Shared secret encryption with GPG

GPG must be the hardest CLI tool I have ever come across. I am no fan of GPG!

Use case protect an SQL dump with a shared secret "kensentme":

[hendry@t480s backup]$ gpg --symmetric dev-backup-1551421144.sql

GPG will prompt you for the password twice.

[hendry@t480s backup]$ ll dev-backup-1551421144.sql*
-rw-rw-r-- 1 hendry users 195M Mar  1 14:19 dev-backup-1551421144.sql
-rw-rw-r-- 1 hendry users  19M Apr 12 13:37 dev-backup-1551421144.sql.gpg

Don't be surprised to find the resulting encrypted .gpg file is compressed!

How to decrypt a file with a GPG symmetric key

gpg --decrypt --multifile dev-backup-1551421144.sql.gpg

Sometimes GPG won't prompt you for the password (e.g. "kensentme"), if you have entered the password before. Have some nerves and double check with a checksum tool.

Tested with gpg (GnuPG) 2.2.15. Kudos to grawity on #gnupg Freenode IRC.