GnuPG stands for GNU Privacy Guard and is a tool for secure communication and data storage. The software has two main uses. The first is to encrypt data to ensure its privacy. The second is to “sign” data so that others can determine it is authentic and unmodified.
It includes an advanced key management facility and is compliant with the proposed OpenPGP Internet standard as described in RFC 2440.
GnuPG is a command line tool with features for easy integration with other applications.
The default public key algorithms are DSA and Elgamal, but RSA is also supported. Symmetric algorithms available are AES (with 128, 192, and 256 bit keys), 3DES, Blowfish, CAST5 and Twofish. Digest algorithms available are MD5, RIPEMD/160, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384, and SHA-512. Compression algorithms available are ZIP, ZLIB, and BZIP2 (with libbz2 installed).
Key Features
- Full replacement of PGP.
- Does not use any patented algorithms.
- Can be used as a filter program.
- Full OpenPGP implementation.
- Better functionality than PGP and some security enhancements over PGP 2.
- Decrypts and verifies PGP 5, 6 and 7 messages.
- Supports ElGamal, DSA, RSA, AES, 3DES, Blowfish, Twofish, CAST5, MD5, SHA-1, RIPE-MD-160 and TIGER.
- Easy implementation of new algorithms using extension modules.
- The User ID is forced to be in a standard format.
- Supports key and signature expiration dates.
- Online help system.
- Optional anonymous message receivers.
- Integrated support for HKP keyservers.
- Clears signed patch files which can still be processed by patch.
- English, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Estonian, French, German, Japanese, Italian,
Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Portuguese (Portuguese), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish language support.
Website: www.gnupg.org
Support: Manuals
Developer: Maintainer: Werner Koch Numerous developers
License: GNU General Public License v3.0
GnuPG is written in C. Learn C with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Email Encryption Tools | |
|---|---|
| GnuPG | Encrypt and sign data and communication |
| OpenPGP | Authenticating or encrypting data, using public key cryptography |
| Mailvelope | Extension for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox |
| Enigmail | OpenPGP Email Security for Mozilla Applications |
| LibrePGP | Updated specification of the OpenPGP encryption standard |
| Mymail-Crypt for Gmail | Simple solution to mail encryption; not affiliated with Google |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
| Disk Encryption Tools | |
|---|---|
| VeraCrypt | Strong disk encryption software |
| loop-AES | Encrypt disk partitions, removable media, swap space and other devices |
| dm-crypt | Transparent disk encryption subsystem |
| GnuPG | GNU Privacy Guard - implementation of the OpenPGP standard |
| GocryptFS | Encrypted overlay filesystem written in Go |
| cryptsetup | Configures encrypted block devices |
| Tomb | System for file encryption |
| Shufflecake | Create multiple hidden volumes |
| zuluCrypt | Feature rich solution for hard drive encryption |
| cryptmount | Managing encrypted file systems |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
| CLI File Encryption Tools | |
|---|---|
| SOPS | Editor of encrypted files |
| age | Simple file encryption tool |
| GnuPG | Implementation of the OpenPGP standard |
| Sequoia PGP | Comprehensive OpenPGP implementation |
| horcrux | File splitter with encryption and redundancy |
| rage | Simple encryption tool using the age format |
| Kryptor | Simple, modern, and secure file encryption and signing tool |
| Picocrypt | Very small (hence Pico), very simple, yet very secure encryption tool |
| fscrypt | Go tool for managing Linux filesystem encryption |
| enc | Designed as a modern, approachable alternative to GnuPG |
| ccrypt | Tool for encrypting and decrypting files and streams |
| Encpipe | Billed as the simplest encryption tool in the world |
| Volaris | Encryption tool designed to prioritize privacy and security |
| eddy | Simple and fast CLI file encryption |
| Xecrets Cli | AxCrypt compatible encryption tool |
| nacrypt | Simple and easy-to-use file encryption utility |
| v02enc | Symmetric encryption for multiple recipients |
| rsecure | AES-GCM file encryption and decryption tool |
| PurrCrypt | Fur-ociously secure encryption tool |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
 Explore our comprehensive directory of recommended free and open source software. Our carefully curated collection spans every major software category.This directory is part of our ongoing series of informative articles for Linux enthusiasts. It features hundreds of detailed reviews, along with open source alternatives to proprietary solutions from major corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. You’ll also find interesting projects to try, hardware coverage, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. Discovered a useful open source Linux program that we haven’t covered yet? Let us know by completing this form. |