pinentrys
Pinentrys are a family of programs used to securely prompt users for passphrases, PINs, or other secret data. They are typically used by cryptographic software, most notably GnuPG (GNU Privacy Guard), for handling private keys. The primary function of a pinentry program is to obtain this sensitive information from the user without exposing it to other applications or the environment. This is crucial for maintaining the security of encryption and signing operations.
When a program like GnuPG needs a passphrase to decrypt a file or sign a message, it
There are various implementations of pinentry, each with its own features and interface. Common variants include