Instructions

Print your GPG key fingerprint with LaTeX, and be better prepared for ad hoc signings at the next key signing party!

Install LaTeX with koma-script and forloop if haven’t already done so. On Debian based systems, the installation command is:

apt-get install texlive-latex-extra

Download the LaTeX code which is public domain:

• fingerprint.tex

Adjust the key ID so it will print your own key rather than mine. Also adjust the number of repetitions to fill the page:

% Key ID to print
\newcommand{\keyid}{5F8990AF}

% Number of repetitions
\newcommand{\repetitions}{8}

Finally, generate the PDF file:

sh fingerprint.tex

The result is shown below. Have fun!

Related Projects

• gpg-key2ps from the signing-party package

Internals

The short command sh fingerprint.tex works because the LaTeX code is written in a special way, so it is also a working shell script which executes pdflatex and removes all temporary files. Of course, you can also call pdflatex by hand. In that case, don’t forget to provide the --shell-escape option, otherwise the LaTeX file isn’t allowed to run GPG to retrieve your key fingerprint:

pdflatex --shell-escape fingerprint.tex

Result

(In case you want to know, the preview image was generated with GraphicsMagick: gm convert -density 60 example.pdf example.png)