git - gpg onto mac osx: error: gpg failed to sign the data

Question

I installed GPG from brew.

brew install gpg

It is gnupg2-2.0.30_2.

When I commit, I do get a error message:

You need a passphrase to unlock the secret key for
user: "Max Mustermann (mycomment) <[email protected]>"
2048-bit RSA key, ID 1111AAAA, created 2017-01-05 

error: gpg failed to sign the data
fatal: failed to write commit object

I used the command:

gpg --list-secret-keys | grep ^sec

and it gives me back:

sec   2048R/1111AAAA 2017-01-05

Then I used this command:

git config --global user.signingkey 1111AAAA

commit gives me back the same error message.

How can I solve this problem?

Answer 1

If you’re not getting prompted at all for a passphrase, the solution may just be to install a program to facilitate that. The most common is pinentry.

brew install pinentry-mac

So installing that and trying again may get things working. But if not, another thing to do is make sure git it using/finding the right GPG program. These days you really should be using gpg2, so if you don’t already have that installed, do:

brew install gnupg2

And then, to tell git that’s the GPG program want to you, this:

git config --global gpg.program gpg2

At that point, try your commit again and things may just work.

But if not, then try this:

echo "pinentry-program /usr/local/bin/pinentry-mac" >> ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf

…and then try again.

Note: Per some comments below, in order for this change to take effect, you apparently might need to reboot after making the change.

Answer 2

To anybody who is facing this issue on MacOS machines, try this:

1. brew uninstall gpg
2. brew install gpg2
3. brew install pinentry-mac (if needed)
4. gpg --full-generate-key Create a key by using an algorithm.
5. Get generated key by executing: gpg --list-keys
6. Set the key here git config --global user.signingkey <Key from your list>
7. git config --global gpg.program /usr/local/bin/gpg
8. git config --global commit.gpgsign true
9. If you want to export your Key to GitHub then: gpg --armor --export <key> and add this key to GitHub at GPG keys: https://github.com/settings/keys (with START and END line included)

If the issue still exists:

test -r ~/.bash_profile && echo 'export GPG_TTY=$(tty)' >> ~/.bash_profile

echo 'export GPG_TTY=$(tty)' >> ~/.profile

If the issue still exists:

Install https://gpgtools.org and sign the key that you used by pressing Sign from the menu bar: Key->Sign

If the issue still exists:

Go to: ‎⁨your global .gitconfig file which in my case is at: ‎⁨/Users/gent/.gitconfig And modify the .gitconfig file (please make sure Email and Name are the same with the one that you have created while generating the Key):

[user]
	email = [email protected]
	name = Gent
	signingkey = <YOURKEY>
[gpg]
	program = /usr/local/bin/gpg
[commit]
	gpsign = true
	gpgsign = true
[filter "lfs"]
	process = git-lfs filter-process
	required = true
	clean = git-lfs clean -- %f
	smudge = git-lfs smudge -- %f
[credential]
	helper = osxkeychain

p.s I took this answer from my previous answer here: gpg failed to sign the data fatal: failed to write commit object [Git 2.10.0]

Answer 3

I had the same error message and found that my key was expired. So it might be a good idea to check your key expiration with:

gpg --list-keys

If your key is expired as well you can adjust the expiration date with:

gpg --edit-key <YOUR_KEY>

and then:

gpg> expire
...enter the new expiration date...
gpg> save

Answer 4

Install GPGSuite instead , it has GUI for generating the key.

You can see more details here

Answer 5

If you are still getting problems in macOS, open ~/.gitconfig and change anything below [gpg] to program = /usr/local/bin/gpg

Answer 6

In my case the user.signingkey was setting wrong....Copy the right signingkey the problem solved

Answer 7

I ran brew upgrade on macOS and it broke my gpg signing in git, presumably when it updated the gpg package. I assume there's an easier way to force the gpg service to restart correctly (I assume something that was actively running broke when I upgraded the package), but my fix for this was pretty simple: Just restart your computer.