• dsx
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Topic: Problem with importing Public Keys

I would like some help on this strange situation.

I have no problem importing my friend's public key or sending him encrypted stuff with his public key. No problem.
I have no problem importing my own public key or anything like that. However, when my friend tries to import my Public key he has problem.

He tried both in command line (via gpg --import) and he also tried in FireGPG 'import from file'. In both cases he get an error, that has to do with time:

gpg: WARNING: "--no-use-agent" is an obsolete option - it has no effect
gpg: key 8ED9073B was created 10521 seconds in the future (time warp or clock problem)

Any idea what is going on here? Is one of us living in the future/past?

Last edited by dsx (2010-02-08 23:42:31)

  • From: Geneva
  • Registered: 2007-04-04
  • Posts: 1,040

Re: Problem with importing Public Keys

Are you sure clocks are synchronized ? Is your friend in an another time zone ?

the_glu's Website

  • dsx
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Re: Problem with importing Public Keys

By clocks synchronized, do you mean the "Automatically synchronize with an Internet time server" found in the "Date and Time Properties" found at the bottom-right of the taskbar?

edit:
Just found this article on it: http://www.pcworld.com/article/65154/in … by_it.html

I will give this a try and see if it solves the problem. If this turns out to be the solution my final question is: do I have to keep the "Automatically synchronize with an Internet time server" checked everytime I'm planning to communicate with people through FireGPG or I only need it checked whenever I'm generating a key-pair?

Last edited by dsx (2010-02-09 08:23:44)

  • From: Geneva
  • Registered: 2007-04-04
  • Posts: 1,040

Re: Problem with importing Public Keys

You don't need to be synchronized at microsecond, but your computer clock should be approximatively right, like 5-10 minutes of delta. You can have a lot a problems with unsynchronized clock, eg. with cookies.

the_glu's Website

  • dsx
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Re: Problem with importing Public Keys

Just to let those that found this thread via search engine, this "Automatically synchronize with an Internet time server" was the problem. Everything solved.