path: root/sq/sq.1

.TH SQ "1" "JANUARY 2021" "0.22.0 (SEQUOIA-OPENPGP 1.0.0)" "USER COMMANDS" 5
.SH NAME
sq \- A command\-line frontend for Sequoia, an implementation of OpenPGP

Functionality is grouped and available using subcommands.  Currently,
this interface is completely stateless.  Therefore, you need to supply
all configuration and certificates explicitly on each invocation.

OpenPGP data can be provided in binary or ASCII armored form.  This
will be handled automatically.  Emitted OpenPGP data is ASCII armored
by default.

We use the term 'certificate', or cert for short, to refer to OpenPGP
keys that do not contain secrets.  Conversely, we use the term 'key'
to refer to OpenPGP keys that do contain secrets.

.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBsq\fR [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] <SUBCOMMAND>
.SH FLAGS
.TP
\fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-help\fR
Prints help information

.TP
\fB\-V\fR, \fB\-\-version\fR
Prints version information

.TP
\fB\-f\fR, \fB\-\-force\fR
Overwrites existing files
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
\fB\-\-known\-notation\fR NOTATION
Adds NOTATION to the list of known notations. This is used when validating signatures. Signatures that have unknown notations with the critical bit set are considered invalid.
.SH SUBCOMMANDS
.TP
\fBhelp\fR
Prints this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)

.TP
\fBdecrypt\fR
Decrypts a message

Decrypts a message using either supplied keys, or by prompting for a
password.  Any signatures are checked using the supplied certificates.

The converse operation is 'sq encrypt'.


.TP
\fBencrypt\fR
Encrypts a message

Encrypts a message for any number of recipients and with any number of
passwords, optionally signing the message in the process.

The converse operation is 'sq decrypt'.


.TP
\fBsign\fR
Signs messages or data files

Creates signed messages or detached signatures.  Detached signatures
are often used to sign software packages.

The converse operation is 'sq verify'.


.TP
\fBverify\fR
Verifies signed messages or detached signatures

When verifying signed messages, the message is written to stdout or
the file given to \-\-output.

When a detached message is verified, no output is produced.  Detached
signatures are often used to sign software packages.

The converse operation is 'sq sign'.


.TP
\fBarmor\fR
Converts binary to ASCII

To make encrypted data easier to handle and transport, OpenPGP data
can be transformed to an ASCII representation called ASCII Armor.  sq
emits armored data by default, but this subcommand can be used to
convert existing OpenPGP data to its ASCII\-encoded representation.

The converse operation is 'sq dearmor'.


.TP
\fBdearmor\fR
Converts ASCII to binary

To make encrypted data easier to handle and transport, OpenPGP data
can be transformed to an ASCII representation called ASCII Armor.  sq
transparently handles armored data, but this subcommand can be used to
explicitly convert existing ASCII\-encoded OpenPGP data to its binary
representation.

The converse operation is 'sq armor'.


.TP
\fBautocrypt\fR
Communicates certificates using Autocrypt

Autocrypt is a standard for mail user agents to provide convenient
end\-to\-end encryption of emails.  This subcommand provides a limited
way to produce and consume headers that are used by Autocrypt to
communicate certificates between clients.

See https://autocrypt.org/


.TP
\fBinspect\fR
Inspects data, like file(1)

It is often difficult to tell from cursory inspection using cat(1) or
file(1) what kind of OpenPGP one is looking at.  This subcommand
inspects the data and provides a meaningful human\-readable description
of it.


.TP
\fBkey\fR
Manages keys

We use the term 'key' to refer to OpenPGP keys that do contain
secrets.  This subcommand provides primitives to generate and
otherwise manipulate keys.

Conversely, we use the term 'certificate', or cert for short, to refer
to OpenPGP keys that do not contain secrets.  See 'sq certring' for
operations on certificates.


.TP
\fBkeyring\fR
Manages collections of keys or certs

Collections of keys or certficicates (also known as 'keyrings' when
they contain secret key material, and 'certrings' when they don't) are
any number of concatenated certificates.  This subcommand provides
tools to list, split, join, merge, and filter keyrings.

Note: In the documentation of this subcommand, we sometimes use the
terms keys and certs interchangeably.


.TP
\fBcertify\fR

Certifies a User ID for a Certificate

Using a certification a keyholder may vouch for the fact that another
certificate legitimately belongs to a user id.  In the context of
emails this means that the same entity controls the key and the email
address.  These kind of certifications form the basis for the Web Of
Trust.

This command emits the certificate with the new certification.  The
updated certificate has to be distributed, preferably by sending it to
the certificate holder for attestation.  See also 'sq key
attest\-certification'.


.TP
\fBpacket\fR

Low\-level packet manipulation

An OpenPGP data stream consists of packets.  These tools allow working
with packet streams.  They are mostly of interest to developers, but
'sq packet dump' may be helpful to a wider audience both to provide
valuable information in bug reports to OpenPGP\-related software, and
as a learning tool.

.SH SEE ALSO
For the full documentation see <https://docs.sequoia\-pgp.org/sq/>.

.ad l
.nh
sq(1), sq\-armor(1), sq\-autocrypt(1), sq\-certify(1), sq\-dearmor(1), sq\-decrypt(1), sq\-encrypt(1), sq\-inspect(1), sq\-key(1), sq\-keyring(1), sq\-packet(1), sq\-sign(1), sq\-verify(1)


.SH AUTHORS
.P
.RS 2
.nf
Azul <azul@sequoia\-pgp.org>
Igor Matuszewski <igor@sequoia\-pgp.org>
Justus Winter <justus@sequoia\-pgp.org>
Kai Michaelis <kai@sequoia\-pgp.org>
Neal H. Walfield <neal@sequoia\-pgp.org>
Nora Widdecke <nora@sequoia\-pgp.org>
Wiktor Kwapisiewicz <wiktor@sequoia\-pgp.org>