[Pkg-gnupg-maint] Bug#645426: gpg --homedir /nonexistent --gen-key goes through the entire key generation process, then errors out

[Josh Triplett]

Package: gnupg
Version: 1.4.11-3
Severity: normal

For a quick test, I needed to generate a temporary GPG key.  I started
with "gpg --homedir /tmp/gpg-temp --gen-key".  This walked me all the
way through the key generation process, including lengthy entropy
collection, before erroring out because the directory didn't exist (I'd
expected gpg to create it):

/tmp$ gpg --homedir /tmp/gpg-temp --gen-key
gpg (GnuPG) 1.4.11; Copyright (C) 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

gpg: keyblock resource `/tmp/gpg-temp/secring.gpg': file open error
gpg: keyblock resource `/tmp/gpg-temp/pubring.gpg': file open error
Please select what kind of key you want:
   (1) RSA and RSA (default)
   (2) DSA and Elgamal
   (3) DSA (sign only)
   (4) RSA (sign only)
Your selection? 
RSA keys may be between 1024 and 4096 bits long.
What keysize do you want? (2048) 
Requested keysize is 2048 bits
Please specify how long the key should be valid.
         0 = key does not expire
      <n>  = key expires in n days
      <n>w = key expires in n weeks
      <n>m = key expires in n months
      <n>y = key expires in n years
Key is valid for? (0) 
Key does not expire at all
Is this correct? (y/N) y

You need a user ID to identify your key; the software constructs the user ID
from the Real Name, Comment and Email Address in this form:
    "Heinrich Heine (Der Dichter) <heinrichh at duesseldorf.de>"

Real name: Real Name
Email address: email at example.org
Comment: 
You selected this USER-ID:
    "Real Name <email at example.org>"

Change (N)ame, (C)omment, (E)mail or (O)kay/(Q)uit? o
You need a Passphrase to protect your secret key.

We need to generate a lot of random bytes. It is a good idea to perform
some other action (type on the keyboard, move the mouse, utilize the
disks) during the prime generation; this gives the random number
generator a better chance to gain enough entropy.

Not enough random bytes available.  Please do some other work to give
the OS a chance to collect more entropy! (Need 116 more bytes)
....+++++
+++++
We need to generate a lot of random bytes. It is a good idea to perform
some other action (type on the keyboard, move the mouse, utilize the
disks) during the prime generation; this gives the random number
generator a better chance to gain enough entropy.
..+++++

Not enough random bytes available.  Please do some other work to give
the OS a chance to collect more entropy! (Need 112 more bytes)
..+++++
gpg: no writable public keyring found: eof
Key generation failed: eof
gpg: can't create `/tmp/gpg-temp/random_seed': No such file or directory

- Josh Triplett

-- System Information:
Debian Release: wheezy/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'stable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 3.0.0-2-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=C.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=C.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash

Versions of packages gnupg depends on:
ii  dpkg          1.16.1.1        
ii  gpgv          1.4.11-3        
ii  install-info  4.13a.dfsg.1-8  
ii  libbz2-1.0    1.0.5-7         
ii  libc6         2.13-21         
ii  libreadline6  6.2-7           
ii  libusb-0.1-4  2:0.1.12-19     
ii  zlib1g        1:1.2.3.4.dfsg-3

Versions of packages gnupg recommends:
ii  gnupg-curl     <none>  
ii  libldap-2.4-2  2.4.25-3

Versions of packages gnupg suggests:
ii  eog           3.0.2-2
ii  gnupg-doc     <none> 
ii  libpcsclite1  1.7.4-2

-- no debconf information