pepperflashplugin-nonfree : ERROR: failed to retrieve status information from google : W: There is no public key available for the following key IDs

Question

I cannot install pepperflashplugin-nonfree on my Ubuntu :

$ sudo apt install pepperflashplugin-nonfree 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Suggested packages:
  ttf-dejavu ttf-xfree86-nonfree
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  pepperflashplugin-nonfree
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/11,1 kB of archives.
After this operation, 70,7 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Selecting previously unselected package pepperflashplugin-nonfree.
(Reading database ... 603638 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../pepperflashplugin-nonfree_1.7ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking pepperflashplugin-nonfree (1.7ubuntu1) ...
Setting up pepperflashplugin-nonfree (1.7ubuntu1) ...
ERROR: failed to retrieve status information from google : W: There is no public key available for the following key IDs:
1397BC53640DB551
More information might be available at:
  http://wiki.debian.org/PepperFlashPlayer

I have added the missing key :

$ sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 1397BC53640DB551
gpg: requesting key 640DB551 from hkp server keyserver.ubuntu.com
gpg: key D38B4796: public key "Google Inc. (Linux Packages Signing Authority) <[email protected]>" imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:               imported: 1  (RSA: 1)

And I still get the same message :

sudo dpkg-reconfigure pepperflashplugin-nonfree
ERROR: failed to retrieve status information from google : W: There is no public key available for the following key IDs:
1397BC53640DB551
More information might be available at:
  http://wiki.debian.org/PepperFlashPlayer

Can you help ?

Solution 1

pepperflashplugin-nonfree has its own key stash in /usr/lib/pepperflashplugin-nonfree/pubkey-google.txt. Until the package is updated with the new key, you can add the key locally by executing

gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys 1397BC53640DB551
gpg --export --armor 1397BC53640DB551 | sudo sh -c 'cat >> /usr/lib/pepperflashplugin-nonfree/pubkey-google.txt'

It is important that the new key is appended to the file (">>"), the old key is still needed.

After this you can install the pepperflashplugin with

sudo update-pepperflashplugin-nonfree --install

The file will be overwritten when the package is updated, so you might have to do this again after an update if the maintainer hasn't added the new key (in this case you will get the same error message again when the new version is being installed).

Solution 2

You're halfway there. To register the updated key you'll need to retrieve it from the keyserver, and then add it to apt's keyring:

Here's an example (using php.mit.edu, any trusted keyserver with the updated key will work):

# retrieve the updated key, adding it your your user's keyring
gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys 1397BC53640DB551

# copy the key to apt's keyring
gpg --export --armor 1397BC53640DB551 | sudo apt-key add -

# no more error
sudo apt-get update

Comments

[SebMa]

Hi, Your first command says : gpg: can't open /home/sebastien/.gnupg/pubring.gpg'` Is this normal my "pubring" belongs to root ?

[SebMa]

This not enough to reconfigure this particular package. aferber is right: pepperflashplugin-nonfree has its own key stack.

[derobert]

It'd be better to get the keys from dl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub as then you at least have TLS verifying their authenticity; see bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=818540#34 for where that URL came from.

[Akeshwar Jha]

gpg: requesting key 640DB551 from hkp server pgp.mit.edu gpgkeys: key 1397BC53640DB551 can't be retrieved gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found. gpg: Total number processed: 0

[twistylittlepassages]

This solution doesn't work for me. I get the same error message again and again. I added the key via apt-key and to /usr/lib/pepperflashplugin-nonfree/pubkey-google.txt ERROR: failed to retrieve status information from google : W: GPG error: http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY A040830F7FAC5991 NO_PUBKEY 1397BC53640DB551