[pkg-gnupg-maint] Bug#850982: Bug#850982: Exact command to globally disable gpg-agent user service?

[Daniel Kahn Gillmor]

On Mon 2017-02-20 23:11:56 -0500, Michael[tm] Smith wrote:
> Yes, but how is that any different from the state my system was in
> before the change was made in 2.1.17 to have systemd automatically
> launch gpg-agent?
>
> I mean, the way it worked previously caused no observable problems for
> me.

The way it worked previously meant that you likely had instances of
gpg-agent that were left running long after you logged out.  It's
possible that some of those instances still had cached passwords or
active keys even.

when gpg-agent is supervised by systemd, and the user logs out, the
agent gets shut down properly at the right time.

> As far I understand it, the way it works without systemd getting
> involved is that calling gpg2 launches gpg-agent the first time it’s
> needed, and then it just stays running and everything works fine for
> me from a user point of view.  

It depends on whether you care about either:

 a) session cleanup, or

 b) needlessly diverging from the default configuration

> I observe nothing broken or undesirable in that behavior.

Sure, but i was asking about whether you observed anything broken or
undesirable in the *current* default behavior.

if there's nothing concretely wrong with current defaults, please stick
with them, rather than changing them gratuitously (or encouraging others
to do so).  It'll improve the lives of the people who try to support you
and the software you use, i promise :)

(that said, if there *is* something wrong with the current defaults,
please do report it -- the pkg-gnupg-maint team, like all debian
developers, want to fix problems and very much appreciate those
reports!)

regards,

    --dkg