How To Install gpg-wks-server on Ubuntu 18.04

In this tutorial we learn how to install gpg-wks-server on Ubuntu 18.04. gpg-wks-server is GNU privacy guard - Web Key Service server

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install gpg-wks-server on Ubuntu 18.04.

What is gpg-wks-server

gpg-wks-server is:

GnuPG is GNU’s tool for secure communication and data storage. It can be used to encrypt data and to create digital signatures. It includes an advanced key management facility and is compliant with the proposed OpenPGP Internet standard as described in RFC4880.

This package provides the GnuPG server for the Web Key Service protocol.

A Web Key Service is a service that allows users to upload keys per mail to be verified over https as described in https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-koch-openpgp-webkey-service

For more information see: https://wiki.gnupg.org/WKS

There are three methods to install gpg-wks-server 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 gpg-wks-server Using apt-get

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

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install gpg-wks-server using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install gpg-wks-server

Install gpg-wks-server Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install gpg-wks-server using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install gpg-wks-server

Install gpg-wks-server 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 gpg-wks-server using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install gpg-wks-server

How To Uninstall gpg-wks-server on Ubuntu 18.04

To uninstall only the gpg-wks-server package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove gpg-wks-server

Uninstall gpg-wks-server And Its Dependencies

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

sudo apt-get -y autoremove gpg-wks-server

Remove gpg-wks-server Configurations and Data

To remove gpg-wks-server configuration and data from Ubuntu 18.04 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge gpg-wks-server

Remove gpg-wks-server configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove gpg-wks-server configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge gpg-wks-server

References

Summary

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