gpg-agent: The name is not activatable

gehenna14 · 2025-01-22 04:47:30

I have gpg set up with a keypair (ed25519 key and cv25519 subkey) and working fine, I want to set up gpg-agent, so I start the service and add some things to my config

default-cache-ttl 3600
allow-preset-passphrase
pinentry-program /usr/bin/pinentry-gtk

and this in my .bashrc:

export GPG_TTY=$(tty)

I expected gpg-agent to cache my password for the entire session rather than having to enter password every few hours or so, but it seems to be erroring out, it runs fine but this shows up after checking the status of the service:

Jan 22 17:36:04 DESKTOP-B631VEJ systemd[781]: Started GnuPG cryptographic agent and passphrase cache.
Jan 22 17:36:04 DESKTOP-B631VEJ gpg-agent[869]: gpg-agent (GnuPG) 2.4.7 starting in supervised mode.
Jan 22 17:36:04 DESKTOP-B631VEJ gpg-agent[869]: using fd 3 for extra socket (/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.gpg-agent.extra)
Jan 22 17:36:04 DESKTOP-B631VEJ gpg-agent[869]: using fd 4 for browser socket (/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.gpg-agent.browser)
Jan 22 17:36:04 DESKTOP-B631VEJ gpg-agent[869]: using fd 5 for ssh socket (/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.gpg-agent.ssh)
Jan 22 17:36:04 DESKTOP-B631VEJ gpg-agent[869]: using fd 6 for std socket (/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.gpg-agent)
Jan 22 17:36:04 DESKTOP-B631VEJ gpg-agent[869]: listening on: std=6 extra=3 browser=4 ssh=5
Jan 22 17:36:24 DESKTOP-B631VEJ gpg-agent[1266]: Failed to lookup password for key n/************************** with secret service: The name is not activatable
Jan 22 17:36:24 DESKTOP-B631VEJ pinentry-gtk[1266]: ../glib/gobject/gsignal.c:2532: signal 'size-request' is invalid for instance '0x5f8646ebd760' of type 'GtkWindow'

It is apparently unable to look my password up for some reason, I cannot much online about it, what does the name not being 'activatable" mean?
Is this normal?
It appears to be using the keygrip for my subkey.
Please help, Thanks!

seth · 2025-01-22 07:34:06

The message is from pinentry-gtk and it tries to query https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GNOME/Keyring as persistent cache for paswords which is apparently not installed.

Your passwords are of course not send to the secret service but to the NSA

gehenna14 · 2025-01-22 08:14:40

seth wrote:

The message is from pinentry-gtk and it tries to query https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GNOME/Keyring as persistent cache for paswords which is apparently not installed.

I read the ArchWiki page for gnome-keyring and I'm concerned about it's security.
Is there perhaps another lightweight implementation that uses libsecret that i can configure pinentry to use? All I know about is KWallet.
Could I just use https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/GnuPG#Cache_passwords

Last edited by gehenna14 (2025-01-22 08:19:20)

seth · 2025-01-22 08:38:41

The gpg cache is unrelated to any keyring implementations.
The cache is so you enter the key once you won't have to do it withing the next couple of minutes/hours/session, the keyring permanently stores keys - you unlock the keyring once and then it enters (stored) passwords for you even on a fresh boot.

gehenna14 · 2025-01-22 09:43:39

seth wrote:

The gpg cache is unrelated to any keyring implementations.
The cache is so you enter the key once you won't have to do it withing the next couple of minutes/hours/session, the keyring permanently stores keys - you unlock the keyring once and then it enters (stored) passwords for you even on a fresh boot.

Ah okay.
I removed the allow-preset-passphrase line and followed the link i sent's instructions and it should hopefully save it for the whole session now rather than just a couple of hours. It seems i got the two muddled up since I just want it to cache the password.

default-cache-ttl 60480000
max-cache-ttl 60480000
pinentry-program /usr/bin/pinentry-gtk

It hasn't shut up the service's error message though, but aside from not having a keyring i'm not sure how to make that stop, it seems to just be pinentry complaining about it.

seth · 2025-01-22 14:40:02

Try to add "no-allow-external-cache" to the agent config.

Arch Linux

#1 2025-01-22 04:47:30

gpg-agent: The name is not activatable

#2 2025-01-22 07:34:06

Re: gpg-agent: The name is not activatable

#3 2025-01-22 08:14:40

Re: gpg-agent: The name is not activatable

#4 2025-01-22 08:38:41

Re: gpg-agent: The name is not activatable

#5 2025-01-22 09:43:39

Re: gpg-agent: The name is not activatable

#6 2025-01-22 14:40:02

Re: gpg-agent: The name is not activatable

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