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How to understand the `gpg failed to sign the data` problem in git
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README.md

Problem

You have installed GPG, then tried to commit and suddenly you see this error message after it:

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

Debug

For understanding what's going on, first check what git is doing, so add GIT_TRACE=1 at the beginning of the command you used before (git commit or git rebase):

GIT_TRACE=1 git commit

With that you can see what GPG is doing: Probably you will see something like this

10:37:22.346480 run-command.c:637       trace: run_command: gpg --status-fd=2 -bsau <your GPG key>

(Check if your GPG key is correct)

Execute that gpg command again in the command line:

gpg --status-fd=2 -bsau <your GPG key>

👆🏻 With this now you could see what happened in detail!

Solutions

We can have many problems, but I list what I found:

  1. It could be that the GPG key was expired: https://stackoverflow.com/a/47561300/532912

  2. Another thing could be that the secret key was not set properly (In my case the message said gpg: signing failed: No secret key as it can be see in the image below). image It means that is not finding the key that was set. You would need to set up the GPG key in Git (again):

    • List the secret keys available in GPG.
    gpg --list-secret-keys --keyid-format=long
    • Copy your key
    • Set your key for your user in git
    git config --global user.signingkey <your key>

  3. Another popular solution that could help was shared here by @NirajanMahara: https://gist.github.com/paolocarrasco/18ca8fe6e63490ae1be23e84a7039374?permalink_comment_id=3767413#gistcomment-3767413

  4. You can see in the thread of this gist other ways to find the solution to other problems. I recommend to read the Github guide for signing commits with GPG.

Hope it helps!

@Pablo-pixtm-365
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Pablo-pixtm-365 commented Dec 13, 2023 •
edited

I tried differents solutions:

1.- Change the path in "git config --global gpg.program"
2.- See if there were any misspelled variables
3.- echo "test" | gpg --clearsign

But they didn't work.

Finally the solution was run:

git config --global gpg.program gpg

if you use gpg2, change gpg for gpg2

I hope this solution works for you

@scotteg
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scotteg commented Dec 25, 2023

After upgrading my OSX to Monterey it stoped to work without reason. The GIT_TRACE didn't help to much because everything was correctly set. In the end I reinstalled the GPG Sutie via brew with the command brew reinstall --cask gpg-suite and it fixed the issue.

Doing this resolved my issue. Thanks!

@JorgeNachtigall
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I you're on WSL2, maybe this can help:

  • Add those lines to ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf 
    use-agent 
pinentry-mode loopback
  • Add this line to ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf 
    allow-loopback-pinentry

GOAT, it worked

@EfrainOlivaresEv
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🙏
Saved me lots more time after spending a bunch of time debugging ...

@EvieePy
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EvieePy commented Jan 3, 2024

After spending hours debugging this, the problem was that I was using single quotes for this command, E.g:
git config --global gpg.program 'C:\Program Files (x86)\GnuPG\bin\gpg.exe'

Instead of double quotes, like so:
git config --global gpg.program "C:\Program Files (x86)\GnuPG\bin\gpg.exe"

Thanks for the help though!

@SelinaRaynor
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Thanks for helping me out :)

@syedamanat
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syedamanat commented Jan 10, 2024 •
edited

On MacOS, I have to install pinentry-mac to enter passphrase

brew install pinentry-mac
echo "pinentry-program $(which pinentry-mac)" >> ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf
killall gpg-agent

Thanks for this!

10th-Jan-2024; Still works (mac m1)

@Jphn
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Jphn commented Jan 11, 2024

Thanks man, it worked for me!

@MariaWilliamm
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MariaWilliamm commented Jan 15, 2024 •
edited

Thanks for sharing, you made my day. I am learning so many things here. Had to revisit Academized's research paper service https://academized.com/research-paper-writing-service because the first experience was exceptional. Consistency is key, and they delivered once again. If you're after reliability and excellence, this service is a go-to for all your research paper needs.

@adriguerra
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My issue was that I had added the PGP key with my email, while my commits on the repo were signed with my GitHub-provided noreply email address.

To solve this issue, I had to run gpg --edit-key [your key] followed by gpg> adduid to add the second email address.

https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/managing-commit-signature-verification/associating-an-email-with-your-gpg-key

@HimangshuDe
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HimangshuDe commented Feb 17, 2024 •
edited

Hello Devs,
Since I am a newcomer to git and GitHub. I have also faced the same problem. Let me state that in detail below.

Problems I have faced:

  1. I have installed git and have generated ssh-key from there and added it to my GitHub account. It worked.

  2. I have installed GPG program for adding GPG key into my account and added to git thereafter. I did all the necessary steps. Added that into my account. Worked fine.

  3. Now whenever I commit any changes, I get that error.

Solution: [Worked in my case]

Since I am on Windows system. I did the following steps that resolved my problem.

