According to the gpg(1) manual: --gen-random 0|1|2 count Emit count random bytes of the given quality level 0, 1 or 2. If count is not given or zero, an endless sequence of random bytes will be emitted. If used with --armor the output will be base64 encoded. PLEASE, don't use this command unless you know what you are doing; it may remove precious entropy from the system! If your entropy pool is critical for various operations on your system, then using this command is not recommended to generate a secure password. With that said, regenerating entropy is as simple as: du -s / This is a quick way to generate a strong, base64 encoded, secure password of arbitrary length, using your entropy pool (example above shows a 30-character long password). Show Sample Output

You can choose these mirror servers to get gpg keys, if the official one ever goes offline keyserver.ubuntu.com pool.sks-keyservers.net subkeys.pgp.net pgp.mit.edu keys.nayr.net keys.gnupg.net wwwkeys.en.pgp.net #(replace with your country code fr, en, de,etc)

(Please see sample output for usage) Use any script name (the read command gets it) and it will be encrypted with the extension .crypt, i.e.: myscript --> myscript.crypt You can execute myscript.crypt only if you know the password. If you die, your script dies with you. If you modify the startup line, be careful with the offset calculation of the crypted block (the XX string). Not difficult to make script editable (an offset-dd piped to a gpg -d piped to a vim - piped to a gpg -c directed to script.new ), but not enough space to do it on a one liner. Sorry for the chmod on parentheses, I dont like "-" at the end. Thanks flatcap for the subshell abbreviation to /dev/null Show Sample Output

gpg command to decrypt a previously encrypted file on the command line. Can be optionally made into an alias: alias decrypt='gpg --output foo.txt --decrypt foo.txt.pgp'

(Please see sample output for usage) script.bash is your script, which will be crypted to script.secure script.bash --> script.secure You can execute script.secure only if you know the password. If you die, your script dies with you. If you modify the startup line, be careful with the offset calculation of the crypted block (the XX string). Not difficult to make script editable (an offset-dd piped to a gpg -d piped to a vim - piped to a gpg -c directed to script.new ), but not enough space to do it on a one liner. Show Sample Output

The coolest way I've found to backup a wordpress mysql database using encryption, and using local variables created directly from the wp-config.php file so that you don't have to type them- which would allow someone sniffing your terminal or viewing your shell history to see your info. I use a variation of this for my servers that have hundreds of wordpress installs and databases by using a find command for the wp-config.php file and passing that through xargs to my function. Show Sample Output

This will encrypt your single file and create a filename.gpg file. Option: * -c : Encrypt with symmetric cipher To decrypt dhinesh@ubuntu:~$ gpg -c sample.rb.gpg Show Sample Output

gpg command to encrypt a file on the command line.

A very simple command to send a signed and encrypted message from the command line using GPG Keys

Acquires a bit-by-bit data image, gzip-compresses it on multiple cores (pigz) and encrypts the data for multiple recipients (gpg -e -r). It finally sends it off to a remote machine.

get my GPG-key from pgp.surfnet.nl, key id is 19886493. Show Sample Output

Adjust the head -c part for password length. I use filenames like "hans@commandlinefu.com.gpg" and a vim which automatically decrypts files with .gpg suffixes.

imports a public key from the web. I know this by head.. but useful nevertheless Show Sample Output

This command will nicely dump a filesystem to STDOUT, compress it, encrypt it with the gpg key of your choice, throttle the the data stream to 60kb/s and finally use ssh to copy the contents to an image on a remote machine. Show Sample Output

Create a encrypted tar.gz file from a directory on the fly. The encryption is done by GPG with a public key. The resulting filename is tagged with the date of creation. Very usefull for encrypted snapshots of folders.

create simple encrypted notes to yourself using a passphrase on sprunge.us Show Sample Output

Change directory (cd) to the directory where all your encrypted files are placed, and then run the command - then you are asked to insert your secret gpg password - ubuntu 8.04

I like man pages, and I like using `less(1)` as my pager. However, most GNU software keeps the manual in the 'GNU Texinfo' format, and I'm not a fan of the info(1) interface. Just give me less. This command will print out the info(1) pages, using the familiar interface of less! Show Sample Output

For instance, if people have signed your key, this will fetch the signers' keys.

Replace KEY with GPG key. This command will load GPG key and add it to your system so you can use software from third party repos etc. Show Sample Output

Cleans apt-get and gpg cache and keys

Make sure the file contents can't be retrieved if anyone gets ahold of your physical hard drive. With hard drive partition: gpg --default-recipient-self -o /path/to/encrypted_backup.gpg -e /dev/sdb1 && shred -z /dev/sdb1 WARNING/disclaimer: Be sure you... F&%k it--just don't try this.