Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} GPG: pub & sec keys required to decrypt?

[Mike Edenfield]

Grant wrote:
>>> Can I configure this so that I don't have the two keys on the same
>>> system?  I'd like encrypt with my remote system and decrypt with my
>>> local system.  Is that possible?  It seems like importing my private
>>> key also imports the public key.
>> I'm a bit confused as to what you're trying to do.  If you are encrypting
>> mail to other people, you should be using *their* public key, not your own.
>>  The only case where you need your public key is to encrypt mail to
>> *yourself*; otherwise you don't need either of your keys on the remote
>> system.

> Should I delete the private key from the remote system?  It sounds
> like the public key can always be regenerated from the private key so
> there's no use in deleting it from the local system.

Yes to both statements.  Having your private key on the remote system is 
an unnecessary risk, since you don't need it to encrypt data and it's 
exposed to anyone else with access to that system.  And, though I 
haven't done it, GnuPG's docs say that the public key can easily (one 
gpg command) be regenerated from the private key, so you may as well 
keep it around for convenience.

--Mike