gpg: what do I need to backup?

Solution 1:

The most critical are your secret/private keys:

gpg --export-secret-keys > secret-backup.gpg

secret-backup.gpg is then the file to keep safe.

Otherwise the ~/.gnupg/ directory contain all private and public keys(secring.gpg and pubring.gpg respectively) as well as configuration and trustdb which could be convenient to have stored.

Solution 2:

The easiest way would be to grab the entire GnuPG directory - usually ~/.gnupg/, it contains all private keys you have, as well as the public keyring and other useful data (trustdb, etc.)

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Solution 3:

There is nothing special. Let's assume [email protected] is your ID.:

Export keys and ownertrust:

gpg --export --armor [email protected] > [email protected]
gpg --export-secret-keys --armor [email protected] > [email protected]
gpg --export-secret-subkeys --armor [email protected] > [email protected]_priv.asc
gpg --export-ownertrust > ownertrust.txt

Import keys and ownertrust:

gpg --import [email protected]
gpg --import [email protected]
gpg --import [email protected]_priv.asc
gpg --import-ownertrust ownertrust.txt

Ultimately trust the imported key:

gpg --edit-key [email protected]
gpg> trust
Your decision? 5 (Ultimate trust)

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Solution 4:

You definitely want to backup your private key and the revocation file you created.