GNU bug report logs - #36784
GnuPG lacks a default pinentry program

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Raghav Gururajan <raghavgururajan <at> disroot.org>
To: bug-guix <at> gnu.org
Subject: Cannot generate key pair with GnuPG
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2019 06:00:44 -0400

Hello Guix!

The current gnupg package in guix has "pinentry" as a missing
dependency.

Because of this, GnuPG throws the following error upon attempting to
generate key pairs:

gpg: agent_genkey failed: No pinentry
gpg: key generation failed: No pinentry

So it appears, unless the above mentioned dependency issue is fixed,
one cannot create gpg key pairs. :(

Regards,
RG.

Message #8 received at 36784 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Raghav Gururajan <raghavgururajan <at> disroot.org>
To: 36784 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: Cannot generate key pair with GnuPG
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2019 20:58:30 -0400

Hello Guix!

After brief discussion on IRC channel, I found out that adding
"pinentry-program /home/user/.guix-profile/bin/pinentry-program" to
"gpg-agent.conf" in "/home/user/.gnupg", was able to temproarily
resolve the situation. Thanks to Ricardo (rekado).

I still suggest that there should be a default/fallback option for
this. After reviewing guix repository, I found pinentry, emacs-
pinentry, pinentry-tty, pinentry-qt, pinentry-gtk2, pinentry-gnome3,
pinentry-emacs and pinentry-efl, as available pinentry programs.

Out of all, I suggest pinentry to be set as default/fallback option for
gnupg in guix, as it is platform-independent and provides both CUI
(console) and GUI.

Thank you!

Regards,
RG.

Message #13 received at 36784 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Ricardo Wurmus <rekado <at> elephly.net>
To: Raghav Gururajan <raghavgururajan <at> disroot.org>
Cc: 36784 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#36784: Cannot generate key pair with GnuPG
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2019 15:01:59 +0200

Raghav Gururajan <raghavgururajan <at> disroot.org> writes:

> I still suggest that there should be a default/fallback option for
> this. After reviewing guix repository, I found pinentry, emacs-
> pinentry, pinentry-tty, pinentry-qt, pinentry-gtk2, pinentry-gnome3,
> pinentry-emacs and pinentry-efl, as available pinentry programs.
>
> Out of all, I suggest pinentry to be set as default/fallback option for
> gnupg in guix, as it is platform-independent and provides both CUI
> (console) and GUI.

I think it would be good to have a sensible default.  Is there a good
reason not to include pinentry-tty or somemthing similarly small?

-- 
Ricardo

Message #16 received at 36784 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Raghav Gururajan <raghavgururajan <at> disroot.org>
To: Ricardo Wurmus <rekado <at> elephly.net>
Cc: 36784 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#36784: Cannot generate key pair with GnuPG
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2019 09:08:15 -0400

> Is there a good
> reason not to include pinentry-tty or somemthing similarly small?

It appears pinentry-tty is only console-based. If graphical
applications like MUA, Key Managers etc require pinentry-program, it
usually uses pop-up (gui) for passphrase input. Since pinentry provides
both console and gui, I suggested it as it will be well-rounded
solution. :)

Regards,
RG.

Message #19 received at 36784 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Ricardo Wurmus <rekado <at> elephly.net>
To: Raghav Gururajan <raghavgururajan <at> disroot.org>
Cc: 36784 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#36784: Cannot generate key pair with GnuPG
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2019 15:34:07 +0200

Raghav Gururajan <raghavgururajan <at> disroot.org> writes:

>> Is there a good
>> reason not to include pinentry-tty or somemthing similarly small?
>
> It appears pinentry-tty is only console-based. If graphical
> applications like MUA, Key Managers etc require pinentry-program, it
> usually uses pop-up (gui) for passphrase input. Since pinentry provides
> both console and gui, I suggested it as it will be well-rounded
> solution. :)

I guess the reason for not adding a graphical pinentry is that this
would increase the package closure of the gnupg package.

Perhaps we should add gnupg-minimal for use in other package
definitions.

--
Ricardo

Message #22 received at 36784 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Raghav Gururajan <raghavgururajan <at> disroot.org>
To: Ricardo Wurmus <rekado <at> elephly.net>
Cc: 36784 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#36784: Cannot generate key pair with GnuPG
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2019 09:36:37 -0400

> Perhaps we should add gnupg-minimal for use in other package
> definitions.

That would actually be wise.

Regards,
RG.

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