---
name: "dirmngr-client"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "gnupg"
version: "2.4.9-4"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/dirmngr-client"
---

# dirmngr-client(1)

Tool to access the Dirmngr services

## NAME

**dirmngr-client** - Tool to access the Dirmngr services

## SYNOPSIS

**dirmngr-client** \[*options*\] \[*certfile*\|*pattern*\]

## DESCRIPTION

The **dirmngr-client** is a simple tool to contact a running dirmngr and test whether a certificate has been revoked — either by being listed in the corresponding CRL or by running the OCSP protocol. If no dirmngr is running, a new instances will be started but this is in general not a good idea due to the huge performance overhead.

The usual way to run this tool is either:

```
dirmngr-client acert
```

or

```
dirmngr-client <acert
```

Where *acert* is one DER encoded (binary) X.509 certificates to be tested.

## RETURN VALUE

**dirmngr-client** returns these values:

- **0**

  The certificate under question is valid; i.e. there is a valid CRL available and it is not listed there or the OCSP request returned that that certificate is valid.

- **1**

  The certificate has been revoked

- **2 (and other values)**

  There was a problem checking the revocation state of the certificate. A message to stderr has given more detailed information.  Most likely this is due to a missing or expired CRL or due to a network problem.

## OPTIONS

**dirmngr-client** may be called with the following options:

- **--version**

  Print the program version and licensing information.  Note that you cannot abbreviate this command.

- **--help, -h**

  Print a usage message summarizing the most useful command-line options. Note that you cannot abbreviate this command.

- **--quiet, -q**

  Make the output extra brief by suppressing any informational messages.

- **-v**

  - **--verbose**

  Outputs additional information while running. You can increase the verbosity by giving several verbose commands to **dirmngr**, such as ‘-vv’.

- **--pem**

  Assume that the given certificate is in PEM (armored) format.

- **--ocsp**

  Do the check using the OCSP protocol and ignore any CRLs.

- **--force-default-responder**

  When checking using the OCSP protocol, force the use of the default OCSP responder.  That is not to use the Reponder as given by the certificate.

- **--ping**

  Check whether the dirmngr daemon is up and running.

- **--cache-cert**

  Put the given certificate into the cache of a running dirmngr.  This is mainly useful for debugging.

- **--validate**

  Validate the given certificate using dirmngr's internal validation code. This is mainly useful for debugging.

- **--load-crl**

  This command expects a list of filenames with DER encoded CRL files. With the option **--url** URLs are expected in place of filenames and they are loaded directly from the given location.  All CRLs will be validated and then loaded into dirmngr's cache.

- **--lookup**

  Take the remaining arguments and run a lookup command on each of them. The results are Base-64 encoded outputs (without header lines).  This may be used to retrieve certificates from a server. However the output format is not very well suited if more than one certificate is returned.

- **--url** **-u**

  Modify the **lookup** and **load-crl** commands to take an URL.

- **--local** **-l**

  Let the **lookup** command only search the local cache.

- **--squid-mode**

  Run **dirmngr-client** in a mode suitable as a helper program for Squid's **external\_acl\_type** option.

## SEE ALSO

[**dirmngr**(8)](/dirmngr/8.md), [**gpgsm**(1)](/gpgsm/1.md)

The full documentation for this tool is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If GnuPG and the info program are properly installed at your site, the command

```
info gnupg
```

should give you access to the complete manual including a menu structure and an index.