How To Install gnupg-utils on Ubuntu 18.04

In this tutorial we learn how to install gnupg-utils on Ubuntu 18.04. gnupg-utils is GNU privacy guard - utility programs

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install gnupg-utils on Ubuntu 18.04.

What is gnupg-utils

gnupg-utils is:

GnuPG is GNU’s tool for secure communication and data storage.

This package contains several useful utilities for manipulating OpenPGP data and other related cryptographic elements. It includes:

  • addgnupghome – create .gnupg home directories
  • applygnupgdefaults – run gpgconf –apply-defaults for all users
  • gpgcompose – an experimental tool for constructing arbitrary sequences of OpenPGP packets (e.g. for testing)
  • gpgparsemail – parse an e-mail message into annotated format
  • gpgsplit – split a sequence of OpenPGP packets into files
  • gpg-zip – encrypt or sign files in an archive
  • kbxutil – list, export, import Keybox data
  • lspgpot – convert PGP ownertrust values to GnuPG
  • migrate-pubring-from-classic-gpg – use only “modern” formats
  • symcryptrun – use simple symmetric encryption tool in GnuPG framework
  • watchgnupg – watch socket-based logs

There are three methods to install gnupg-utils on Ubuntu 18.04. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install gnupg-utils Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install gnupg-utils using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install gnupg-utils

Install gnupg-utils Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install gnupg-utils using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install gnupg-utils

Install gnupg-utils Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Ubuntu. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install gnupg-utils using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install gnupg-utils

How To Uninstall gnupg-utils on Ubuntu 18.04

To uninstall only the gnupg-utils package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove gnupg-utils

Uninstall gnupg-utils And Its Dependencies

To uninstall gnupg-utils and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Ubuntu 18.04, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove gnupg-utils

Remove gnupg-utils Configurations and Data

To remove gnupg-utils configuration and data from Ubuntu 18.04 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge gnupg-utils

Remove gnupg-utils configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove gnupg-utils configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge gnupg-utils

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install gnupg-utils package on Ubuntu 18.04 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.