SQ(1)

💖 SQ-KEY-PASSWORD — ok bestie, let's change that password 💖

no cap, this is the sq manual page for sq-key-password — the little subcommand that gives your secret key material a whole new password (or yeets the password entirely). it lives under User Commands and it's giving main character energy for your keyring's secrets 🔐✨

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

sq key password [OPTIONS]

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so, changing the password protecting secret key material. that's the whole vibe. 💅

your secret key material can be protected by a password, and this subcommand changes it or clears it. both. your call, queen.

to strip the password either use --clear-password or supply a zero-length password when prompted for the new password. (yes, an empty password. it's a choice and we respect it 🫶)

if a key is password protected, and the correct password was not supplied using the --password-file argument, the user is prompted for the password. likewise, if the new password isn't provided, the user is prompted. so basically it will just ask you, like a considerate bestie should 😌

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

💜 Subcommand options 💜

• --cert=FINGERPRINT|KEYID — change the password for the secret key material from the key with the specified fingerprint or key ID. you gotta tell it which key, bestie.
• --cert-email=EMAIL — change the password for the secret key material from the key where a user ID includes the specified email address. matching by email, iconic.
• --cert-file=PATH — change the password for the secret key material from the key read from PATH. reading it from a file, we love a file.
• --cert-userid=USERID — change the password for the secret key material from the key with the specified user ID.
• --clear-password — clear the password protecting the secret key material. poof. gone. no password, just vibes 💀
• --new-password-file=PASSWORD_FILE — file containing password to encrypt the secret key material.

⚠️ heads up bestie: note that the entire key file will be used as the password including any surrounding whitespace like a trailing newline. the WHOLE file. newline included. do not come for me when it doesn't work because of one sneaky \n 😭

• --output=FILE — write to FILE or stdout if omitted.

🌈 Global options 🌈

see sq(1) for a description of the global options. (we're not re-explaining the whole squad here, go read the main page 💖)

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🦋 EXAMPLES 🦋

change the password for all of Alice's keys to the password in the specified file. look at this glow-up:

sq key password --new-password-file password-file.txt --cert \
       EB28F26E2739A4870ECC47726F0073F60FD0CBF0

clear the password protection for all of Alice's keys. bye bye password 👋

sq key password --password-file password-file.txt \
       --clear-password --cert \
       EB28F26E2739A4870ECC47726F0073F60FD0CBF0

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

sq(1), sq-key(1).

for the full documentation see <https://book.sequoia-pgp.org/>. fr fr, go read the book 📖✨

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⭐ VERSION ⭐

1.5.0

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! this lil' beauty is brought to you by Sequoia PGP, version 1.5.0 — run it, love it, protect your secrets. mwah 💋🫶