  1. Run "Windows Powershell" in admin mode.

  2. Then I set the Execution Policy to AllSigned through this command Set-ExecutionPolicy AllSigned. After that press A and hit Enter.
    Screenshot 2024-02-17 220040

  3. Then I regenerated the GPG key and added that to git and also in my GitHub account.

  4. I went ahead and did the commit, it worked fine!
    Screenshot 2024-02-17 215713

My System Details:

  1. Windows 10 Pro v22H2 [Activated]
  2. Intel i5-3570K CPU Quad Core (Ivy Bridge codename)
  3. 8GB installed DDR3 RAM

Hope you may find this useful!

Regards!
Happy Coding

@usoro007
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@NirajanMahara
You saved the day and allowed me to get some rest! Thank you!

@danielfromCL
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Thanks for the help, worked for me! 🙌

@BakiVernes
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GOAT 🐐

@Impa10r
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Impa10r commented Mar 24, 2024 •
edited 

gpg --status-fd=2 -bsau F93581548CDBCCB7
[GNUPG:] KEY_CONSIDERED E4C9A7533D31D43B288E162FF93581548CDBCCB7 2
[GNUPG:] BEGIN_SIGNING H10

and it just hangs there.

Hello, did you find the solution? It obviously waits for the password. I am on Ubuntu and I had the same problem when creating the key, used some tricks from here. But now am stuck when trying to use the key for the first time. Can't believe this is so hard to do.

@hu-qi
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hu-qi commented Mar 24, 2024

I tried differents solutions:我尝试了不同的解决方案：

1.- Change the path in "git config --global gpg.program"1.- 更改“git config --global gpg.program”中的路径 2.- See if there were any misspelled variables 2.- 查看是否有任何拼写错误的变量 3.- echo "test" | gpg --clearsign 3.- 回显“测试” | gpg--clearsign

But they didn't work.但他们没有工作。

Finally the solution was run:最后运行解决方案：

git config --global gpg.program gpg

if you use gpg2, change gpg for gpg2如果您使用gpg2，请将gpg更改为gpg2

I hope this solution works for you我希望这个解决方案适合您

Thanks, It worked for me!

@zrajeev
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zrajeev commented Mar 25, 2024

On MacOS, I have to install pinentry-mac to enter passphrase

brew install pinentry-mac
echo "pinentry-program $(which pinentry-mac)" >> ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf
killall gpg-agent

This is the true solution 👍

@bdangeb6tp
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bdangeb6tp commented Mar 27, 2024 •
edited

What worked for me was slightly different than brew install pinentry-mac

I instead used reinstall since it was already installed.

brew reinstall pinentry-mac
echo "pinentry-program $(which pinentry-mac)" >> ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf
killall gpg-agent

@JordanUnderwood12
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I was also having a similar problem, but now everything is good.

@Fuseteam
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Fuseteam commented Apr 10, 2024 •
edited 

gpg --status-fd=2 -bsau F93581548CDBCCB7
[GNUPG:] KEY_CONSIDERED E4C9A7533D31D43B288E162FF93581548CDBCCB7 2
[GNUPG:] BEGIN_SIGNING H10

and it just hangs there.

Hello, did you find the solution? It obviously waits for the password. I am on Ubuntu and I had the same problem when creating the key, used some tricks from here. But now am stuck when trying to use the key for the first time. Can't believe this is so hard to do.

i also ran into this, i managed to workaround it using this @NirajanMahara steps at https://gist.github.com/paolocarrasco/18ca8fe6e63490ae1be23e84a7039374?permalink_comment_id=3767413#gistcomment-3767413; by doing that it prompts for the password, after which it just works. i suppose there should be a way to configure gpg to prompt for a password properly

@saadazghour
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saadazghour commented Apr 10, 2024 •
edited

I'm on Ubuntu, Thanks @NirajanMahara ,It's worked for me 👍

@MuhanguziDavid
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On MacOS, I have to install pinentry-mac to enter passphrase

brew install pinentry-mac
echo "pinentry-program $(which pinentry-mac)" >> ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf
killall gpg-agent

Thank you!

@robrakaric
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My issue was that I had added the PGP key with my email, while my commits on the repo were signed with my GitHub-provided noreply email address.

To solve this issue, I had to run gpg --edit-key [your key] followed by gpg> adduid to add the second email address.

https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/managing-commit-signature-verification/associating-an-email-with-your-gpg-key

This worked for me! Thanks

@bitsector
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On MacOS, I have to install pinentry-mac to enter passphrase

brew install pinentry-mac
echo "pinentry-program $(which pinentry-mac)" >> ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf
killall gpg-agent

This is the true solution 👍

This worked for me as well. Thanks @bdangeb6tp !!

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