[Conference-attendees] Make your GPG key now.

[Josh Berkus]

Just wanted to send a reminder to everyone about the keysigning
Sunday night. Even if you don't use PGP or GnuPG right now,
this could be a once-in-a-lifetime to get your key into the
Web of Trust and signed by some other Postgres people. Remember
to bring a picture ID and a printout of your fingerprint to
hand to each person. The simplest way to make this output is
to use gpg like this:

gpg --fingerprint <your_name_or_key_id>

If you don't have a PGP key, making one is very easy. Abbreviated
directions are below, or just ask me (Greg) for help at the conference.
(I'll be the one wearing a geeky "Got PGP?" button, if I remember it).
Also, feel free to exchange keys informally before the actual signing
Sunday night - the more keys that are exchanged beforehand, the quicker
and less chaotic Sunday will be. See you all soon!


Making a key, the quick way:


 >> gpg --gen-key

Answer "1"
The default key size of 2048 is fine, although you can go higher.
Enter "0" for never expire (too much trouble to set a expiration, in my
opinion)
Answer "Y"
Enter your real name: this should mostly match what is on your ID.
Enter your email address.
Leave the comment blank.
Enter "O"
Enter a passphrase. Make it long, make it difficult, and write it down.
Enter it again.
Wait for your key to be created.
It will eventually give you your key ID (8 hexadecimal characters)
Do a "gpg --fingerprint <keyid>" and make a bunch of copies of this.
Move your secret key to removable media, if you want. The file you want
is ~/.gnupg/secring.gpg

- --
Greg Sabino Mullane greg at turnstep.com