gpg warning message

[bjf]

Hello All,

I am having trouble when importing Keys with the GnuPG package distributed with cygwin (I am running Windows XP).  I continue to get the same warning.  I have searched for this warning and have found a solution on uinx environments, however, it will not work with cygwin.  Is there any way around this solution.  The following is the command I am having trouble with, the warning, and the fix:


$ gpg --import KEYS
$ gpg: WARNING: using insecure memory!
$ gpg: please see http://www.gnupg.org/faq.html for more information
--imports all the the keys

so I go check out the link and this is the explanation:

Fix to:   Why do I get "gpg: Warning: using insecure memory!"

On many systems this program should be installed as setuid(root). This is necessary to lock memory pages. Locking memory pages prevents the operating system from writing them to disk and thereby keeping your secret keys really secret. If you get no warning message about insecure memory your operating system supports locking without being root. The program drops root privileges as soon as locked memory is allocated.

To setuid(root) permissions on the gpg binary you can either use:

$ chmod u+s /path/to/gpg

or

$ chmod 4755 /path/to/gpg

I don't want to put everything done on this page, but there is a statement that says:
"On some systems (e.g., Windows) GnuPG does not lock memory pages and older GnuPG versions (<=1.0.4) issue the warning:"

$ gpg: Please note that you don't have secure memory

But that is not the response I see.  Anyway, I have thoroughly searched for a fix and the solutions are all the same as the above.

Any help would greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Ben

[Volker Quetschke]

Hi bjf,

> I am having trouble when importing Keys with the GnuPG package distributed
> with cygwin.  I continue to get the same warning.  I have searched for this
> warning and have found a solution on uinx environments, however, it will not
> work with cygwin.  Is there any way around this solution.  The following is
> the warning and the fix:
>
> $ gpg --import KEYS
> $ gpg: WARNING: using insecure memory!
> $ gpg: please see http://www.gnupg.org/faq.html for more information
> --imports all the the keys
>
> so I go check out the link and this is the explanation:
>
> Fix to:   Why do I get "gpg: Warning: using insecure memory!"
>
> On many systems this program should be installed as setuid(root). This is
> necessary to lock memory pages. Locking memory pages prevents the operating
> system from writing them to disk and thereby keeping your secret keys really
> secret. If you get no warning message about insecure memory your operating
> system supports locking without being root. The program drops root
> privileges as soon as locked memory is allocated.
>
> To setuid(root) permissions on the gpg binary you can either use:
>
> $ chmod u+s /path/to/gpg
>
> or
>
> $ chmod 4755 /path/to/gpg
>
> I don't want to put everything done on this page, but there is a statement
> that says:
> "On some systems (e.g., Windows) GnuPG does not lock memory pages and older
> GnuPG versions (<=1.0.4) issue the warning:"
>
> $ gpg: Please note that you don't have secure memory
>
> But that is not the response I see.  Anyway, I have thoroughly searched for
> a fix and the solutions are all the same as the above.

It is a warning, it notifies you that you are using unsecure memory on
an inherently insecure operating system, commonly known as Windows.

> Any help would greatly appreciated.

Switch it off. Try `man gpg` and search for "insecure". You'll
find:

       --no-secmem-warning
                 Suppress the warning about "using insecure memory".

or put no-secmem-warning in your gpg.conf.

This is not really a cygwin problem. Using a better OS also fixes this
"problem".

  Volker

--
PGP/GPG key  (ID: 0x9F8A785D)  available  from  wwwkeys.de.pgp.net
key-fingerprint 550D F17E B082 A3E9 F913  9E53 3D35 C9BA 9F8A 785D

[bjf]

Hey Volker,

Thanks for the reply.  I had read about all that you suggested to do.  I suppose there isn't a way to solve this problem on windows?--the option you listed is just a way to ignore the insecurity.  I have really been thinking about switching to linux, but I have so much running on windows now...anyway...

Thanks again,

-bjf

Volker Quetschke wrote:

Hi bjf,

> I am having trouble when importing Keys with the GnuPG package distributed
> with cygwin.  I continue to get the same warning.  I have searched for this
> warning and have found a solution on uinx environments, however, it will not
> work with cygwin.  Is there any way around this solution.  The following is
> the warning and the fix:
>
> $ gpg --import KEYS
> $ gpg: WARNING: using insecure memory!
> $ gpg: please see http://www.gnupg.org/faq.html for more information
> --imports all the the keys
>
> so I go check out the link and this is the explanation:
>
> Fix to:   Why do I get "gpg: Warning: using insecure memory!"
>
> On many systems this program should be installed as setuid(root). This is
> necessary to lock memory pages. Locking memory pages prevents the operating
> system from writing them to disk and thereby keeping your secret keys really
> secret. If you get no warning message about insecure memory your operating
> system supports locking without being root. The program drops root
> privileges as soon as locked memory is allocated.
>
> To setuid(root) permissions on the gpg binary you can either use:
>
> $ chmod u+s /path/to/gpg
>
> or
>
> $ chmod 4755 /path/to/gpg
>
> I don't want to put everything done on this page, but there is a statement
> that says:
> "On some systems (e.g., Windows) GnuPG does not lock memory pages and older
> GnuPG versions (<=1.0.4) issue the warning:"
>
> $ gpg: Please note that you don't have secure memory
>
> But that is not the response I see.  Anyway, I have thoroughly searched for
> a fix and the solutions are all the same as the above.

It is a warning, it notifies you that you are using unsecure memory on
an inherently insecure operating system, commonly known as Windows.

> Any help would greatly appreciated.

Switch it off. Try `man gpg` and search for "insecure". You'll
find:

       --no-secmem-warning
                 Suppress the warning about "using insecure memory".

or put no-secmem-warning in your gpg.conf.

This is not really a cygwin problem. Using a better OS also fixes this
"problem".

  Volker

--
PGP/GPG key  (ID: 0x9F8A785D)  available  from  wwwkeys.de.pgp.net
key-fingerprint 550D F17E B082 A3E9 F913  9E53 3D35 C9BA 9F8A 785D