keybase / keybase/keybase-issues

[bug] unable to login on a Fedora 23 Linux machine when private key is not stored in keybase's cloud

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#2,293 2 comments 3 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
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Description

Cleared everything. Then tried the following::
1. I've tried loggin in by first generating public/private keys on the website itself (chose NOT to store it on server), then imported the keys into local database with the commands:

```
$ gpg --allow-secret-key-import --import
$ gpg --import
```

I checked that they exist by checking output from:

```
$ gpg -K --keyid-format long --with-colons --with-fingerprint
$ gpg --export -a
$ gpg --export-secret-keys -a
```

Then I tried to loging with `keybase login` and got:

```
▶ ERROR Sorry, your account is already established with a PGP public key, but this
utility cannot find the corresponding private key on this machine.
This is the fingerprint of the PGP key in your account:

AE0A AACD 929A 821B 4F9D CC6A EC25 8F89 CED0 7CA1

You need to prove you're you. We suggest one of the following:

- put one of the PGP private keys listed above on this machine and try again
- reset your account and start fresh: https://keybase.io/#account-reset
```

When I saw that, I explicity rechecked my key pairs locally, and the tried to edit and update key on keybase.io with the public key shown on laptop. It said "the key is already present" meaning it's the same key for which i had private key.
2. That said, I then produced another local pair and then tried to update that onto the website. It said:

`Code: 902 Name: KEY_NOT_IN_USE Description: updated key isn't an active key`
3. I didn't get that, so I then reset everything, and chose to store the key pair on the cloud itself. Then I also copied the keys locally and imported them into my `~/.gnupg/` database. Then when I tried to login, it still gave the error described above in the output.
4. So finally i repeated step 3 but instead, cleared all gpg dbs locally and just stored the private key on cloud itself, without any local copies available.

Step 4 is what worked for me, as you could see [on my profile now](https://keybase.io/archit/devices)

What am I missing?

`gpg (GnuPG) 1.4.20`

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

Research direction

Reproduce the login flow on Fedora 23 with GnuPG 1.4.20, following the reported imports into ~/.gnupg/ and the `keybase login` command. Compare the behavior when the private key is local versus stored in Keybase's cloud; done means a locally imported matching private key is recognized and login succeeds without requiring cloud storage.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
fedora, linux
Domain
authentication, cli, security
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
28/100

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