GPGCONF(1) GNU Privacy Guard 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 graphi‐
cal 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 inconsis‐
tent 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 gpg‐
conf. 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
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.
--kill [component]
Kill the given component. Components which support killing are gpg-agent and scdaemon. Components
which don't support reloading are ignored. Note that as of now reload and kill have the same effect
for scdaemon.
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.
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 for‐
mat.
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 unambigu‐
ously 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 compo‐
nents. 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.
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
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.
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 con‐
sists 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
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 applica‐
ble).
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.
Listing global options
Sometimes it is useful for applications to look at the global options file ‘gpgconf.conf’. The colon sepa‐
rated 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 gpg‐
conf.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 quota‐
tion 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
info gnupg
should give you access to the complete manual including a menu structure and an index.
GnuPG 2.0.22 2016-11-05 GPGCONF(1)
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