How to generate a GPG Key with multiple uids & subkeys?

How to generate a GPG Key with multiple uids & subkeys?

This page is still a DRAFT.

Requirements

Disk Image

Download the latest Arch Linux or ArchBang Linux release and write it to a bootable CD or USB thumbdrive.

<sxh bash;gutter: false> ~$: dd if=archlinux-$VERSION-dual.iso of=/dev/$DEVICE bs=8192 </sxh>

Than boot your computer with it.

Paranoid Modus: use a non-networked computer for this procedure.

Effectively preventing pinentry from failing

gpg: problem with the agent: No pinentry

<sxh bash;gutter: false> ~$: echo "pinentry-program `which pinentry-tty`" » ./.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf </sxh>

Generating the master key

<sxh bash;gutter: false> ~$: gpg2 –expert –full-gen-key # 10 # 1 # y # 0 # y # Real NAME # E-Mail Address # Comment # O # y # T </sxh>

Generating the sub keys to your master key

<sxh bash;gutter: false> ~$: gpg2 --expert --edit-key $KEYID gpg> addkey # 8 # Q # 4096 # 1y # y # y # T gpg> save </sxh>

Removing the primary key

<sxh bash;gutter: false> ~$: gpg -K ~$: gpg -a --export-secret-subkeys $KEYID > 0x$KEYID-secret.subkeys.gpg ~$: gpg --delete-secret-keys $KEYID # y # y # D # D # D </sxh>

Troubleshooting

Error while generating key?

If you get the following error while the key generation:

gpg: can't connect to the agent: IPC connect call failed
gpg: agent_genkey failed: No agent running
Key generation failed: No agent running

it means your gpg-agent isn't running.

ECC key not successfully uploaded to keyserver

Consider the following.

FAQ

Why using Arch*Linux instead of something more security related like Tails?

In the moment of writing, Tails doesn't include the latest gpg2 package within its distribution. To narrow down as much obstacles as possible, I've chosen a distribution which includes all needed software packages.

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