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gpghelper

A tool to help using SSH with GPG keys on Windows.

screenshot of gpghelper

This small tool helps you having putty (pageant) based SSH client authenticating with GPG keys, which can be somewhat tricky for non-computer-guys.
Is is intended to work under Windows with GPG4WIN package.

Note: if you are using the cygwin flavor of GPG, this tool is not for you.

Prerequisite

Install GPG4WIN with GnuPG version 2.2.4. GnuPG bin directory must be in the PATH. If you like to build the software on your own, you will need Qt 5.6.1. The tool basically parses gpg outputs, so gpgme is not required.

Install

Download the latest portable build in folder dist, extract it and run gpghelper.exe. The portable archive contains libraries from Qt 5.6.1.

Instructions

  1. Start the tool
  2. Configure GPG and gpg-agent

gpg-agent must be started and a special option has to be enabled for it to work with putty-based windows software.

  • Click on "Check GPG"
  • Make sure that support for pageant is activated in gpg-agent by clicking on "Get Config". "Pageant support" shall indicate "true".
  • If necessary, click on "Enable Pageant"
  • Restart the agent by clicking on "Restart"
  1. Configure your keys

Your GPG keys will not be allowed to authenticate SSH connections out-of-the-box, they have to be authorized for that first.

  • Click on "Query Keys". The list of available keys appears. They shall all show "[ssh: unknown]", which is normal for the moment.
  • Click on "Query sshcontrol". The ssh authorization status shall be updated, for instance "[ssh: unauthorized]".
  • Click on the key you like to authorize, then press "Authorize Key". The proper key is now added to the list of keys allowed to authenticate SSH sessions.

Note that there must be a subkey with authentication role enabled, i.e. [A] flag for it to work.

  • Restart the GPG agent by clicking on "Restart"

Note that you shall also restart you application, otherwise it may ignore the changes until next restart !

  1. Configure you SSH server
  • Select the key you have authorized before, or another one which is authorized.
  • The SSH fingerprint appears in fields "SSH Key". Most user will use "SSH Key (full)", which can be directly appended to your ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on your SSH server. "SSH Key (stripped)" is a convenience field that gives you only the central part with the key payload.

Todo

  • Code works but is not clean. Everything is put within the same class. At least, I should separate the gpg-related methods from the gui stuffs.
  • Terrible lack of inline documentation.
  • Robustness may be improved, probably.

Author & more

Brought to you by Mathieu Allory: mathieu.allory at gmail.com
Software icon by IconsMind