gpgcompose(1)

📦 version 2.2.40, in debian bookworm, ubuntu jammy

💖 gpgcompose(1) — General Commands Manual 💖

okay bestie, so the man page name is gpgcompose and it lives in the General Commands Manual section. let's get into it 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

gpgcompose — Generate a stream of OpenPGP packets 💅

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

gpgcompose [[OPTION [ARGS]] ... ]

gpgcompose --help

gpgcompose OPTION --help

like, that's the whole shape of it. options and args, help, or help for one specific option. simple. iconic. ✨

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so gpgcompose generates a stream of OpenPGP packets, and not just the flat boring kind — some of them can have other nested packets inside sitting within a layer of encryption. layers, bestie. it's giving onions but make it cryptography. 🧅✨

ngl, the syntax on the command line isn't stable enough to document currently — like, it's still in its messy era and nobody wants to write down something that's gonna change. but!! you can still find additional hints and examples from the command line by using --help. so go ask it directly, it'll tell you. 💅

fr fr, --help is your bestie here. don't skip it.

🔥 EXTERNAL DEPENDENCIES 🔥

big important thing: gpgcompose is not capable of performing secret key operations on its own. it does not have the keys, it does not have the juice. 🙈

so the creation of any OpenPGP object that requires secret key operations — like, for example, --signature — will need to speak to an already-running gpg-agent. so make sure that thing is up and running first, bestie, or nothing's happening. no agent, no signature. periodt. 💀

🦋 FILES 🦋

occasionally, gpgcompose will need to look up existing public keys for reference — for example, --public-key. when it does, here's where it goes looking:

  • ~/.gnupg/keyring.kbx 👑
  • $GNUPGHOME/keyring.kbx — if that variable is set

so it's the one or the other, and the env var wins when it's there. lowkey clean. ✨

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

go read them, they're the supporting cast and they ate. 💜

👑 AUTHOR 👑

gpgcompose is copyright (C) 2016, g10 Code GmbH. 🫶

this manpage was written by Daniel Kahn Gillmor <dkg@fifthhorseman.net>. thank you for your service, legend. 🎀

and that's the whole vibe check, bestie — this page is from June 2017 and it's gpgcompose(1), sitting in the General Commands Manual. now go make some packets, you absolute main character. 💅✨🦋

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