keybase / keybase/keybase-issues

`keybase pgp purge` asks the user to run an invalid command ("keybase decrypt <filename>") -- invalid because "keybase decrypt" expects input via STDIN

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Description

STEPS TO REPRODUCE:

  1. Import a pgp private key into your keybase keychain.
  2. Decide to purge that key, and run keybase pgp purge
    This gives the following output:
Exported PGP key files:
 1. /path/to/redacted/filename.saltpack

The PGP keys in the local Keybase keyring have been exported.
Please check that you have no problems decrypting them with

    keybase decrypt <filename>

and importing them into another keyring (like GPG).

Once you are confident that you have your keys in a safe place,
run this command with the -p flag:

    keybase pgp purge -p

to remove the keys from the local Keybase keyring.
  1. Try to run the keybase decrypt command that you're instructed to run there, e.g. run this in your terminal:

keybase decrypt /path/to/redacted/filename.saltpack

ACTUAL RESULTS:
It doesn't work! It gives this error output:

Error parsing command line arguments: Command decrypt doesn't take any non-flag arguments

So, user stuck and is unable to purge their pgp key as they wanted to. User is sad and confused. :(

EXPECTED RESULTS:
Keybase should provide the user with a functional command to run, rather than a non-functional command. Either of these would work:

keybase decrypt < [filename]

...or:

cat [filename] | keybase decrypt

(Not sure whether <filename> with angle-brackets is the preferred placeholder here -- it's a bit confusing because < also happens to be "use-as-stdin" operator, which may actually need to be part of the 'Please run' command as noted above.)

VERSION INFO:
I have keybase version 1.0.18-20161202201411+495bb76 on 64-bit Ubuntu 16.04 (installed today, from the .deb linked from the keybase website)

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by locating the user-facing message printed by keybase pgp purge, then verify the suggested command against keybase decrypt's stdin-only behavior. Done when purge prints a functional stdin-based command and the reproduction steps no longer produce the argument-parsing error.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
shell
Domain
cli
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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