Profiles

A profile is one complete GpgFrontend setup: its own keys, its own settings, and its own saved state. Think of it like a separate user account inside the program.

You already have one, and it works. If one setup is enough for you, you can skip this page.

New in v2.2.2

Profiles were added in GpgFrontend v2.2.2. Before that, the program had one setup and one only.

Why You Might Want a Second One

• Keep work and personal apart. Two profiles, two sets of keys, no chance of sending something with the wrong one.
• Carry your setup with you. Save a profile to a file, take it to another computer, and pick up where you left off.
• Try something out. Make a spare profile to test a key or a setting, then delete it when you are done.

The Kinds of Profile

The program shows a short type next to each profile:

• Default: the one you get when you install GpgFrontend normally.
• Portable: the one a portable copy uses. See Portable Mode.
• Local: one you made yourself on this computer.
• From a package: a profile you opened straight from a file. It is not kept on this computer.

Where Your Profile Lives

The Default profile is stored here:

System	Folder
Windows	C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Local\BKTUS\GpgFrontend\
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/BKTUS/GpgFrontend/
Linux	~/.local/share/BKTUS/GpgFrontend/

Profiles you make yourself live in a profiles folder inside that one. You do not have to go looking for them: Manage Profiles has an Open Folder button that takes you straight there.

Nightly builds stay out of your way

Test builds keep their files in a separate folder of their own. Trying a nightly version never touches the setup your installed version uses.

The Profiles Menu

Everything to do with profiles sits in the Profiles menu in the menu bar:

• Manage Profiles: see every profile on this computer, and open or remove one.
• Open Recent: jump back to a profile you used recently.
• New Profile: start a fresh, empty setup on this computer.
• Open Profile File: work inside a profile file without copying it onto this computer.
• Import Profile File: copy a profile file onto this computer for good.
• Export This Profile: save the profile you are using now to a file.

You can also see which profile you are in at any time. Look at the bottom right corner of the window: it shows the profile name, and clicking it opens Manage Profiles.

Make a New Profile

1. Open Profiles in the menu bar, then choose New Profile.

2. Give it a name, such as Work.

3. Answer one question: should this profile hold its own keys, or share the keys you already use?

   • Start with an empty keyring: the profile keeps its own keys, separate from everything else. It starts out with none, so you import or make some inside it. This is the only kind you can save to a file and carry away.
   • Use the system GnuPG keyring: the profile uses the same keys you already have. Handy, but those keys are shared with the rest of your computer, so they are not really separate and they cannot travel inside a profile file.

4. Click OK. The program offers to open the new profile straight away.

Opening a profile always opens a second window. The window you were in stays exactly as it was.

One window per profile

The same profile cannot be open in two windows at once. If you try, the program tells you it is already open somewhere else. This is on purpose: two windows writing to one profile would damage it.

Save a Profile to a File

A profile file has the ending .gfp. It holds the whole setup, keys included, in one file you can copy anywhere.

1. Open the profile you want to save.

2. Choose Profiles, then Export This Profile.

3. Click Choose and pick where to put the file.

4. Decide whether to include your workspace files. This is off to start with.

5. Leave Protect with a passphrase turned on and type a passphrase twice.

6. Click Export.

The file holds your keys

Keep the passphrase protection turned on. Without it, anyone who gets the file can read your keys and everything else in the profile, and can change it before you open it.

There is no way to recover the passphrase if you forget it. Write it down somewhere safe.

What Goes In, and What Does Not

The file carries your settings, your saved state, your key groups and categories, and any keys kept inside the profile.

It does not carry logs, modules, or keys kept outside the profile. That last one is the surprising one.

Keys live outside the profile when your key database points at a folder elsewhere, such as your system GnuPG home directory. That happens when you chose Manual mode for the database, or when you told the profile to use the keys you already had.

That kind of database is still listed in the file, but it arrives empty on the other computer, and shows as Inactive until you point it at a folder there.

Check before you rely on it

The export window lists what is going in, including a line for Keys stored inside this profile. If that line says nothing is there, your keys are not travelling.

To send those keys too, use a KeyPackage alongside the profile file. See also Which Databases Travel.

Open a Profile File on Another Computer

You have two ways to do this, and they behave differently.

Copy it onto the computer

Choose Profiles, then Import Profile File. Pick the .gfp file, type its passphrase, and give the profile a name. It is now a normal profile on this computer, and the file is not needed any more.

Work straight out of the file

Choose Profiles, then Open Profile File. Or just double-click the .gfp file.

Nothing is added to this computer. When you close the window, the program asks Save Changes? and writes your changes back into the same file. This is the one to use on a computer you do not want to leave anything on.

Do not just close and walk away

If you choose Discard, everything you did in that session is gone. The copy the program was running from is deleted when the window closes.

Delete a Profile

Choose Profiles, then Manage Profiles. Pick the profile and click Delete.

The program asks twice, because there is no undo. Its keys, settings and saved state are removed from this computer for good. Export it to a file first if you might want it back.

You cannot delete the profile you are currently using, or one that is open in another window.

For Advanced Users

You can pick a profile when starting the program from a terminal:

# open a profile you made, using its folder name
gpgfrontend --profile a3f19c

# open a profile file
gpgfrontend ~/Documents/work.gfp

--profile needs the profile’s folder name, not the name you gave it. You can see the folder name in Manage Profiles.

If you name a profile that does not exist, the program stops and says so. It does not create one for you.