Updating expired GPG keys and their backup 🔑🔐💻

I use a GPG key to sign my git commits.

An error like this one might be a sign of an expired GPG key.

error: gpg failed to sign the data fatal: failed to write commit object

1. Check if you have an expired key

On your machine, open up the shell (git bash on Windows) and type

gpg --list-secret-keys --keyid-format LONG

This will list out all your secret keys in the following fomat:

/home/TheSherlockHomie/.gnupg/pubring.kbx
---------------------------------
sec   rsa4096/HJ6582DC8B78GTU 2020-12-09 [SC] [expires: 2025-05-01]
      15JHUG1D325F458624HF7521B3F5D82DC458H
uid                 [ultimate] TheSherlockHomie (Key to sign git commits) <[email protected]>
ssb   rsa4096/11HGTH5483DD0A 2020-12-09 [E] [expires: 2025-05-01]

If your keys are expired, you'll se expired instead of the expiration date.

2. Renew the expired key

Now that you know for sure that your commit signing key has expired, let's renew the expiration date:

gpg --edit-key KEYID

// where KEYID is of the key you want to renew. Here, it is HJ6582DC8B78GTU

Now in the intearctive gpg shell,

gpg> expire

When prompted type 1y or however long you want the key to last for.
Now to renew all our subkeys too.

key 1
key 2 //and so on, depending on the subkeys you have

A star will sppear before all selected keys.

gpg> expire

Again, set the expiration time for your subkeys.

3. Set the trust level

Since the key has changed, we now need to trust it. We might get a warning There is no assurance this key belongs to the named user otherwise.

gpg> trust

Set the trust level 5 (for ultimate) or whatever is the trust level of the key.

4. Save your work

gpg> save

5. Updating the expired key on Github

For the gpg key you updated, export its public key:

$ gpg --armor --export KEYID
# Prints the GPG key ID, in ASCII armor format

Copy your GPG key, beginning with -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- and ending with -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Navigate to Github>Settings>SSH and GPG keys
Delete the expired key.
Add the new key that you copied.
"Your previous commits and tags will show as verified, as long as the key meets all other verification requirements." - Github

6. Backup your key and trust database

There is more than one way to accomplish this.
The method I prefer is:

gpg --output backupkeys.pgp --armor --export-secret-keys --export-options export-backup [email protected]

This will create a file backupkeys.pgp on your present working directory. Make sure to store it safely.
If this key is important to you, you may want to print out the key on paper using paperkey, and store it in a fireproof/waterproof safe.
Now export the trust database

gpg --export-ownertrust > ownertrust-gpg.txt

This will create a file ownertrust-gpg.txt on your present working directory. Keep it along with your backup keys.

7. Importing the backed-up keys

You might have multiple machines where you need the key, or you might have a setup like me, where I use Ubuntu on WSL and Windows both for development.
Transfer the keys to your machine, open a shell (or Git Bash), and type:

gpg --import backupkeys.pgp
gpg --import-ownertrust ownertrust-gpg.txt

Now verify that you have the keys

gpg --list-secret-keys --keyid-format LONG
gpg --list-keys --keyid-format LONG

Which should show your secret and public keys respectively.
If you do not have the owner trust backup file, you'll need to manually set the trust level:

gpg --edit-key KEYID
gpg> trust

And set the trust level accordingly.

TheSherlockHomie/RenewExpiredGPGkey.md

Updating expired GPG keys and their backup 🔑🔐💻

1. Check if you have an expired key

2. Renew the expired key

3. Set the trust level

4. Save your work

5. Updating the expired key on Github

6. Backup your key and trust database

7. Importing the backed-up keys

8. References

Ahwar commented Apr 5, 2025