GnuPG uses public-key cryptography so that users may communicate securely. In a public-key system, each user has a pair of keys consisting of a private key and a public key. A user's private key is kept secret; it need never be revealed. The public key may be given to anyone with whom the user wants to communicate.
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User ID (name/email address): associate the key being created with a real person.
(Ex: David Steele [email protected])
- Name-Real
- Name-Email
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Passphrase: protect the primary and subordinate private keys
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Signature
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Expire-Date
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- Armor: Creating ASCII instead of binary file
- Passphrase
Data intended for some particular recipients is encrypted with the public keys of those recipients. Each recipient can decrypt the encrypted data using the corresponding private key.
- sign??
- always_trust: (true ⇒ Skip key validation)
- passphrase: use when accessing the keyrings
Note: GnuPG works on the basis of a “home directory” which is used to store public and private keyring files
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