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gpg --refresh fails with cryptic message in low memory environment
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Description

When attempting to run "gpg --refresh" on a Xen guest with < 64MB of free RAM, a
large cryptic message is displayed. Closing down some memory hungry processes
and retrying worked fine, but it would be nice if the error message was a little
clearer.

This is on a debian lenny system, running gnupg 1.4.6.

The error I got is pasted below for reference:

jh@gir:~$ gpg --refresh
gpg: keyserver communications error: general error
gpg: WARNING: unable to refresh key C8692763 via hkp://subkeys.pgp.net: general
error
gpg: keyserver communications error: general error
gpg: WARNING: unable to refresh key C6B3AE7E via hkp://subkeys.pgp.net/: general
error
gpg: keyserver communications error: general error
gpg: WARNING: unable to refresh key 4B729625 via hkp://keyring.debian.org:
general error
gpg: keyserver communications error: general error
gpg: WARNING: unable to refresh key B83D761C via hkp://keyserver.kjsl.com:11371:
general error
gpg: keyserver communications error: general error
gpg: WARNING: unable to refresh key 6D67F790 via hkp://keyring.debian.org:
general error
gpg: keyserver communications error: general error
gpg: WARNING: unable to refresh key 8F068012 via hkp://wwwkeys.us.pgp.net:
general error
gpg: keyserver communications error: general error
gpg: WARNING: unable to refresh key 6E25E283 via hkp://pgpkeys.mit.edu: general
error
gpg: keyserver communications error: general error
gpg: WARNING: unable to refresh key 6538F5BF via http://keyserver.debian.org:
general error
gpg: keyserver communications error: general error
gpg: WARNING: unable to refresh key 5706A4B4 via hkp://subkeys.pgp.net: general
error
gpg: keyserver communications error: general error
gpg: WARNING: unable to refresh key 330C4A75 via x-hkp://subkeys.pgp.net:
general error
gpg: keyserver communications error: general error
gpg: WARNING: unable to refresh key 46399138 via
http://quiston.tpsa.com/crypto/0x46399138.asc: general error
gpg: keyserver communications error: general error
gpg: WARNING: unable to refresh key 3FD25C84 via hkp://keyring.debian.org:
general error
gpg: refreshing 1095 keys from hkp://subkeys.pgp.net
gpg: keyserver communications error: general error
gpg: keyserver refresh failed: general error

Details

Version
1.4.6

Event Timeline

yob set Version to 1.4.6.May 1 2007, 6:50 AM
yob added projects: Feature Request, gnupg.
yob added a subscriber: yob.
• werner added a subscriber: • werner.May 3 2007, 4:32 PM

Please add the option

--debug 1024

and run again.

yob added a comment.May 3 2007, 4:46 PM

jh@gir:~$ gpg --refresh --debug 1024
gpg: reading options from `/home/jh/.gnupg/gpg.conf'
gpg: keyserver communications error: general error
<snipped warnings about specific keys>
gpg: refreshing 1099 keys from hkp://subkeys.pgp.net
gpg: keyserver communications error: general error
gpg: keyserver refresh failed: general error
secmem usage: 1408/1408 bytes in 2/2 blocks of pool 1408/32768

yob added a comment.May 3 2007, 4:47 PM

Oh, and here's my current memory usage in case it's useful:

jh@gir:~$ free -m

total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached

Mem: 160 97 62 0 1 33
-/+ buffers/cache: 61 98
Swap: 63 39 24

• werner added a comment.May 7 2007, 3:26 PM

It is hard to tell what exactly failed. This needs some printf debugging.
Start at g10/keyserser.c:keyserver_spawn.

dshaw added a subscriber: dshaw.Jul 7 2007, 2:53 AM
• werner closed this task as Resolved.Sep 30 2008, 8:06 PM
• werner claimed this task.
• werner added a project: Info Needed.