generating gnupg on terminal - some minor issues

English Applications
1

hello dear all - good day dear linux experts.

i am running openSuse with kgpg: and i am very happy with this.
today i want to create some keys…

well i c an - afaik - do this with the kgpg
but if i do so .suddenly the terminal opens.

okay - so far so good;

i have the following options:

to create a key:
gpg --gen-key
generally you can select the defaults.
**
to export a public key into file public.key:**
gpg --export -a “User Name” > public.key
This will create a file called public.key with the ascii representation of the public key for User Name. This is a variation on:
**
gpg --export**
which by itself is basically going to print out a bunch of **** to your screen. I recommend against doing this.
gpg --export -a “User Name”
prints out the public key for User Name to the command line, which is only semi-useful
**
to export a private key:**
gpg --export-secret-key -a “User Name” > private.key
This will create a file called private.key with the ascii representation of the private key for User Name.
It’s pretty much like exporting a public key, but you have to override some default protections. There’s a note (*) at the bottom explaining why you may want to do this.
**
to import a public key:**
gpg --import public.key
This adds the public key in the file “public.key” to your public key ring.

that said -

what happens if i create a key -

then it exists somewhere on the machine - or not!?

what do i need to do to add it to the kgpg system?

I need to have a tipp - do you have an idea!?

2

keys are managed within an entity called a “ring”
Keys that are associated with a common ring are managed together.

So, although keys can be generated and managed by different utiliites, eg openssh, gpg, website ssl, TLS, LDAP, etc
Keys are generally managed by the app that created them.

I generally haven’t done so, but I suppose you could export and import keys into different rings, but in general I’ve found it convenient to just create new keys… Besides, the apps used to create the keys generally are for a specific use.

IMO (And I’m sure others may have a different view or practice),
TSU