App Lingo

This is a place to explore the language used to describe the various pieces of OpenPGP. Each app seems to have similar but often conflicting lingo.

Gnu Privacy Guard (for Android)

GnuPG

  • key - the set of public and/or private keys representing a single identity. Also, somewhat separately, a set of numbers representing an RSA, DSA, ECDSA, El Gamal, etc. public/private key pair
  • subkey - a public/private key pair that is part of a key, all representing a single identity
  • keyring - a collection of keys, each representing a single identity
  • public key - a key that includes only the public components of the key and all subkeys
  • secret key - a key that includes the public and private components of the key and all subkeys
  • public keyring - a set of public keys stored locally
  • secret keyring - a set of secret keys stored locally
  • signature - a crypto operation used to make the integrity of a file verifiable
  • to sign - the act of creating a signature
  • certification - a signature on a key

GnuPG Assistant

  • keyring - "In your public keyring you hold public keys of people you want to send encrypted documents. The keyring also supports you to judge the trust in other keys which ultimately leads to trust identification for signatures you encounter in files, emails and other documents." (source)
  • owner trust - "This value describes your opinion about the other ones ability to correctly sign other keys. Your personal trust in the owner of a public key varies from full trust (thumb up) over marginal trust (thumb horizontal) to no trust (thumb down). If you have no opinion about the person, you can leave the ownertrust unknown." (source)

APG

  • keyring - the set of public and/or private key pairs representing a single identity
  • key - a public/private key pair used for signing, encrypting, etc.
  • signature - a crypto operation used to make the integrity of a file verifiable

BouncyCastle

  • keyring - the set of public and/or private key pairs representing a single identity
  • key - a public/private key pair used for signing, encrypting, etc.

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