Since the latest "improve"ments to Thunderbird, I now have two different gpg keyrings instead of just one. How can I get Thunderbird to use the gpg keyring in ~/.gnupg, instead of its own internal one?
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AFAIK this is only partially possible: https://blog.nicohood.de/use-thunderbird-78-with-system-gnupg-keyring – Robert Dec 23 '22 at 08:15
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See also https://askubuntu.com/questions/1300459/how-does-mozilla-thunderbird-handles-my-key-and-can-it-import-directly-from-gpg – Michael Altfield May 24 '23 at 14:28
2 Answers
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The answer is: you can't. There is no way to have Mozilla Thunderbird utilize your existing gpg keyring for public keys.
Per this thread:
Public keys have to be imported into Thunderbird OpenPGP. There is no way around that. This is a design choice.
This is pretty mind-blowing. Can we go back to enigmail? Now we all have to maintain two distinct databases with the same content storing my contact's trusted keys and their level of trust :(
If we meet someone in-person and are able to verify their fingerprint and identity, we have to update it in more than one place. If we forget, then it's a nightmare trying to keep it all in-sync.
Michael Altfield
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1I wouldn't say that you can't use your gnupg keys with Thunderbird. There is an advance configuration option that makes Thunderbird using the gpg-agent. See [my answer](https://superuser.com/a/1795430/18192). – Flow Jul 11 '23 at 08:41
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You can Thunderbird configure to use GnuPGP's gpg-agent, and therfore make Thunderbird use the keys of GnuPGP.
Set
mail.openpgp.allow_external_gnupg
to true in Thunderbird's configuration editor. The editor is available via Thunderbird → Settings → General → Config Editor.
See https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:OpenPGP:Smartcards#Allow_the_use_of_external_GnuPG for more information. Note that this wiki page is about smartcards, but the linked section is generic about using gpg-agent with thunderbird.
Flow
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Doesn't work. Key management shows Thunderbird's keys only, and the agent is never called when signing. – enigmaticPhysicist Jul 22 '23 at 01:40
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FWIW, it works for me. Did you configure the account identity ot use the "External GNuPG Key"? – Flow Jul 24 '23 at 07:24
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I found the option but it's useless to me. Thunderbird still requires all public keys to be held in its own database, requiring extra synchronisation. – enigmaticPhysicist Jul 26 '23 at 22:38