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.

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. Open a temporary profile to test a key or a setting. It disappears when you close it.

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.
Temporary: a throwaway profile. Everything in it is destroyed when its window closes. See Temporary Profiles.

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: in Manage Profiles, pick a profile and choose Show in Folder from the ⋯ button or the right-click 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. A profile that is already open in another window shows (open in another window) and cannot be picked.
New Profile…: start a fresh setup on this computer.
New Temporary Profile: start a throwaway setup in a new window. See Temporary Profiles.
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.

The Profiles On This Computer window

Manage Profiles… opens the Profiles On This Computer window. Its list has the columns Name, Type, Last Opened and Status. A profile you have never opened shows Never under Last Opened. The Status column can say:

This window: the profile you are using now. Its name is in bold.
Open in another window: close that window before you open it here.
Not created yet: its folder does not exist yet.

Make a New Profile

Open Profiles in the menu bar, then choose New Profile…. You can also open Manage Profiles…, click New, then New Profile…. The New Profile window opens. It walks you through three steps: Name, Keys and Settings.
Name: type a name, such as Work. This name shows in the profile list and the status bar. You can change it later. Click Continue.
Keys: choose where the profile’s built-in key database lives. Click one of the two choices:
- This profile’s own built-in key database (marked Recommended): the profile keeps its own keys, separate from everything else. It starts out empty, so you import or make keys inside it. Its keys go with the profile when you save it to a file.
- This computer’s built-in key database: the profile uses keys that are shared with other programs or profiles on this computer. With GnuPG, these are your existing keys in the GnuPG home directory. Handy, but they are not really separate, and they cannot travel inside a profile file.
You can add more key databases later in Settings, under Key Databases. Click Continue.
Settings: choose what the new profile starts with. See Pick Which Settings to Copy below.
Click Create Profile. The program asks whether to open the new profile now. Click Yes to open it.

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

Pick Which Settings to Copy

The Settings step lets the new profile start with the settings of the window you are in, so you do not have to set everything up again.

Start with this window’s settings turns all the groups below it on or off at once.
Each group has its own box, so you can copy some and leave out others:
- OpenPGP engine and GnuPG
- rPGP passphrase handling
- Everyday behaviour
- Language and appearance
- Diagnostics

Point at a group to see exactly which settings it holds.

The Settings step of New Profile

Some things are never copied, whatever you tick. The dialog says so in one line: Never copied: keys, key databases, the workspace folder, key protection and proxy credentials.

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.

Open the profile you want to save.
Choose Profiles, then Export This Profile…. The Export Profile window opens. It walks you through three steps: Contents, Protection and Save. Click Continue to go on, or Back to change something.
Contents: look at the list of what goes into the file. If you also want to take your workspace files, tick Include workspace files. The box shows their total size after the name. It is off to start with. Click Continue.
Protection: type a passphrase. A passphrase is a password, often made of several words. It must be at least 8 characters long. Type it again under Repeat to confirm it.

If you cannot think of a good one, click Generate a strong passphrase. The program makes one, shows it, and copies it to the clipboard. Write it down somewhere safe right away. Click Continue.
Save: check the summary. Next to Save to, click Browse… and pick where to put the file. The window shows how much free space is left on that drive.
Click Export backup.
The Profile Exported window shows the file name, folder and size. Click Show in Folder to see the file, or Done to close it.

If the place you picked may be too small, a warning appears on the Save step. The file is packed smaller as it is written, so it may still fit.

What Goes In, and What Does Not

The list on the Contents step shows each part and its size:

Settings
Saved state, key groups and categories
This profile’s own key. This is the key that locks the profile’s saved data. See Application Secure Key.
Keys stored inside this profile
My workspace files, only if you ticked Include workspace files

The list ends with a line that says what never goes in: Never included: logs, modules, and keys kept elsewhere.

“Keys kept elsewhere” is the surprising one. Keys live outside the profile when the profile uses the system GnuPG keyring, or when a key database is kept on this computer only. Those keys stay where they are. When the profile is opened on another computer, the program says such a database is unavailable until you point it at a folder there.

Key databases in the Recycle Bin also stay behind. Your choice of default key database goes in, as long as the database it names goes in too.

