User:Midnightcomm/key signing party
A key signing party is an event where people present their PGP-compatible keys to others in person. An individual's key is than digitally signed by the other attendees—only if they are confident that the key actually belongs to the person who claims ownership. This is usually done by comparing the individual's public key fingerprint, and photo ID (such as a drivers license or passport).
Bring
- Pencil or Pen
- Printed copy of your key ID, key type, key fingerprint, and key size. Details to do this follow.
Before the Party
Install the GNU Privacy Guard
GPG is a free replacement for PGP, and is included with nearly all Linux distributions. To verify that you have GnuPG installed, open a terminal window and type:
which gpg
If you get which: no gpg in ... than you need to install it.
Generate Key
If you don't already have a GPG key one must be generated.
gpg --gen-key
For the first three questions just press Enter.
You will be asked for:
- your real name
- email address
- a comment optional
After confirming everything GnuPG will ask for a password. Now, GnuPG will generate a new key for you. Move your mouse around as GnuPG needs random data to work with. It's usually a good idea to produce a revocation certificate after making your new key.