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GPG Keychain: 3 of 6 sec/pub keys fail to appear in GPG Keychain window

• Edit

zillion909

24 Feb, 2019 05:43 AM

System:

MacOS 10.10.5 Yosemite on iMac Intel Core 2 Duo
GPG Suite 2018.3 2223
GPG Mail 2.6.6 1292
GPG Keychain 1.4.4 1460
GPG Services 1.11.4 1013
MacGPG 2.2.8 916
GPG Suite Preferences 2.1.2 997
Libmacgpg 0.8.5 863
pinentry 0.9.7.1 9
Key Server hkps://hkps.pool.sks-keyservers.net
Updates, Check Now: "You're up-to-date! GPG Suite 2018.3 is currently the newest version available."

Why do only 3 private keys appear in GPG Keychain window while 6 private keys appear in Macintosh HD/Users//.gnupg/private-keys-v1.d

Do the 3 private keys missing from GPG Keychain window have revoked status or some other status preventing GPG Keychain from displaying them?

What GPG Keychain configuration, options, or other configuration will display in the GPG Keychain window all 6 private keys appearing in Macintosh HD/Users//.gnupg/private-keys-v1.d

Thank you

Duplicate the issue:

1. Select GPG Keychain window/Lookup Key/.

2. Key located.

3. Successfully installed the located key.

4. Instantly, after installing located key, all other 43 keys (40 pub keys and 3 (or 6) sec/pub keys) appearing in GPG Keychain window self-deleted from window in descending order, within 5-10 seconds, as I watched in surprise, beginning with the first key in the Name column.

5. The key that I had looked up and installed was the only key remaining visible in GPG Keychain window.

6. I copied the file at Macintosh HD//Backups.backupdb/-iMac/<year-month-day ***>/Macintosh HD/Users//.gnupg/pubring.gpg

7. I pasted the file onto Desktop.

8. I selected GPG Keychain window/Import/Desktop/pubring.gpg

9. Successfully imported 40 pub keys, and all 40 pub keys are visible in GPG Keychain window.

10. I copied the folder at Macintosh HD//Backups.backupdb/-iMac/<year-month-day ***>/Macintosh HD/Users//private-keys-v1.d

11. I pasted the folder onto the Desktop.

12. Selected GPG Keychain window/Import/Desktop/private-keys-v1.d/

13. Successfully imported into GPG Keychain window.

14. In turn, imported, one at a time, the remaining 5 private keys into GPG Keychain, but only 3 of the 6 private keys appear in the GPG Keychain window. The 3 private keys that do not appear in the GPG Keychain window do seem to appear at the following location:
    Macintosh HD/Users//.gnupg/private-keys-v1.d (6 of 6 private keys appear in this folder).

Expected
All 6 private keys appearing in Macintosh HD/Users//.gnupg/private-keys-v1.d should appear in GPG Keychain window.

Additional info
Note: I previously never had used /Export to create a backup *.asc file of all keys in GPG Keychain. I will never make that mistake again. I now have a *.asc backup file of all keys and manually will create a fresh .asc backup file each time I install/update/reconfigure any key!

macOS                   10.10.5     14F2511
GPG Suite               2018.3      2223    (8d0c266)
GPGMail                 2.6.5       1292    (b2999630)
GPG Keychain            1.4.4       1460    (9010342)
GPGServices             1.11.4      1013    (0b04f6c)
MacGPG                  2.2.8       916     (0ed4a99)
GPG Suite Preferences   2.1.2       997     (1a09bc7)
Libmacgpg               0.8.5       863     (0707962)
pinentry                0.9.7.1     9       (db18340)

1. Support Staff 1 Posted by Steve on 25 Feb, 2019 09:50 PM

   

   Hi zillion909,

   welcome to the GPGTools support platform. Sorry you are having problems using GPG Suite.

   The listings you see in the folder private-keys-v1.d are not to be read as one key per entry. The entries you see in that folder rather show one entry per key and per subkey, which would explain the "mismatch" between imported keys and number of entires you see.

   Please note that macOS 10.10 is no longer supported, which means you will not receive security fixes and other updates. So if you can, consider updating your mac. If that's not possible due to old hardware, 2018.3 is indeed the last release that works on 10.10.

   Best,
   Steve

   • Edit

2. 2 Posted by zillion909 on 26 Feb, 2019 12:15 AM

   

   Steve,

   Thanks for your speedy response. Now, I understand the "mismatch" between imported keys and the number of entries I see.

   My machine is unsuitable for an operating system upgrade, leaving me the option of buying a new machine or, maybe, installing GnuPG: https://gnupg.org/download/index.html, but I have never used it and know next to "nothing" about how to configure and use it correctly, especially how to configure a GUI, if that's possible.

   In the meantime, I will continue using 2018.3 and "hope for the best" regarding the risk of possible security vulnerabilities.

   Thanks again,
   zillion909

   • Edit

3. Support Staff 3 Posted by Steve on 26 Feb, 2019 12:49 AM

   

   The link you provide does not offer an UI option on macOS.

   Considering the fact that macOS 10.10 has been unsupported for several years, potential vulns in GPG Suite 2018.3 will probably be one of the lesser of your concerns.

   That being said, I think it's a very sane approach to encrypt / sign emails. So sticking with 2018.3 should be fine.

   Glad this is solved for you. I'm closing this discussion. Should you need further assistance or have questions you can re-open this discussion here or open a new one any time.

   Best,
   Steve

   • Edit

4. Steve closed this discussion on 26 Feb, 2019 12:49 AM.