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Is it a GPG key or a PGP key? Or do you just use gpg to produce the pgp key?

I see them used together, and its just a tad bit confusing. What do they stand for?

Thomas Ward
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Anon
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2 Answers2

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The standard is "PGP" and the key is called a PGP key.

GPG stands for GnuPG, which is Gnu's implementation of the Open PGP standard.

"GPG Key" and "PGP Key" are effectively the same thing.

Thomas Ward
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In the beginning (1991), there was PGP (= Pretty Good Privacy). It was an encryption software that could not be used outside the USA, due to export restrictions.

When the software finally became available internationally, it became a de-facto standard which later evolved into RFC 2440 (and RFC 4880 subsequently).

GPG (= GNU Privacy Guard) implements said RFCs and as such, is able to use PGP keys.

Jan
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