- blablaPUBLIC.asc
- blablaSECRET.asc
- My fingerprint
What are the things I can share? And what is which one used for?
You only share public key and fingerprint, never share secret key aka private key. Without public-key/fingerprint (uploaded in a server) no one can verify a message or file if you want them to have the original message or file that you have for them.
For any recognize open-source software the dev team always provides the signature. Verifying the file against this signature means that you have the authentic piece of software. This helps you to avoid fake, phishing copies.
Let me give you an example: Electrum wallet.
You can have copies of Electrum client anywhere on the web including their official website (
https://electrum.org/#download). How would you know that the copies that were downloaded from other websites are authentic, even the copies in their official site (the server may get hacked)? You only way to verify if the copy is genuine is the signature they provide.
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FnFSCM1K.png&t=664&c=tHrYBAsVePSRiw)
And these signatures are signed by ThomasV and his PGP public key is:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/spesmilo/electrum/master/pubkeys/ThomasV.asc-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
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=sUYl
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
This key is recognized by the community.
So when you download the copy of Electrum from anywhere in the world, your first job is to verify the file you just downloaded against this PGP public key of ThomasV.
For that you need:
1. Import the public key of ThomasV and certify it with your private key.
2. Download the signature of the version of the downloaded Electrum software.
3. Verify the downloaded software.
If it verifies then you have the original copy and you can now install it without any hesitation.
I hope I made it easy to understand the use case of PGP encryption.
~snip~
I normally send 5 merits for a good post but you deserve 2x than my normal from me.
@bitcoinermatt, so far the best you got from PawGo. I only explain one use case of PGP.