Gnome Keyring File Formats

The on disk formats for the password keyrings are:

Encrypted Binary Format

This is a binary format in which most of the the data is encrypted with password based symmetric encryption. When the user assigns a password for a keyring then this format is used. This was the only format prior to version 2.21.5.

• Begins with the string GnomeKeyring\n\r

• Described in the file keyrings/file-format.txt in the release tarball. [Ahem, not any more. Now available here].

Textual Nonencrypted Format

This format stores everything in clear text. It is used when the user chooses to have no password for a keyring. This format is only available in versions later than 2.21.5. This format cannot be read by earlier versions of Gnome Keyring.

• Based on the Desktop File format (ie: GKeyFile)