Unable to send pgp key to keyserver

Trying to follow the steps in to create a deb package for some software...

I had to start by generating a GPG key

$ gpg --gen-key 

Then upload the public part of your key to a keyserver

$ gpg --send-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 12345678 gpg: sending key 12345678 to hkp server keyserver.ubuntu.com gpg: keyserver timed out gpg: keyserver send failed: keyserver error 

Tried to add port 80 because I read something about firewall blocking these requests

gpg --send-keys --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 C58C1F62 gpg: sending key C58C1F62 to keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 gpgkeys: no keyserver host provided gpg: keyserver internal error gpg: keyserver send failed: keyserver error 

Tried other servers that I found searching for these errors on the net

$ gpg --send-keys --keyserver sks-keyservers.net:80 12345678 gpg: sending key 12345678 to keyserver.sks-keyservers.net:80 gpgkeys: no keyserver host provided gpg: keyserver internal error gpg: keyserver send failed: keyserver error $ gpg --send-keys --keyserver pgp.mit.edu:80 12345678 gpg: sending key 12345678 to pgp.mit.edu:80 gpgkeys: no keyserver host provided gpg: keyserver internal error gpg: keyserver send failed: keyserver error 

also tried

gpg --send-keys --keyserver keyserver.pgp.com:80 12345678 gpg --send-keys --keyserver keyserver.sks-keyservers.net:80 12345678 

(just in case I needed the "keyserver" thing)

All with the same error.

What am I missing ?

Update: Changed option order and added hkp:\ protocol - and I am still back where I started - with a slight improvement in the message

$ gpg --keyserver hkp://pool.sks-keyservers.net --send-keys 12345678 gpg: sending key 12345678to hkp server pool.sks-keyservers.net gpg: keyserver timed out gpg: keyserver send failed: keyserver error 

Edit: I read that the missing keyserver host may be a wrong message, actually meaning that the key does not exist on the server... But If I send it, of course it would not exist.

gpg --send-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 C58C1F62 gpg: sending key C58C1F62 to keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 gpgkeys: no keyserver host provided gpg: keyserver internal error gpg: keyserver send failed: keyserver error dig keyserver.ubuntu.com ; <<>> DiG 9.8.1-P1 <<>> keyserver.ubuntu.com ;; global options: +cmd ;; Got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 40676 ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0 ;; QUESTION SECTION: ;keyserver.ubuntu.com. IN A ;; ANSWER SECTION: keyserver.ubuntu.com. 217 IN A 91.189.90.55 keyserver.ubuntu.com. 217 IN A 91.189.89.49 ;; Query time: 1 msec ;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1) ;; WHEN: Tue Sep 30 12:41:52 2014 ;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 70 

which means the server exists ? But the QUESTION SECTION looks empty...

gpg --send-keys --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 C58C1F62 gpg: sending key C58C1F62 to hkp server keyserver.ubuntu.com gpgkeys: HTTP post error 7: couldn't connect: eof gpg: keyserver internal error gpg: keyserver send failed: keyserver error dig hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com ; <<>> DiG 9.8.1-P1 <<>> hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com ;; global options: +cmd ;; Got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 968 ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0 ;; QUESTION SECTION: ;hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com. IN A ;; AUTHORITY SECTION: ubuntu.com. 899 IN SOA ns1.canonical.com. hostmaster.canonical.com. 2014093001 10800 3600 604800 3600 ;; Query time: 164 msec ;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1) ;; WHEN: Tue Sep 30 13:08:37 2014 ;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 105 

I also tried to add an option for proxy...

gpg --keyserver-options http-proxy=' --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --send-keys C58C1F62 gpg: sending key C58C1F62 to hkp server keyserver.ubuntu.com gpgkeys: HTTP post error 7: couldn't connect: eof gpg: keyserver internal error gpg: keyserver send failed: keyserver error 

2 Answers

Had same issue. Changed hkps to hkp: gpg --keyserver hkp://hkps.pool.sks-keyservers.net --send-key. And it worked.

There are multiple problems:

• The --keyserver option must be stated before --send-keys.

• --keyserver expects a URI including the protocol. An example for the Ubuntu keyserver would be

  --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com 

• You're using the wrong hosts for the sks keyserver network. Read for the available pools. The most general (the other pools are mostly partitioned by region) is pool.sks-keyservers.net, which you can use with

  --keyserver hkp://pool.sks-keyservers.net