Settings that only make sense on this computer also stay behind. For example, the place where a custom GnuPG is installed, the workspace folder, and how this profile’s own key is protected.

Files From Older Versions

Two new messages can appear when a file will not open:

This Profile File Is Too Large: the file is bigger than this version can open. This only happens with files from older versions, which had to be held in memory all at once. The program cannot make a file that large itself, so the file was made somewhere else or is damaged. Nothing was unpacked.
Not Enough Room: there was not enough free space to unpack the profile. The file itself is fine. Free some space and try again.

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.
In Open a Profile File, type the file’s passphrase and click Open.
In Name This Profile, give the profile a name.
Profile Imported appears. Click Open to open it now, or Not Now.

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…, and pick the file. Or just double-click the .gfp file in your system’s file manager.

A new window starts and asks for the passphrase in Open a Profile File. Type it and click Open.

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

Open a Profile File From the File Panel

If you double-click a .gfp file in GpgFrontend’s own File Panel, the program asks first. A window called Open Profile File shows the file and what its header says about it, such as who wrote it and when.

These details are marked From the file’s header (unverified). Anyone who had the file could have changed them, so do not rely on them yet.

Then choose:

Open: work in the file itself. Nothing is kept on this computer.
Import: copy it into a profile kept here. The file is not used again.
Cancel: do nothing.

After that, the program asks for the passphrase.

If the File Was Changed

If someone changed the file after it was saved, the program refuses to use it and shows This File Has Been Altered. Do not trust that file. Get a fresh copy from its owner.

If the file was made by a newer version of GpgFrontend, the program says so and does not open it. Update GpgFrontend and try again.

Save Your Changes Back Into the File

When you close a window that runs from a profile file, Save Changes? appears. It reminds you that the copy you are working in is about to be deleted. Choose:

Save Changes: write everything back into the file.
Discard: throw away everything you did in this session.
Cancel: go back to the window. The question comes again next time you close it.

Sometimes the program has to ask for the passphrase again before it can save. Then Protect This Profile File appears:

Type the passphrase in Passphrase, and again in Repeat.
Tick Show passphrase if you want to check what you typed. The Strength bar shows how hard it is to guess.
Click Save.

Whatever you type here becomes the file’s passphrase. A different passphrase replaces the old one, and the old one will no longer open the file.

Where the Open File Is Kept

While you work in a profile file (or a temporary profile), the program needs a place to keep the unpacked copy. It picks the safest place this computer offers:

Memory: nothing is written to the disk in the normal course of things.
An encrypted folder: written to the disk, but only this session can read it.
An ordinary folder on this disk: used only when neither of the above is possible.

To see which one is in use, point at the profile name in the status bar at the bottom right of the window. Or open Help, then About, then the Status tab, and look for Session Storage:. If an ordinary folder was used, that line shows under Needs Attention.

If a Profile Is Already Open

When GpgFrontend starts and finds the profile is held by another window, it shows Profile Is Already Open. It names the profile and what holds it.

Quit: close this window and leave the other one alone. This is the safe choice.
Force Unlock: take over the profile anyway.

Only use Force Unlock if you are sure no other GpgFrontend window is using this profile. For example, after the program crashed and left its lock behind. If another window really is using it, both will write to the profile at once and damage its saved data.

Delete a Profile

Choose Profiles, then Manage Profiles…. Pick the profile, then choose Delete… from the ⋯ button or the right-click menu. You can also press Del.

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

# open a new temporary profile
gpgfrontend --temp-profile

--profile needs the profile’s folder name, not the name you gave it. To see it, open Manage Profiles and point at the profile’s name. The full folder path appears, and the folder name is its last part.

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

--temp-profile opens an empty temporary profile. You may also see --temp-profile-settings in the list of options. The program uses it by itself to pass settings to a temporary profile it starts. You do not need to type it.

You can also name a profile in the GF_PROFILE environment variable, using its folder name. This is handy for scripts. --profile and a profile file on the command line win over it.

GF_PROFILE=a3f19c gpgfrontend

A few other options can help when something goes wrong:

-v or --version: show the version.
-e or --environment: show details about where GpgFrontend runs.
-l or --log-level: set how much goes into the log. Choose trace, debug, info, warn or error.
-h or --help: list all options.