Error messages reconfiguring an OpenPGP smartcard

Borden borden_c at tutanota.com
Sat Sep 4 12:11:34 CEST 2021


I've tried to follow the patchwork documentation to reconfigure my OpenPGP card, but rather than continue wasting time, I thought I'd reach out for help.

According to gpg --card-status, I have an OpenPGP card v. 2.1 made by LogoEmail (that's not from whom I bought it, so I'm not sure if the information is even correct).

I'm trying to follow https://gnupg.org/howtos/card-howto/en/smartcard-howto.html . I get to part 3.3. When I type "generate" and enter the requested information, I get the following output after a brief pause:

gpg: signing failed: Invalid value
gpg: make_keysig_packet failed: Invalid value
Key generation failed: Invalid value

I've searched for these error messages and cannot find anything helpful. When I run gpg --card-status again, the signature and authentication keys seem to be updated, but the encryption key is not. Furthermore, General key info reads [none]. Again, if there's documentation to say whether this output is correct or not, I haven't found it in over two hours.

I'm on Debian testing, if that's relevant. Can I get some troubleshooting guidance to understand this output and why I cannot generate a new encryption key?

Also, I believe that, after generating the keys, I need to import them into my keyring. This isn't documented in the How-to, and it really should be. Could I get a brief explanation on how to do so if I don't generate an off-card backup of the encryption key?

With thanks,



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