[pkg-gnupg-maint] Bug#930062: pinentry-qt not working

[Jeffery To]

Hi,

I'm in a similar situation as the original reporter; I want to use my
password manager to enter my GPG passphrase but pinentry-gnome3 is fully
modal, so I installed pinentry-qt but it doesn't appear to work. I'm using
Ubuntu 20.04 (yes I know this is a Debian bug report, but I hope this might
help get this issue fixed).

I tried the test and I see this in my terminal:

gpg-connect-agent: no running gpg-agent - starting '/usr/bin/gpg-agent'
gpg-connect-agent: waiting for the agent to come up ... (5s)
gpg-connect-agent: connection to agent established
ERR 67108949 No pinentry <GPG Agent>

Content of gpg-agent.log:

2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772766] listening on socket
'/run/user/1000/gnupg/d.xsj3tnu6mn6647naay7ouamr/S.gpg-agent'
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772766] listening on socket
'/run/user/1000/gnupg/d.xsj3tnu6mn6647naay7ouamr/S.gpg-agent.extra'
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772766] listening on socket
'/run/user/1000/gnupg/d.xsj3tnu6mn6647naay7ouamr/S.gpg-agent.browser'
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772766] listening on socket
'/run/user/1000/gnupg/d.xsj3tnu6mn6647naay7ouamr/S.gpg-agent.ssh'
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] gpg-agent (GnuPG) 2.2.19 started
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 -> OK Pleased to meet
you, process 1772764
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 <- RESET
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 -> OK
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 <- OPTION
ttyname=/dev/pts/14
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 -> OK
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 <- OPTION
ttytype=xterm-256color
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 -> OK
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 <- OPTION display=:0
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 -> OK
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 <- OPTION
xauthority=/run/user/1000/gdm/Xauthority
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 -> OK
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 <- OPTION
putenv=XMODIFIERS=@im=ibus
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 -> OK
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 <- OPTION
putenv=GTK_IM_MODULE=ibus
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 -> OK
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 <- OPTION
putenv=DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/run/user/1000/bus
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 -> OK
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 <- OPTION
putenv=QT_IM_MODULE=ibus
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 -> OK
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 <- OPTION
lc-ctype=en_CA.UTF-8
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 -> OK
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 <- OPTION
lc-messages=en_CA.UTF-8
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 -> OK
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 <- GET_CONFIRMATION
Hello
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] starting a new PIN Entry
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_11 <- [eof]
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_11 -> BYE
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] can't connect to the PIN entry
module '/usr/bin/pinentry-qt': End of file
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: error calling pinentry: No
pinentry <GPG Agent>
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] command 'GET_CONFIRMATION' failed:
No pinentry
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 -> ERR 67108949 No
pinentry <GPG Agent>
2020-05-29 16:20:23 gpg-agent[1772767] DBG: chan_10 <- [eof]

(I should add that I tried this test in a VM using the Debian 10.4.0 live
iso but I wasn't able to reproduce the error. I suspect if I tried this in
a Debian install instead of a live iso session I would get a similar
result.)

When I try this with the default (systemd-managed) gpg-agent, I see this in
my system log:

May 29 16:38:50 computer gpg-agent[1794812]: Unable to init server: Could
not connect: Connection refused
May 29 16:38:50 computer pinentry[1794812]: cannot open display:

There is a similar bug report for Ubuntu[1], where the last comment[2]
suggests a workaround by adding keep-display to gpg-agent.conf. Connecting
this with the above system log messages, I tried adding keep-display and it
appears to work.

(Someone else had posted to Ask Ubuntu[3] about what looks like a similar
issue. While the poster wasn't sure what the exact fix was, keep-display is
among the options for gpg-agent.)

Hope this helps,
Jeff

[1]: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pinentry/+bug/1509699
[2]:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pinentry/+bug/1509699/comments/5
[3]:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/127213/files-e-mail-not-signed-with-kleopatra-kmail-gpg-agent
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