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raineorshine/gpg-import-and-export-instructions.md

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Last active February 27, 2019 02:20
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Instructions for exporting/importing (backup/restore) GPG keys
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gpg-import-and-export-instructions.md

Backup the public and secret keyrings and trust database

cp ~/.gnupg/pubring.gpg /path/to/backups/
cp ~/.gnupg/secring.gpg /path/to/backups/
cp ~/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg /path/to/backups/
# or, instead of backing up trustdb...
gpg --export-ownertrust > raine-ownertrust-gpg.txt

NOTE The GPG manual suggests exporting the ownertrust instead of backing up the trustdb, although it doesn't explain why.

Restore the public and secret keyrings and trust database

cp /path/to/backups/*.gpg ~/.gnupg/
# or, if you exported the ownertrust
gpg --import-ownertrust raine-ownertrust-gpg.txt

Below is mainly about trusting my key once I've imported it (by either restoring the pubring.gpg and secring.gpg, or by using --import). This seems to be what I do the most as I either forget to import the trustdb or ownertrust.

gpg --edit-key [email protected]
gpg> trust
Your decision? 5 (Ultimate trust)
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