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+[[!meta title="Keyringer: encrypted and distributed secret sharing software"]]
+
+Keyringer lets you manage and share secrets using GnuPG and Git with custom
+commands to encrypt, decrypt, recrypt, create key pairs, etc.
+
+- Project page: [https://keyringer.pw](https://keyringer.pw)
+- Manpage: [keyringer.1](share/man/keyringer.1)
+- License: [GPLv3+](LICENSE)
+- Issue tracker: [https://keyringer.pw/trac](https://keyringer.pw/trac)
+- Tor hidden service: [http://4qt45wbulqipigwa.onion](http://4qt45wbulqipigwa.onion)
+- Releases: [https://keyringer.pw/releases](releases)
+- Contact: rhatto at riseup.net
+
+Index
+-----
+
+[[!toc levels=4]]
+
+Installation
+------------
+
+Just clone
+
+ git clone https://git.fluxo.info/keyringer
+
+You can also verify the latest commit's OpenPGP signature:
+
+ /usr/bin/git -C keyringer verify-commit HEAD
+
+Note that `/usr/bin/git` is called to avoid any other `git` wrappers or aliases
+you might have available on your shell.
+
+You can also add the `keyringer` script into your `$PATH` environment variable
+or package it to your preferred distro.
+
+If you're using Debian `stable` or newer, just run
+
+ apt-get install keyringer
+
+Creating a keyringer repository
+-------------------------------
+
+The first step is to setup a keyring.
+
+Keyringer supports management of multiple isolated keyrings. To start
+a new keyring (or register an existing one with your config file), run:
+
+ keyringer <keyring> init <path> [remote]
+
+This will
+
+ 1. Add an entry at `$HOME/.keyringer/config` aliasing 'keyring' to 'path'.
+ 2. Initialize a git repository if needed.
+
+For example,
+
+ keyringer friends init $HOME/keyrings/friends
+
+creates an alias "friends" pointing to `$HOME/keyrings/friends`. All
+other keyring actions for this keyring should be called using this alias.
+
+If there is an existing remote keyring git repository and you just
+want to checkout it, use
+
+ keyringer friends init $HOME/keyrings/friends <repository-url>
+
+Managing secrets
+----------------
+
+Each `secret` has a corresponding file inside `keys` subdirectory from the
+keyring folder. Keyringer has plenty of actions to operate in these secrets:
+
+ keyringer <keyring> commands
+
+Encrypting a secret
+
+ keyringer <keyring> encrypt <secret>
+
+Encrypting a secret from a file
+
+ keyringer <keyring> encrypt <secret> <plaintext-file>
+
+Decrypting a secret (only to stdout)
+
+ keyringer <keyring> decrypt <secret>
+
+Re-encrypting a secret or the whole repository
+
+ keyringer <keyring> recrypt [secret]
+
+Appending information to a secret
+
+ keyringer <keyring> append <secret>
+
+Editing a secret
+
+ keyringer <keyring> edit <secret>
+
+Use this option with caution as it keeps temporary unencrypted data
+into a temporary folder.
+
+Listing secrets
+
+ keyringer <keyring> ls [arguments]
+
+Git wrapper
+-----------
+
+Keyringer comes with a simple git wrapper to ease common management tasks:
+
+ keyringer <keyring> git remote add keyringer <url>
+ keyringer <keyring> git push keyringer master
+ keyringer <keyring> git pull
+
+Configuration files, preferences, options and recipients
+--------------------------------------------------------
+
+Basic keyringer operation depends in a set of configuration files:
+
+ 1. Main config file: `$HOME/.keyringer/config`: store the location of
+ each keyring.
+
+ 2. User preferences per keyring: `$HOME/.keyringer/<keyring>`: managed by
+ "keyringer <keyring> preferences". Preferences aren't shared among
+ users, so each user can have it's own set of preferences.
+
+ 3. Custom keyring options: `$KEYRING_FOLDER/config/options`: managed by
+ "keyringer <keyring> options". Options are shared among all
+ keyring users.
+
+ 4. Recipients: `$KEYRING_FOLDER/config/recipients/`: controls the list of
+ OpenPGP public key fingerprints that should be used when encrypting content.
+ Multiple recipients are supported, so secrets can be encrypted to
+ different sets of OpenPGP pubkeys in the same keyring.
+
+Other configuration parameters used by keyringer and it's actions are stored at
+`$KEYRING_FOLDER/config/`.
+
+Using a non-default OpenPGP key
+-------------------------------
+
+If you want to use a different key other than your default for a given
+keyringer, use
+
+ keyringer <keyring> preferences add KEYID=<fingerprint>
+
+Example:
+
+ keyringer <keyring> preferences add KEYID=0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDE012345678
+
+Managing recipients
+-------------------
+
+Keyringer uses the `default` recipient stored at `$KEYRING_FOLDER/config/recipients/default`
+as the standard list of OpenPGP public key fingerprints to which secrets should be encrypted.
