NAME

subkey - Revoke a subkey

SYNOPSIS

subkey [--certificate] [--revocation-key] [--private-key-store] [-t|--time] [--notation] [-B|--binary] [-h|--help] <SUBKEY> <REASON> <MESSAGE>

DESCRIPTION

Revokes a subkey

Creates a revocation certificate for a subkey.

If "--revocation-key" is provided, then that key is used to create the signature. If that key is different from the certificate being revoked, this creates a third-party revocation. This is normally only useful if the owner of the certificate designated the key to be a designated revoker.

If "--revocation-key" is not provided, then the certificate must include a certification-capable key.

OPTIONS

--certificate=FILE

Reads the certificate containing the subkey to revoke from FILE or stdin, if omitted. It is an error for the file to contain more than one certificate.

--revocation-key=KEY

Signs the revocation certificate using KEY. If the key is different from the certificate, this creates a third-party revocation. If this option is not provided, and the certificate includes secret key material, then that key is used to sign the revocation certificate.

--private-key-store=KEY_STORE

Provides parameters for private key store

-t, --time=TIME

Chooses keys valid at the specified time and sets the revocation certificate's creation time

--notation=NAME VALUE

Adds a notation to the certification. A user-defined notation's name must be of the form "name@a.domain.you.control.org". If the notation's name starts with a !, then the notation is marked as being critical. If a consumer of a signature doesn't understand a critical notation, then it will ignore the signature. The notation is marked as being human readable.

-B, --binary

Emits binary data

-h, --help

Print help information

<SUBKEY>

The subkey to revoke. This must either be the subkey's Key ID or its fingerprint.

<REASON>

The reason for the revocation. This must be either: compromised, superseded, retired, or unspecified:

- compromised means that the secret key material may have been
compromised. Prefer this value if you suspect that the secret
key has been leaked.

- superseded means that the owner of the certificate has replaced
it with a new certificate. Prefer "compromised" if the secret
key material has been compromised even if the certificate is
also being replaced! You should include the fingerprint of the
new certificate in the message.

- retired means that this certificate should not be used anymore,
and there is no replacement. This is appropriate when someone
leaves an organisation. Prefer "compromised" if the secret key
material has been compromised even if the certificate is also
being retired! You should include how to contact the owner, or
who to contact instead in the message.

- unspecified means that none of the three other three reasons
apply. OpenPGP implementations conservatively treat this type
of revocation similar to a compromised key.

If the reason happened in the past, you should specify that using the --time argument. This allows OpenPGP implementations to more accurately reason about objects whose validity depends on the validity of the certificate.

<MESSAGE>

A short, explanatory text that is shown to a viewer of the revocation certificate. It explains why the subkey has been revoked. For instance, if Alice has created a new key, she would generate a 'superseded' revocation certificate for her old key, and might include the message "I've created a new subkey, please refresh the certificate.

SEE ALSO

For the full documentation see <https://docs.sequoia-pgp.org/sq/>.

sq(1) sq-armor(1) sq-autocrypt(1) sq-certify(1) sq-dearmor(1) sq-decrypt(1) sq-encrypt(1) sq-inspect(1) sq-key(1) sq-keyring(1) sq-keyserver(1) sq-packet(1) sq-revoke(1) sq-revoke-certificate(1) sq-revoke-userid(1) sq-sign(1) sq-verify(1) sq-wkd(1)