Is there a built in PGP version on Linux systems? A person told me it is not necessary to buy PGP for Linux.

Is there an encryption program built in on Linux system?

I looked at the PGP homepage. They are selling PGP for Linux. It is called 'Command line programme'. It demands 2 processors. I don't understand it.

They charge almost 200 euros for the products. I think nearly 10 or 12 years ago I worked with PGP in Windows. So I know how it works.
I am looking for encryption programs. When I send mail, I would like to use some encryption method.

Your comments please.

Try gpg ... GNU Privacy Guard. Ships with most distros.


Cheers,
Tink

Thanks Tinkster

Are you satisfied with this programme? Does it work same as PGP?
Is it inferior to PGP?

I will install it soon and come back to you all when necessary.

I'm highly satisfied with it; it integrates reasonably well with e.g.
KMail or Mutt, too. There was some compatibility issue with some
sub-feature of newer versions of PGP, but I think that PGP was making
odd moves there. Over all you'll be able to exchange messages with
PGP users just fine.


Cheers,
Tink

I am new to this GPG.
I think now I successfully installed the program.

I wrote the following command to have a look at the keys I created.

[root@c83-250-110-112 nissanka]# gpg --list-keys
/root/.gnupg/pubring.gpg
------------------------
pub **********
uid **********
sub **********
[ I removed the values and just put some star ( * ) signs because I believe one of the above is my private key.]

Is my understandig correct? I mean my public and private keys are there.

I urge someone to look at my question. I badly need your help. I believe peopole who deals with are 'gpgp' are few.

I posted a question before about 'gpgp' and someone answered.

Hardly. There are probably millions of users.
What exactly is your question? It appears to be "Did I create my keys?" but I'm not sure. "gpg --list-keys" shows you your public keyring with keys on it. Try "gpg --list-secret-keys" and see if it outputs anything. Any secret keys listed would surely be ones you successfully created. I'm assuming you ran "gpg --gen-key" since that's the way you generate a keypair.

pubring.gpg is your public keyring. No need to worry about protecting this one. secring.pgp is your private keyring - the one you need to protect.

Run "man gpg" and read the manpage. Lots of info there on how to use gpg. Its a long and detailed manpage, covers everything I can think of.

Thanks haertig for taking time to reply me. I am new to this PGP. I am not sure whether I correctly installed the software. I just want to know from you all whether I have properly installed the software.

Yes, I ran the 'gpg-gen-key' command.

Please look at the following.
[root@c83-250-110-112 nissanka]# gpg --list-secret-keys
/root/.gnupg/secring.gpg
------------------------
sec ***********************
uid ************************
ssb ************************
[ I removed the values and just put some star ( * ) signs ]

It may be this ' sec ' is my private key. Please tell me.
What is ssb here?

I'm sure everything is fine for you. Since you can run the gpg command, that indicates the software is installed. Your keyrings look fine to. Those aren't your actual keys you see when you run gpg --list-secret-keys, but you can use the export command to actually see the keys if you want.

I'd say "sec" obviously stands for "secret", "uid" stands for "userid", and "ssb" stands ... I have no clue!

Thanks haertig for taking time to reply me.

The following is the command for export.

gpg --export [UID]

-------------------------------------------

I got some gibberish as the output. They are not legible.

The following is some of them.

[root@c83-250-110-112 nissanka]# gpg --export Great Man
¢D¿à$ð▒à/RÕã§h0mô®&öþjyáÊñî¨M³¾þÊvàãºqÛÆyµ/Éq5Û ¯ÜZb¥}âëîðpiÔb7ïÑß][ΫO[ß*1J½Xc"}|ì´¡PñhC|▒%(®áÕÙcQR3 ÄÈêRJç|²¾Obh¦ÿDF»·Ú¹ç*L.qÍ ó3ùcJéÎ^ï¬ûnnl=ì1ßfÐý¥©àeW!åöÓ]}ôº¾Q▒x7¡åárôk$Ñá1▒lhÅxóÇÑì#1[á96ëçÒ¤îX¾xTsøë9±<É»U}|DÇW1
«÷"a(R
aËç÷4ZcÒébÕôà!ùf&¯·))" ë¾@W
ÎRs¸0d▒ ÅØ`×9?ð
---------------------------------------------------

Are they correct? What is the meaning of the export command? I got nothing by readin it.

Keys are binary (i.e., not human readable, therefore gibberish when you export them in native form)

If you really want to see them, do this:
I think you should read up on the gpg manpage. It explains all this well.

Thanks haertig for taking time to reply me. The command you mentioned elicited some binry stuff. The following is part of it.


[root@c83-250-110-112 nissanka]# gpg --export --armor
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.2.2 (GNU/Linux)

mQGiBES/4JURBACTJIKQ8BjgL1IWlYbV46eaaDBtB/SuJhcD9hT+annhyvHuqB5N
s77+ynbg4xS6cdvGebUvf8kTcTXboK/cgFpipX3i6+7wcGnUYjfv0d8HjV1bAALO



zqge
=QScu
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
[root@c83-250-110-112 nissanka]#

---------------------------

It seems the command you mentioned showed only the public key in its binary form.
Am I wrong? Please tell me.

You wouldn't want to export your SECRET key, so the --export option exports your PUBLIC key(s). The --armor option takes your binary key and "ASCII Armors" it. In other words, it replaces the binary gibberish with ONLY ASCII printable characters (e.g., letters, numbers, punctuation characters, etc.) While you still can't understand this ascii-armored export, you can read it. It is NOT binary, it is a printable ascii representation of the binary. You need this so you can email it or otherwise transport it safely. Sometimes email servers can mangle binary data.

That is one thing you do with your PUBLIC key. You export it ascii armored, then email it to your friends. These friends then add it to their PUBLIC keyring. They can then encrypt something they want to keep private using your PUBLIC key and email that to you. You, and only you, can then decrypt that private message using your SECRET key. You never give out your SECRET key to anyone, ever. You can give out your PUBLIC key to anyone you want. Even post it wide open on the Internet (that's why it's called "public"!)

Your PUBLIC key has two uses: (1) whoever has it can encrypt a message for you and only you, and (2) whoever has it can verify that something YOU "signed" with your SECRET key really came from you.

You can encrypt something using your friend's PUBLIC key, and sign it with your SECRET key at the same time. This creates a message that only your friend can read, and your friend can verify it came from you. They need to have your PUBLIC key to verify it came from you, but they only need their SECRET key to decrypt it.

When you ran --gen-key you created a KEY PAIR. Composed of one SECRET key for you and only you, and one PUBLIC key for everybody else.

Thanks haertig again for taking time to give me a lengthy reply. I appreciate all your comments.

I didn't think very deep when posting the output of the command '' gpg --export --armor ''.

It is ASCII codes. It is not binary codes.

How do I create a ring of public keys?

I heard that there is a possibility to send the public key to some servers which store public keys. Is it the proper way?