Git error - gpg failed to sign data

Question

I just started using git and I install git and gpg via homebrew. For some reason, I get this error when i do git commit I looked at so many other stackoverflow

Answer 1

I had this error on macos - to try and troubleshoot I tried listing keys to see if they had expired using gpg2 --list-keys - I verified that the keys had not expired and that the proper key were set in my config using git config --global user.signingkey.

After I had run those commands I was suddenly able to do signed commits again without problems. I did not change my config files or keys - I did not even create a fresh Terminal instance. It just seemed like the gpg2 was somehow in a weird state on my mac.

Answer 2

Check for your key to be expired. Once you fix the expiration date (no need to create a new key unless you want to), git will work as normal.

One way to fix the expired key:

(Note: $ represents command line prompt, type the commands after the prompt; press Enter after each command)

$ gpg2 --list-keys to find the appropriate key id (characters after \ on pub line)

$ gpg2 --edit-key <key id> - this opens the gpg shell, with prompt changed to gpg>

gpg> expire - follow instructions to set new expiration date for primary key

Next, if there are subkeys that are expired (sub shows on the line), reset their expiration dates, too:

gpg> key 1 - selects first subkey gpg> expire - follow instructions to set new expiration date for subkey

Repeat for each subsequent subkey, as needed.