Changing the email address on an existing key...how? Should I?

[David Shaw]

On Fri, Jul 22, 2005 at 05:52:07PM -0700, highspeednodrag at comcast.net wrote:
> Is it possible (or advisable) to change the email address on an existing pgp 
> key?
> 
> I'm using GnuPG 1.4.1 on Linux. The man pages do not show how to change or 
> edit the mail address of an existing key.
> 
> I've had the key(s) a long time and friends use them. I use the same key on 
> several platforms. It would not be too much hassle for me to just create 
> another key with the correct mail address and distribute the public key.
> 
> What is good practice in this regard and where might I read more about it?
> TIA.
> 
> Or, should I just add a user ID to my existing key so several mail addresses 
> are included in one key?

There isn't a way to edit an email address on a key.  That is a
feature, for various reasons.  What you need to do is generate a new
address on that key, and then revoke the old address.  Some people
have many old addresses (revoked) on their keys.  Some people just
make a whole new key.  It's really a question of how easy it is in
your environment to make a new key, and whether you have signatures
(on the non-revoked user IDs) that you want to keep, etc.

David