GnuPG and PGP 2.6: unusable public key

[Ingo Klöcker]

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On Thursday 18 October 2001 10:02, Tommi Vainikainen wrote:
> I got public key from a friend.  That key was generated with some
> version of PGP 2.6.  To import that key I had to use
> --allow-non-selfsigned-uid, but now the key is in my public keyring.
>
> When I'm trying to encrypt message to him, I got very short and
> nothing explaining error message "unusable public key".  So what is
> the reason key is unusable, how do I know this reason?  (This is a
> bug in GnuPG, would I say.)  Even --verbose didn't bother to explain
> more.
>
> bash:~$ gpg --verbose --rfc1991 --cipher-algo idea --compress-algo  1
> -a --encrypt -r bob gpg: bob: skipped: unusable public key
> gpg: [stdin]: encryption failed: unusable public key
> bash:~$
>
> So what should I do to be able to encrypt messages to my friend? 
> (And btw, I've idea-extension in my gpg.)

You have to sign his key with your key. Alternatively you could try if 
using the --always-trust option helps. However, signing your friend's 
key is the better solution.

Regards,
Ingo
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