?: keys.gnupg.net: Host not found

Yuri Kanivetsky yuri.kanivetsky at gmail.com
Thu Oct 8 20:39:24 CEST 2015


Hi,

First, the domain name resolves to a bunch of IPs:

    $ dig +noall +answer keys.gnupg.net
    keys.gnupg.net.         62665   IN      CNAME   pool.sks-keyservers.net.
    pool.sks-keyservers.net. 60     IN      A       209.135.211.141
    pool.sks-keyservers.net. 60     IN      A       223.252.21.101
    pool.sks-keyservers.net. 60     IN      A       5.45.99.106
    pool.sks-keyservers.net. 60     IN      A       5.135.158.148
    pool.sks-keyservers.net. 60     IN      A       78.46.223.54
    pool.sks-keyservers.net. 60     IN      A       94.142.242.225
    pool.sks-keyservers.net. 60     IN      A       137.158.82.7
    pool.sks-keyservers.net. 60     IN      A       161.53.2.219
    pool.sks-keyservers.net. 60     IN      A       176.9.51.79
    pool.sks-keyservers.net. 60     IN      A       198.84.249.106

And the list of IPs is not fixed (changes over time), so it must be some
kind of pool (as the name suggests). Then, not all of them ping:

    $ dig +noall +answer keys.gnupg.net | awk '$4 == "A" { print $5 }' |
while IFS= read -r; do echo '#################'; ping -c 1 "$REPLY"; done
    #################
    PING 137.158.82.7 (137.158.82.7) 56(84) bytes of data.

    --- 137.158.82.7 ping statistics ---
-> 1 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 0ms

    #################
    PING 94.142.242.225 (94.142.242.225) 56(84) bytes of data.
    64 bytes from 94.142.242.225: icmp_seq=1 ttl=52 time=39.1 ms

    --- 94.142.242.225 ping statistics ---
    1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms
    rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 39.127/39.127/39.127/0.000 ms
    #################
    PING 78.46.223.54 (78.46.223.54) 56(84) bytes of data.

    --- 78.46.223.54 ping statistics ---
-> 1 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 0ms

    #################
    PING 5.135.158.148 (5.135.158.148) 56(84) bytes of data.
    64 bytes from 5.135.158.148: icmp_seq=1 ttl=54 time=44.9 ms

    --- 5.135.158.148 ping statistics ---
    1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms
    rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 44.999/44.999/44.999/0.000 ms
    #################
    PING 5.45.99.106 (5.45.99.106) 56(84) bytes of data.
    64 bytes from 5.45.99.106: icmp_seq=1 ttl=56 time=37.3 ms

    --- 5.45.99.106 ping statistics ---
    1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms
    rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 37.300/37.300/37.300/0.000 ms
    #################
    PING 223.252.21.101 (223.252.21.101) 56(84) bytes of data.
    64 bytes from 223.252.21.101: icmp_seq=1 ttl=46 time=367 ms

    --- 223.252.21.101 ping statistics ---
    1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms
    rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 367.836/367.836/367.836/0.000 ms
    #################
    PING 209.135.211.141 (209.135.211.141) 56(84) bytes of data.
    64 bytes from 209.135.211.141: icmp_seq=1 ttl=46 time=136 ms

    --- 209.135.211.141 ping statistics ---
    1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms
    rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 136.886/136.886/136.886/0.000 ms
    #################
    PING 198.84.249.106 (198.84.249.106) 56(84) bytes of data.
    64 bytes from 198.84.249.106: icmp_seq=1 ttl=50 time=141 ms

    --- 198.84.249.106 ping statistics ---
    1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms
    rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 141.682/141.682/141.682/0.000 ms
    #################
    PING 176.9.51.79 (176.9.51.79) 56(84) bytes of data.
    64 bytes from 176.9.51.79: icmp_seq=1 ttl=52 time=38.8 ms

    --- 176.9.51.79 ping statistics ---
    1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms
    rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 38.858/38.858/38.858/0.000 ms
    #################
    PING 161.53.2.219 (161.53.2.219) 56(84) bytes of data.
    64 bytes from 161.53.2.219: icmp_seq=1 ttl=48 time=50.7 ms

    --- 161.53.2.219 ping statistics ---
    1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms
    rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 50.793/50.793/50.793/0.000 ms

Also, I experimented with different versions of gnupg:

1.4.18:

    $ gpg --version
    gpg (GnuPG) 1.4.18
    Copyright (C) 2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
    License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <
http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
    This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
    There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

