[Bug 1577562] [NEW] upstart/sessions/gpg-agent.conf starts gpg-agent unconditionally

[Daniel Richard G.]

Public bug reported:

I have a Xenial system; gnupg-agent 2.1.11-6ubuntu2 is part of the
install.

In /etc/X11/Xsession.d/90gpg-agent , gpg-agent is started if either
~/.gnupg/gpg.conf or ~/.gnupg/options contains a "use-agent" directive.
This part is working fine, as far as I'm aware.

Now, the /usr/share/upstart/sessions/gpg-agent.conf file contains this
comment:

    # /etc/X11/Xsession.d/90gpg-agent starts the agent without DBUS,
    # thus can't use pinentry-gnome3
    # but we know we have dbus now, restart gpg-agent

Okay, so when gpg-agent was started by Xsession, it had been started
without DBUS, so then this re-starts it with DBUS awareness. I can
understand that.

The problem is that this Upstart config starts gpg-agent regardless of
whether it was previously running or not. So the Xsession script's
careful logic to check for "use-agent" in the GnuPG user config files is
for naught.

I don't use gpg-agent, and don't want it running in my X session. (I
want ssh-agent, and nothing else.) The "use-agent" directive is exactly
the kind of mechanism I'd want for controlling whether or not this
daemon is started. The Upstart config file should not run roughshod over
that.

** Affects: gnupg2 (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1577562

Title:
  upstart/sessions/gpg-agent.conf starts gpg-agent unconditionally

Status in gnupg2 package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I have a Xenial system; gnupg-agent 2.1.11-6ubuntu2 is part of the
  install.

  In /etc/X11/Xsession.d/90gpg-agent , gpg-agent is started if either
  ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf or ~/.gnupg/options contains a "use-agent"
  directive. This part is working fine, as far as I'm aware.

  Now, the /usr/share/upstart/sessions/gpg-agent.conf file contains this
  comment:

      # /etc/X11/Xsession.d/90gpg-agent starts the agent without DBUS,
      # thus can't use pinentry-gnome3
      # but we know we have dbus now, restart gpg-agent

  Okay, so when gpg-agent was started by Xsession, it had been started
  without DBUS, so then this re-starts it with DBUS awareness. I can
  understand that.

  The problem is that this Upstart config starts gpg-agent regardless of
  whether it was previously running or not. So the Xsession script's
  careful logic to check for "use-agent" in the GnuPG user config files
  is for naught.

  I don't use gpg-agent, and don't want it running in my X session. (I
  want ssh-agent, and nothing else.) The "use-agent" directive is
  exactly the kind of mechanism I'd want for controlling whether or not
  this daemon is started. The Upstart config file should not run
  roughshod over that.

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