I am trying to encrypt a file locally and I get an error. me@example.com
is a placeholder for my email address, a public key exists for that in my keyring and also on key servers. My private key is located on a hardware key (Yubikey). I can decrypt previously encrypted files with no problem. Here is the error:
➜ ~ gpg -e -r me@example.com somefile.txt
gpg: error retrieving 'me@example.com' via WKD: General error
gpg: me@example.com: skipped: General error
gpg: somefile.txt encryption failed: General error
What does this error mean and how can I solve it?
P.S. There is only one more thing that might be related. My public key is expired.
-vv
option providing more insight what's going wrong? – Jens Erat Nov 19 '17 at 13:48-vv
prints four more lines, three of them beinggpg: Note: signature key ... expired
and the last onegpg: <ke_id> skipped: Unusable public key
. Apparently everything boils down to the key being expired. – mehdix Nov 19 '17 at 21:16