How To Install pinentry-gnome3 on Ubuntu 18.04

In this tutorial we learn how to install pinentry-gnome3 on Ubuntu 18.04. pinentry-gnome3 is GNOME 3 PIN or pass-phrase entry dialog for GnuPG

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install pinentry-gnome3 on Ubuntu 18.04.

What is pinentry-gnome3

pinentry-gnome3 is:

This package contains a program that allows for secure entry of PINs or pass phrases. That means it tries to take care that the entered information is not swapped to disk or temporarily stored anywhere. This functionality is particularly useful for entering pass phrases when using encryption software such as GnuPG or e-mail clients using the same. It uses an open protocol and is therefore not tied to particular software.

The program contained in this package implements a PIN entry dialog designed for use with GNOME 3. It tries to follow the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines as much as possible. If the X Window System is not active then an alternative text-mode dialog will be used. There are sibling packages that implement PIN entry dialogs using other tool kits.

There are three methods to install pinentry-gnome3 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 pinentry-gnome3 Using apt-get

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

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install pinentry-gnome3 using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install pinentry-gnome3

Install pinentry-gnome3 Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install pinentry-gnome3 using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install pinentry-gnome3

Install pinentry-gnome3 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 pinentry-gnome3 using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install pinentry-gnome3

How To Uninstall pinentry-gnome3 on Ubuntu 18.04

To uninstall only the pinentry-gnome3 package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove pinentry-gnome3

Uninstall pinentry-gnome3 And Its Dependencies

To uninstall pinentry-gnome3 and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Ubuntu 18.04, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove pinentry-gnome3

Remove pinentry-gnome3 Configurations and Data

To remove pinentry-gnome3 configuration and data from Ubuntu 18.04 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge pinentry-gnome3

Remove pinentry-gnome3 configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove pinentry-gnome3 configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge pinentry-gnome3

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install pinentry-gnome3 package on Ubuntu 18.04 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.