GPGCONF(1) GNU Privacy Guard 2.4 GPGCONF(1)
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 configuration
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.
--unlock name
--lock name
Remove a stale lock file hold for ‘file’. The file is expected
in the current GnuPG home directory. This command is usually
not required because GnuPG is able to detect and remove stale
lock files. Before using the command make sure that the file
protected by the lock file is actually not in use. The lock
command may be used to lock an accidentally removed lock file.
Note that the commands have no effect on Windows because the
mere existence of a lock file does not mean that the lock is
active.
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.
--chuid uid
Change the current user to uid which may either be a number or a
name. This can be used from the root account to get information
on the GnuPG environment of the specified user or to start or
kill daemons. If uid is not the current UID a standard PATH is
set and the envvar GNUPGHOME is unset. To override the latter
the option --homedir can be used. This option has currently no
effect on Windows.
-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.
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
gpgconf.ctl
Under Unix ‘gpgconf.ctl’ may be used to change some of the
compiled in directories where the GnuPG components are
expected. This
file is expected in the same directory as ‘gpgconf’. The
physical installation directories are evaluated and no
symlinks.
Blank lines and lines starting with pound sign are ignored in
the
file. The keywords must be followed by optional white space,
an equal
sign, optional white space, and the value. Environment
variables are
substituted in standard shell manner, the final value must
start with
a slash, trailing slashes are stripped. Valid keywords are
rootdir, sysconfdir, socketdir, and
.enable. No errors are printed for unknown keywords. The
.enable keyword is special: if the keyword is used and its
value evaluates to true the entire file is ignored.
Under Windows this file is used to install GnuPG as a portable
application. An empty file named ‘gpgconf.ctl’ is expected 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/usr/var/cache/gnupg’ for internal cache 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 together
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.
GnuPG 2.4.8 2025-02-19 GPGCONF(1)
\- Modify .gnupg home directories