[tor-relays] key server error

[Roger Dingledine]

On Sun, Feb 07, 2021 at 10:44:53AM -0500, tor wrote:
> When I do the following command:
> 
> :~ $ sudo  gpg --keyserver keys.gnupg.net --recv
> A3C4F0F979CAA22CDBA8F512EE8CBC9E886DDD89
> 
> I get:
> 
> gpg: packet(13) too large
> gpg: read_block: read error: Invalid packet
> gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found.
> gpg: Total number processed: 0
> 
> thoughts?

You are experiencing the disaster that is the public keyservers in the
past few years. Jerks add garbage to keys until the keys are too big to
download or use. The era where keyservers worked reliably is over.

If you want that key now, your best bet is to fetch it from some source
that will you give you a clean version of the key. For example, the url
referenced in
https://support.torproject.org/apt/tor-deb-repo/

Similarly, to get the Tor Browser signing key, you'll want to use the
modern wkd feature of gpg:
https://support.torproject.org/tbb/how-to-verify-signature/
or if your gpg isn't new enough to have wkd, there's a direct download
link at the very bottom of that page.

--Roger