Place content of doc/DETAILS at www.gnupg.org
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stephane-klein
Oct 28 2013, 2:29 PM

Description

Hi,

I look for understand the term "pub", "uid", "sub"… from "gpg2 --list-keys"
commands.

I've searched in http://www.gnupg.org/documentation/index.en.html but I didn't
found this information.

But I've found it in GnuPG source code at
http://git.gnupg.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=gnupg.git;a=blob;f=doc/DETAILS;h=100755a678663464b3b8515a02f9ecd20f0ffe39;hb=HEAD

I didn't found this document in GnuPG documentation web site. Why ? Did I search
in the wrong way ? If not, can you append this information in Website
documentation ?

Best regards,
Stephane

Event Timeline

You need to know the OpenPGP protocol to understand what this is about. IIRC,
the GPH also explains this.

pub = public key oacket
uid = user id packet
sub = public subkey packet
sec = secret key packet
sbb = secret subkey packet
sig = key signature

Ok, can I append this information in documentation ? I see the website source
code in git repository. Can I add this contribution ?

No. The website,the manual, and the FAQ will soon be updated.

• werner claimed this task.

@werner where is this now documented? I can't find it.

Nobody could find it at https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/162336/where-can-i-find-the-detailed-manual-page-for-gpg-list-secret-keys-output ("TBH I think the gnupg documentation is still lacking") and https://superuser.com/questions/1371088/what-do-ssb-and-sec-mean-in-gpgs-output points to third-party references as well.

It is in the tarball:

doc/DETAILS

and for example Debian installs it as /usr/share/doc/gnupg/DETAILS.gz. Check out the first section "Format of the colon listings". Or use GPGME which provides C, C++, Python and JSON bindings. Sorry, it never made it to the website.

Is a PR to add it to the website welcome? Not sure that I'll get around to it, but in case someone else is interested - I linked here from those stackoverflow pages.

• werner edited projects, added Feature Request; removed Bug Report.

Sure, but lets use that ticket for this. if you have another topic, feel free to open another ticket.

• werner renamed this task from "pub", "uid", "sub"... definition missing on GnuPG website documentation to Place content of doc/DETAILS at www.gnupg.org.Feb 9 2019, 11:40 AM
• werner updated the task description. (Show Details)