I set my GPG key to expire annually, which was all well and good until it actually expired and I found myself needing to renew it. I was able to renew the primary key by expiring it, but unfortunately this only expired the primary key; the subkey remained expired, which in turn meant my key wasn’t any good. After digging around for a while, I discovered this email thread that explains how to extend the expiration date, which I’ll summarize here:
- gpg –list-keys
- this gives you a list of all the keys on your computer. you need this to find the keyname that you are trying to update.
- gpg –edit-key [keyname]
- command> list
- lists the available subkeys
- command> key [subkey]
- choose the number of the subkey you want to edit; e.g. key 1
- command> expire
- expire lets you set a new experation date for the subkey.
- command> save
It’s straightforward … once you know how to do it. 🙂
This will not help a newbie.
You’d better define what you mean by “key [subkey] ”
After the “key” user must enter an number from 1 and above.
Start with 1 and then do again “list” . If you have used the right number a * must be in front of the selected key.
Then do rest to change the expiration date.