PKSCLIENT(8)

NAME
pksclient - Public Key Server Client

SYNOPSIS
pksclient /db/path cmd [args ...]

DESCRIPTION
pksclient is a command line interface which allows the administrator to perform key server operations directly instead of through the daemon. The software will use locking and transaction semantics unless you specify otherwise. Never do this if another process has the database open. Once the command is completed, pksclient will attempt to checkpoint the database and remove any excess log files. Each command takes the path to the directory which contains the database files, a command name, and possibly a list of arguments to the command. Some commands take an optional flags argument. Flags are single letters as described for each command, concatenated into a single argument.

pksclient /db/path create [num_files]
    Create an empty database. If a database exists in the directory, it is destroyed. If num_files is specified, then the key database will be split into that many files. If it is not specified, then three key database files will be created.

pksclient /db/path recover
    Recover an inconsistent database. This is equivalent to the db_recover(8) command, but it uses a larger cache for better performance.

pksclient /db/path add filename [flags]
    Add a keyring to the database. The filename may refer to a keyring file (.pgp format), or an ASCII-armored keyring (.asc format). If the 'n' flag is specified, then an incremental for the new keyring relative to the database is generated to stdout. If the 'd' flag is specified, then the disabled flag will not be stripped from the input file. This is useful if you are initializing the database for the first time with a keyring from another key server which includes disabled keys. If the 't' flag is specified, the operation will take place without logging and transactions. This is faster, but less safe.

pksclient /db/path get userid [flags]
    An ASCII-armored keyring containing all the keys matching the userid is printed to stdout. If the 'e' flag is specified, then the key's user id must be an exact case-insensitive substring of the userid argument. If the 'a' flag is specified, then the userid argument is ignored, and all keys in the database are returned. If the 'b' flag is specified, then the output keyring will be in binary format instead of ASCII-armor format. If the 'i' flag is specified, then errors will be ignored. This is used when recovering from a corrupt database. If the 'd' flag is specified, then disabled keys will be returned. If the 's' flag is specified, the selected keys will be output unsorted to stdout. This flag implies the 'b' flag. If the 't' flag is specified, the operation will take place without logging and transactions. This is faster, but less safe.

pksclient /db/path index userid [flags]
    An index listing for all the keys matching the userid is printed to stdout. If the 'v' flag is specified, then signatures are included in the output. If the 'f' flag is specified, then the key fingerprint is included in the output. If the 'e' flag is specified, then the key's user id must be an exact case-insensitive substring of the userid argument. If the 'a' flag is specified, then the userid argument is ignored, and all keys in the database are indexed. If the 'i' flag is specified, then errors will be ignored. This is used when recovering from a corrupt database. If the 'd' flag is specified, then disabled keys will be returned. If the 's' flag is specified, the index will be output unsorted to stdout. If the 't' flag is specified, the operation will take place without logging and transactions. This is faster, but less safe.

pksclient /db/path since time [flags]
    An ASCII-armored keyring containing all the keys added to the database or changed since the unix timestamp since is printed to stdout. The timestamp that the database was last modified is printed to stderr. If the 'b' flag is specified, then the output keyring will be in binary format instead of ASCII-armor format. If the 'r' flag is specified, then the time given is taken as the number of seconds the in the past the dump should start ( since 86400 r is thus equivalent to the LAST 1 mail command). If the 't' flag is specified, the operation will take place without logging and transactions. This is faster, but less safe.

pksclient /db/path delete userid [flags]
    All keys matching the userid are deleted from the database. If the 't' flag is specified, the operation will take place without logging and transactions. This is faster, but less safe.

pksclient /db/path disable userid [flags]
    All keys matching the userid have the disabled flag set. If the 'c' flag is specified, then the flag is cleared instead of set. If the 't' flag is specified, the operation will take place without logging and transactions. This is faster, but less safe.

SEE ALSO
pks-intro(8), pksd(8)

AUTHOR
Marc Horowitz, Massachusetts Institute of Technology