GPG doesn't work in crontab

Question

I have the following script:

#!/bin/sh -e
PWD="supersecretpassword"
file="/backup/2do/example.txt"
echo before
echo $PWD | gpg --passphrase-fd 0 -c $file
echo after

The scripts works perfectly fine if executed manually, but simply stops working when the gpg line is performed when performed as crontab.

GPG shows:

gpg: cannot open `/dev/tty': No such device or address

I'm grateful for any suggestions!

Solution: add --no-tty to GPG

$PWD is very bad choice for a variable. it is a shell variable... — dfc, Oct 18 '11 at 22:00

score 9 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 05 '17 at 11:40

9

/usr/bin/gpg --no-tty --passphrase-file /home/vouuuuuuuuu/settings/passfile.txt --decrypt-files /home/juhuuu/dirname/*.gpg;

edited Apr 05 '17 at 11:40

chicks

answered Oct 02 '13 at 08:55

Maris

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 14 '10 at 10:31

3

Add -vv to the gpg command to see more output. It might have to do with a missing ~/.gnupg though.

answered Oct 14 '10 at 10:31

2

Thank you, that pointed me into the right direction: --no-tty – MrG Oct 14 '10 at 10:37
2

This is a good troubleshooting step as advice for everyone, but it seems that for a lot of people the real solution is `--no-tty` so this accepted answer could be improved if you turn the suggestion of a missing `~/.gnupg` into a list and add `--no-tty` as a second item on that list. – greggles Dec 14 '17 at 15:31

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 05 '17 at 05:28

2

To resolve this problem just add the "--no-tty" option to your gpg command line. answer was taken from a cached google page

answered Apr 05 '17 at 05:28

blades

It also already was here as another answer. http://serverfault.com/a/543201/205542 – chicks Apr 05 '17 at 11:40

3 Answers3