Working with GnuPG
GnuPG, the GNU Privacy Guard is a complete implementation of the OpenPGP standard. It allows you to generate and manage your own GnuPG key, and is tightly integrated to many e-mail clients, libraries, and many other applications.
Ubuntu 18.04 includes both gpg and gpg2 . However, Evolution and the "Password and Keys" app (also known as "seahorse") only work with gpg2 .
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Create Key
The following command will guide you though the process of creating a new key:
gpg2 --full-generate-key
Follow the instructions and set a limited duration for the new key, for example one or two years. And remember the password!
Import Keys from Other Users
You can find the keys corresponding to your colleagues with this command:
gpg2 --search email@address`
Once found, use the gpg2 --recv-keys ABCDEF01
command to add it to your keychain.
Exporting Keys for Backup
You should export your key and store it safely, for example in your password manager.
List your keys:
$ gpg2 --list-keys
Export your keys as follows:
$ gpg2 --output mygpgkey_pub.gpg --armor --export ABCDFE01
$ gpg2 --output mygpgkey_sec.gpg --armor --export-secret-key ABCDFE01
This also works:
$ gpg2 --armor --export you@example.com > mykey.asc
The resulting file can be safely imported into other applications, for example ProtonMail or GitLab. |
Using your Key
Check these related pages for more information about how to use your newly created key: