Can't use GPG key - secret key not available

Madhusudan Singh singh.madhusudan at gmail.com
Wed Jan 5 21:56:08 CET 2011


Thanks for your response.

I do not think it is any of those issues. I have used this system (and this
script I wrote) successfully in the past (on Linux / Mac). I just
transferred machines a few months ago (Mac OSX to Mac OSX) and somehow the
key did not transfer properly. Then I started getting these errors.

So, I deleted my old backups and the key, created a new key following a
HOWTO on the net (which is just like zillions of other HOWTOs you will find
using Google), and it still refuses to work (with the error I have
described).

I do not use the Toy OS. I seriously doubt that a Yahoo group is going to
help me if the official gnupg user mailing list does not.

On Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 2:44 PM, david at gbenet.com <david at gbenet.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> If you are using a key to encrypt backups - then you are able to decrypt -
> as well as encrypt.
>
> What operating system are you using?
>
> A good idea would be to go to the pgpnet at yahoogroups.com and post your
> question there
> telling them what operating system you are using and giving a read out of
> what the problem is.
>
> If you are using a Windows O/S it could be an issue with the path
> statement. I am no expert
> on Windows O/S I use Linux. If you join pgnet at yahoogroups.com you will
> find a friendly bunch
> of people who can help you out.
>
> David
>
> On 05/01/11 18:08, Madhusudan Singh wrote:
> > Hello David,
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > I am not using this key for any email program.
> >
> > I am using it to sign and encrypt my backups.
> >
> > I do have a key pair (I think - I followed instructions from the gpg home
> > page):
> >
> > $gpg --list-keys
> > pub   4096R/F784A849 2010-09-29
> > uid                  Madhusudan Singh <singh.madhusudan at gmail.com>
> > sub   4096R/BB9A877C 2010-09-29
> >
> > $gpg --list-secret-keys
> > sec   4096R/F784A849 2010-09-29
> > uid                  Madhusudan Singh <singh.madhusudan at gmail.com>
> > ssb   4096R/BB9A877C 2010-09-29
> >
> > I am not really a gpg expert, but those two above came from pubring.gpg
> and
> > secring.gpg, respectively.
> >
> > I have tried revoking, deleting and regenerating new keys many times, but
> it
> > has not worked.
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Jan 4, 2011 at 2:35 PM, david at gbenet.com <david at gbenet.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > Well for a start you failed to create a key pair - that is a private and
> > public key. What I
> > suggest you do is to uninstall and start over.
> >
> > You will also need to install thunderbird email programme and add
> enigmail
> > via addons. Once
> > you have these installed then you need to reinstall gpg.
> >
> > If you can do that I will help you complete the rest of the setup.
> >
> > David
> >
> >
> > Madhusudan Singh wrote:
> >>>> I had given up on this last year but want to make the key signing work
> >>>> again.
> >>>>
> >>>> I still have the same error:
> >>>>
> >>>> GPG error detail: Traceback (most recent call last):
> >>>> ýýFile "/opt/local/bin/duplicity", line 1245, in <module>
> >>>> ýý ýwith_tempdir(main)
> >>>> ýýFile "/opt/local/bin/duplicity", line 1238, in with_tempdir
> >>>> ýý ýfn()
> >>>> ýýFile "/opt/local/bin/duplicity", line 1211, in main
> >>>> ýý ýfull_backup(col_stats)
> >>>> ýýFile "/opt/local/bin/duplicity", line 417, in full_backup
> >>>> ýý ýglobals.backend)
> >>>> ýýFile "/opt/local/bin/duplicity", line 295, in write_multivol
> >>>> ýý ýglobals.gpg_profile, globals.volsize)
> >>>> ýýFile
> >>>>
> >
> "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/duplicity/gpg.py",
> >>>> line 283, in GPGWriteFile
> >>>> ýý ýfile.write(data)
> >>>> ýýFile
> >>>>
> >
> "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/duplicity/gpg.py",
> >>>> line 153, in write
> >>>> ýý ýself.gpg_failed()
> >>>> ýýFile
> >>>>
> >
> "/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/duplicity/gpg.py",
> >>>> line 165, in gpg_failed
> >>>> ýý ýraise GPGError, msg
> >>>> GPGError: GPG Failed, see log below:
> >>>> ===== Begin GnuPG log =====
> >>>> gpg: no default secret key: secret key not available
> >>>> gpg: [stdin]: sign+encrypt failed: secret key not available
> >>>> ===== End GnuPG log =====
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> GPGError: GPG Failed, see log below:
> >>>> ===== Begin GnuPG log =====
> >>>> gpg: no default secret key: secret key not available
> >>>> gpg: [stdin]: sign+encrypt failed: secret key not available
> >>>> ===== End GnuPG log =====
> >>>>
> >>>> Any ideas?
> >>>>
> >>>> On Fri, Oct 1, 2010 at 5:01 PM, Charly Avital <shavital at mac.com
> >>>> <mailto:shavital at mac.com>> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>     Madhusudan Singh wrote the following on 10/1/10 2:35 PM:
> >>>>     > Tried this.
> >>>>     >
> >>>>     > No use.
> >>>>     >
> >>>>     > I have two keys installed on this machine (different email
> > addresses).
> >>>>     > It just can't seem to use the newer one, regardless of the
> > default-key
> >>>>     > parameter.
> >>>>     >
> >>>>     > Do I have to restart start-gpg-agent on Mac ? If so, how do I
> > restart
> >>>>     > without rebooting ?
> >>>>
> >>>>     I am not familiar with duplicity backup to S3.
> >>>>
> >>>>     I don't know whether restarting gpg-agent will help (without
> > rebooting),
> >>>>     but try this.
> >>>>
> >>>>     Locate start-gpg-agent.app (it is, in fact, an application) and
> > double
> >>>>     click on it.
> >>>>
> >>>>     Another factor comes to mind. Have you signed your "new" key with
> the
> >>>>     "old" one? It is just possible (I am speculating) that the systems
> > does
> >>>>     not recognize your new key because it has not been authenticated
> with
> >>>>     your default key.
> >>>>
> >>>>     Best regards,
> >>>>     Charly
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>>
> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>> Gnupg-users mailing list
> >>>> Gnupg-users at gnupg.org
> >>>> http://lists.gnupg.org/mailman/listinfo/gnupg-users
> >
> >>
>
> > _______________________________________________
> > Gnupg-users mailing list
> > Gnupg-users at gnupg.org
> > http://lists.gnupg.org/mailman/listinfo/gnupg-users
>
> --
> “See the sanity of the man! No gods, no angels, no demons, no body. Nothing
> of the kind.
> Stern, sane,every brain-cell perfect and complete even at the moment of
> death. No delusion.”
>
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