paolocarrasco · November 7, 2025 17:25 · Nov 6, 2025 · Nov 6, 2025 · Nov 6, 2025 · Nov 6, 2025
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -53,12 +53,13 @@ It means that is not finding the key that was set. You would need to set up the
     ```
 
 1. Another popular solution that could help was shared here by [@NirajanMahara](https://github.com/NirajanMahara): https://gist.github.com/paolocarrasco/18ca8fe6e63490ae1be23e84a7039374?permalink_comment_id=3767413#gistcomment-3767413
-1. You can see in the thread of this gist other ways to find the solution to other problems. I recommend to read the [Github guide for signing commits with GPG](https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/managing-commit-signature-verification/telling-git-about-your-signing-key).
 1. A specific and [popular solution](https://gist.github.com/paolocarrasco/18ca8fe6e63490ae1be23e84a7039374?permalink_comment_id=4726796#gistcomment-4726796) posted for mac users by @lehaiquantb suggests to install `pinentry` (I'm not a fan of installing stuff but if you are ok with it):
 ```shell
 brew install pinentry-mac
 echo "pinentry-program $(which pinentry-mac)" >> ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf
 killall gpg-agent
 ```
 
+5. You can see in the thread of this gist other ways to find the solution to other problems. I recommend to read the [Github guide for signing commits with GPG](https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/managing-commit-signature-verification/telling-git-about-your-signing-key).
+
 Hope it helps!
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -1,37 +1,42 @@
 Problem
 -------
 
-You have installed GPG, then tried to commit and suddenly you see this error message after it:
+You have installed GPG, then tried to perform a `git commit` and suddenly you see this error message after it 😰
 ```
 error: gpg failed to sign the data
 fatal: failed to write commit object
 ```
 
-Debug
------
+Understand the error (important to solve it later!)
+----------------------------------------------------
 
-For understanding what's going on, first check what git is doing, so add `GIT_TRACE=1` at the beginning of the command you used before (`git commit` or `git rebase`):
+To understand what's going on, first check what git is doing, so add `GIT_TRACE=1` at the beginning of the command you used before (`git commit` or `git rebase` or `git merge` or anything like that):
 ```
 GIT_TRACE=1 git commit
 ```
 
-With that you can see what GPG is doing:
-Probably you will see something like this
+With that you can see what GPG is doing.
+
+You will see something like this:
 ```
 10:37:22.346480 run-command.c:637       trace: run_command: gpg --status-fd=2 -bsau <your GPG key>
 ```
-(Check if your GPG key is correct)
+
+(First thing would be to check if your GPG key is correct)
 
 Execute that gpg command again in the command line:
+
 ```
 gpg --status-fd=2 -bsau <your GPG key>
 ```
-👆🏻 With this now you could see what happened in detail!
+👆🏻 Executing this will give you a useful output that will allow you to see what happened in detail 🙌🏼
 
-Solutions
----------
+Check now the possible solutions based on your findings 👀
 
-We can have many problems, but I list what I found:
+Some solutions
+--------------
+
+We can have many problems, but I list what I found and some solutions posted in the thread:
 
 1. It could be that the *GPG key was expired*: https://stackoverflow.com/a/47561300/532912
 1. Another thing could be that *the secret key was not set properly* (In my case the message said `gpg: signing failed: No secret key` as it can be see in the image below).
@@ -49,8 +54,8 @@ It means that is not finding the key that was set. You would need to set up the
 
 1. Another popular solution that could help was shared here by [@NirajanMahara](https://github.com/NirajanMahara): https://gist.github.com/paolocarrasco/18ca8fe6e63490ae1be23e84a7039374?permalink_comment_id=3767413#gistcomment-3767413
 1. You can see in the thread of this gist other ways to find the solution to other problems. I recommend to read the [Github guide for signing commits with GPG](https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/managing-commit-signature-verification/telling-git-about-your-signing-key).
-2. A specific and [popular solution](https://gist.github.com/paolocarrasco/18ca8fe6e63490ae1be23e84a7039374?permalink_comment_id=4726796#gistcomment-4726796) posted for mac users by @lehaiquantb suggests to install `pinentry` (I'm not a fan of installing stuff but if you are ok with it):
-```
+1. A specific and [popular solution](https://gist.github.com/paolocarrasco/18ca8fe6e63490ae1be23e84a7039374?permalink_comment_id=4726796#gistcomment-4726796) posted for mac users by @lehaiquantb suggests to install `pinentry` (I'm not a fan of installing stuff but if you are ok with it):
+```shell
 brew install pinentry-mac
 echo "pinentry-program $(which pinentry-mac)" >> ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf
 killall gpg-agent

