FOSDEM will hold a meeting for the signing of OpenPGP/GnuPG keys
during FOSDEM , on Sunday
(place to be defined).
How to take part?
Before the key-signing party?
You must send your public key to the organizer of the key signing
party. To extract your public key, use the syntax: "gpg --export
--armor" your@email "> yourname.asc" then send the file
yourname.asc to the organizer (key-submit@fosdem.org) of the
key signing party. (Deadline for submission is 20 February)
If you do not have a public key yet or you have never used
GnuPG/OpenPGP, I recommended you read the GnuPG handbook, available
in English,
German or
French . This
gives a clear explanation of how to generate a key, which will
allow you to take part in the key signing party.
During the key-signing party?
You must have:
Proof of your identity (passport, indentity card...)
Your key fingerprint (which you printed yourself!)
And of course, a good mood
A computer is not needed during the
key signing party
You will receive a paper list of all the participants, printed by
the organizer, in the following format:
Each person reads their fingerprint
(from their own printed version, not the distributed version) and
introduces themselves. Thus everyone can check if the list of
fingerprints on the sheet provided by the organizer is correct. If
they match, you can make a cross in the part "Fingerprint OK?" for
each participant present whose fingerprint checks out.
Identity checking
You must then check the identification
of each person. Each person simply presents their proof of identity
and reconfirms their fingerprint. At this point, if the proof of ID
checks out, you can make a cross in "ID-Check OK?".
If this explanation seems fuzzy, a
more complete explanation will be given at the time of the key
signing party.
After the key-signing party?
When you return home, you can sign the keys of the people who took
part in the key signing party whose fingerprint and identity you
have confirmed on your sheet.
Do not sign the key of any person you have not personally
identified. This is important for the quality of the "Web of Trust"
and especially for the "value" of your key.
Here is an example of how to sign the key with ID (0x44E6CBCD)
which you want to sign following the key signing party:
To get the key from the keyserver
random.sks.keyserver.penguin.de
gpg --sign-key 0x44E6CBCD
To sign this key (having of course checked the fingerprint
with gpg --fingerprint 0x44E6CBCD)
You must then email the signed key
to its owner (to check the validity of the uids) and then the
holder of the key will place it on a keyserver (like
random.sks.keyserver.penguin.de), using:.