GNOME-KEYRING-DAEM(1)

✨ GNOME-KEYRING-DAEM ✨

okay bestie, you found the manual page for gnome-keyring-daemon — yes, section 1 of the user commands, the one and only gnome-keyring daemon 💅. Sit down, this one's actually so good.

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🌸 NAME 🌸

gnome-keyring-daemon — the gnome-keyring daemon, aka your passwords' ✨main character era✨

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

gnome-keyring-daemon [OPTION...]

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so like,, the gnome-keyring-daemon is a service that stores your passwords and secrets 🔐. and ngl it's not the kind of thing you boot up yourself — it's normally started automatically when a user logs into a desktop session. it just appears, like a fairy godmother but for credentials 🧚

it implements the DBus Secret Service API, which means you can pull up tools like seahorse or secret-tool and talk to it directly, and they'll understand each other perfectly, no cap 🫶

the daemon also implements a GnuPG and SSH agent, and both of those automatically load the user's keys and prompt for passwords when necessary. so yeah, it's carrying the whole session on its back, lowkey iconic 👑

and here's the part you need to know: the daemon will print out various environment variables which should be set in the user's environment, in order to interact with the daemon. so when you see it spewing env vars at you, that's not a glitch, that's the assignment 📝

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⭐ OPTIONS ⭐

the various startup arguments below can be used:

• -c, --components=ssh,secrets,pkcs11 — ask the daemon to only initialize certain components, girl. valid components are ssh, secrets, pkcs11. by default all components are initialized, so if you say nothing it does everything ✨
• -C, --control-directory=/path/to/directory — use this directory for creating communication sockets 🧦. by default a temporary directory is automatically created for you, no prep needed.
• -d, --daemonize — run as a real daemon, disconnected from the terminal. it's giving independent, it's giving no strings attached 💅
• -f, --foreground — run in the foreground, and do not fork or become a daemon. it stays right here with you, holding your hand.
• -l, --login — this argument tells the daemon it is being run by PAM. it reads all of stdin (including any newlines) as a login password and does not complete actual initialization. so it's like, half-baked on purpose bestie, that's the point.

the daemon should later be initialized with a gnome-keyring-daemon --start invocation. finish the job later, we're not rushing.

this option implies --unlock. and — important — it may not be used together with either the --replace or --start arguments. pick a lane 🚫

• -r, --replace — try to replace a running keyring daemon, and assume its environment variables. a successful replacement depends on the GNOME_KEYRING_CONTROL environment variable being set by an earlier daemon. so if that var isn't there, it's not happening 💀

this option may not be used together with either the --login or --start arguments.

• -s, --start — connect to an already running daemon and initialize it. this is often used to complete initialization of a daemon that was started by PAM using the --login argument. it's the sequel 🎬

this option may not be used together with either the --login or --replace arguments.

• --unlock — read a password from stdin, and use it to unlock the login keyring or create it if the login keyring does not exist. open sesame but make it secure 🗝️
• -V, --version — print out the gnome-keyring version and then exit. quick lil flex, then she's gone 👋
• -h, --help — show help options and exit. the classic, the beloved.

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🙈 BUGS 🙈

please send bug reports to either the distribution bug tracker or the upstream bug tracker at https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-keyring/-/issues/

(and pls be nice, they're doing their best 🫶)

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

secret-tool(1), seahorse(1)

further details available in the gnome-keyring online documentation at https://wiki.gnome.org/GnomeKeyring and in the secret-service online documentation at http://standards.freedesktop.org/secret-service/

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heads up bestie: --login, --replace and --start are all mutually exclusive in different combos — --login can't go with --replace or --start, --replace can't go with --login or --start, and --start can't go with --login or --replace. don't try to stack them, fr fr 😭

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and that's the whole page bb 🎀 this one's from the gnome-keyring source and lives in section GNOME-KEYRING-DAEM(1) of the user commands — go forth and store your secrets responsibly 💖🌸✨