The KWatchGnuPG Handbook

# The KWatchGnuPG Handbook

Marc Mutz `<mutz@kde.org>`

Developer: Steffen Hansen
Developer: David Faure
Revision (Gear 24.12) (2024-10-24)

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.

KWatchGnuPG is a simple GnuPG log viewer.

Chapter 1. Introduction
Introduction

# Chapter 1. Introduction

KWatchGnuPG is simple log viewer for GnuPG. It works as a GUI wrapper around the command line tool WatchGnuPG, which listens on a socket for log lines from the GnuPG backend applications. See `info watchgnupg` for more information about WatchGnuPG.

KWatchGnuPG can be started from the Tools → GnuPG Log Viewer menu of both Kleopatra and KMail, as well as from the command line. The KWatchGnuPG executable is named `kwatchgnupg`.

## Main Functions

### Viewing the Log

KWatchGnuPG's main function is of course to present the GnuPG debugging and logging information to the user. The main window is divided into a large text viewing area, where GnuPG messages will appear as they are generated, a toolbar giving quick access to the most often needed functions, as well as the obligatory menu bar.

Each line in the text view is normally prefixed with a FD identifier and a time stamp in ISO format. The FD identifier can be used to distinguish between output from different GnuPG instances running in parallel. Following the timestamp is the name of the component that is the source of the log line, together with some internal information in sqare brackets, followed by the original debugging or log output as printed by the component.

By default, the number of log lines that are kept in the history is limited to 10000 lines. You can configure the history size in the configuration dialog.

### Saving the Contents of the Log Window to a File

Sometimes it might be convenient to save the current log window contents to a file, e.g. to mail it to the developers as part of a bug report. There are two ways to achieve this in KWatchGnuPG:

First, you can choose File → Save As... (or the corresponding toolbar icon) to save the complete log window contents to a file. You will be prompted to specify a save file location.

Second, you can select the interesting lines with normal left-mouse selection and paste them into a word processor or mail user agent, just like any other text. You should make sure, though, that lines are not broken, since this reduces the readability of the log.

### Clearing the Log Window

For convenience, you can instruct KWatchGnuPG to clear the log window using File → Clear History (or the corresponding toolbar icon).

Use this prior to starting the crypto operation that you want to monitor to get only the output from that operation. You can then save the log using File → Save As... as described above.

Clearing the log discards any previous log window contents. If you are unsure about whether you'll need the current contents afterwards, you should save them to a file (see above) before clearing.

Chapter 2. Configuring KWatchGnuPG
Configuring KWatchGnuPG

# Chapter 2. Configuring KWatchGnuPG

To configure KWatchGnuPG, select Settings → Configure KWatchGnuPG, or the corresponding toolbar icon.

## Settings Dialog

### Log Window Settings

Here, you can configure the size of the history buffer, i.e. the number of log lines that is kept. If more lines have been emitted by the GnuPG backend since the last clearance of the history, then the oldest lines are discarded until there is enough room for the new lines again.

You can disable the history size limit by clicking Set Unlimited. Note, however, that KWatchGnuPG's memory consumption will grow with the number of lines it currently displays. If you use an unlimited history size, then make sure to run KWatchGnuPG only for short operations, or regularly clear the history manually.

GnuPG Logging Settings
GnuPG Logging Settings

## GnuPG Logging Settings

Use the settings dialog of Kleopatra for configuring logging of the components of the GnuPG System. For each component for which you want to see logging choose a debugging level and enter `socket://` as file the logs should be written to.

Chapter 3. Credits and License
Credits and License

# Chapter 3. Credits and License

KWatchGnuPG copyright 2004 Klarälvdalens Datakonsult AB

Documentation copyright 2004 Klarälvdalens Datakonsult AB

Contributors

- Steffen Hansen `(hansen AT kde.org)`

- Marc Mutz `(mutz AT kde.org)`

- David Faure `(faure AT kde.org)`

This documentation is licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

This program is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.