If you use GnuPG you may choose to cache your password to avoid having to re-enter it each time you need to use your key-pair. The gpg-agent handles this function and a timeout can be set within it’s configuration file typically located within the path ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf
Some distributions such as Fedora 23 don’t include a configuration file. In this case you can create one with the options desired.
Default configuration file defined on an Ubuntu 15.10 system
cat ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf default-cache-ttl 300 max-cache-ttl 999999
Let’s examine these a little closer
default-cache-ttl n
Set the time a cache entry is valid to n seconds. The default is 600 seconds. Each time a cache entry is accessed, the entry’s timer is reset. To set an entry’s maximum lifetime, use max-cache-ttl.
max-cache-ttl n
Set the maximum time a cache entry is valid to n seconds. After this time a cache entry will be expired even if it has been accessed recently or has been set using gpg-preset-passphrase. The default is 2 hours (7200 seconds).
Enable the new options
To allow the gpg-agent to start using the new options simply add use-agent to the end of the file ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf
echo use-agent >> ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf
Lastly restart the gpg-agent daemon for the change to take effect. (or restart the system)
killall -q gpg-agent eval $(gpg-agent --daemon) source ~/.bashrc
Note
On Ubuntu 15.10 it was required to add the use-agent directive to the end of the ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf file however Fedora 23 did not need this.
Reference
https://www.gnupg.org/documentation/manuals/gnupg/Agent-Options.html
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