How to receive keys from a keyserver when you don't have a key ID, using command-line.

[John Schofield]

I'm setting up an experimental private keyserver network and trying  
to write scripts to interact with it from the command-line. (OS:  
Ubuntu Linux 5.10)

Let's say that my script is asked to encrypt to a unique user ID.  
(All user IDs will be unique; this is a closed system and I can  
control that.)

If the local machine has the key in its keyring, it can just enter  
the following:
gpg -se -r $RECIPIENTID -o $TARGETFILE -u $SIGNINGID $SOURCEFILE

However, if the $RECIPIENTID does not exist in the local keyring, gpg  
fails. Fine. I should be able to request the key from the keyserver.  
But in order to request the key from the keyserver, I need the Key ID  
(ie 0xEE3A668A) rather than a unique identifier (unique.id. 
12345678 at testsystems.dakim.com).

But if I don't have the key, how do I get the Key ID? Do I have to  
store that separately and pass it to the script?

Am I missing something obvious here?
--------------------------------------------------
John Schofield
Director, Information Technology
Director, DCFS
Dakim, Inc.
2121 Cloverfield Blvd.
Suite 205
Santa Monica, CA 90404
www.dakim.com
(310) 566-1355 (direct)
(310) 829-1865 (fax)
schof at dakim.com (e-mail)
dakimschof (AIM)