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ It means that is not finding the key that was set. You would need to set up the
 
 1. Another popular solution that could help was shared here by [@NirajanMahara](https://github.com/NirajanMahara): https://gist.github.com/paolocarrasco/18ca8fe6e63490ae1be23e84a7039374?permalink_comment_id=3767413#gistcomment-3767413
 1. You can see in the thread of this gist other ways to find the solution to other problems. I recommend to read the [Github guide for signing commits with GPG](https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/managing-commit-signature-verification/telling-git-about-your-signing-key).
-2. A specific and [popular solution](https://gist.github.com/paolocarrasco/18ca8fe6e63490ae1be23e84a7039374?permalink_comment_id=4726796#gistcomment-4726796) posted for mac users by @lehaiquantb suggests to install `pinentry` (I'm not a fan of installing stuff but if you want):
+2. A specific and [popular solution](https://gist.github.com/paolocarrasco/18ca8fe6e63490ae1be23e84a7039374?permalink_comment_id=4726796#gistcomment-4726796) posted for mac users by @lehaiquantb suggests to install `pinentry` (I'm not a fan of installing stuff but if you are ok with it):
 ```
 brew install pinentry-mac
 echo "pinentry-program $(which pinentry-mac)" >> ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ It means that is not finding the key that was set. You would need to set up the
 
 1. Another popular solution that could help was shared here by [@NirajanMahara](https://github.com/NirajanMahara): https://gist.github.com/paolocarrasco/18ca8fe6e63490ae1be23e84a7039374?permalink_comment_id=3767413#gistcomment-3767413
 1. You can see in the thread of this gist other ways to find the solution to other problems. I recommend to read the [Github guide for signing commits with GPG](https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/managing-commit-signature-verification/telling-git-about-your-signing-key).
-2. A specific and popular solution posted for mac users:
+2. A specific and [popular solution](https://gist.github.com/paolocarrasco/18ca8fe6e63490ae1be23e84a7039374?permalink_comment_id=4726796#gistcomment-4726796) posted for mac users by @lehaiquantb suggests to install `pinentry` (I'm not a fan of installing stuff but if you want):
 ```
 brew install pinentry-mac
 echo "pinentry-program $(which pinentry-mac)" >> ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -49,5 +49,11 @@ It means that is not finding the key that was set. You would need to set up the
 
 1. Another popular solution that could help was shared here by [@NirajanMahara](https://github.com/NirajanMahara): https://gist.github.com/paolocarrasco/18ca8fe6e63490ae1be23e84a7039374?permalink_comment_id=3767413#gistcomment-3767413
 1. You can see in the thread of this gist other ways to find the solution to other problems. I recommend to read the [Github guide for signing commits with GPG](https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/managing-commit-signature-verification/telling-git-about-your-signing-key).
+2. A specific and popular solution posted for mac users:
+```
+brew install pinentry-mac
+echo "pinentry-program $(which pinentry-mac)" >> ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf
+killall gpg-agent
+```
 
 Hope it helps!
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ It means that is not finding the key that was set. You would need to set up the
     ```shell
     git config --global user.signingkey <your key>
     ```
+
+1. Another popular solution that could help was shared here by [@NirajanMahara](https://github.com/NirajanMahara): https://gist.github.com/paolocarrasco/18ca8fe6e63490ae1be23e84a7039374?permalink_comment_id=3767413#gistcomment-3767413
 1. You can see in the thread of this gist other ways to find the solution to other problems. I recommend to read the [Github guide for signing commits with GPG](https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/managing-commit-signature-verification/telling-git-about-your-signing-key).
 
 Hope it helps!
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -37,15 +37,15 @@ We can have many problems, but I list what I found:
 1. Another thing could be that *the secret key was not set properly* (In my case the message said `gpg: signing failed: No secret key` as it can be see in the image below).
 ![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1524522/134691912-b0fdd04b-344a-4b02-9ff9-68cba7f9f0fb.png)
 It means that is not finding the key that was set. You would need to set up the GPG key in Git (again):
-  1. List the secret keys available in GPG.
-  ```shell
-  gpg --list-secret-keys --keyid-format=long
-  ```
-  1. Copy your key
-  1. Set your key for your user in git
-  ```shell
-  git config --global user.signingkey <your key>
-  ```
+    - List the secret keys available in GPG.
+    ```shell
+    gpg --list-secret-keys --keyid-format=long
+    ```
+    - Copy your key
+    - Set your key for your user in git
+    ```shell
+    git config --global user.signingkey <your key>
+    ```
 1. You can see in the thread of this gist other ways to find the solution to other problems. I recommend to read the [Github guide for signing commits with GPG](https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/managing-commit-signature-verification/telling-git-about-your-signing-key).
 
