what is interactive mode ?

[horio@acm.org]

I got following log entry when I tried to generate a key pair from
a shell script.

gpg: Key generation can only be used in interactive mode

The command line the script tried to execute is

/usr/local/gnupg-1.0.1/bin/gpg --homedir /home/horio/.gg \
	--local-user horio --options /home/horio/.gg/gg-options \
	 --logger-fd 5 --status-fd 4 --passphrase-fd 3 --comment \
	 "gpg key generated by ggen" --verbose --gen-key

except for redirections for 3, 4, 5.

The content of options file is (other than comment lines):

	allow-non-selfsigned-uid
	always-trust
	armor
	batch
	escape-from-lines
	force-v3-sigs
	keyserver pgp.nic.ad.jp
	load-extension idea
	load-extension rsa
	lock-once
	no-greeting
	no-secmem-warning
	no-tty
	quiet
	textmode
	yes


However, following simple script doesn't get that complaint.

=47=byte:/opt0/horio/HOT/test/test-gpg> cat g
/usr/local/gnupg-1.0.1/bin/gpg --homedir . \
        --logger-fd 5 5>>log \
        --status-fd 4 4>>stat \
        --passphrase-fd 3 3<passphrase \
        --text \
        $@
=48=byte:/opt0/horio/HOT/test/test-gpg> cd q*
=49=byte:/opt0/horio/HOT/test/test-gpg/quack> alias g.. 'sh ../g'
=50=byte:/opt0/horio/HOT/test/test-gpg/quack> g.. --gen-key
gpg (GnuPG) 1.0.1; Copyright (C) 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions. See the file COPYING for details.

Reading passphrase from file descriptor 3    
Please select what kind of key you want:
   (1) DSA and ElGamal (default)
   (2) DSA (sign only)
   (4) ElGamal (sign and encrypt)
Your selection?  ^C
gpg: Interrupt caught ... exiting


The only differences between the two scripts are the former

o  is a bit complex, and
o  uses options file which contains --batch option.

So far, I tried following things:

o  Adding --no-batch on commnad line or removing batch from option file
   doesn't work.

o  Removing --no-tty doesn't change much... other than passphrase fd
   is recognized.

o  Using --interactive is complained; -i either. Presumably because
   out of context ?

o  Trying to execute above command line copied to a file results in
   the same complaint.

o  Removing --options phrase from the file let it go ! Amazing !
   It seems yet more options are deemed as non-interactive.



So my question is, what is 'interactive' mode exactly ?


horio shoichi