Post by JustinI installed macGNUPG - and I generated the keys - went through all the
random number stuff - it asked me to move the mouse and type...
But now I want to attach my public key to a message and send it off.
I'm not exactly sure where to find it.
Start GPG KeyChain Access.
The public keys should be displayed, there is a public tab & a secret
tab. You only want to send the public key to anyone.
Select the public key you made in the list.
Press the Export button on the tool bar.
A pop up save screen will appear. Select ascii armor and type in a easy
to remember name:
Justin_doe_pub_key.gpgkey
(the suffix gpgkey is important for mac key access, anytime you get a
public key add .gpgkey to the end so that in Finder you can
automatically start the program and import a key with a double click.)
save the key file to a folder, it should default to your documents
folder.
Now you can either attach that file to a email message or open it in a
text editor, copy it then paste it into a plain text email. You can
give a copy of that public key file to anyone via email or network or a
portable disk like a floppy or USB thumb drive.
If you want to you can share your public key on a public key server.
In GPG key access select your key then in the program menu find Key and
select Send to Keyserver and anyone can find your public key by typing
your name or email address.
Your public and secret key are stored in the directory
/Users/USERNAME/.gnupg in the files
pubring.gpg
secring.gpg
you should archive this directory and save a copy in a safe place
so if something goes wrong you will still be able to use your GPG/PGP
keys to open and send encypted messages and files.
If you use Mac OS X open the Mac Terminal and type
cd $HOME
pwd
(you should be in your HOME directory /Users/YOURUSERNAME)
tar cvfz mypgpkeys.tar.gz .gnupg
Now copy the file mypgpkeys.tar.gz to a back up external hard drive or
USB thumb drive for safe keeping.
To extract you can use many archive programs like Betterzip or Stuffit
to open, Or again in the Terminal command line type
tar xvfz mypgpkeys.tar.gz
If you want to be able to navigate in finder to the hidden .gnupg
directory you can create a symbolic link to get to it and use any
compression program instead.
Open the Mac Terminal and on the command line type
ln -s .gnupg gnupg
Now you can navigate to the .gnupg folder in finder.
--
Best Regards, Keith
http://home.comcast.net/~kilowattradio/