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Created November 18, 2022 19:02
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gpg: signing failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device
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GPG-FIX.md

Fixing GPG "Inappropriate ioctl for device" errors

6th November 2016 Linux 24 Comments https://d.sb/B5N 

    Error: gpg: using "D5673F3E" as default secret key for signing 
    Error: gpg: signing failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device 
    Error: gpg: [stdin]: sign+encrypt failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device

It turns out this error is due to changes in GnuPG 2.1, which only recently landed in Debian Testing. The error occurs because GnuPG 2.1 by default ignores passphrases passed in via environment variables or stdin, and is trying to show a pinentry prompt. "Inappropriate ioctl for device" is thrown because the Backupninja script is not running through a TTY, so there's no way to actually render the prompt.

To solve the problem, you need to enable loopback pinentry mode. Add this to ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf:

    use-agent 
    pinentry-mode loopback

And add this to ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf, creating the file if it doesn't already exist:

    allow-loopback-pinentry

Then restart the agent with echo RELOADAGENT | gpg-connect-agent and you should be good to go!

Source: https://d.sb/2016/11/gpg-inappropriate-ioctl-for-device-errors

@drazvan
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drazvan commented Aug 28, 2024

Life saver. This actually worked!

@Fionnbarr
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Solution worked well. Thanks!

@eleanordoesntcode
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Worked for me who uses gpg with git to sign my commits. This fixed my issue I had with Hombrew's tools to automatically open a pull request.

@pfesenmeier
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thank you!

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