Migrate from gnupg/Linux to gnupg/win32

[John Clizbe]

Kevin L. Collins wrote:
> Due to reasons that I do not wish to go into, I've been forced to move
> from Linux to Windows.  I've made the translation with one
> exception...encryption.
> 
> Following a Mozilla guide, I tried to move my gpg keyrings to the CLI of
> gpg for windows.  This was done so that I could get Thunderbird signing
> and encrypting my e-mails.
> 
> Apparently my secret key mae in just fine, as I can at least sign
> outgoing e-mails.  But my public keyring is hosed.  Here's what I get
> when I run 'gpg --list-keys':
> 
<snip>

> gpg: mpi larger than indicated length (2 bytes)
> gpg: keyring_get_keyblock: read error: invalid packet
> gpg: keydb_get_keyblock failed: invalid keyring
> 
> My public ring has nearly a hundred other keys that I have trusted and
> signed.
> 
> The kicker is that both the private and public keys work fine on my
> Linux machines.
> 
> So my question is how can I move my keys so that they work fine on Windows?

There was some amount of trouble with zero-length MPI packets when 1.4.2 was
introduced. So long as you have all the *.gpg files from your Linux box, you
should be OK (just keep a pristine backup copy close).

You may wish to try either GnuPG 1.4.1 or 1.4.3-cvs. When I had this problem, I
found the error didn't occur in 1.4.1. It is supposed to be fixed in 1.4.3.

I found that by alternating versions, I was able to clean my keyring so that it
would work with 1.4.2.

Copy/rename the GnuPG directory under \Program Files\Gnu to GnuPG-1.4.2 and try
the 1.4.1 build.  Try --list-keys with 1.4.1. If it work OK, you can use both
versions to identify/remove the troublesome keys.

Write me off-list for more details or if you wish to try a 1.4.3-cvs build.



-- 
John P. Clizbe                      Inet:   John (a) Mozilla-Enigmail.org
You can't spell fiasco without SCO. PGP/GPG KeyID: 0x608D2A10/0x18BB373A
"what's the key to success?"        / "two words: good decisions."
"what's the key to good decisions?" /  "one word: experience."
"how do i get experience?"          / "two words: bad decisions."

"Just how do the residents of Haiku, Hawai'i hold conversations?"

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 671 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
Url : /pipermail/attachments/20060212/3d17cb3b/signature.pgp