# [bug report] Signing your work: GnuPG signing failed (gpg version 2.1)

2 messages from 2015-08-05 to 2015-08-05. Participants: Hugo Roy, brian m. carlson.
Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/40023

## Hugo Roy, 2015-08-05 20:35

Subject: [bug report] Signing your work: GnuPG signing failed (gpg version 2.1)
Message-ID: <20150805203545.GD4325@xps>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20150805203545.GD4325%40xps

```

Hello,

I've tried to sign a commit following
https://git-scm.com/book/tr/v2/Git-Tools-Signing-Your-Work however,
this is what happened:

    % git commit -a -S -m "signed commit testing"
    gpg: échec de la signature : Opération annulée
    gpg: signing failed: Opération annulée
    error: gpg n'a pas pu signer les données
    fatal: échec de l'écriture de l'objet commit

sorry for the locale, "annulée" means cancelled and the last two
lines mean:

    error: gpg could not sign data
    fatal: failure to write the commit object

However, when I tried later, nothing specific happened and the commit
was done just as if I did not add the -S option:

    % git commit -a -S -m "signed commit test"
    [master 739cdd3] signed commit test
    1 file changed, 5 deletions(-)

Commit:
https://github.com/hugoroy/.emacs.d/commit/b8e5b72def0c5fcc760c84d6ecd2b95b9727ae62



I notice in the git-scm.com manual that they use GnuPG version 1. I
use GnuPG 2.1.6 with libgcrypt 1.6.3.

Let me know if you need more information or any pointer to help me
debug this more in depth.

thanks,
Hugo


-- 
Hugo Roy – Free Software Foundation Europe https://fsfe.org/about/roy
 
Please use cryptography for email: see https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/en/
Merci d’utiliser la cryptographie pour l’email : voir https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/fr/

```

## brian m. carlson, 2015-08-05 22:55

Subject: Re: [bug report] Signing your work: GnuPG signing failed (gpg version 2.1)
Message-ID: <20150805225538.GE581651@vauxhall.crustytoothpaste.net>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20150805225538.GE581651%40vauxhall.crustytoothpaste.net
In-Reply-To: <20150805203545.GD4325@xps>

```
On Wed, Aug 05, 2015 at 10:35:45PM +0200, Hugo Roy wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I've tried to sign a commit following
> https://git-scm.com/book/tr/v2/Git-Tools-Signing-Your-Work however,
> this is what happened:
> 
>     % git commit -a -S -m "signed commit testing"
>     gpg: échec de la signature : Opération annulée
>     gpg: signing failed: Opération annulée
>     error: gpg n'a pas pu signer les données
>     fatal: échec de l'écriture de l'objet commit
> 
> sorry for the locale, "annulée" means cancelled and the last two
> lines mean:
> 
>     error: gpg could not sign data
>     fatal: failure to write the commit object
> 
> However, when I tried later, nothing specific happened and the commit
> was done just as if I did not add the -S option:
> 
>     % git commit -a -S -m "signed commit test"
>     [master 739cdd3] signed commit test
>     1 file changed, 5 deletions(-)
> 
> Commit:
> https://github.com/hugoroy/.emacs.d/commit/b8e5b72def0c5fcc760c84d6ecd2b95b9727ae62
> 
> 
> 
> I notice in the git-scm.com manual that they use GnuPG version 1. I
> use GnuPG 2.1.6 with libgcrypt 1.6.3.

I believe this is a bug in GnuPG 2.1 or the relevant pinentry.  Debian
bug #793016[0] describes my experience with it.  Killing the gpg-agent
when this occurs and letting it respawn works for me.  I'm very certain
that this is not a bug in Git, though.

GnuPG 2.1 provides the same command line interface as GnuPG 1, so it
will work the same way with git.  Failing to sign is a GnuPG problem,
not a Git problem.

[0] https://bugs.debian.org/790316
-- 
brian m. carlson / brian with sandals: Houston, Texas, US
+1 832 623 2791 | http://www.crustytoothpaste.net/~bmc | My opinion only
OpenPGP: RSA v4 4096b: 88AC E9B2 9196 305B A994 7552 F1BA 225C 0223 B187

```