<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/"
      xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its"
      type="topic" style="task"
      id="pgp-delete">

  <info>
    <link type="guide" xref="index#pgp-keys"/>

    <revision version="0.1" date="2011-10-23" status="stub"/>
    <revision pkgversion="3.9" version="0.1" date="2013-06-24" status="review"/>

    <include href="legal.xml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"/>

    <credit type="author copyright">
      <name>Aruna Sankaranarayanan</name>
      <email its:translate="no">aruna.evam@gmail.com</email>
      <years>2013</years>
    </credit>

    <credit type="editor copyright">
      <name>Hashem Nasarat</name>
      <email its:translate="no">hashem@riseup.net</email>
      <years>2014</years>
    </credit>

    <desc>Delete local copies of your keys or the keys of people you
    communicate with.</desc>
  </info>

  <title>Delete an existing key</title>

  <p>If you are no longer communicating with someone, you can delete the copy
  of their GnuPG key on your computer using <app>Passwords and Keys</app>. You
  can also permanently delete a key you own as long it has never been
  published on a key server. Deleting a GnuPG key deletes both the public key
  and the secret key.</p>

  <steps>
    <title>To delete a key:</title>
    <item>
      <p>Select the key.
      </p>
    </item>
    <item>
      <p>Right click, and choose <gui>Delete</gui>.</p>
      <note style="important">
        <p>When you delete a GnuPG key that has been published on a key server, you
        only delete the key in your GnuPG keyring because a copy of the
        public key will still be present on some key server.</p>
        <p>If you delete your GnuPG key, this means that your private key will
        be permanently deleted, even though your public key can still be
        <link xref="pgp-retrieve-remote">retrieved</link>
        from a key server and used to encrypt messages to you that you won't be
        able to read! To prevent such a key from being used, retrieve and
        <link xref="subkeys-revoke">revoke</link> the key.
        The revoked key can then be
        <link xref="pgp-sync">synced</link> with a key server to prevent people
        from retrieving and using it.</p>
        <!-- or when you <link xref="misc-key-revoke">revoke</link> it.- No
        revoking feature yet for SSH keys/PGP master keys-->
      </note>
    </item>
    <item>
      <p>In the new dialog, confirm the deletion by ticking the
      <gui style="checkbox">I understand that this secret key will be permanently deleted</gui>
      checkbox, and press the <gui style="button">Delete</gui> button to
      finish.</p>
    </item>
  </steps>


</page>
