--options
file--homedir
dir-v
--verbose
-q
--quiet
--batch
--faked-system-time
epoch--debug-level
levelnone
basic
advanced
expert
guru
How these messages are mapped to the actual debugging flags is not
specified and may change with newer releases of this program. They are
however carefully selected to best aid in debugging.
--debug
flags0 (1)
1 (2)
2 (4)
5 (32)
6 (64)
7 (128)
9 (512)
dbgmd-000*
10 (1024)
12 (4096)
--debug-all
--debug=0xffffffff
--debug-wait
n--no-detach
-s
--sh
-c
--csh
SHELL
which is correct in almost all
cases.
--write-env-file
fileeval $(cat file) eval $(cut -d= -f 1 < file | xargs echo export)
--no-grab
--log-file
fileHKCU\Software\GNU\GnuPG:DefaultLogFile
, if set, is used to specify
the logging output.
--allow-mark-trusted
--no-allow-external-cache
Some desktop environments prefer to unlock all
credentials with one master password and may have installed a Pinentry
which employs an additional external cache to implement such a policy.
By using this option the Pinentry is advised not to make use of such a
cache and instead always ask the user for the requested passphrase.
--ignore-cache-for-signing
--default-cache-ttl
n--default-cache-ttl-ssh
n--max-cache-ttl
n--max-cache-ttl-ssh
n--enforce-passphrase-constraints
--min-passphrase-len
n--min-passphrase-nonalpha
n--check-passphrase-pattern
fileSecurity note: It is known that checking a passphrase against a list of
pattern or even against a complete dictionary is not very effective to
enforce good passphrases. Users will soon figure up ways to bypass such
a policy. A better policy is to educate users on good security
behavior and optionally to run a passphrase cracker regularly on all
users passphrases to catch the very simple ones.
--max-passphrase-days
n--enable-passphrase-history
--pinentry-program
filename--pinentry-touch-file
filename/dev/null
may be used to completely disable this feature. Note
that Pinentry will not create that file, it will only change the
modification and access time.
--scdaemon-program
filename--disable-scdaemon
--use-standard-socket
--no-use-standard-socket
--display
string--ttyname
string--ttytype
string--lc-ctype
string--lc-messages
string--xauthority
string--keep-tty
--keep-display
tty
or X window system's
DISPLAY
variable respectively. This is useful to lock the
pinentry to pop up at the tty
or display you started the agent.
--enable-ssh-support
In this mode of operation, the agent does not only implement the gpg-agent protocol, but also the agent protocol used by OpenSSH (through a separate socket). Consequently, it should be possible to use the gpg-agent as a drop-in replacement for the well known ssh-agent.
SSH Keys, which are to be used through the agent, need to be added to the gpg-agent initially through the ssh-add utility. When a key is added, ssh-add will ask for the password of the provided key file and send the unprotected key material to the agent; this causes the gpg-agent to ask for a passphrase, which is to be used for encrypting the newly received key and storing it in a gpg-agent specific directory.
Once a key has been added to the gpg-agent this way, the gpg-agent will be ready to use the key.
Note: in case the gpg-agent receives a signature request, the user might need to be prompted for a passphrase, which is necessary for decrypting the stored key. Since the ssh-agent protocol does not contain a mechanism for telling the agent on which display/terminal it is running, gpg-agent's ssh-support will use the TTY or X display where gpg-agent has been started. To switch this display to the current one, the following command may be used:
gpg-connect-agent updatestartuptty /bye
Although all GnuPG components try to start the gpg-agent as needed, this is not possible for the ssh support because ssh does not know about it. Thus if no GnuPG tool which accesses the agent has been run, there is no guarantee that ssh is abale to use gpg-agent for authentication. To fix this you may start gpg-agent if needed using this simple command:
gpg-connect-agent /bye
Adding the --verbose shows the progress of starting the agent.
All the long options may also be given in the configuration file after stripping off the two leading dashes.