On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 11:38:55AM -0400, Faramir wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA256 > > > > What's wrong with just --export ing the public/private keys, and > > importing them into win2000? > > Well, if he does it that way, he would have to re-download the keys of > his contacts again...
No. That's what --export does by default. He would just have to add --export-secret-keys to *also* get his own secret keys :) > ...and set the trust level for each one again... No. That's what --export-ownertrust does. > If he keeps both his pubring and trustdb, he doesn't need to re do all that. Yes, that's true. However, this could lead to problems if some day the format of GnuPG's keyring files should change, and especially if it should change in some architecture-specific way. > And th config file would have to be rewritten, if he has such file (if > he doesn't, then he doesn't need it). Well, the config file could be copied, it's plain text. The issue here is that the keyring files are not guaranteed to be in any kind of format that is compatible with anything else, including a GnuPG version on any other architecture or even another GnuPG version on the same architecture. Well, of course, it would be a pain if a future GnuPG version would not be able to read the current version's files, but it *could* happen one day. Of course, I'm NOT speaking for the GnuPG developers in any way! It's just what I gather from the glaring lack of any mentioning of the format of the keyring files in any official documentation - IMHO, that's on purpose, and it's completely understandable and a good thing, too :) The only guaranteed, portable way to transfer one's keyrings is by running GnuPG three times: gpg --export --armor > pubkeys.txt gpg --export-secret-keys --armor > seckeys.txt gpg --export-ownertrust > ownertrust.txt ...then copying those files over to the other installation and importing them there with the --import, --import-secret-keys, and --import-ownertrust options. Still, for the present, all keyrings on all versions of GnuPG seem to be compatible, so, *for the present*, it is easier to just copy the files over. The whole point is, that's not guaranteed to work forever :) G'luck, Peter -- Peter Pentchev r...@ringlet.net r...@space.bg r...@freebsd.org PGP key: http://people.FreeBSD.org/~roam/roam.key.asc Key fingerprint FDBA FD79 C26F 3C51 C95E DF9E ED18 B68D 1619 4553 What would this sentence be like if it weren't self-referential?
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