GNOME Keyring is a software application designed to store security credentials such as usernames,

password A password, sometimes called a passcode (for example in Apple devices), is secret data, typically a string of characters, usually used to confirm a user's identity. Traditionally, passwords were expected to be memorized, but the large number of ...

s, and keys, together with a small amount of relevant

metadata Metadata is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including: * Descriptive metadata – the descriptive ...

. The sensitive data is

encrypt In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can decip ...

ed and stored in a keyring

file File or filing may refer to: Mechanical tools and processes * File (tool), a tool used to ''remove'' fine amounts of material from a workpiece **Filing (metalworking), a material removal process in manufacturing ** Nail file, a tool used to gent ...

in the user's

home directory A home directory is a file system directory on a multi-user operating system containing files for a given user of the system. The specifics of the home directory (such as its name and location) are defined by the operating system involved; for ...

. The default keyring uses the login

for encryption, so users don't need to remember another password. As of 2009, GNOME Keyring was part of the desktop environment in the operating system

OpenSolaris OpenSolaris () is a discontinued open-source computer operating system based on Solaris and created by Sun Microsystems. It was also, perhaps confusingly, the name of a project initiated by Sun to build a developer and user community around th ...

. GNOME Keyring is implemented as a

daemon Daimon or Daemon (Ancient Greek: , "god", "godlike", "power", "fate") originally referred to a lesser deity or guiding spirit such as the daimons of ancient Greek religion and mythology and of later Hellenistic religion and philosophy. The word ...

and uses the

process A process is a series or set of activities that interact to produce a result; it may occur once-only or be recurrent or periodic. Things called a process include: Business and management *Business process, activities that produce a specific se ...

name ''gnome-keyring-daemon''. Applications can store and request passwords by using the ''libsecret''

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

which replaces the deprecated ''libgnome-keyring'' library. GNOME Keyring is part of the

GNOME A gnome is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature. Its characte ...

desktop. As of 2006, it integrated with

NetworkManager NetworkManager is a daemon that sits on top of libudev and other Linux kernel interfaces (and a couple of other daemons) and provides a high-level interface for the configuration of the network interfaces. Rationale NetworkManager is a software ...

to store WEP passwords.

GNOME Web GNOME Web, called Epiphany until 2012 and still known by that code name, is a free and open-source web browser based on the GTK port of Apple's WebKit rendering engine, called WebKitGTK. It is developed by the GNOME project for Unix-like sy ...

and the email client Geary uses GNOME Keyring to store passwords. In 2009, a statistical study of software packages in the

Red Hat Red Hat, Inc. is an American software company that provides open source software products to enterprises. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, with other offices worldwide. Red Hat has become ass ...

Linux distribution found that packages depending upon GNOME Keyring (and therefore integrated somewhat with the GNOME desktop environment) were less likely to be associated with software vulnerabilities than those with a dependency upon ''kdelibs'' (and therefore integrated somewhat with the KDE desktop environment). On systems where GNOME Keyring is present, software written in

Vala Vala or VALA may refer to: Religion and mythology * Vala (Vedic), a demon or a stone cavern in the Hindu scriptures * Völva, also spelled Vala, a priestess in Norse mythology and Norse paganism Fiction * Vala (Middle-earth), an angelic being in ...

can use it to store and retrieve passwords. The GNOME Keyring Manager (gnome-keyring-manager) was the first user interface for the GNOME Keyring. As of GNOME 2.22, it is deprecated and replaced entirely with

Seahorse A seahorse (also written ''sea-horse'' and ''sea horse'') is any of 46 species of small marine fish in the genus ''Hippocampus''. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek (), itself from () meaning "horse" and () meaning "sea monster" or " ...

References

External links

GNOME Keyring Wikipage
on wiki.gnome.org
GNOME Keyring git
on git.gnome.org
gnome-keyring Security Philosophy
{{GNOME-stub Free password managers Free software programmed in C GNOME

See also

References

External links