+
+Additionally, keyringer supports multiple `recipient` files which can have a different set
+of OpenPGP public key fingerprints used for encryption.
+
+Recipients are matched against secrets according to it's path. If there exists a recipient
+called `accounting`, the following secret will be encrypted using it's OpenPGP public key
+fingerprints:
+
+ keyringer <keyring> encrypt accounting/balance
+
+In other words, the `accounting` recipient file is used because the secret name begins
+with `accounting`.
+
+So it's the case that recipients listed in the `default` recipient but not in the
+`accounting` recipients won't be able to decrypt this secret.
+
+When you first initalized your keyring, keyringer might have asked you to populate
+the `default` recipient list or you cloned a keyring repository which already has
+the `default` recipient.
+
+If you want more recipient files, your next step is tell keyringer the OpenPGP
+key IDs to encrypt files to:
+
+ keyringer <keyring> recipients edit [recipient-name]
+ keyringer <keyring> recipients ls
+
+Remember that keyringer support multiple recipients in a per-folder style. Try
+it by creating a sample recipient file:
+
+ keyringer <keyring> recipients edit closest-friends
+
+Fill it with your friends key IDs. Now encrypt a secret just for then:
+
+ keyringer <keyring> encrypt closest-friends/secret
+
+In other words, if keyringer finds a recipient file matching a given path,
+it will use it instead of the global recipients file.
+
+You can even create recipient files with your friends' key IDs but without
+yours: then you shall be able to encrypt secrets for them that even you cannot
+access. Try to find an use case for that ;)
+
+Each recipient list is defined in a file placed at `config/recipients` in your
+keyring repository. Take care to add just trustable recipients.
+
+Design
+------
+
+Keyringer's basic concepts are as follows:
+
+ - Each secret is encrypted using multiple users's OpenPGP public keys and commit the
+ output in a git repository we call a "keyring".
+
+ - A "recipient" a list of OpenPGP keys associated with a path in the keyring, so each
+ keyring can have multiple recipient definitions so secret compartmentalization is
+ builtin. All encryption should respect recipient definition.
+
+ - Users can keep their keyring copies in sync using any git remote and push/pull
+ strategy they like, so key sharing gets easy.
+
+ - A secret is not limited to passphrases or text: keyringer supports any file encryption,
+ so managing private keys, spreadsheets and media files are handled without distinction.
+
+ - Secret is stored with OpenPGP ASCII-armoured output, so one doesn't need any special
+ program besides GnuPG to actually decrypt information.
+
+ - Keyringer is agnostic about how you store your secrets. You may choose to have
+ one encrypted file that contains one line for each secret, e.g. a single file called
+ secrets with lines such as:
+
+ emma : root : secret1
+ emma - /dev/hda : : secret2
+
+ Or you may also have a different encrypted file for each secret, e.g. a file called
+ `emma.root` that contains the root passphrase for the server named `emma` and
+ another called `emma.hda` with the passphrase to decrypt `/dev/hda` on `emma`.
+
+ Creating a logical structure to store your secrets is up to you :)
+
+Workflow
+--------
+
+Keyringer can be used as a personal or shared password/secret manager:
+
+ - Each keyring is a full git repository used to store encrypted secrets
+ using ASCII-armoured OpenPGP.
+
+ - Actions like `encrypt` allows you to paste your secrets directly to
+ GnuPG so no plaintext is written to disk.
+
+ - By commiting, pushing and pulling each keyring repository, you can
+ easily share secrets with other people and systems and they don't
+ need to decrypt this information until they need.
+
+In summary, keyringer data store is basically gpg-encrypted data atop of a git
+repository (one can think of a kind of distributed encrypted filesystem).
+
+Git was chosen to host encrypted info mostly for two reasos: easy to distribute
+and its the only VCS known to make easier repository history manipulation.
+
+Limitations
+-----------
+
+ - See the [manpage](share/man/keyringer.1) for details.
+
+ - Check [this page](https://wiki.koumbit.net/PasswordManagementService/SoftwareComparison)
+ a comparison on different password management tools.
+
+Requirements
+------------
+
+Keyringer needs:
+
+ - [Bash](http://tiswww.case.edu/php/chet/bash/bashtop.html)
+ - [Git](http://git-scm.com)
+ - [GNU Privacy Guard](http://gnupg.org)
+ - Grep, awk, tail, cut, sed and other GNU tools
+
+Optional dependencies if you want to manage ssl keys:
+
+ - [OpenSSL](http://www.openssl.org)
+
+Development guidelines
+----------------------
+
+See [development](development).