When using debuild -S to build a package on new machines, I need to go through the process of ensuring that my gpg is set up properly. If set up incorrectly, I get the following message with debuild -S:

gpg: skipped "User <[email protected]>": secret key not available

To fix this, I go through the following steps:

  1. Ensure I have proper gpg keys set up. You can check if yours is installed properly using: gpg --list-keys

  2. Add DEBEMAIL and DEBFULLNAME to ~/.bashrc. Ensure DEBEMAIL matches the email in the matching gpg key, and ensure DEBFULLNAME matches the name in same key. Put these into your ~/.bashrc file or wherever they will be sourced into your environment.

  3. Make sure your key is the default key: Edit ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf such that default-key is set to the proper key. This should match the 8 character fingerprint that you verified in (1).

  4. Make sure the same key is the default for debuilder: Edit /etc/devscripts.conf with the folllowing: DEBSIGN_KEYID=XXXXXX where XXXXXX is your key.

  5. Now next time you use debuild -S it should use the proper gpg key, name and email address!