 Hope it helps!
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ For understanding what's going on, first check what git is doing, so add `GIT_TR
 GIT_TRACE=1 git commit
 ```
 
-With that you can see what the problem can be. And what GPG is doing:
+With that you can see what GPG is doing:
 Probably you will see something like this
 ```
 10:37:22.346480 run-command.c:637       trace: run_command: gpg --status-fd=2 -bsau <your GPG key>
@@ -26,18 +26,26 @@ Execute that gpg command again in the command line:
 ```
 gpg --status-fd=2 -bsau <your GPG key>
 ```
-
-Now you could see what happened in detail!
+👆🏻 With this now you could see what happened in detail!
 
 Solutions
 ---------
 
 We can have many problems, but I list what I found:
 
-1. It could be that the GPG key was expired: https://stackoverflow.com/a/47561300/532912
-1. Another thing could be that the secret key was not set (In my case the message said `gpg: signing failed: No secret key` as it can be see in the image below).
+1. It could be that the *GPG key was expired*: https://stackoverflow.com/a/47561300/532912
+1. Another thing could be that *the secret key was not set properly* (In my case the message said `gpg: signing failed: No secret key` as it can be see in the image below).
 ![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1524522/134691912-b0fdd04b-344a-4b02-9ff9-68cba7f9f0fb.png)
-It means that is not finding the key that was set.
+It means that is not finding the key that was set. You would need to set up the GPG key in Git (again):
+  1. List the secret keys available in GPG.
+  ```shell
+  gpg --list-secret-keys --keyid-format=long
+  ```
+  1. Copy your key
+  1. Set your key for your user in git
+  ```shell
+  git config --global user.signingkey <your key>
+  ```
 1. You can see in the thread of this gist other ways to find the solution to other problems. I recommend to read the [Github guide for signing commits with GPG](https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/managing-commit-signature-verification/telling-git-about-your-signing-key).
 
 Hope it helps!
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -22,18 +22,22 @@ Probably you will see something like this
 ```
 (Check if your GPG key is correct)
 
-Repeat that gpg command again in the command line:
+Execute that gpg command again in the command line:
 ```
 gpg --status-fd=2 -bsau <your GPG key>
 ```
 
+Now you could see what happened in detail!
+
 Solutions
 ---------
 
 We can have many problems, but I list what I found:
 
 1. It could be that the GPG key was expired: https://stackoverflow.com/a/47561300/532912
-1. Another thing could be that the secret key was not set (the message says `gpg: signing failed: No secret key`). 
-It means that is not finding the key that was set (it happened to me because I preppended a number).
+1. Another thing could be that the secret key was not set (In my case the message said `gpg: signing failed: No secret key` as it can be see in the image below).
+![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/1524522/134691912-b0fdd04b-344a-4b02-9ff9-68cba7f9f0fb.png)
+It means that is not finding the key that was set.
+1. You can see in the thread of this gist other ways to find the solution to other problems. I recommend to read the [Github guide for signing commits with GPG](https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/managing-commit-signature-verification/telling-git-about-your-signing-key).
 
 Hope it helps!
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -10,9 +10,9 @@ fatal: failed to write commit object
 Debug
 -----
 
-For understanding what's going on, first check what git is doing:
+For understanding what's going on, first check what git is doing, so add `GIT_TRACE=1` at the beginning of the command you used before (`git commit` or `git rebase`):
 ```
-GIT_TRACE=1 git rebase --continue
+GIT_TRACE=1 git commit
 ```
 
 With that you can see what the problem can be. And what GPG is doing:

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+Problem
+-------
+
+You have installed GPG, then tried to commit and suddenly you see this error message after it:
+```
+error: gpg failed to sign the data
+fatal: failed to write commit object
+```
+
+Debug
+-----
+
+For understanding what's going on, first check what git is doing:
+```
+GIT_TRACE=1 git rebase --continue
+```
+
+With that you can see what the problem can be. And what GPG is doing:
+Probably you will see something like this
+```
+10:37:22.346480 run-command.c:637       trace: run_command: gpg --status-fd=2 -bsau <your GPG key>
+```
+(Check if your GPG key is correct)
+
+Repeat that gpg command again in the command line:
+```
+gpg --status-fd=2 -bsau <your GPG key>
+```
+
+Solutions
+---------
+
+We can have many problems, but I list what I found:
+
+1. It could be that the GPG key was expired: https://stackoverflow.com/a/47561300/532912
+1. Another thing could be that the secret key was not set (the message says `gpg: signing failed: No secret key`). 
+It means that is not finding the key that was set (it happened to me because I preppended a number).
+
+Hope it helps!
No results found