be the string
in the field name in the output of the --list-options
command.
- flags
- The flags field contains an unsigned number. Its value is the
OR-wise combination of the following flag values:
- default (16)
- If this flag is set, the option is deleted and the default value is used
instead (if applicable).
- new-value
- The new value for the option. This field is only defined if the
default flag is not set. The format is that of an option
argument. If it is empty (or the field is omitted), the default
argument is used (only allowed if the argument is optional for this
option). Otherwise, the option will be set to the specified value.
The output of the command is the same as that of
--check-options for the modified configuration file.
Examples:
To set the force option, which is of basic type none
(0):
$ echo 'force:0:1' | gpgconf --change-options dirmngr
To delete the force option:
$ echo 'force:16:' | gpgconf --change-options dirmngr
The --runtime option can influence when the changes take
effect.
Some legacy applications look at the global configuration file for
the gpgconf tool itself; this is the file
‘gpgconf.conf’. Modern applications should not use it
but use per component global configuration files which are more flexible
than the ‘gpgconf.conf’. Using both files is not
suggested.
The colon separated listing format is record oriented and uses the
first field to identify the record type:
- k
- This describes a key record to start the definition of a new ruleset for a
user/group. The format of a key record is:
k:user:group:
- user
- This is the user field of the key. It is percent escaped. See the
definition of the gpgconf.conf format for details.
- group
- This is the group field of the key. It is percent escaped.
- r
- This describes a rule record. All rule records up to the next key record
make up a rule set for that key. The format of a rule record is:
r:::component:option:flag:value:
- component
- This is the component part of a rule. It is a plain string.
- option
- This is the option part of a rule. It is a plain string.
- flag
- This is the flags part of a rule. There may be only one flag per rule but
by using the same component and option, several flags may be assigned to
an option. It is a plain string.
- value
- This is the optional value for the option. It is a percent escaped string
with a single quotation mark to indicate a string. The quotation mark is
only required to distinguish between no value specified and an empty
string.
Unknown record types should be ignored. Note that there is
intentionally no feature to change the global option file through
gpgconf.
The GnuPG Project operates a server to query the current versions
of software packages related to GnuPG. gpgconf can be used to access
this online database. To allow for offline operations, this feature works by
having dirmngr download a file from
https://versions.gnupg.org, checking the signature of that file and
storing the file in the GnuPG home directory. If gpgconf is used and
dirmngr is running, it may ask dirmngr to refresh that file
before itself uses the file.
The command --query-swdb returns information for the given
package in a colon delimited format:
- name
- This is the name of the package as requested. Note that "gnupg"
is a special name which is replaced by the actual package implementing
this version of GnuPG. For this name it is also not required to specify a
version because gpgconf takes its own version in this case.
- iversion
- The currently installed version or an empty string. The value is taken
from the command line argument but may be provided by gpg if not given.
- status
- The status of the software package according to this table:
- -
- No information available. This is either because no current version has
been specified or due to an error.
- ?
- The given name is not known in the online database.
- u
- An update of the software is available.
- c
- The installed version of the software is current.
- n
- The installed version is already newer than the released version.
- urgency
- If the value (the empty string should be considered as zero) is greater
than zero an important update is available.
- error
- This returns an gpg-error error code to distinguish between various
failure modes.
- filedate
- This gives the date of the file with the version numbers in standard ISO
format (yyyymmddThhmmss). The date has been extracted by
dirmngr from the signature of the file.
- verified
- This gives the date in ISO format the file was downloaded. This value can
be used to evaluate the freshness of the information.
- version
- This returns the version string for the requested software from the file.
- reldate
- This returns the release date in ISO format.
- size
- This returns the size of the package as decimal number of bytes.
- hash
- This returns a hexified SHA-2 hash of the package.
More fields may be added in future to the output.
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.