Bug: Unusable key

[David Shaw]

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On Thu, Feb 05, 2004 at 10:11:17PM +0100, Johan Wevers wrote:
> David Shaw wrote:
> 
> >Even if the error list was only printed if there were no usable
> >(sub)keys at all, over time the list would just get longer and longer.
> 
> Are there really users who add periodically a new encryption subkey to their
> keyring and so build up a large list of revoked keys?

Yes.  One of the main advantages to subkeys is the ability to keep
making more of them without needing a whole new key (which then has to
be re-signed, etc).

> Anyway, an error message that just prints something like "all encryption
> keys in this key are revoked or expired" would suffice in this case.

The current error message is:

  gpg: username: skipped: unusable public key

I don't want it to appear that I'm rejecting any change here.  I'm
not.  It's just that there are so many different reasons a key can
become unusable (no encryption capability at all, revoked or expired
subkeys in various combinations, etc) that it is difficult to have an
error message here that is both truthful and concise.

David
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