    Home: ~/.gnupg
    Supported algorithms:
    Pubkey: RSA, RSA-E, RSA-S, ELG-E, DSA
    Cipher: IDEA, 3DES, CAST5, BLOWFISH, AES, AES192, AES256, TWOFISH,
            CAMELLIA128, CAMELLIA192, CAMELLIA256
    Hash: MD5, SHA1, RIPEMD160, SHA256, SHA384, SHA512, SHA224
    Compression: Uncompressed, ZIP, ZLIB, BZIP2
    vagrant at vagrant-ubuntu-vivid-64:~/build/gnupg-2.0.29$ gpg
--keyserver-options verbose,debug --keyserver
    gpg: Missing argument for option "--keyserver"

    $ gpg --keyserver-options verbose,debug --keyserver hkp://keys.gnupg.net
--recv-key 0x409B6B1796C275462A1703113804BB82D39DC0E3
    gpg: requesting key D39DC0E3 from hkp server keys.gnupg.net
    gpgkeys: curl version = GnuPG curl-shim
    * HTTP proxy is "null"
    * HTTP URL is "
http://keys.gnupg.net:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&options=mr&search=0x409B6B1796C275462A1703113804BB82D39DC0E3
"
    * SRV tag is "pgpkey-http": host and port may be overridden
    * HTTP auth is "null"
    * HTTP method is GET
    ?: keys.gnupg.net: Host not found
    gpgkeys: HTTP fetch error 7: couldn't connect: Success
    gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found.
    gpg: Total number processed: 0

2.0.29:

    $ gpg2 --version
    gpg (GnuPG) 2.0.29
    libgcrypt 1.6.4
    Copyright (C) 2015 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
    License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <
http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
    This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
    There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

    Home: ~/.gnupg
    Supported algorithms:
    Pubkey: RSA, RSA, RSA, ELG, DSA
    Cipher: IDEA, 3DES, CAST5, BLOWFISH, AES, AES192, AES256, TWOFISH,
            CAMELLIA128, CAMELLIA192, CAMELLIA256
    Hash: MD5, SHA1, RIPEMD160, SHA256, SHA384, SHA512, SHA224
    Compression: Uncompressed, ZIP, ZLIB

    $ gpg2 --keyserver-options verbose,debug --keyserver hkp://
keys.gnupg.net --recv-key 0x409B6B1796C275462A1703113804BB82D39DC0E3
    gpg: requesting key D39DC0E3 from hkp server keys.gnupg.net
    gpgkeys: curl version = GnuPG curl-shim
    * HTTP proxy is "null"
    * HTTP URL is "
http://keys.gnupg.net:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&options=mr&search=0x409B6B1796C275462A1703113804BB82D39DC0E3
"
    * SRV tag is "pgpkey-http": host and port may be overridden
    * HTTP auth is "null"
    * HTTP method is GET
    gpgkeys: can't connect to `keys.gnupg.net': host not found
    gpgkeys: HTTP fetch error 7: couldn't connect: Not found
    gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found.
    gpg: Total number processed: 0
    gpg: keyserver communications error: Unknown host
    gpg: keyserver communications error: No public key
    gpg: keyserver receive failed: No public key

2.1.8:

    $ gpg2 --version
    gpg (GnuPG) 2.1.8
    libgcrypt 1.6.4
    Copyright (C) 2015 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
    License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <
http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
    This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
    There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

    Home: ~/.gnupg
    Supported algorithms:
    Pubkey: RSA, ELG, DSA, ECDH, ECDSA, EDDSA
    Cipher: IDEA, 3DES, CAST5, BLOWFISH, AES, AES192, AES256, TWOFISH,
            CAMELLIA128, CAMELLIA192, CAMELLIA256
    Hash: SHA1, RIPEMD160, SHA256, SHA384, SHA512, SHA224
    Compression: Uncompressed, ZIP, ZLIB

    $ gpg2 --keyserver hkp://keys.gnupg.net --recv-key
0x409B6B1796C275462A1703113804BB82D39DC0E3
    gpg: keyserver receive failed: No keyserver available


And we can see that error messages change over time, but doesn't get much
better. Or so I think. Moreover, I've found the last message here:
http://git.gnupg.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=libgpg-error.git;a=blob;f=src/err-codes.h.in;h=e05d41fe4193090aff91c220ce621435688dd80c;hb=HEAD#l218
So, the culprit must be gnupg. As such, the first question is, "Do you
think the message clearly describes what happened?"

Then, can't it pick the first IP that works? And what's wrong with this
keyserver? Is it an official one? If such a thing exists, that is. Can you
recommend any other, that have better uptime. AFAICS, there is at least one
IP that doesn't work. And finally, why can't I reproduce it on the host
machine, running Arch Linux with gnupg-2.1.8? The tests in the email I did
on Ubuntu Vivid.

Regards,
Yuri
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