Mailing List Archive

master key certify capability
Hi,

I use the following command to test my new key setup:

$ gpg --batch --passphrase '' --yes --quick-gen 'Firstname Lastname
<test@example.com>' rsa4096 cert 1d&& for u in sign sign encrypt; do gpg
--batch --passphrase '' --yes --quick-add-key $(gpg --with-colons -k
test | awk -F::::::::: 'NR==3{print substr($2,1,length($2)-1)}') rsa4096
$u 1d || exit $?; done

which give the following:

$ gpg -K

-----------------------------
sec rsa4096 2020-01-03 [C] [expires: 2020-01-04]
3C5CFD620005347A62052A6B596CB80D30E8829D
uid [ultimate] Firstname Lastname <test@example.com>
ssb rsa4096 2020-01-03 [S] [expires: 2020-01-04]
ssb rsa4096 2020-01-03 [S] [expires: 2020-01-04]
ssb rsa4096 2020-01-03 [E] [expires: 2020-01-04]


Is there any downside to have my master key with the certify capability
only?


In other words, is it required for the master key to have the sign and
certify capabilities.

--
John Doe

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Re: master key certify capability [ In reply to ]
On Fri, Jan 03, 2020 at 07:06:42PM +0100, john doe wrote:
> $ gpg -K
>
> -----------------------------
> sec rsa4096 2020-01-03 [C] [expires: 2020-01-04]
> 3C5CFD620005347A62052A6B596CB80D30E8829D
> uid [ultimate] Firstname Lastname <test@example.com>
> ssb rsa4096 2020-01-03 [S] [expires: 2020-01-04]
> ssb rsa4096 2020-01-03 [S] [expires: 2020-01-04]
> ssb rsa4096 2020-01-03 [E] [expires: 2020-01-04]
>
>
> Is there any downside to have my master key with the certify capability
> only?

None.

> In other words, is it required for the master key to have the sign and
> certify capabilities.

It's not, and having a separate S subkey allows you to remove your
certify key to offline storage for better safekeeping (e.g. see
https://github.com/lfit/itpol/blob/master/protecting-code-integrity.md#moving-your-master-key-to-offline-storage)

Regards,
-K

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