OK, why is it not possible for me to sign email in GPG anymore?

[Jeffrey F. Bloss]

Michael T. Richter wrote:

> When I try to sign email messages now, I get this error:
> 
> 
>         Could not create message.
>         
>         Because "gpg: gpg-agent protocol version 0 is not supported

Far as I can gather from perusing source this is going to be caused by
a munged (or possibly missing) GPG_AGENT_INFO environment variable. The
version number in question is extracted directly from there anyway.

Invoking a 'echo $GPG_AGENT_INFO' at a command prompt might start you
off in the right direction. Compare it to what's in the .gpg-agent-info
file that should be in your $HOME directory. Reading through your
gpg.conf and gpg-agent.conf (~/.gnupg) should lead you to it if it's
not there.

>         gpg: writing to `-'
>         gpg: DSA/SHA1 signature from: "A550E784 Michael T. Richter
> (Personal Key) <ttmrichter at gmail.com>" ", you may need to select
> different mail options.
> 
> 
> I haven't changed anything with evolution, seahorse [clip]

Seahorse last I knew installs it's own version of gpg-agent. If
you've recently "upgraded" to GnuPG 2 (version 1.9.x and above), you'll
find that it also installs gpg-agent (and requires it). The two will
conflict, especially if one is installed "per session" in an X conf
file, and the other is installed "per login" in .bashrc or such.

There's no pressing reason for most people to just upgrade to GnuPG2 by
the way, it's separate from the 1.4.x branch, which will be maintained
indefinitely. Version 2 makes many functions "modular" and adds full
blown support for S/MIME and smart cards among other things. If you
don't need those "advanced" features you really don't need to upgrade
past 1.4.7.

Anyway, I'd first sort out exactly how gpg-agent is being invoked. My
gut tells me you're suffering some permutation of the above even if you
haven't done a major version upgrade recently. The ultimate solution
in my humble opinion is to drop Seahorse like a hot potato (it's way
too invasive), use something like GPA or KGPG for graphical stuff, stick
with GnuPG 1.4.x if at all possible, and use the official gpg-agent if
you want that functionality.

-- 
     _?_      Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
    (o o)         Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
-oOO-(_)--OOo------------------------------[ Groucho Marx ]---
                    http://wrench.homelinux.net/~jeff/
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