Temporary Profiles
A temporary profile is a profile that only lasts as long as its window. It starts empty: no keys, no saved state. When you close its window, everything in it is destroyed: its keys, its settings and its files.
When to Use One
Section titled “When to Use One”- A quick test. You want to try a setting, a key, or a feature without touching your real setup.
- A borrowed computer. You need to decrypt or sign something on a computer that is not yours, and you do not want to leave anything behind.
- A clean start. You want to see how GpgFrontend behaves with no keys at all, for example to follow a guide step by step.
Your normal profile is not touched. It stays exactly as it was in its own window.
Start a Temporary Profile
Section titled “Start a Temporary Profile”There are three ways. Each one opens a new window for the temporary profile.
From the menu
Section titled “From the menu”- Open Profiles in the menu bar.
- Choose New Temporary Profile.
From Manage Profiles
Section titled “From Manage Profiles”- Open Profiles, then Manage Profiles….
- Click New Temporary.
From a terminal
Section titled “From a terminal”gpgfrontend --temp-profileWhat It Starts With
Section titled “What It Starts With”- Keys: none. The temporary profile has its own empty keyring. Import or make the keys you need inside it.
- Settings: when you start it from the menu or from Manage Profiles, it copies the settings of the window you started it from. These are the same groups the New Profile window offers: engine and GnuPG, rPGP passphrase handling, everyday behaviour, language and appearance, and diagnostics. When you start it from a terminal, it starts with the normal default settings.
Keys, key databases, the workspace folder, key protection and proxy credentials are never copied.
To check that you are in a temporary profile, point at the profile name in the status bar at the bottom right of the window. It says the profile is not kept on this computer, and that everything in it is destroyed when the window closes.
Close a Temporary Profile
Section titled “Close a Temporary Profile”When you close the window, GpgFrontend asks Destroy Temporary Profile?. It warns that everything in the profile will be destroyed: its keys, settings and files.
- Click Destroy and Close to throw it all away and close the window.
- Click Cancel to go back to the window.
There is no way to get a temporary profile back once it is destroyed.
Keep It Instead
Section titled “Keep It Instead”If you decide you want to keep what you made, save it first:
- In the Destroy Temporary Profile? message, click Cancel.
- Open Profiles, then Export This Profile….
- Save it to a file, as described in Save a Profile to a File.
- Close the window again and click Destroy and Close.
Later you can open or import that file like any other profile file.
Limits
Section titled “Limits”Settings that need a restart
Section titled “Settings that need a restart”Some settings only take effect after GpgFrontend restarts. A restart starts a new copy of the program, and that would destroy the temporary profile. So the program refuses: it shows Restart Not Possible, and lists the settings pages with changes that need a restart.
- On Windows and Linux, the settings window stays open. Undo those changes, or click Cancel to throw away everything you changed in the settings window.
- On macOS, the settings window closes and all the changes you made in it are thrown away.
No key protection
Section titled “No key protection”A temporary profile’s own key is made fresh, held in memory only, and destroyed with the window. There is nothing on disk to protect, so the Application Key Protection choices are greyed out.
Where it is kept
Section titled “Where it is kept”While it is open, the temporary profile is kept in the safest place this computer offers: memory, an encrypted folder, or an ordinary folder. See Where the Open File Is Kept.