Mica Mijatovic wrote: > Was Wed, 14 Sep 2005, at 10:42:10 +0100, > when Bob wrote: > >>> I can't find anything in the man page about key import file formats. >>> Other than ascii files, can GnuPG import any other file formats and if >>> so what? > > Every file containing a valid key data can be imported by GnuPG, > regardless the file extension and the file format. > > As I know there are only two formats: ascii ("armored"), which is > actually a plain text format, and the binary format (the one not very > readable by a human). > > GnuPG (as a genuinely *nix application) reads and recognizes actually > the file format primarily and doesn't pay attention at its "extension" > (as is the case with Windows). > > Usually, extensions for these formats are: > > ascii binary > ===== ====== > .txt .gpg > .asc .pgp > .sec .sig etc. > .pub > .rev etc. > > GnuPG also can read (import) properly even if a file has no any > extension, and/or if a file has _any_ extension, even mangled one or > completely arbitrary one. > > It will, for instance, properly import a valid key data even if a file > is with extension key.jpg (mangled extension), key (no extension) and > key.fricassee (arbitrary extension). > > (PGP, though, as an exclusively Windows application, will be deluded by > such extensions, and will say it doesn't recognize the file format, even > without reading it, so that will import nothing.)
Thanks, that's what I was trying to find out. I was confused by all the formats (and their extensions) for sharing information - .pfx .p7b .cer etc. I was trying to use data from Windows and import to GPG. As you remark, the extension is irrelevant, so long as the file is DER encoded binary ( possibly base 64 as well? - I haven't tried that). I have managed (don't ask me how) to get what appears to be a working x.509 certificate from Thawtes onto my GPG keyring, and have self signed it. I thought I'd have a go at getting another onto the keyring, but didn't know what format to export it from Windows. It would appear that I can only export the *public* keys from the X.509 certs as binary files - the key pairs will only export in .pfx format, which GPG won't import, so I guess it's some sort of Windows proprietary format. This is more or less for academic interest only, and I am only able to work on an empirical basis, not understanding the technicalities involved - but when, as I am, you're crocked and stuck indoors and have nothing else to do it seemed like a good idea :-) Regards, Bob
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